Busy guy needs some advice

[earwine]

I’m a busy guy. I work full time, play baseball, and love spending time with my family. The problem is, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve found it harder and harder to eat right. I need to find a balance between convenient foods and healthy foods because I’ve started to notice a difference in my stamina and my overall health. I know prostate issues are often associated with health, and God knows I don’t want those problems! I like to eat organic, or at least natural foods, and I’m hoping to find something that’s available in stores or online that I can add to my diet (supplements? Health bar? Specific items I can easily add to my diet?) that will keep me healthy, provide a balance of nutrition, but that’s also safe and natural. I saw an ad on TV for this natural prostate health (http://www.goprostect.com/) bar, but wanted to see if anyone has tried it. There are a few other things I’ve found online, like Rival Soy (http://www.revivalsoy.com/whysoy/article.html?flash6=yes&article=prostate) and other health foods (http://www.healingtherapies.info/natural_prostate_health.htm) that are supposed to help. What do you think? Are any of them worth a shot? “Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

[gitfiddle]

I like to eat organic, or at least natural foods, and I’m hoping to find something that’s available in stores or online that I can add to my diet (supplements? Health bar? Specific items I can easily add to my diet?) that will keep me healthy, provide a balance of nutrition, but that’s also safe and natural.Earwine, in my experience there is no "Magic Bullet". If the "health" bar contains sugar alcohols, I would avoid it. This is a site specifically for low carb eating, although we readily discuss other topics. No doctors around at this time, as far as I know!

I'm busy too, and I've found my best bet is to keep my fridge and pantry stocked with the food that works best for me and keep them uncomplicated.

[maxlharris]

Menus of what you eat? Descriptions of organic are not useful. Organic brown rice, is, for instance, though to be healthful, but is actually mostly nutrient free carbs that will spike blood sugar, which is not good for you. Yes, it's probably better than pesticide laced brown rice, but carbs are carbs and in dense quantities, not good for you, regardless of farming method.

[earwine]

Maintaining a healthy diet has been the hard part of this whole thing, but I have been fighting through it. I have still been sticking with that health bar (http://www.goprostect.com) I mentioned originally as well.

[maxlharris]

I don't think I would eat the ProsTect bar.
From: https://www.goprostect.com/index.php/faqs-info#1
Calories: Are Pros-Tect Bars Fattening?
Each bar contains only 180 calories and 5 grams of fat. In addition to the active ingredients, Pros-Tect Bars are made with 2 scoops of cranberries, a light yogurt coating which has only 10 calories, rolled oats and soy protein which make them a source of fiber and energy, and great nutritional supplement supporting prostate health.


180 cals, 5g of fat.
Let's see, that's 45 cals from fat, 135 from protein and carbs, for a combined count of 34g.

Two scoops of cranberries (more carb than protein), a light yogurt coating (more carb than protein), rolled oats (more carb than protein), and soy protein (which is protein, but I wouldn't feed it to my cats, much less myself).

No real nutritional information, but if we have 35g of carbs and protein to distribute (net of fiber), I'd probably guess something like 20:15 carb to protein. And the protein is junk protein with phytoestrogens.

[maxlharris]

PS- If I were a man (I am), and cared about staying healthy, I would not consider Revival Soy.

That third site originally linked to uses some very flawed science to argue for how to fix your prostate.

[Frank Hagan]

Not sure why the concern about the prostrate. While most men develop prostrate cancer toward the end of their lives, it is usually not life threatening. We usually die of other causes first. If you're having specific problems with urination, etc., I would get to a urologist right away. But if its just for a preventative type of action ...

Focusing on just one aspect of health might lead you down the wrong path. You could improve one aspect while actually damaging another aspect.

A lot of these things are candy bars masquerading as health bars. They even mention that diabetics can use them by breaking off little chunks and eating them throughout the day. I think that's a clue that they cause you problems even if you're not diabetic. Eating sugar, which is what carbs become within about two hours after you chew them, causes you to have a surge of insulin when you eat it; for many of us here, that type of eating has caused our cells to become resistant to the insulin level requiring the body to increase the level higher and higher. The bad effects of insulin resistance are most readily seen in our profiles (fat), but there are plenty of other bad effects lurking below the surface.

A better approach might be to look at the research in Protein Power Life Plan (http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduc t%2F0446678678%2Fqid%3D1148257855%2Fsr%3D1-3%3Fs%3Dbooks%26v%3Dglance%26n%3D283155&tag=proteinpowerc-20) to find a way to improve your overall health and take advantage of the benefits that gives (including feeling better overall, which is essential to a healthy sexual life).

Reducing carbs, increasing protein if necessary, and eating the right kind of fat will make you feel better, and improve your general health.

FWIW, I'm male, 53, and have been following the Protein Power plan since 3/11/09. I will never go back now; I'm off Prilosec for the first time in a decade, no longer have another alarming but common intestinal ailment, no longer falling asleep while driving, etc.