Americans Eating Selves To Death

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In summary, a government study found that inactive Americans are causing an alarming number of deaths due to unhealthy habits, with poor diet and physical inactivity being the second leading preventable cause of death after tobacco. The gap between these two causes is becoming narrower, with obesity and inactivity increasing the risk for the top three killers: heart disease, cancer, and cerebrovascular ailments. The study also found that national leadership and policy changes are needed to address these preventable causes of death. Suggestions for addressing the issue include mandating better food choices and physical education in public schools, and offering tax breaks for fruit and vegetable growers. However, some argue that the root cause of obesity in the United States is our culture's reliance on automobiles, and suggest implementing
  • #1
member 5645
CHICAGO (AP) - Inactive Americans are eating themselves to death at an alarming rate, their unhealthy habits fast approaching tobacco as the top underlying preventable cause of death, a government study found.

In 2000, poor diet including obesity and physical inactivity caused 400,000 U.S. deaths - more than 16 percent of all deaths and the No. 2 killer. That compares with 435,000 for tobacco, or 18 percent, as the top underlying killer.

The gap between the two is substantially narrower than in 1990, when poor diet and inactivity caused 300,000 deaths, 14 percent, compared with 400,000 for tobacco, or 19 percent, says a report from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"This is tragic," said Dr. Julie Gerberding, CDC's director and an author of the study. "Our worst fears were confirmed."

"It's going to overtake tobacco" if the trend continues, Gerberding said. "At CDC, we're going to do everything we can to prevent it," she said. "Obesity has got to be job No. 1 for us in terms of chronic diseases."

The researchers analyzed data from 2000 for the leading causes of death and for those preventable factors known to contribute to them. Like tobacco, obesity and inactivity increase the risks for the top three killers: heart disease, cancer and cerebrovascular ailments including strokes. Obesity and inactivity also strongly increase the risk of diabetes, the sixth leading cause of death.

The results appear in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials discussed the findings Tuesday at a Washington news briefing where they announced a public service ad campaign using humor to get Americans to pay attention to the dangers of inactivity and obesity.

"I am working very hard at CDC to walk the talk," Gerberding said in a telephone interview, noting efforts the agency has made at CDC offices to improve the health of its 9,000-plus employees.

They include putting music, lights and fresh paint jobs in stairwells to encourage employees to use the stairs for exercise. Also, besides the current indoor smoking ban, CDC will ban smoking from outside all of its buildings starting later this year.

In order, the leading causes of death in 2000 were: Heart disease, cancer, strokes and other cerebrovascular disease, chronic lower respiratory disease, unintentional injuries, diabetes, influenza and pneumonia, Alzheimer's disease, kidney disease, and septicemia.

The underlying preventable causes of death were, in order: tobacco, poor diet and physical inactivity, alcohol, microbial agents, toxic agents, motor vehicles, firearms, sexual behavior and illegal drug use. Together, these accounted for about half of all 2.4 million U.S. deaths in 2000.

An editorial accompanying the study in JAMA says national leadership and policy changes are needed to help curb preventable causes of death.

"After all, wisdom is knowing what to do next. Virtue is doing it," said editorial authors Drs. J. Michael McGinnis and William Foege. McGinnis is with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Foege is with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.


My questions:

1>What should be done about this?
2>If you supported a socialized medicine plan, do you support it after reading this?
3>If you still support the socialized medicine plan, what do you suspect should be done to bring accountability to the table?
 
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  • #2
I don't understand what this has to do with a national health care program. I think the only place the government can really step in and do anything is by mandating better food choices and physical education in public schools. Maybe there could be some sort of tax break for fruit and vegetable growers?
 
  • #3
Originally posted by Zero
I don't understand what this has to do with a national health care program. I think the only place the government can really step in and do anything is by mandating better food choices and physical education in public schools. Maybe there could be some sort of tax break for fruit and vegetable growers?

Let me spell it out for you - fat people = diseases = higher cost for healthcare. With healthcare a major issue, and many thinking nationalizing healthcare to be a magic fix, it should be on everyone's mind that these prevenative problems are NOT going to be held accountable in such a system. I personally don't care too much if fat people want to fatten up and die. I do care when it starts costing the rest of us via healthcare costs, facilities being taken up by them, and a lower GDP through lazier unheatlhier workers. I guess Social security would benefit :eek:

I'd support tax breaks on fruit and vegetables, but not tax increases(as some have arbitrarily offered up) on fast food type places.
 
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  • #4
Originally posted by phatmonky
Let me spell it out for you - fat people = diseases = higher cost for healthcare. With healthcare a major issue, and many thinking nationalizing healthcare to be a magic fix, it should be on everyone's mind that these prevenative problems are going to be held unaccountable in such a system. I personally don't care too much if fat people want to fatten up and die. I do care when it starts costing the rest of us via healthcare costs, facilities being taken up by them, and a lower GDP through lazier unheatlhier workers. I guess Social security would benefit :eek:

I'd support tax breaks on fruit and vegetables, but not tax increases(as some have arbitrarily offered up) on fast food type places.
Good, sounds liek a plan, where do we sign up for nationalized health care?!?
 
  • #5
If we really want to look at the cause of obesity in this country, it's not the junk food intake (we actually consume less fat as a whole than other thinner countries) it is our inactivity.

The latter is due to the fact that we are a culture enslaved by the automobile. If there is to be a tax, it should be a higher tax on gas. Countries where gas is much higher, people aren't going to be driving three blocks to pick up a gallon of milk. They walk or bike or take the metro. Some European countries have a far richer diet yet they are overall much thinner than us.

A society less dependant on cars is a society that incorporates excercise into daily activities rather than forcing the issue of finding the time and discipline that a lot of people don't have.

Americans are not "lazier" because we are the fattest industrialized nation but because we don't have a culture conducive to incoorporating excercise for our average citizen. Of course, to place higher taxes on gas would put hardship on everyone, and would involve changing the infrastructue (ie: more mass transit and decent bike lanes like in Amsterdam) so it might just be easier to tax junk food. However, if we tax junk food, we will probably hurt the providers of the raw materials, ie: farmers and I have less sympathy for the oil conglomerates.

It's interesting that Colorado has the most bike lanes and is one of the thinnest states in the US and Georgia and Mississippis have some of the worst bike access lanes (I believe Atlanta was second worst) and we are two of the fattest states in the US. Of course, I am prejudiced since I am a biker and bike commute unless I am on call at night.
 
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  • #6
Originally posted by adrenaline
Americans are not "lazier" because we are the fattest industrialized nation but because we don't have a culture conducive to incoorporating excercise for our average citizen.
This is very true. In America, a lot of people need to commute considerable distances to their jobs, where a bicycle would not be an option.

People tend to work long hours sitting at a desk and then sitting a couple of hours in their cars each day commuting, they get home and have to take care of the kids, make dinner, no time to "work out" because they're "worn out". It's no wonder that Americans are so out of shape.

Americans also tend to eat out a lot. My best friend from Sicily visited me recently and was horrified at the huge portions of food served at restaurants. He said he wasn't surprised that so many Americans were so fat. Many people will continue to eat whatever is in front of them, even if they are no longer even hungry.
 
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  • #7
Originally posted by Zero
Good, sounds liek a plan, where do we sign up for nationalized health care?!?

hahaha, damn my bad typing! these problems AREN'T going to be held accountable. Presently, obese people will pay for their lack of personal care via higher premiums and early death. In a socialized plan we all would pay more for them, to keep them alive longer. We need accountability for a socialized plan, and this article points out just one of the MAJOR health problems that such a system will put on all of us to burden.
 
  • #8
Originally posted by Evo

Americans also tend to eat out a lot. My best friend from Sicily visited me recently and was horrified at the huge portions of food served at restaurants. He said he wasn't surprised that so many Americans were so fat. Many people will continue to eat whatever is in front of them, even if they are no longer even hungry.

My friend from Sydney said that he could eat a day off of what I eat in two of my six meals :eek:
Luckily, I work out, so my meals are strategically planned for my lifestyle :)
 
  • #9
I grew up at a time when many children in India were going to bed hungry, and it was accordingly of the utmost importance that I finish eating everything on my plate. At least that's what my parents told me. It is a habit I carry with me to this day. My weight has crept up to 215 lb, and the days of being able to see the abdominal muscles on my belly are long gone, I am sorry to report.
 
  • #10
Originally posted by phatmonky
hahaha, damn my bad typing! these problems AREN'T going to be held accountable. Presently, obese people will pay for their lack of personal care via higher premiums and early death. In a socialized plan we all would pay more for them, to keep them alive longer. We need accountability for a socialized plan, and this article points out just one of the MAJOR health problems that such a system will put on all of us to burden.
You ignore the reality of the situation...we ALREADY pay for them, and will under ANY system.
 
  • #11
Originally posted by adrenaline
If we really want to look at the cause of obesity in this country, it's not the junk food intake (we actually consume less fat as a whole than other thinner countries) it is our inactivity.

The article did mention that slothness contributes to our poor health and obesity. However, to say that our diet is not nearly as important as activity level is to make a false claim.

I would like to know what source you relied on to claim that we consume less fat that thinner countries. I highly doubt it, especially if you're talking about more than one or two flukes.

The portions of food, as well as the calorie density, in this country are enormous. Just think about all the bread rolls and the huge plate of pasta that you get at an Italian restaurant in the USA.

This is merely one case, but since going to college, my activity level has decreased significantly, but I also stopped eating animal products. My weight has stayed the same.

As for an oil tax, that would seriously effect almost all areas of our economy, as transportation is vital to pretty much everything.
---------------

I actually agree with phatmonky on something here. In medical care,especially socialized medical care, these preventable, continuing-lifestyle diseases (not the effects of one wrong decision, but continued poor decision-making) are a serious problem. We should not pay for people to be reckless and then hope for someone else to fix it.

Even without socialized medicine, the obesity epidemic clogs up the hospitals (pun not intended), and probably leads to some of the more risky operations (triple bypass) that causes these high-cost lawsuits and insurance for the doctors which leads to higher medical costs. There are probably other ways in which this increases medical costs, as well.

Being a vegetarian for the animals, this notion is especially strong in me because the same actions that are giving these people their health problems are contributing to incredible cruelty (in the case of animal products, which is where most of the unhealthy food comes from).
 
  • #12
Finland, Scotland and few others I can't name off hand consume more saturated fat and have higher rates of coronary disease ( that's why a lot of cholesterl drugs are tested in clinical trials ie: the famous West of Scotland study) but they are not as obese as we are. Granted, they are smaller countries and more homogeneous. I believe our fat intake over the last thirty years in this country has decreased but not our obesity because, as you stated, our portions are higher than most countries. http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/pdf/guidance_document_3_2003.pdf [Broken]

This link above after page 5 of 58 talks about how our dietary fat intake over the last 30 years has actually decreased. Not to say fat does not play a role in obesity, but in our country, our obesity epidemic cannot be explained in whole by this since the CDC and others say we have decreased our overall fat intake over the past many years.

http://www.unu.edu/unupress/food/V193e/ch07.htm This link looked at extremes of fat intake (low vs high) and put Belgium, Ireland etc. at the upper extreme of fat intake, not the US. There are other qualifying variables (what kind of fat intake, transfatty etc.) but overall, the US is still not the country with the highest overall fat intake (although we are up there).

http://www.healthyeatingclub.com/info/articles/foodcult/mediterr-asia.htm [Broken]
This linke talks about Finland having the higest saturated fat intake.


As for wether we have socialized medicine or not, we already are paying for the actions of smokers, obese patients etc. Two of my 21 employees have been in out of the hosptial for pulmonary, cardiac or joint problems related to their obesity or smoking. (They are the only two who are obese or smoke) My premiums that I must pay per employee went up $400.00 per person because of their increased medical usage over the last two years. (I am a small business owner so I don't get big discounts) I cannot fire good workers because they are overweight or smokers since that would be discrimination.
 
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  • #13
Does anyone think the price of food contributes? I do. Food is just so incredibly cheap. Since I was a kid, the price of milk has not even doubled, the price of bread and fast food is about 4 times as much. Housing, cars, and fuel are about 6-10 times as much as they used to be. While most of what occupies a household budget has grown faster than wages, food costs have not.

In restaurants, the price of the labor and infrastructure is much more than the price of the ingredients. Doubling a serving size might just cost 5% more - making a quart of moo goo gai pan is about as easy as making a pint.


Interestingly, the other big ticket item that has not outpaced wages is electronics. They are cheap. TV's, computers, video games, stereos - all sloth-promoting items - have become much more affordable.

Njorl
 
  • #14
Curious what area of the country you live in Njorl? Our milk is far more expensive then it was during my childhood (over $3 a gallon).

There's been some discussion about an increase in weight that can be attributed to so called low fat diet foods that are actually causing increased weight. Any ideas on that?
I think that Maine (my home state) is right up there on the obesity charts, I believe that it's not due to eating out (fast food) a lot as that seems to be more prevalent in other areas that I've lived in..but diet is based heavily on meat, potatoes, breads and lots of chips and soda. Light on veggies..and fruits. Fruits and veggies seem to be fairly expensive in this area...fish is also very expensive compared to red meat, potatoes etc.
 
  • #15
I pay about $2.10 a gallon here in Maryland. When I was a kid in the early 70's (in Philadelphia), I paid $1.28 a gallon. The price was artificially supported to a minimum of a penny an ounce then. Milk is one of the very few tangible products that is made here in the DC suburbs, maybe that contributes to its cheapness.

Njorl
 
  • #16
Obviously, (saturated) fat isn't the only conributor to obesity and circulalatory and heart diseases, but it is rather well correlated. Total caloric intake is probably even more closely correlated.

Well, there are a few counrtries that aren't as obese as the USA in which people consume more fat than here (though which type?). Of course, as you stated, they have even higher rates of heart disease and blood cholesterol, which are more directly problems than obesity.

The link about our fat intake increasing was really large and it got corrupted when I downloaded it, and I didn't feel like trying again, but I'm willing to bet that it refers to percent of calories from fat decreasing, not total fat consumed decreasing. (Percentage can go down while amount can stay the same or go up if our total caloric intake increases.)

Food is much cheaper today than it used to be. I don't remember the numbers, but I remember reading rather shocking statistics about how much lower of a percentage of their income people in the USA spend today compared to in the 50s or 60s.

------
Kat (sorry :wink:), there is some self-contrast in yoru post, at first stating that low-fat diet foods may be contributing to our obesity and health problems, and then stating that fruits and veggies (low-fat diet foods) are more expensive than high-fat foods (meat, chips, etc.).
 
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  • #17
Originally posted by Dissident Dan
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Kerrie, there is some self-contrast in yoru post, at first stating that low-fat diet foods may be contributing to our obesity and health problems, and then stating that fruits and veggies (low-fat diet foods) are more expensive than high-fat foods (meat, chips, etc.).

I think you are referring to my post not Kerrie's so...I'll reply as though you are :wink: I meant packaged low fat diet foods and things like diet soda etc. Also, there's been some reference to studies that the fat in processed milk is handled differently by your body then that of processed...I'll look for more info later, I think it was suggested that processed milk contributes to higher heart disease. Can't really remember where or the particulars (we drink unprocessed farm milk from a local farm..delivered to our door :smile: ) but I'll see if I can find anything legitimate that discusses what I'm referring to. Personally, I would prefer to drink a larger amt of soy milk but I'm providing for 5 children atm so cost is an issue.
 
  • #18
Originally posted by phatmonky
They include putting music, lights and fresh paint jobs in stairwells to encourage employees to use the stairs for exercise. Also, besides the current indoor smoking ban, CDC will ban smoking from outside all of its buildings starting later this year.

Lets go one step further... eliminate elevators and escalators. Destroy the horizontal escalators in airport terminals and stop that gyrostabilized two-wheel what are youmacallit from coming onto the market.
In schools, make students' scheduled classes as far away as possible and set the tardy limit to 2 minutes, forcing them to run.

It would not be a good idea for teleporation devices to be created in the near future, people will only get fatter.
 
  • #19
Originally posted by kat
There's been some discussion about an increase in weight that can be attributed to so called low fat diet foods that are actually causing increased weight. Any ideas on that?
People are confusing "low fat" with "low calorie". It seems a lot of people automatically assume that the low fat version of a food would be correspondingly low in calories. So they think a cookie that has 50% less fat will have 50% less calories, when in reality it may only have 10% less calories. They end up eating twice as many cookies and wonder why they're gaining weight.
 
  • #20
Originally posted by Evo
People are confusing "low fat" with "low calorie". It seems a lot of people automatically assume that the low fat version of a food would be correspondingly low in calories. So they think a cookie that has 50% less fat will have 50% less calories, when in reality it may only have 10% less calories. They end up eating twice as many cookies and wonder why they're gaining weight.
Exactly...people will also see something advertised as being "no fat", and think it is ok, even though it is loaded with sugar...hell, Pepsi has no fat, it must be good for you, right?
 
  • #21
Originally posted by Zero
Exactly...people will also see something advertised as being "no fat", and think it is ok, even though it is loaded with sugar...hell, Pepsi has no fat, it must be good for you, right?

It always cracks me up when I see a woman in a food court carrying a huge plate of food but drinking a diet pepsi .

I think it's safe to say that diet has no significance on whether you'll be fat or not, and that obesity is entirely based on activity.
My parents used to talk about how everything was cooked in lard when they were kids, and how pork was much more common than beef (because it's cheaper). Dispite that very high energy diet, obesity was very rare.

I personally put butter on everything. I have butter on my potatoes, my steak, my toast, my hotdog buns, my pasta, my rice. You know how the instructions on a box of KD say to use milk to turn the powdered cheese into a sauce? I don't use any milk, it's all butter.
Although I consume more food than most people, I'm not fat because of the things I do. To get to school, I have to take the bus. That means a whole lot of running for the bus and a lot of standing once I'm on the bus. When I get up from my computer chair, I don't slowly lean forward like an old geezer, I use my arms to lift myself up. Every 2 days, I exercise my legs until it feels like they're going to fall off. I actually use a SHOVEL to move snow, not a snowblower. I use the kind of lawnmower you have to push, not a riding mower.
It doesn't take a lot of effort to stay in shape.
 
  • #22
Well..a couple of thoughts :wink:

Shawn- Just an FYI..there are a lot of people who drink diet drinks because they cannot drink the sugar in other sodas. Sometimes it's due to diabetes but it may also be (as in my aunts case) that the sugar in other drinks bothers her teeth.

As for diet foods, what I actually wanted to get at..and excuse my lack of proper terminology..is that I believe that some of the additives are known to actually cause your body to store fat at a greater rate, or to slow down your ability to metabolize. Not sure exactly how it works but...that was my understanding. Also, in regards to diet drinks or other diet items with sugar substitutes, don't these cause the body to dehydrate? thereby making the body less efficient at flushing excess whatever from itself (lol, I need coffee..I know this sounds dumb!)


*edit- Shawn- another tidbit...my metabolism was incredible until my mid 30's, in fact I'm almost 5' 11' and after my third child, despite eating almost piggishly..I very quickly returned to just a bit more then I weighed before at 114lbs (very thin) now..I'm at a much healthier 136 and yet..I am just as active and eat pretty much whatever I want keeping in mind that I need to make sure of my calcium intake and so forth to retain bone density, I try to get a good intake of soy to prepare my self for that big life change..*note: it also seems to decrease PMS type moodiness as well
 
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  • #23
Beware of leaving your teens Shawn!


The majority of the calories most people burn are used in maintaining body temperature. Young people, particularly teens, are caloric furnaces. In high school I ate 7 large meals a day. I TRIED to gain weight but couldn't. I was 6'4" and only weighed 160 pounds. Then, in one year, I gained 70 pounds. It was nice that most of it was muscle, but a lot of it was fat.

Njorl
 
  • #24
Actually, most of the food we eat is crap, and they cover that fact with sugar and salt. Have you ever looked at how much sugar is in EVERYTHING? Even whole wheat bread usually has a pile of brown sugar or molasses in it. Sugar intake causes an insulin dump into your system, and once you get on that cycle your metabolism is shot and you get fat. That's why diets like Atkins and South Beach let you eat tons of food, and you still lose weight, because you don't get that sugar rush/crash cycle screwing with you body. I tried Atkins once, to lose a quick 20 pounds before my brother's wedding. I lost the weight in about a month, eating 2-3 pounds of red meat a day.
 
  • #25
Originally posted by Zero
Actually, most of the food we eat is crap, and they cover that fact with sugar and salt. Have you ever looked at how much sugar is in EVERYTHING? Even whole wheat bread usually has a pile of brown sugar or molasses in it.*SNIP
The first time I went the US I found this 'sugar in bread' astonishing, and not a little annoying. Fortunately there is a thing called "Italian bread" which contain little or no sugar, and it's widely available (or so I'm told). It also seems that many of the global food companies vary their 'standard' product to suit local markets (and not just slapping a label in a different language on the can/package/tub/whatever). A look at the contents part of the label of 'same'* products in supermarkets in the US, UK, Germany, Australia, ... is ... interesting.

*many products are simply imported; these are the same.
 
  • #26
There is absolutely too much sugar in everything...you can lose 15-20 pounds in a year, with no major sacrifice, if you eliminate refined sugar from your diet, and avoid eating anything with added sugar. The third listed ingredient in spaghetti sauce is CORN SYRUP! 8 ounces of spaghetti sauce as nearly as much sugar as 8 ounces of Pepsi!
 
  • #27
Sugar is not the only problem. In fact, we need large amounts of carbohydrates to function properly (sugar=brain energy).

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art7475.asp
Your reaction is highly dependent on your level of physical activity. If you're a couch potato who's daily activity consists of surfing the net, watching t.v. and taking trips to the fridge then you'll only experience slight discomfort. If you have a physical job (u.p.s. workers, construction workers, massage therapists, etc.), exercise on a regular basis, or play sports, be prepared to experience an energy drain and brain fog like you've never experienced before. Even though Atkins forces your body to use fat for energy, your body's preferred source of energy is carbs which means your body is not running on optimum fuel. Once you get past induction you will still be eating hardly any carbs; 25g, 30g, and so on. Do you think you can handle that? You will eventually be able to eat more of the foods you love but how much carb deprivation will you have to endure until you reach your goal weight?

It is good advice to eat lower amounts of refined sugar, but there are other serious dietary problems that lead to health problems here in the USA. High intakes of refined sugar are correlated with obesity and some types of diabetes, I think. I have never heard of sugar being correlated with strokes, atheroschlerosis, colon, liver, or kidney cancer, or osteoporosis.

Our total caloric intake is astronomical. So is our saturated fat and protein intake.

I highly recommend against low-carb diets.

And while they may result in quick weight loss, they have not been proven effective for long-term weight loss.

American Heart Assocation:
http://216.185.112.5/presenter.jhtml?identifier=11234
These diets can cause a quick drop in weight because eliminating carbohydrates causes a loss of body fluids. Lowering carbohydrate intake also prevents the body from completely burning fat. In the diets that are also high in protein, substances called ketones are formed and released into the bloodstream, a condition called ketosis. It makes dieting easier because it lowers appetite and may cause nausea.
 
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  • #28
You are right dissident dan. the Atkin's diet is useful for those who are sedentary and less active. definately, not a diet for those of us who are athletes or active. As much as I don't like atkin's (high rates of gallstones, gout flares, kidney stones, worsening of osteoperosis), he did help catalyze how we are rethinking protein and carbohydrate proportions. In fact, the recent food pyramid by the World Health Organization was a big change in that it advocated a greater amount of protein proportion. (What most people still don't realize is the the food pyramid recommendations are based on the tacit assumption that people are getting in an hour of mild to moderate activity a day!) The other problem is the longest trial conducted on the Atkins was only carried out at about a year. Actually, it showed that the atkin's was superior for early weight loss but after one year, compared to proportion reduction, both groups lost the same amount of weight at the year mark. I also don't like the fact that it avoids many anticancer foods and encourages grilling etc. which we know creates carcinogens. in the medical arena, the atkin's is most useful when a patient needs to lose 40 -50 pounds quickly before a surgery (classic example is a knee replacement, where if the patient is above a certain body mass index, the orthopedist will refuse to preform it due to the fact that the weight will destroy the newly replaced joint. (By the way, knee replacement surgeries are fast becoming a top orthopedic surgery due directly to obesity's effect on knee deterioration.)

I prefer the mediterranean diet, has good epidimiological benefits on cholesterol, etc. without the severe restricitons of super low fat (ie: Pritikin) or super high protein diets.
 
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  • #29
Originally posted by adrenaline


I prefer the mediterranean diet, has good epidimiological benefits on cholesterol, etc. without the severe restricitons of super low fat (ie: Pritikin) or super high protein diets.

What is that?:)
My diet consists of a 40/40/20 caloric split between protein, carbs, and fat. I emphasize a well rounded diet (low saturated fat,try to stay low on sodium, complex and simple carbs, lots of veggies throughout the day, drink about 1.5 gallons of water). My portions are probably larger than most (I take in right about 3000 calories a day, about 250g protein). This is all due to my workout routine, which at the moment, is focused on bulking.

Now that you know that much, I would like to know about two things:

1>Tuna and mercury content. I have started to abstain from more than a can a week after a recent hopkins study I read relating low levels of mercury over a long period of time with lowered basic motor skills. Any opinions? research you can point me to?
2>Eggs. I eat 3 eggs a day, 6 days a week. I have been doing this for about a year, and recently had my cholestorl checked. Everything was fine. How can this be? Am I doing something to counteract the effect, or is the data I've read concerning dietary cholestorol having little effect on blood cholestorol accurate?

:)
 
  • #30
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3173077.stm

The mediterranean diet is a diet like the one consumed by heart-healthy people along the Mediterranean: rich in vegetables and fruits, whole grains, nuts, unsaturated vegetable oils and protein derived from fish, beans and chicken, not red meat. And I really like the red wine and olive oil bit...hee hee hee. (sounds yummy and doable for a lifetime...no?)

This view was thoroughly reviewed in The Journal of the American Medical Association by Dr. Frank B. Hu and Dr. Walter C. Willett, nutrition and epidemiology experts at the Harvard School of Public Health, who have followed tens of thousands of Americans for decades to uncover relationships between diet, habits and health.


As for fish ingestion:


The warnings are with pregnant women (since mercury affects the develping fetus), nursing mothers and young children (whose brains are more susceptible to mercury toxicity) that they eat no more than six ounces of albacore tuna or about one meal's worth each week. the recommendations differ according to the type of tuna, with light tuna having less mercury.

The new guidelines will say that young children and women who are pregnant, nursing or planning to become pregnant can eat up to 12 ounces per week of light tuna, which has less mercury and accounts for about 13 percent of the nation's seafood consumption.

Also, those groups limit their intake of shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish, which can also have high levels of mercury.

Otherwise, I don't worry too much, otherwise the Eskimos would be running around with an epidemic of mercury poisoining in the adult population.

In addition, there is gobs of data on fish ingestion and protection against heart disease, strokes, sudden death etc. http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/94/9/2337 A review in circulation. Depending on the studies, people who eat fish once or more each week can reduce their risk of sudden cardiac death by 50-70 per cent. Thus, it does still help prevent the number one cause of death in this country.
 
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  • #31
Here is more on the mediterranean diet vs. the antiquated USDA food pyramid ( rmember, the latter was not founded on good science and was also influenced by the dep of agriculture )

http://www.oldwayspt.org/pyramids/med/med_qa.html#q1 [Broken]
 
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  • #32
Well, Atkins is frankly too restrictive, and not heart-healthy. A good compromise is the South Beach diet, which allows carbs, but generally relies mostly on fruit and vegetables to provide them. Plus, since it puts so much emphasis on eating vegetables, you get all your vitamins and what-not.

I don't think carbs are the problem, it is the refined sugar. When you get your carbs in complex forms along with fiber and fat, they don't just get dumped into your bloodstream.
 

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