The Obesity Epidemic: What Can Be Done to Stop It?

[DanP]

Sorry for the mean tone but jesus, I am tired of silly excuses!

While I do agree with what you say, just wait until you have your own household , 2 kids and a stressful job. Life will be suddenly a little bit more complicated than having classes all day. Especially if you are a women.

 

[Count Iblis]

Why not eat at work? If there are many people with the same problem, you could arrange for affordable catering at work.

 

[MissSilvy]

While I do agree with what you say, just wait until you have your own household , 2 kids and a stressful job. Life will be suddenly a little bit more complicated than having classes all day. Especially if you are a women.

Yet many people have a career, kids, and a house and still find time to sit and marinate on the couch watching garbage. Almost everyone HAS time, they just don't make health big enough of a priority to turn off America's Next Top Model and actually do something about it. Still no sympathy.

 

[DanP]

Yet many people have a career, kids, and a house and still find time to sit and marinate on the couch watching garbage. Almost everyone HAS time, they just don't make health big enough of a priority to turn off America's Next Top Model and actually do something about it. Still no sympathy.

Like I said, talk to you in 20 years :P

 

[Klockan3]

Yet many people have a career, kids, and a house and still find time to sit and marinate on the couch watching garbage. Almost everyone HAS time, they just don't make health big enough of a priority to turn off America's Next Top Model and actually do something about it. Still no sympathy.

Psychology is not trivial, "time" do not always refer to the physical quantity measured by atomic clocks but instead in layman terms it often refers to "mental energy".

When people say "I don't have the time to do that" they mean "My mental energy is not sufficient to do that task plus all tasks of higher priority order".

Things like watching dumb TV shows are basically free in terms of mental energy and as such can be seen as the psychological variant of sleeping. You can't just scratch that time and add a demanding activity instead.

Also personal differences are huge here and not much is known about this at all.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Today I weighed in at 28 BMI. The contest is to see who will lose the most weight by percentage by May 27. I am belly and belly with another fellow who started out at a BMI of close to 35, while I had been close to 31. Since then I have been eating less and exercising more. Eating less naturally entails eating better since even though I wanted to cut out the crudites, I knew that I had to cut out the twinkies instead. In April, I will be in Aruba, looking much better in my swim suit than I have in years past.

 

[DanP]

Today I weighed in at 28 BMI. The contest is to see who will lose the most weight by percentage by May 27. I am belly and belly with another fellow who started out at a BMI of close to 35, while I had been close to 31. Since then I have been eating less and exercising more. Eating less naturally entails eating better since even though I wanted to cut out the crudites, I knew that I had to cut out the twinkies instead. In April, I will be in Aruba, looking much better in my swim suit than I have in years past.

Congratulations man. Get in shape, stay in shape, and don't look back ! The best thing besides the health benefits of being in shape is the immediate improvement in the quality of life. It just gets better and better at a pretty fast pace, as you become a fit man.

Enjoy the Caribbean !

P.S
And yeah, do tell what happens at contest end !

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

This morning I weighed in at the 50% mark for American men my age, according to this site:
http://www.halls.md/body-mass-index/av.htm"
That says more about the average American man my age than it does about me. Although I am still very overweight and have a tremendous belly, within a day or two I will be able to take the moral high ground and I will certainly look down on American men as is the fashion these days. I am still in first place in the contest, but only by percentage. There is another fellow who has lost more than I but who started out much heavier. The contest specifies greatest weight loss by percentage.

 

[DanP]

Although I am still very overweight and have a tremendous belly, within a day or two I will be able to take the moral high ground and I will certainly look down on American men as is the fashion these days.

Be downright cocky about it. You are doing well, and you can afford it :P Your life expectancy and quality of life increases every day, with every pound of fat you lose. Enjoy the benefits.

I am still in first place in the contest, but only by percentage. There is another fellow who has lost more than I but who started out much heavier. The contest specifies greatest weight loss by percentage.

In the end, it % what counts. As you start falling toward normal ranges, there might be some hops on the way. In most of the cases weight loss will plateau. It's best to be mentally prepared for it, in case you hit such a situation. It's nothing to worry about, but it can be demoralizing for some ppl. You will break through it relatively easy, providing you stick to your new lifestyle habits.

If you don't do any form of resistance training, maybe is time to think about it. It will help a lot, and will help you conserve more lean body mass through the process.

Go to a MD and have your cardiovascular health assessed. Get an OK for intensifying your
exercise regimen. Start doing 2 days / week resistance training , and 2-3 days / week conditioning. You can do this at home. Simple bodyweight exercises will be very beneficial as resistance training in the beginning. For conditioning use light jogs , rope jumping, maybe some cycling if you can't tolerate the impact caused by other means of training. Doit at your own pace, progress slowly, but be consistent, and youll improve fast.

It's said a picture worths 1000 words:

http://www.medbio.info/Horn/Time%206/muscle_metabolism_march_2007.htm#On%20the%20move%20for%20the%20sake%20of%20science

Look at the iliac artery diameters in the picture for the 3 man. You don't want to be the shipwreck on the far right who sadly is only 35.

 

[lisab]

This morning I weighed in at the 50% mark for American men my age, according to this site:
http://www.halls.md/body-mass-index/av.htm"
That says more about the average American man my age than it does about me. Although I am still very overweight and have a tremendous belly, within a day or two I will be able to take the moral high ground and I will certainly look down on American men as is the fashion these days. I am still in first place in the contest, but only by percentage. There is another fellow who has lost more than I but who started out much heavier. The contest specifies greatest weight loss by percentage.

That's great - congrats! Lose, jimmy, lose!

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

It's said a picture works 1000 words:

I don't look like any of those guys. Strangely, I don't have any love handles. Just a major pot belly and fat thighs. The belly has gone down considerably but is still an obvious problem. The thighs are still too fat, and have not gone down much. When I was younger, I could stand with my heels and big toes together and no part of my legs touched from crotch to floor. Now they do at the thighs. When they once again part and the belly is flat, I will know I'm nearing the time to stop losing. I joined a gym and have been cycling in place for an hour 4 or 5 times a week, interupted this week by strenuous snow shovelling.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Lose, jimmy, lose!

It's good to know you don't think less of me.

 

[DanP]

I don't look like any of those guys. Strangely, I don't have any love handles. Just a major pot belly and fat thighs. The belly has gone down considerably but is still an obvious problem. The thighs are still too fat, and have not gone down much. When I was younger, I could stand with my heels and big toes together and no part of my legs touched from crotch to floor. Now they do at the thighs. When they once again part and the belly is flat, I will know I'm nearing the time to stop losing. I joined a gym and have been cycling in place for an hour 4 or 5 times a week, interupted this week by strenuous snow shovelling.

The hormonal ensemble of the body and genetic distribution of adipocytes have a great saying on where you get fat. Its not that important (although risk of CV disease is higher in certain patterns of fat distributions than in others ).

Anyway, the key point in the picture is not the way they look. It's the representation on iliac artery diameters, and implicitly the blood flow. In the end, looks is a great perk, but high CV health is crucial.

 

[gparsons70]

Today's obesity problem is caused by the processed fat that is used in hamburger. Years ago one would take a chunk of meat and put it through a meat grinder to make hamburger. Huge corporate has taken over the meat industry and the restaurant business i.e. Mac, jack, etc.

This is what's done, the fat is separated from anything that looks like meat and is processed for longer shelf life. Meat that has had the fat taken out of it is thrown into a huge bin. There may be meat from a thousand animals in the bin. This meat is ground to make hamburger. The hamburger you buy may have the meat and fat from a hundred animals. The fat is then reintroduced into the meat at the percentage it will be sold at, i. e. hamburger with 30% fat. But this processed fat has been processed in a way that the human body can't readily use so it is stored as fat in the body. Over time this causes the problems we see today, obesity.

 

[Evo]

Today's obesity problem is caused by the processed fat that is used in hamburger. Years ago one would take a chunk of meat and put it through a meat grinder to make hamburger. Huge corporate has taken over the meat industry and the restaurant business i.e. Mac, jack, etc.

This is what's done, the fat is separated from anything that looks like meat and is processed for longer shelf life. Meat that has had the fat taken out of it is thrown into a huge bin. There may be meat from a thousand animals in the bin. This meat is ground to make hamburger. The hamburger you buy may have the meat and fat from a hundred animals. The fat is then reintroduced into the meat at the percentage it will be sold at, i. e. hamburger with 30% fat. But this processed fat has been processed in a way that the human body can't readily use so it is stored as fat in the body. Over time this causes the problems we see today, obesity.

Sorry, we require actual studies. Please post the studies that you got this from and why a mix of animals would be bad.

 

[gparsons70]

A mix of animals is not bad other then the fact that when you eat a hamburger you are eating everything from cow toe jam to ear gunk, meaning that your probably not getting the best cut of meat in your hamburger. But it's the processed fat that the human body can't readily use that is causing the problem. I will try to find the documentary that was done on this, if I can't it will be sad because some of our highest rated nutritionists have no understanding of how processed foods are causing really big problems.

 

[MissSilvy]

Yes, but what I think people forget when they fly off on their own pet nutrition theory is that you don't NEED a PhD in nutrition to figure out what you should be eating: more plants, enough protein, less fat and Twinkies. End of discussion. You can hem and haw about macronutrients, raw food, corporations, and the like all you want but a hamburger is a hamburger. Eat the damn thing once in a while if you like but if you don't make it a great chunk of your diet, you won't have to worry about how food companies are out to get you.

 

[gparsons70]

Oh believe you me, food companies are not out to get any one. They couldn't care if anyone lives or dies. They want your money, at the least cost to them. For most Americans it goes like this. Mom, Dad and the kids get up to go to school and work. Who is the one that's going to feed them, corporate. Just about all the food we eat is supplied by huge corporations these days. Their only concern is money. That's not to say every thing they sell is bad. Some times the good stuff is cheaper then the bad stuff. But the bottom line is, Wall Streeters are not going to invest in companies that care more about the people they serve than their profits. This is not ranting, this is fact that has gotten to the point of absurdity. When the government has to issue an across the board ban on a major ingredient used in most things we eat you know something is very wrong.

 

[Klockan3]

Yes, but what I think people forget when they fly off on their own pet nutrition theory is that you don't NEED a PhD in nutrition to figure out what you should be eating: more plants, enough protein, less fat and Twinkies. End of discussion. You can hem and haw about macronutrients, raw food, corporations, and the like all you want but a hamburger is a hamburger. Eat the damn thing once in a while if you like but if you don't make it a great chunk of your diet, you won't have to worry about how food companies are out to get you.

Sugar is the biggest perpetrator, not fat. The body have a system for regulating your fat intake by stopping your hunger while we lack such a system for sugar, making the sugar you eat just become extra calories above what you actually need. Fat is good since it reduces your snack cravings etc.

Maybe that is the reason why obesity is so obscenely high over there, since people actually believes that it is mostly the fat that does it.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I dont' have any studies to point to, I just feel that processed food has too much fat, sugar, and salt. My wife cooks our evening meal from scratch almost every night and that helps keep down these things (except salt which she pours on). But even so we were eating out at least 4 times a week. She is helping by eating out less too. Also my lunch is provided by the company cafeteria and I don't know how much of that is processed, how much from scratch. In addition to eating smaller portions, I am eating more raw fruit and vegetables and almost no processed snack food. I reach mini-plateaus where I seem to synthesize fat out of oxygen and water, but still I average about 2 lbs loss a week.

 

[DanP]

Sugar is the biggest perpetrator, not fat. The body have a system for regulating your fat intake by stopping your hunger while we lack such a system for sugar, making the sugar you eat just become extra calories above what you actually need. Fat is good since it reduces your snack cravings etc.

Maybe that is the reason why obesity is so obscenely high over there, since people actually believes that it is mostly the fat that does it.

Sorry, but this is plain bull.

 

[MissSilvy]

On the contrary, it is not sugar or fat that makes you gain weight. It's calories :)

 

[Klockan3]

On the contrary, it is not sugar or fat that makes you gain weight. It's calories :)

But our body reacts differently to different kinds of calorie intake. Sure ultimately what matters is how many calories you consume, it is just that sugar is easier to overconsume than fat.

Sorry, but this is plain bull.

It is not, try looking it up.

 

[DanP]

It is not, try looking it up.

It is. You misunderstood whatever you've read, or your sources are bogus. Get a course in human metabolic integration at a university.

 

[Klockan3]

It is. You misunderstood whatever you've read, or your sources are bogus. Get a course in human metabolic integration at a university.

The sources are too many to just list, just google with some combination of the words "fat sugar obesity" .

But for example this one, I picked it since it seemed the most down to earth:
http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/Added-sweeteners.shtml

By the way, I am really interested what you have studied within this topic since it goes against the current convention.

Edit: Now that I reread my statement I see that it might have come off a bit strongly. Of course it isn't all like that, but it is a fact that sugar barely stills hunger while fat does it very well.

 

[DanP]

By the way, I am really interested what you have studied within this topic since it goes against the current convention.

Human metabolism. As I said, get a course in it, and don't point random articles on internet. After a quarter you will probably know enough to understand the control & integration of CHO fat and protein metabolism to realize that phrases like :

The body have a system for regulating your fat intake by stopping your hunger while we lack such a system for sugar, making the sugar you eat just become extra calories above what you actually need ...

are bull.

You will also understand why some sugars as for example fructose are considered higher risk in development of obesity and in what circumstances.

If you wish to pursue the subject in your own time and you already know a bit of physiology I can recommend you

"Metabolic integration: A human perspective" by K.N Frayn, prof. Human metabolism at Oxford.

Buy the book, study.

There is no point in discussing this subject further at the time being.

 

[DanP]

Edit: Now that I reread my statement I see that it might have come off a bit strongly. Of course it isn't all like that, but it is a fact that sugar barely stills hunger while fat does it very well.

Not really. Try to eat bread. Bread contains ~51% CHO. Most humans I know will feel *very* satiated by eating bread. It's the same with many other sugar containing food.

This is only a empirical example, but yeah, should be enough for you. Eat bread. See if you feel full or not :P

 

[Klockan3]

Not really. Try to eat bread. Bread contains ~51% CHO. Most humans I know will feel *very* satiated by eating bread. It's the same with many other sugar containing food.

This is only a empirical example, but yeah, should be enough for you. Eat bread. See if you feel full or not :P

Bread is not sugar, you are talking about carbohydrates. If you think that sugar is all carbohydrates then I see why you talk like you do, but usually sugar do not refer to all carbohydrates...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar

 

[DanP]

Bread is not sugar, you are talking about carbohydrates. If you think that sugar is all carbohydrates then I see why you talk like you do, but usually sugar do not refer to all carbohydrates...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar

From a biochemistry point of view, the basic CHO unit is a monosaccharide. Simplest forms of sugars in existence.

Complex carbohydrates are built from covalent bonds between sugar molecules. usually called polysaccharides. Wide used examples are starches and glycogen


Really, man , do audit a university course if you are interested in this subject.

 

[Count Iblis]

I get most of my calories from carbohydrates. I think the reason some people think eating carbohydrates doesn't stop you from feeling hungry is simply because they are not used to eating the large volumes of carbohydrates you would need to eat in order to get the same amount of calories they are used to get from fat.


Today I had 1 kg of potatoes and 400 grams of bread. Of course, I ate that with meat , vegetables etc. etc. Most people don't eat such quantitites of food. Potatoes are eaten with some high fat sauce. If you were to serve them the same potato and bread dishes they usually eat and leave out all the fat, they won't be able to eat more than they are used to. Their stomachs are simply too small. What will happen is that after dinner they'll start to feel hungry and they will then want to eat some cake or some other compact high calorie food.