Fecal Frequence

[Ritz]

I used to go once every 3-4 days but for the last year, after changing my diet from normal food to white flour, peanuts, and two bananas a week, I'm going every day or every other day.

What the hell.

[Brazillian Cara]

Exactly: what the hell. I mean, bananas are supposed to completely stop intestines on their tracks, not keep them working. At least, that's how it is for me.

[Kogen]

Try the Dairy Challenge. Only have dairy products for a whole month. Milk, puddings, egg nog, cheese, all of it. Go ahead, try it.

[Farmer]

My bowels weep at the very thought. Weeping bowels.

[Frieza2000]

I used to go once every 3-4 days but for the last year, after changing my diet from normal food to white flour, peanuts, and two bananas a week, I'm going every day or every other day.

What the hell.

I'm perpetually fasting as a religious devotion. A few days a week I eat nothing but 3 cups of white flour and enough water to make it into dough (which comes out to a pound and a half of unleavened bread). The rest of the week I either eat plain spaghetti (cooked in this), huge helpings of raw vegetables, a cup of unsalted peanuts and walnuts for those omega fats, soft boiled eggs, and soybread, which is the same as the unleavened bread but with enough of the white flour swapped with soy flour to give me a full day's protein. I visit my parents every Sunday though, so I do have one regular meal a week. Basically the idea was to stop eating anything that tastes good while still getting enough nutrients to avoid serious problems. My body thwarts me though, because I've ended up growing to enjoy a lot of my bland meals. And since I get very little fat or excess calories, plenty of veggies, and eat almost purely organic stuff, I'm probably eating a lot healthier than most people.

FYI, incase any of you ever find yourselves destitute, white flour is by far the cheapest source of calories you can find in a standard supermarket, even cheaper than drinking pure cooking oil or butter. And, if you have the money for protein, defatted soy flour bought in bulk beats peanut butter by a long shot. In fact, there's a loaf of bread I sometimes make that satisfies the daily recommended intake of fat, carbs, and protein for a man my age that only costs me $0.38 in ingredients and probably $0.02 in electricity. I only spent about $450 on food for myself last year, not counting my Easter candy splurge.

Exactly: what the hell. I mean, bananas are supposed to completely stop intestines on their tracks, not keep them working. At least, that's how it is for me.

As I understand it, proper amounts of fiber encourage bowel regularity but too much can cause constipation. I've never paid attention to my fiber though; I threw the bananas in for vitamins.

[Kogen]

Tell us more about God and his relationship with your bowels.

Does he prefer it to be hard or soft? Wipe with the left or right hand? Can you use towel paper? A leaf? A squirty toliet? How often can you do it? During which time in the day?

[Crisis]

I'm perpetually fasting as a religious devotion.

Why!?

[Segaholic2]

White flour is not only nutritionally bankrupt, it's also kind of terrible for you. Why the hell are you eating it and spaghetti instead of some whole grains??

[Kogen]

To help stop nutrient loss, consider urine therapy.

[Crisis]

Or how about eating a nice juicy steak? You know, like a normal human being in the 21st century?

Having known people who've fucked themselves over with eating disorders, hearing someone describe how they've religiously eliminated all pleasure from their diet makes me a little bit sick. Why not vomit it up once in a while, just to show God how special you are?

[Delphine]

Of all the ridiculous rules that religion has come up with, a man's diet is the one I care about the least. What Frieza eats, for whatever reason he chooses, is of no consequence to anyone but himself.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

I've also changed diet considerably. Except that instead of 2-3 bowls of Cap'n Crunch in the morning I eat an orange, maybe with an apple or peanut butter-smeared piece of wheat toast. Other meals are limited to one helping, and snacking is almost eliminated, etc.

This has less to do with my religion (or rather lack thereof) and more about me tired of having a gut that arrives to destinations before I do.

Unfortunately I think my body has gone into famine mode and absorbs almost everything instead of, y'know. So I've abstained from voting till I reach some sort of equilibrium, if ever.

[Frieza2000]

White flour is not only nutritionally bankrupt, it's also kind of terrible for you. Why the hell are you eating it and spaghetti instead of some whole grains??

Partially because it's bland, but mostly because it's cheap. It's just there to give me my carbs; I get my vitamins and minerals from a multivitamin and vegetables, however much of it my body may absorb. Most of the products I got carbs from before switching my diet were made with white flour anyway so it's not that significant a change. I'm not that well read a nutritionist though, and I do like learning about this stuff, so if you've got some good links do share.

[Segaholic2]

http://www.suite101.com/content/white-f ... ur-a203963

simply swapping white for whole wheat bread, according to The Journal of the American Medical Association in 2003, cuts a person’s heart disease risk by 20%.

http://www.ivillage.com/why-are-whole-g ... 4-n-143806

White bread, meanwhile, is made from wheat grain that has been stripped of the outer shell and germ. Why is this a bad thing? When you eat breads and pastas made from this type of wheat — also called enriched, bleached, unbleached, semolina or durum flour — or rice flour, your body quickly converts this carbohydrate to sugar in your bloodstream. Your brain likes the feel-good rush of the sugar and sends out the message, more, more, more! Your arteries — not so much. Essentially, regularly raising your blood sugar can damage proteins called glycosylates. One of that protein’s jobs is to hold your cells and arteries together. When the arteries aren’t held together properly, your body tries to plaster the holes with LDL (bad) cholesterol. The result: atherosclerosis, which means your arteries are hardening and thickening, thanks to the fatty deposits, putting you at a high risk of heart attack and stroke.

http://www.360-5.com/food/thegoodcarbs/ ... ction.aspx

Some carbs, like white bread, baked goods and white rice, are unhealthy if eaten in large quantities ... Consuming large amounts of these types of carbs not only results in weight gain, but it can increase your risk for diabetes, heart disease and other conditions

This is pretty common scientific/nutritional knowledge. Just google a bit for white flour and see all the terrible things it does to your body. Your diet sounds healthier than average aside from all the white flour (this includes the spaghetti).

[Kogen]

Of all the ridiculous rules that religion has come up with, a man's diet is the one I care about the least. What Frieza eats, for whatever reason he chooses, is of no consequence to anyone but himself.

I once had a friend who had severe bowel disease. If he had any milk he would have immidiate diarrhea that made the entire house smell like a septic tank.

To say that a man's diet is of no consequence to others is a bit of a stretch!

[Ritz]

Not to criticize any overtly retarded practices or anything, but what kind of god would put so much delicious food on this planet if he didn't mean for you to enjoy any of it? A malicious god, surely? To wit, I can't imagine your family would be too pleased if they paid out of their own pocket to take you to an all-you-can-eat buffet and you decided to show your appreciation by not eating anything, y'know?

[Ritz]

Not to mention that the one time you did decide to splurge, it was with candy. On the day of Jesus' resurrection. How could you possibly repent?!

[Frieza2000]

'holic, thanks man. I'd looked into the benefits of whole grains before but somehow I'd never run into any of this. I'll give switching to whole wheat flour a shot. I've gone as long as a week on almost nothing but white flour and never experienced hunger, sugar high, sugar crash, or weight gain so I'm curious how I'll react. It's double the price though, and I use a LOT, so ultimately I might end up swapping only some of the white flour I use. Are you into this stuff, or was this just something you happened to know?

Ritz, it is an attempt to show appreciation, but since there's nothing we can give God that he hasn't given us or do for him that he hasn't given us all the means to do and couldn't accomplish by himself with a thought, there isn't anything practical we can do to make a show of gratitude like we can with people (besides just saying thank you). But the love behind the things we do makes them meaningful, sort of like a child giving its father a macaroni tie for Father's Day. When you're doing something for a person the amount of effort you put into it and what you endure doing it show how much you care, so that's part of the logic behind fasting as an expression of love and gratitude. I've enjoyed the gift of good food my whole life; now I'm putting it aside to take a moment to show that I love the giver more than the gift. There are certainly better things I could do to show love for God, like giving to the poor and helping my fellow man and that sort of thing, and I am doing that too. This is just a little something extra, one more aspect of my life that I can use to thank him and give myself to him.

The week of Easter is traditionally a time of rejoicing, so I decided to celebrate by letting myself have sweets. Sort of a way of physically getting into the spirit of the season (Christmas too. Besides, passing up my mom's cookies would probably be as hard on her as it would be on me). I did go kind of overboard though. Gotta work on that this year.

There are other reasons I could go on about but expounding on religious doctrine would probably annoy Del, among others, so if anybody actually wants to ask me more about this then maybe we should PM it.

[Segaholic2]

My parents are both nutritionists/health nuts so I naturally absorbed a lot of dietary knowledge in addition to being indoctrinated with healthy eating habits.

[Locit]

Re: whole grain, it's important to be sure that wheat bread you buy says on the packaging that it's 100% whole wheat. If it doesn't, you're missing out on a whole lot of nutrients.

[Green Gibbon!]

So what about sugar? I can eat as much of that as I want with no problems, right?

[gr4yJ4Y]

According to this guy(you might want to skip the first 21 seconds), it's healthier for you to squat than to use a Western toilet. Anyone know if it's true and why we don't squat? I've never used a Japanese-style toilet before.

[Delphine]

According to a quick Google search, squatting is a healthier position, as it reduces strain and allows everything to come out more naturally.

[Farmer]

I heard that squatting is healthier due to the rectum being bent whilst sitting down. I honestly don't think it makes an appreciable difference.

[Green Gibbon!]

I imagine that's how people shat before toilets were invented.