Hey all,
(before I say anything, this is stupid but I don't know if this site is only for females or not, if it is, just delete this thread, I couldn't find gender requirement on the register page.)
I'm 26 male from Europe and I want to change my food choices big time. Up until now I ate everything, meaning, mostly trash, drank alcohol pre high school, smoked pre high school, so lived like a junkie I gave up on drinks after I hit about 16 (just socially drinking now, less and less with time) and gave up smoking about half year (after 13years) and switched to electronic cigs, now they might be bad aswell, I'm thinking about quitting that too, but thats just an intro for who I am.

Why I wanna change my food choices? Well I've been always pretty sick and since I started going to gym (3months now, had 4months last year but I stopped now back again) I feel better also since I stopped eating so much sugar/junk I feel a bit better too. Now my biggest motivation is my mother, the one and only best person on earth, she is pretty sick and doctors can't find the reason nor solution. I believe if I can change her diet she will get better. She eats alot of junk just like I do. Here's my first big issue.. I started looking after stuff..like...fat..sugar..carbs...protein....low fat stuff...vegan stuff, everything, for about 2weeks, all my spare time I'm learning about what humans should eat generally.. but after almost every fact, I find another dude who says the exact opposite...now, I'm not giving up, I never give up, but it just makes my head explode 50times in a 6hour research session..

I want to meet some new people, who eat and live healthy, who actually know what they are talking about (and not just those who read an article and believe that article till they die no matter how many times it was debunked), who have spare time to chat about health, this also goes 2 ways, I don't need help from everyone and then I leave the forum as fast as I got my solution, I will help others too as soon as I will be able to. Also as time will pass I will learn alot, buttloads of information, I will have probably excel documents, categorizing every food by elements it has and make recipes with them, I will have this as my new hobby, since I'm working at home already, it will suit good.

I've known for years how humans are being poisoned every single day, all of us and I'm trying to gather all info, put it together, live healthier and then spread that info, at least to the people I value.

Sorry for the wall of text, I hope I will find some nice people, maybe even a friend. If you read it all, grats and thanks alot!

Welcome to the forums! I see no reason why you shouldn't be here

I know exactly what you mean about the bad food choices and the want to change to eating healthier. Losing weight and eating healthier are an important factor in longevity, not to mention that exercising is the best way (I think) to reduce stress.

I'm not a health nut and I've not been doing it for long, but I have noticed some things that have lost a lot of my weight. I used to eat a lot of wholemeal bread, about 6 pieces a day. When I cut it down to 1-2 a day, I lost 5 kgs (11 lbs) in one month! I also cut down almost all of the cheese I ate with foods, chose a low-fat milk (not skim) and I slowly reduced my portion sizes. Most importantly, I eat more vege's than I do meat and I eat fruit as my snacks. I also cut down on the amount of prepared foods, such as packet meals and takeouts (I even consider subway to be a takeout food).
Exercise is also an important component in health. I found that walking to 30 minutes 5-days a week was shedding weight. This is something I would recommend to everyone, to do something for 30 minutes a day. In fact, ditching the car for a bike or to walk to your destination is best.

At the end of the day, online articles should only be used as a guide or as ideas of what you might want to do. It's really up to you to decide the foods that you like and that work for your body For me, common sense governs my food choices (and the scales lol). You may want to see a dietician to get some tips.

And there are quite a few guys here! There is even a men's section, although you are quite welcome to post anywhere.

I wish you all success in your new healthy focus.

And I agree about food making us ill or not. I started last July eating almost all organic, lots of fruits and veggies, and cutting out almost all processed foods, fake sugar, chemicals, etc. I have not had so much as a cold all winter!!! My complexion is more vibrant, I have tons more energy and I feel great. It WORKS!!

And BTW be careful about all the "diet" products. Most all of the "low fat" stuff is just more processed junk, with tons of added sugar, salt and chemicals to make it taste better with all the fat removed.

You might want to check out some YouTube videos by Michael Pollan, or get some of his books. VERY educational and helpful!

Hey,
Rhiko: Thanks! First I don't care much about losing weight, if it comes with the deal I'll take it, health is my only concern here. I do exercise and I'm gonna take my mom in the gym aswell to do cardio, but first I believe the root of all evil is in the food, so gotta start there.
Misti: Thanks! I just went out to check the supermarkets for good foods, and it made me laugh "diet granula bars" with 1% fat...and only 30% sugar... was laughing like a madman in the shop.

I watched alot of material on youtube and articles, so far this John McDougall guy makes me think alot and I'm seriously considering doing what he says, no food of animal origin, full on carbs, low on fat. Just before I jump to it, I need recipes because eating rice/potato/corn all day is a bit boring.. also I have big problems with corn and soy, whereever I look they say corn and soy is bad because its gene modified to the limits. Same with wheat, its hard to find bread that is actually good and has nutrition, most of the breads (here at least) are from overprocessed white wheat. So there's alot of confusion about what are the foods that arent poisoned yet, and are good.

So far potato and rice seems good, need to search 2-3 steady foods and the rest of the green veggies/fruits come easy after that.

Is it possible here to make ...something like a diary ? blog ? I want to have a place where my progress / findings can be stored at one place (within a forum, dont wanna go for a blogger site)

Thanks again, will check out Pollan