Posted on 03/21/2008 4:04:03 PM PDT by shrinkermd
...Just as you can starve a fat person and induce them to lose weight, you can starve a child and prevent them from growing. Neither implies that overeating was the root cause of their getting fat or growing bigger.
There is considerable evidence that the obesity epidemic is caused by a hormonal phenomenon, specifically by the consumption of refined carbohydrates, starches and sugars, all of which prompt (sooner or later) excessive insulin secretion. Insulin is the primary regulator of fat storage. When insulin levels are elevated, fat accumulates in our body tissue; when they fall, fat is released and we use it for fuel. By stimulating insulin secretion, carbohydrates make us fat; by driving us to accumulate fat, they increase hunger and decrease the energy we expend in metabolism and physical activity. In short, obesity is caused not by overeating or sedentary behaviour, but by hormonal malfunctioning triggered by the consumption of particular types of carbohydrate-containing foods.
Obesity researchers, nutritionists and health authorities have refused to contemplate this scenario, partly because it would imply that diet-book doctors advocating carbohydrate-restricted diets - Robert Atkins et al - were right all along. Instead, these alleged experts and guardians of our health have wasted a good part of a century on research based on a high-school misconception, watching their compatriots grow ever fatter while blaming everyone but themselves. In the process, they have created a field of clinical medicine that functions more like a religion than a science. It is time to put science back in charge.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
A lot of what is called over weight in this particular episode of the “Sky IS Always Falling” program of The New Stupid Americans (viewers might remember the old program of Stupid Americans where we were health crazed and body image obsessed) is really only a non starved healthy level of body size.
The charts used were built around the lower end of body size when food types and variety was much more restricted than today. There’s also quite a bit of “because we say so” involved.
See one fat person and that automatically validates “Americans are all fat” meme.
So we’re supposed to spend $64 to get more info? 808 word article minus the 254 words in the blurb equals 554 words. roughly 11.5 cents per word for additional info. I think I’d rather go by a carton of ice cream. :-)
This, in combination with our sedentary lifestyle, and the pushing of prescription drugs, is a recipe for disease and death.
My doc told me I need to drop 20 lbs. My cholesteral and triglycerides are elevated and he said it was because I am eating too many cheap carbs and fats. Doesn’t matter what I can lift how many times at the gym, I need to eat better, exercise better and longer term, I will be better.
If I really look at what I eat I could easily drop out the Coke, the Girl Scout Cookies and the eggs and replace them with iced tea, apples and egg beaters while getting off my lazy ass and walking 2 miles a day 4-5 times a week. In a year’s time I can be where I need to be.
Drink lots of water. It tastes like crap after a while, but you won’t add on extra calories. Buy fruit instead of cookies etc..
I remember the low fat craze. I was thinking, what about all the fat-soluble vitamns, D, A, K, E?
Meanwhile, everything low fat in the store was loaded with refined carbs.
Don’t drop the eggs.
It’s Atkins.
If only people would read the whole book and not just a couple pages.
If only people would read the whole book and not just a couple pages.
That's right. And no need to be hungry.
Well, let’s see who knows how to lose weight better than anybody? Bodybuilders. Every single one of them lose 25-50 pounds in preparation for a contest and they all drop their carb intake to achieve these results. They have known this for 50 years. Your body can produce it’s own glucose quite effectively so it doesn’t need to be flooded with pasta, cereals and other carbs. And for those who struggle like I do with cravings, look into Higher Power Hoodia. I paid 10 bucks for a bottle of 60 pills and 2 a day knocks out my cravings with zero side effects.
Anyone telling you different is selling something.
No. The eggs are good for you in moderation - one a day average isn’t even bad. It seems “THEY” went for years being mistaken about all the attributes of eggs and now “eggs are good food”. So much for all the hundreds of dollars my parents spent on Egg Beaters (nothin’ but high priced egg whites - albumin). We had some cheap carbs tonight, macaroni and cheese from a box, but we don’t do that often. We also NEED the Girl Scout cookies a couple a day maybe - it’s not like they’re for sale every day of the year.
Now, the high fructose corn syrup in the Coke makes that not very good for us to have it every day. To me, the idea of having to completely give up everything I like altogether is not something that works over the long haul.
I wish “THEY” would just shut up and let us be natural and human beings instead of insisting that the skinnier we are the better we are. It isn’t so easy for some of us. It’s easy for 20 somethings and 30 somethings to flex their abs and chide us 60 somethings about how easy it is to exercise until we puke and eat to the “thin”. Yes, when I was in my twenties and thirties, even forties and fifties, I was from “thin” to only “slightly plump”, didn’t retain fluid. Now, in my sixties, I just want people to shut up at me and quit making me feel ashamed of being human and prosperous enough to afford groceries.
Misterrob, you can do it. I took off 35 lbs and dropped my triglycerides by 50%. The key for me was biking every day and weightlifting so I could burn more calories (I invested in a home gym so I had no excuse). I still ate tons of food and was never hungry, but it was all low calorie foods like veggies, turkey, and fish. I used different spices to change the taste so I didn’t get bored by having the same meals. I took off about 2.5 lbs a week, so in a little over 3 months, I met my goal.
The “Food Pyramid” originates with the Dept of Agriculture for gods sakes...about like having Exxon design your car....
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Fall02/Greene/index.htm
Oh, and while I’m on the old soapbox, the cholesterol scare is designed to get us all on their cholesterol drugs. You might (or not) be interested in what Dr. Douglass, Dr. West, Dr. Williams and some others of the newsletter and more natural types say about how cholesterol is necessary to insure that we don’t have a heart attack - that when it gets too low we’re actually in more danger of a heart attack than before. They’ve defined the normal cholesterol number down in order to be able to define us ALL as sick and in need of some dope or the other they’re selling. - Oh, and walk for fun and as much as you like when you like and you’ll enjoy it more! - A different opinion.
I'm about 250 lbs but have been weight lifting for 15 years and even with bad shoulders I can still push more than my weight on the bench and I can still do a bunch of other stuff. I just don't get enough movement during the week and that's part of the problem. Better to start now and get it under control rather than find out that I have type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure or cholesterol levels of 280 +.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.