Comments on: Eat Less and Live Longer? Huh?

By: Meghan Telpner

Meghan Telpner — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:40:59 +0000

Great point Marissa. I agree too. It is never helpful when motivating someone to make them feel like poop first. When I have my show- it will be all positive!

By: Marissa

Marissa — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:05:12 +0000

That show horrifies me, and of course I can’t look away! I both love and loathe Gillian. I cannot fully decide which feeling is more abundant though. My main problem with her is her attitude. She is very pro-fat shaming and that enrages me. Shame does not help! I would be SO much happier with her show if she gave the information without making people feel even worse about themselves. Speaking as a previously morbidly obese person it is NOT appreciated, and it does NOT help the majority of people.

I know just as many junkfoodaholics who are thin or average as I do those who are obese. No one shames them because they don’t “look unhealthy”. Looks can be deceiving here. I will not say that is is possible for someone to be obese and for them to be operating at optimal health, but likewise someone who is thin or average but eats a bunch of crap is also not necessarily going to be healthy.

I work with men who spend 20 minutes in the bathroom every morning and they don’t “look” unhealthy. I can promise you that Gillian would have an issue with their samples though.

The calorie thing is interesting. I am not fully sold on calorie restriction, just so long as the food you are consuming is actually real food that is healthy for you. If you are eating non-food, a bunch of grains, sugars, etc. then of course cutting back will help your overall health!

If a person is easing a healthy produce based diet though, they usually need to eat more to get enough calories to survive. I think it all comes back to nutrient density per calorie. You need your nutrition, you don’t need the things that don’t nourish you though.

By: fartygirl

fartygirl — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:34:52 +0000

Thanks for this info! You certainly know how to include tidbits that I can’t find in any other blog.

For someone who’s really into healthy digestion, like me, eating to 80% full makes so much sense. If you keep eating and eating, you add to the amount of food in your belly. After a while, you can’t digest it all. The less you eat at each meal, the more you can digest later. Brilliant advice. It was running through my head during the last three meals I ate!

My sister and I always quote Gillian when she told one contestant, “Look at all this food. You eat like a big fat slob man.”

By: Meghan Telpner

Meghan Telpner — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:00:59 +0000

I can only hope to be branded a loon some day by mass media. I will keep striving for that goal.

By: Jeanne Grunert

Jeanne Grunert — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:04:02 +0000

Gillian’s been branded as a loon by many mass media outlets, but as you say – there’s something incredibly powerful in that scene in her show when she lays the big table full with all the junk people eat in a week. I have to confess something. When I’m tempted to eat junk food, I have this mental flash of that table. I ask myself, “If I were on that show, would I dare show my face eating that?” Most times, back into the cupboard it goes for the skinny men in the family to consume of their own free will. Not me though.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:59:11 +0000

Must admit, this makes sense. The only thing is that it is only Day 13 for my new diet and I’m still learning about all the wonderful things I can eat and some great recipes I can prepare. I find I am still getting hungry as I am not eating enough because I’m so used to eating pastas and meat that I realise the same serving size of veggies isn’t enough. I’m not feeling sick or heavy after I eat and I need to get used to the fact I can still feel satisfied and full without that heavy “blah” feeling. Brittany, this was my “a-ha!” moment.

I have also realised that I need to put more time aside in my day to prepare my meals, instead of just being able to throw on some pasta and quickly make a sauce or barbecue a steak and throw a small salad together. What I do know is that I will not eat a supersized nausea-inducing burger served with a side of artery-clogging chips and stomach burning fizzy softdrink.

By: Ricki

Ricki — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 01:54:08 +0000

Bravo! It’s so true–since most of us overeat anyway, reducing by 20-30% would probably bring us to normal quantities!

Have a great long weekend, Meghan!

By: Kristen

Kristen — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:42:14 +0000

I love Gillian too!! I actually saw her a few months ago at the Big Carrot – it was quite the nutrition celebrity spotting for me.

By: Marie Poulin

Marie Poulin — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:28:45 +0000

Fantastic, Meghan, definitely spreading the word on this one!

By: Brittany

Brittany — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:00:18 +0000

You hit the nail right on the head. Less is not necessarily more. It isn’t about cutting portions by 20%; it’s about revamping our diet. Let’s face it: it’s disturbingly simple for someone to consume 3000 calories of McJunk, grease, fat, carbs and sugar in a day. But if you put 3000 calories worth of veggies, fruits, nuts and other good-for-you stuff in front of them, there’s no friggin’ way they’ll be able to eat it all in one day. They might be able to eat 1600 calories of it before they are stuffed to the max.

It’s about quality, not quantity. When people realize this, suddenly “diet” isn’t about deprivation, restriction and sacrifice. It’s about plain and simple change. Once that a-ha! moment happens, the diet stigma vanishes, and the chance of success goes up up up!