Best Sandwich Filling....

[BremnerLorimerGray]

My tuppence worth on the diet -v- exercise argument.

When I left for a 6 month tour in Afghanistan in 2012 I was pushing 15 stone. There were 6 messes at Kandahar; European (pasta, bratwurst etc), American (hot dogs, burgers), Eastern (Chinese, curry). Anyway, you get the picture. I ate like a king (in quantity not quality admittedly ) - 3 meals a day and dinner was always at least 2 courses as the puddings were really quite good. Because of weird working hours I'd often supplement all this with chocolate and fizzy pop when still in work at 3am.

My point is that I went to the gym 4 or 5 times a week, 90 minutes at a time, and came back 3 stone lighter and fitter than I'd been in 15 years.

I'm sure metabolism has a lot do with it but in my experience you can't beat exercise for losing weight.

My cousin is Captain(soon to be major) in the NZ Army and did a tour of Afghanistan and basically said the same thing. The base was catering for Yanks so it was wall to wall fast food for 7 months. He finished his tour as fit as he had been in years, came over to Scotland to visit us and ran the Paris marathon for something to do.

[redstevie007]

...came over to Scotland to visit us and ran the Paris marathon for something to do.

Christ, I didnae go that feckin far Back to my fighting now though

[thplinth]

http://www.details.com/fashion-style/the-body/201103/carbs-caffeine-food-cocaine-addiction

Are Carbs More Addictive Than Cocaine? Your body is virtually defenseless against a dependency on carbohydrates—the substances that really make you fat—and it's time for an intervention.

"

....

The answer is that fast-burning carbohydrates—just like cocaine—give you a rush. As with blow, this rush can lead to cravings in your brain and intrusive thoughts when you go too long without a fix. But unlike cocaine, this stuff does more than rewire your neurological system. It will short-circuit your body. Your metabolism normally stockpiles energy so you can use it as fuel later. A diet flush with carbohydrates will reprogram your metabolism, locking your food away as unburnable fat. When you get hungry again you won't crave anything but more of the same food that started you down the path to dependency. Think of this stuff as more than a drug—it's like a metabolic parasite, taking over your body and feeding itself.

You aren't supposed to talk this way about carbohydrates. According to USDA dietary recommendations, they are not only healthy but are supposed to make up the majority of the food we eat—45 to 65 percent of all calories. Carbs, which are classified as starches and sugars, make up the essence of bread, cereal, corn, potatoes, cookies, pasta, fruit, juice, candy, beer, and sweetened drinks—basically anything that isn't protein or fat. Our government's recommendations were established in the 1970s and have since been accompanied by an explosion of obesity and diabetes. The advice came about as early nutrition scientists rallied around a misguided maxim that remains embedded in the fabric of our attitudes toward food to this day: Eating too much fat makes you fat. But science never bore out this pre-Galilean view of nutrition. What is now clear is this: At the center of the obesity universe lie carbohydrates, not fat.

"You could live your whole life and never eat a single carbohydrate—other than what you get from mother's milk and the tiny amount that comes naturally in meat—and probably be just fine," says Gary Taubes, the award-winning author of Good Calories, Bad Calories, which is helping to reshape the conversation about what makes the American diet so fattening.

I think looking back I definitely had a huge bread 'habit'.

[thplinth]

This thread is really just discussing all the different ways you get your fix.

[Parklife]

This thread is really just discussing all the different ways you get your fix.

I get mines by arguing on the TAMB

[Orraloon]

I get mines by arguing on the TAMB

Aye, we had noticed.