Supplements, health foods and exercise strategies for cruisers

[GoingWalkabout]

Originally Posted by LNL

Hi Chaya,
I have done a lot of research on fitness while on board. I am not living aboard until spring 2017 but We know what fitness...besides swimming...we will be using. You can check out my web page Waveriderslife.com I have blogs about fitness to do while onboard. It may give you some ideas. Normal body weight workouts are also great! Planks, squats, pushups, pullups, lunges and wall squats. Harder ones like burpees are good also. There are many body weight exercises if you prefer not to purchase any equipment. I hope this helps a bit.

Liane

Liane, thank you for your comment. I read your blog. Thanks for sharing that. The name is great and both of your interest in combining exercise while afloat is inspirational. The kind of very helpful thoughts I was looking for.

I was thinking of having on board an aluminum fold up lithium powered bike. This way I could cycle to a destination and if tired, motor back home to the boat. Propably will import directly from China. In my bicycle research I came across a great fold up trailer/basket. Perfect for shopping runs.

Exercise while afloat is a somewhat seperate subject. Low weight dumbells I think. Also various bands. And I have seen very compact fold up exercise bikes for the back porch of cat.

There is so much to plan for the future. So many things to consider beyond sails, motors and which anchor to use. I'm so happy to see someone pre planning regarding exercise arrangements.

Again thank you and wish you both a wonderful life afloat.

[SV Bacchus]

Originally Posted by Minggat

While this generalization may have some truth behind it, judging all people and their situations by such a generalization doesn't make the judgement accurate.
I choose what supplements carefully and with consideration for what issue I may have at the time. Pounds falling off is not one of those considerations. But thank for letting me know how you judge me.

No, No, No

I wasn't talking about supplements or your posts. I was commenting on the "magic bullet" that so many go looking for. I take a few supplements myself but I constantly look for ways to get what my body needs naturally.

Eat well and exercise some and a lot of problems seem to disappear.

Over the past year we got the MIL off 7 medications, some which were fighting others she was taking, and viola! She has lost 70 lbs, dropped daily insulin dosage to almost nil and she feels better than she has in years!

I suppose I was directing my response more to the pharmaceutical companies and not so much to the supplement industry. Maybe I inadvertently did a little thread drift..

[GoingWalkabout]

Originally Posted by SV Bacchus

No, No, No

I wasn't talking about supplements or your posts. I was commenting on the "magic bullet" that so many go looking for. I take a few supplements myself but I constantly look for ways to get what my body needs naturally.

Eat well and exercise some and a lot of problems seem to disappear.

Over the past year we got the MIL off 7 medications, some which were fighting others she was taking, and viola! She has lost 70 lbs, dropped daily insulin dosage to almost nil and she feels better than she has in years!

I suppose I was directing my response more to the pharmaceutical companies and not so much to the supplement industry. Maybe I inadvertently did a little thread drift..

Glad to read your clarification. I thought you were thinking I was looking for a silver bullet. I'm not partial to silver. Much prefer gold.

Happy also to hear about your MIL. I'm going through the same med reduction myself with a lot of resistance from my Doctor. I only no to we'll how one med can cause complications leading to the taking of others. My slippery slide started with taking 50mg daily of Prednisone. On that for over a year while I didn't even have the strength to go unaided to the bathroom. I was lucky I could afford 24/7 private nursing in a foreign country.

I'm not looking for a silver bullet. Just sensible supplements for what I need and a balanced diet. Combined with a daily exercise regime. And contrary to an earlier poster I do believe that one can extend or shorten ones life by the choices taken regarding what you ingest and how much you exercise.

Again thanks for your clarufication.

[weavis]

In my experience, there are a set of general rules that apply to to humans and after that, it is down to individual needs and requirements.

For an average healthy person, a balanced diet generally should be enough. For some individuals, in a hormone and antibiotic laden 1st world food production country, they react badly to the average diet. Some of my elderly patients in the UK, for whatever reason, were not taking in the required nutrition from their food and needed a Vitamin shot to boost them up.

Im not a nutrition expert above and beyond being a medic. I have a mild interest in the subject and know just enough to recognise the symptoms of depletion and try to balance where I can.

There is a routinism among medics to treat with substances that they know little about. For example, I was contacted by a pregnant woman who had been prescribed iron in her 6th month of pregnancy and from her 7th month was vomiting and feeling nausea constantly.. the hospital wanted to take her in to monitor her... After I did a physical check, I gave her Folic acid 2 tablets of 400 mg which immediately relieved her of all symptoms of the nausea and vomiting. She went to term and delivered a healthy boy.

Im not prepared to enter the debate regarding the best foods, supplement discussion etc simply because I dont see how a blanket type of diet works for everyone.

My experience has shown that generally a high fat intake with a reduced carb intake appears to be beneficial for the majority in the developed west-BUT, not for everyone. Different nationalities, body types and environment all play a part in choosing the types of foods required.

When a body requires supplementation of a substance, THAT is the only time to give it. I prefer to do it through foods and recommend foods high in that requirement, or indeed REMOVE some dietary error that a patient might be doing.

I have one patient who is so faddy that she spend about $25K a year on supplements, and still got sick. She did not appreciate me putting her on a balanced diet of vegetables and fruit and small quantities of meat, but soon changed her mind when she began to feel better.

It is really all about balance and moderation. There are a lot of binders and chemicals in the nutritional supplements and actually in some products, little of the substance that they are being taken for.

A person being overweight is often the result of poor nutrition even though a 'balanced' diet is being followed. This is due to food production methods currently in practice OR the products not being fresh but out of a can. A lot of variables that need to be taken into account and treated individually.

I dont like tomatoes. Not in the UK or the USA. Tomatoes is a fruit that reflects the quality of the soil in its taste. Yet here in Spain I found that tomatoes actually are really nice. My favourite food is now Gazpacho. A cold soup made from vegetables, primarily tomatoes. I have a glass daily. I have salads nearly with every meal and much smaller portions of meat. Potato intake has dropped. There is Olive oil on everything. My butter consumption has dropped by 95%. Not that there is anything wrong with butter, its just I tolerate the oil better. Fresh fish is high on my intake. This works for me but might not work for everyone. But like everything, it needs to taken in moderation. I opted to walk more and forsake a car, so will take a bus one way to wherever and walk back, usually about a 30 or 40 minute exercise in my locale... Physical exertion plays a large part in food assimilation. I need to cut back on the volume and the beer.

I just checked my clinic notes and see that in the small amounts of nutritional aids that I give, the B vitamins are the main ones.For complete vitamin loss I usually give a multi vitamin shot and in the main these are to older members of the community that are not eating properly.

So are supplements a requirement in general? Its down to where you live and the quality of the food and the individual response of the patient. I do think that the health food industry is primarily about money, but for a patient who has a lack, its helpful. Im just not keen on self prescribing or guessing what is the lack and loading up on one substance. That leads to imbalance in other areas. I also tend to go for foods from local organic farmers both meat and soil grown.

This is my experience and my opinion. Others may disagree and Im fine with that. It works for my patients and for me.

[thinwater]

How long do you plan on being on passage? You're looking big cats; a gym routine on the tramp is relaxing. I don't worry about strength, but I do like to stretch.

Once you get where you are going...

• walk
• run
• swim
• kayak
• ....

Powered bike? My first question is do you bike now? If not, ask yourself why not.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Now I got this second thought, related to our health.

Unless you are very young, most of your health is already gone. We are programmed to live 35 years or so (ask any dentist or gynecologist). Beyond that, its all a slide.

Some say we can slide slower (or longer) by doing this or that, but I have seen no proof. I have seen grumpy heavy smokers living to rape old age and young optimistic people dying with cancer at 25.

So why not just eat what one likes best, exercise as much as one likes (or NOT) and live a happy life of UNKNOWN length? Just like any other life ...

Just a thought. Maybe a proof that my mental slide is towards its end too ;-)

Cheers,
b.

Working in healthcare as a nurse, this is also what I've witnessed in and outside the hospital. You're dealt a specific genetic hand at birth, and not much can be changed except maybe early intervention of certain medical procedures. Just ask my 89 year old uncle who's been a three pack a day smoker since age 16, or the 104 year old Canadian woman at my job who lives on only mashed potatoes and gravey.

It's all about the immune system you were born with.

[daletournier]

As someone who has made his money selling health and fitness I see one of the biggest problems being to much information, and the motives behind the information.
I tend to agree with Mark ,as my experience observing 1000's over the years says to me there is something in it. I've read the books regarding carbs and insulin manipulation etc but to be honest how would I know how this stuff works? I just know the results that I see. And in my opinion Kens also right as well, its hard to beat genetics.

Supplements? Just tonight ive been listening to a isagenics meeting the girlfriend and her sister were having, they are raving fans.....me? well over the years I tried lots of supplements and the only constant I found was my p... went yellow! Thus I'm a sceptic despite all I've read.

Regarding exercise, body weight exercises are just as effective as any other weight bearing exercises and they are free!

I still own half a gym, and although for many years I was a gym and fitness nut it now amuses me that people pay me money to come and run on my rubber belts as well as lift the heavy steel things of the ground! and dont forget the bottle of water they buy when walking out the door although we supply a drinking fountain.

Over nutrition seems to be a bigger problem than under nutrition from what I see.

Something else that dosent escape me is, we are the only species on earth that needs to read books on how to eat, move and raise children, the rest must be doing it wrong!



Sent from my vivo Y35 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[MarkJ]

This is about the latest roundup of knowledge.
Dr Ann Childers is a Psychologist and is speaking here to other doctors.

Its not about Paleo Diet even though the name of the talk may suggest it.

It deals a lot with aging people (us!) mental and physical health. Remember she is talking to doctors so is not dumbing stuff down...and can't pull bull on her audience.

Watch on a larger screen to see the slides.

http://youtu.be/ibUMRf7TPro

[Sea Dreaming]

Originally Posted by daletournier

As someone who has made his money selling health and fitness I see one of the biggest problems being to much information, and the motives behind the information.
I tend to agree with Mark ,as my experience observing 1000's over the years says to me there is something in it. I've read the books regarding carbs and insulin manipulation etc but to be honest how would I know how this stuff works? I just know the results that I see. And in my opinion Kens also right as well, its hard to beat genetics.

Supplements? Just tonight ive been listening to a isagenics meeting the girlfriend and her sister were having, they are raving fans.....me? well over the years I tried lots of supplements and the only constant I found was my p... went yellow! Thus I'm a sceptic despite all I've read.

Regarding exercise, body weight exercises are just as effective as any other weight bearing exercises and they are free!

I still own half a gym, and although for many years I was a gym and fitness nut it now amuses me that people pay me money to come and run on my rubber belts as well as lift the heavy steel things of the ground! and dont forget the bottle of water they buy when walking out the door although we supply a drinking fountain.

Over nutrition seems to be a bigger problem than under nutrition from what I see.

Something else that dosent escape me is, we are the only species on earth that needs to read books on how to eat, move and raise children, the rest must be doing it wrong!



Sent from my vivo Y35 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

Of course we are the only species thats reads.....

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by Sea Dreaming

Of course we are the only species thats reads.....

Dam.....I never thought of that, here I was thinking they didnt complicate what came natural to them. If the supplement industry could just train all those animals to read business would boom even more.

Sent from my vivo Y35 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

This is about the latest roundup of knowledge.
Dr Ann Childers is a Psychologist and is speaking here to other doctors.

Its not about Paleo Diet even though the name of the talk may suggest it.

It deals a lot with aging people (us!) mental and physical health. Remember she is talking to doctors so is not dumbing stuff down...and can't pull bull on her audience.

Watch on a larger screen to see the slides.

http://youtu.be/ibUMRf7TPro

Just watched.Thanks.

Sent from my vivo Y35 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[Gadagirl]

My sister has a masters in nutrition. Basically her advice is to have a varied diet. Try to consume your bodies own needs through healthy foods first and foremost. Veggies, fruits, healthy protein. Supplements perhaps for children, the pregnant and the elderly. She believes in a very varied diet. She can't totally wrap her head around paleo, Adkins, keto, because her belief is that a small amount of high fiber grains are beneficial. So we go back and forth on the issue of the amount of grains that should be incorporated into a healthy diet. She stresses to avoid processed food. I.e. if it has more than 5 ingredients listed on the package, and you have a hard time pronouncing said ingredients it's probably very unhealthy. I personally only supplement extra zinc or magnesium if I feel I'm coming down with a cold or virus. I supplement vitiman b or D or calcium only when my doctor has decided through a blood test that I may be in need. I take nothing other than aspirin occasionally for minor pain. I count myself lucky that I am not yet dependent on pharmaceuticals.

[laika]

https://www.gardenoflife.com/shop?gc...FZdZhgodrUcKUQ

It tastes like dirty grass, but we've come to love it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1Vg9PUbP30

[SV Bacchus]

Originally Posted by GoingWalkabout

I'm going through the same med reduction myself with a lot of resistance from my Doctor. I only no to we'll how one med can cause complications leading to the taking of others. My slippery slide started with taking 50mg daily of Prednisone. On that for over a year while I didn't even have the strength to go unaided to the bathroom. I was lucky I could afford 24/7 private nursing in a foreign country.

I'm not looking for a silver bullet. Just sensible supplements for what I need and a balanced diet. Combined with a daily exercise regime. And contrary to an earlier poster I do believe that one can extend or shorten ones life by the choices taken regarding what you ingest and how much you exercise.

Again thanks for your clarufication.

Glad you are fighting the doctor for less meds; what we did for the MIL was great and the results have been tremendous.

I myself went to the doc for a routine checkup 4 months ago and my cholesterol was 201 (male, 63, 5'10" and 172 lbs) which was high for me. I have always been under 190. He wanted me to start meds for it and I refused saying "I'll come back in two months."

I started watching my intake a little better, began taking Wild Alaskan Fish Oil supplements because I don't eat fish and also started taking 2 teaspoons of Psyllium Husks each morning.

I went back in two months weighing 165, BP 105/60 and my new cholesterol was 178. He STILL wanted me to go on meds! WTH????

I said "I'll be back in two months" but I told my wife that I wasn't going back as he was pushing something I didn't need.

Alas, a good one is hare to find!

And to your last point, very much yes, we control our length of time here by how we treat the temple! But I gotta add that famous George Burns quote "Sure, I could give up cigars, women and whiskey and probably live longer but why would I want too?" Ha!

I take a few supplements but I didn't give up my beer!

[barnakiel]

Today I have spent some time looking at the stuff available here.

Collagen supplements - are they good for cartilage recovery after bouts of arthritis?

Caffeina and Taurina - is this what I take to stay awake?

Then I looked at the active ingredient amounts: ... 0,3% to 1,0% ... ???????

Like am I an ant or anything?

Can I buy this collagen / caffeine / taurine stuff pure, at source?

And what is the remaining 99% - the stuff that I actually pay for. Sugar? Starch? Soy lecithin?

And does the apparently active and supposedly beneficial 1% overweigh the known disadvantages of filling myself up with 99% of you name it?

I am so disappointed with food supplements. The only time I gave it a half-hearted try, I found a cheater on my doorstep. ;-)

I have flushed down the aftertaste of my failed food supplements stunt with 40% Mauritius rum. (60% water, I know this much)

b.