I apologize for my lack of participation lately...

[Eternal]

Well, everyone else has pretty much covered the bases, but just relax and stay in bed.

Get well soon! =D

[DarthPaul]

Though isn't it good for your body to eat away at the fat? If there's still fat to take that means it can't reach the fat? (I failed Biology if you couldn't already tell...)

Yes and no. If your excersizing the body will go for the fat, if not however it will start burning fat and muscle protein. Obviously the latter could be problematic.

[MiKeMiTchi]

Haha. Just kidding LD.
Just enjoy other things you can do and you'll be fine..

http://altmedicine.about.com/od/treatme ... ds_flu.htm

[LastingDawn]

Thanks for the link Mike, it seems rather useful, a few medicines which I hadn't known were useful, were highlighted in there.

[Wasabi]

Eat plenty of lentils, oatmeal, flax and whatever everyone else described above. And take in plenty of rest.

To your health, LD. Feel better.

[Bastard Poetry]

Eat Wasabi, it'll clear up your sinuses.

Salute.

[dwib]

hopefully after the dark it is a lasting dawn. pun intended.
take care of yourself, there are tons of crazy foods and oils and antioxidants or whatever that supposedly help you overcome sickness, but ultimately vitamin C and zinc with plenty of water are what will do it for you.

[Samuraiblackbelt]

Yes, I've been taking a lot of Vitamin C throughout all of this and on the occasion Green Tea, mixed with honey and lemon.

if by this you mean you don't need a shot of lemon juice, you're wrong. you need at least a tablespoon if not two of pure lemon juice, you can also use vinegar.

[SolidSnakeDog]

The sickness you got is exatly the one i had a few years back.
This shit lasted 3 strenght mouth for me. (the pain...THE PAIN!)
You better off sleeping alot even in the day time. This will help alot to get back into health sooner and aslo will prevent it for geting worse and make you better quicker.

I hope you get better much sooner that i did.

[Xifanie]

Wtf, watch out with acid. It can cause permanent damage to the mouth/throat in pure concentrations.

[DarthPaul]

Wtf, watch out with acid. It can cause permanent damage to the mouth/throat in pure concentrations.

Citric acid has a high acidity but the enzymes in your saliva nutrilizes the pugency of it very quickly. Though I too question the idea of taking the stuff straight up.

[Samuraiblackbelt]

maybe not directly from the lemon, I get my lemon juice from a wal-mart brand bottle from concentrate. My grandpa was really into natural cures and stuff like that for a while, he told me to take a shot of vinegar, but I hate vinegar, so I used lemon juice, and it helped a lot, I've been using it ever since

I also had to use it this afternoon, last night about midnight I started feeling sick and now I have a fever a runny nose and the remains of a sore throat. lets hope it's not swine flu

[Archael]

If it doesn't find it in what you eat, it will find it elsewhere (ie first your fat and then your muscles).

it eats muscles first

when muscle levels are critical (it knows when to stop before muscles lose functionality for basic needs)

then fat

that is why it is hard to get muscular and lean at the same time

if you just under-eat, it'll destroy muscles first generally (talking about average genetics here, there's people who are exceptions)

[Archael]

Though isn't it good for your body to eat away at the fat? If there's still fat to take that means it can't reach the fat? (I failed Biology if you couldn't already tell...)

Sigh.. ok let me see if I can make this short and simple. I'm going to spew most of what I know regarding nutrition into one post. I hope this helps those of you who are confused on what is and what isn't. And yes, I am writing all of this myself, no copy pastes.

The body is aware that fat has more energy per gram than all the other nutrients (carbs, proteins, alcohols)

Fat = 9 Calories per gram
Carbohydrate = 4 Calories per gram
Protein = 4 Calories per gram
Alcohol = 7 Calories per gram

Carbohydrates vs Fats as an Energy Source

Carbohydrates release their energy rather quickly in comparison to the other two, and the body prioritizes them as a source of energy. However, you do not need carbs to survive. You can live off fat and protein alone (Eskimos). This is called a ketogenic diet, and is a very difficult transition to make, and not healthy for many people, it has tons of risks too.

In a ketogenic diet, the body will use fat for energy FIRST, because there ARE no carbs at all, even though it prefers carbs. If you stop eating carbs for a week, your carb cravings will sky rocket because your body is aware that it's most efficient form of energy is missing. I won't get much into this, but don't try ketogenic diet unless you are trying to get cut up for a bodybuilding show or something. Most people cannot run keto for more than a month or so.

(Before you ask, the body can and will make it's own carbohydrates through a not-very energy efficient process called Gluconeogenesis. This happens if you are in a ketogenic diet and do not eat enough fat. We're talking 70%+ calories from fat, or else Gluconeogenesis will take place, destroying the point of a keto diet.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluconeogenesis


Now, the body is also aware that fats are worth more energy per gram. Your body's #1 function and concern is survival. It knows that fat is good to store, and stores excess energy in fat cells, to be used in case there is a food shortage. New fat cells can also be created in cases where the caloric surplus is great, leading a person to create size in areas that they didn't have before.


Why dieting is not a good idea if you just want to shed some vanity lbs.[/b]

This is why if you stop eating suddenly, the body's #1 response won't be to lower bodyfat, it will try to lower it's own metabolism (calorie burning rate) to compensate. It will think that your tribe of humans is having a hard time finding food, and so it will change it's metabolism to compensate. Not eating regularly is a huge mistake when trying to diet and is probably the reason you have had limited success, or yo-yo up and down weight.

If you keep the caloric deficit up and lowering the metabolism further is not enough, the body will eat your own excess muscle mass as priority #2, knowing that it is more important to keep your fat stores there in case the starvation goes on for even longer. And yes, the body sees it as starvation. It doesn't want to die, and it will take the most efficient solution. NOT the one that will make you look like an abercrombie model.

If you eat regularly, like we humans do today, you are telling your metabolism that it's OK to run quickly, because there's lots of calories to burn, food is abundant, and it's OK to spend excess calories on maintenance, repair, and luxuries such as stronger muscles, healthier immune systems, more bone density, and overall stronger health.

This is why eating 5-6 meals (read: real food, not junk), is a good idea, EVEN IF you are eating more total daily calories than you are right now. When clueless teen girls try to go hungry and starve themselves with 1-2 meals a day, all they are doing is killing their own metabolisms, muscle mass, and health, only to gain it back again when they start eating again and the body is forced to deal with a caloric jump without the metabolism to properly burn it all.

You can gain muscle by eating regularly and never touching weights or exercising. (Although these activities certainly cause a greater muscle gaining effect)

You can lose % bodyfat by eating regularly and never doing cardio.

You can lose muscle mass by not eating frequently and forcing your own body to consume it's own muscle to make up for what you're not eating. (Remember, the body looks to consume excess muscle first, since muscle is just leeching extra calories from more important organs / functions)

You can gain % body fat from not eating frequently enough.




Conclusions for LD


So there you go. If you want to stay healthy and look slimmer and/or more muscular, food is your answer. If you can exercise on top of eating healthy and regularly, even better.

But dieting for a big caloric deficit at the end of the day (like many people do) is NOT the answer except for cases of obesity where quick weight loss is required due to severe health problems, regardless of the damage done to metabolic rates.

I hope this gives you a slightly better understanding of why eating healthy, regularly is much more important than eating less.


Let's say that I want to drop some body fat and gain some muscle, and I currently eat 2800 calories a day.

I can guarantee you that if I eat 3200 healthy calories in 1 day, spread out over 5-6 meals every 3 hours, for one month, I will end up looking better than if I ate 2500 healthy calories eaten in 2 huge servings, with hours of empty stomach in between. There's a limit to how many calories your body can utilize at once before it starts storing excess energy in fat cells, anyway.

[LastingDawn]

Very interesting post Voldemort, I have to say I was never taught this but from my limited knowledge of such things, it seems correct to how the body would react to such, it makes proper sense.

Now for the next step, which foods would you say is best to garner to this type? Also which food would you Positively revile for this sort?

[SolidSnakeDog]

I'd say : Fruits. And most things that is good for your health.
Not too filling,but there do the job if you eat em has the day go.
Don't eat too much sugar,hamburgers...well you get the idia.

That the basics anyways...but having food having vitamins C in there and here will probably help alot.

[Melancthon]

Arch has now hacked his own body to learn how it is coded.

[Asmo X]

A month sounds like kind of a long time. Internet diagnosis time!

[dwib]

I'd say : Fruits. And most things that is good for your health.

Fruits are obviously good for you but if you're planning to go along the lines of what arch described don't base your diet much on those very much. They don't really have protein and their primary source of energy is in carbohydrates in the form of fructose, a simple sugar (meaning it gives you quick energy. if you are planning on eating carbohydrates eat things like oatmeal and bread as their energy comes from complex carbohydrates that your body needs to break down slowly before use). If you want to have 5 meals throughout the day while keeping protein and fat intake high with carb intake low foods like eggs will get the job done pretty damn well.

a diet like this will work while you're sick also, as foods with complex carbs, protein, and fats are pretty easy on your stomach while being high energy

[Eternal]

Psh, he doesn't need an internet diagnosis, I can tell him what it is right now.

Two words.

BLACK. PLAGUE.

...that is all.