The real skinny: Dieting's a bunch of baloney

Atlanta Journal Consitituion ^ | July 20 2003 | SANDY SZWARC

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Some foods are so dangerously delicious that we must be protected from them and from ourselves -- or so the thinking goes among certain trial lawyers, legislators, special-interest groups and the Health and Human Services secretary.

These dietary watchdogs blame the obesity epidemic on fattening foods and the restaurants and food makers who tempt us with them. Fast-food restaurants especially must be stopped because they prey upon the poor and uneducated, duping them into ordering their greasy burgers and fries.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Congrats on the weight loss! I bet it's the good stuff.

[WestPacSailor]

four basic food groups: caffeine, nicotine, cholesterol, and alcohol.

I thought the four basic food groups were: water, hops, yeast, and barley.

[krb]

Atlanta Journal Consitituion ^ | July 20 2003 | SANDY SZWARC

Lady, buy a vowel!

[DB]

Your body produces cholesterol whether you ingest it or not.

If you follow Atkins by using regular eggs and regular hamburger his bad cholesterol will likely drop significantly while the ratio of good to bad will improve. It doesn't sound logical because we’ve heard for years the wide spread propaganda that animal fat causes numerous health problems. Slowly the evidence is proving these long held assumptions wrong.

Diabetes is a good example of the result…

[WestPacSailor]

I wonder how many of our friends at PETA are secretly on the Atkins diet?

[wjcsux]

Carbohydrates are the real enemy for most people. Its amazing how many peoples diets consist almost entirely of carbs. There is a good book called "Body for Life" by Bill Phillips that has common sense advice for taking care of yourself. The bottom line is this. If you want to be healthy, you need to make lifestyle changes that will make this a reality.

[webstersII]

"The biggest myth about fat people is that they're gluttons. Yet in repeated clinical studies, researchers have found no meaningful difference in how many calories or the types of foods fat people eat compared with thinner people. That's counterintuitive, but true. "

That's the biggest bunch of baloney I've seen in a long time. All the really fat people I've known (I'm not talking about someone 15-20 lbs. overweight) eat alot of food. And they usually eat anything they want. They are the ones who have seconds and always eat dessert. A bunch of us were having a conversation in the breakroom at work about food and dieting and a rather large woman piped up and said, "Oh, don't tell me I can't eat what I want to eat. Eating whatever I want is the only pleasure I have in life".

Self-discipline is part of the equation. It's not all of it, because there are other nutritional factors like eating what is appropriate for you genetic type and emotional factors like binging when depressed, but I don't know anyone who maintains their ideal weight without some willpower. Also, most people don't like to exercise and it's almost impossible to maintain a healthy weight without it.

[DB]

If you have significant kidney damage Atkins may not be a good idea.

I hope it gets better.

[CathyRyan]

If I exercise, I keep the 32-inch waist.

Lucky you! I wish we were all so lucky. Atkins works for me a long with exercise. I am waiting for the moderation groupies to start preaching moderation to alcoholics.

[Denver Ditdat]

They were all skinnier in the 70s. because we were teens and young adults.

As a group, the baby boomers were probably thinner than children and teens today. Just an informal observation, but it seems to me that there are a lot more heavy children today than during my school days in the 60s and 70s.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

I am replying before reading the thread so this may be redundant.

In addition to their previous targets, the left and their brown shirts, the trial lawyers, are now going after the necessities like food and booze.; :-)

In Dallas, our liberal mayor who banned smoking in restaurants, has suddenly discovered a dangerous potential water shortage. There are water police out enforcing the new water use regulations, such as when, how, and how much may be used to water lawns, wash cars, etc. There have been request to limit use in the past but that was during times of drought when the lakes supplying our water were really dangerously low. However, the lakes are now full and there is no threat of drought on the horizon. One of the lakes was even dredged last year and now holds more water than before.

IMHO, it is another attempt by liberals to slowly take over all aspects of our lives.

[redhead]

THE REAL SKINNY ON FAT by a Dietician/Nutritionist/Lipid (Fats) Chemist

Read 'em and eat.

[wndycndy]

Dr.Deth wrote: Yeah, like nailing Heidi Klump. But to do that, you need a skinny waist, and a washboard stomach.

And Westpacsailor replied: Not true...all you need is a big, thick wallet.

To which I agree with Cincinnatiwife that YES Westpacsailor is very wise! Wish all men were as sharp as you sailor!

[wndycndy]

OOPS! Sorry, was not Cincinnatiwife who said WestPacSailor was wise. It was someone else, sorry. The fact still remains though!

[Capt.YankeeMike]

it IS a simple equation. If you burn more calories than you take in, you lose/maintain your weight. If you take in more calories than you burn off, you put on weight. Very simple. Eat less, exercise more, until you get the first scenario, then keep it up. Very simple.

[CJ Wolf]

Heidi Klump? is that the Nutty Professors Mama?

< Not sure If I'd want to nail 'her'.

I know you meant Klum, when you said Klump, I just got this picture of her being real fat and sitting round the table emiting gas. Thanks for destroying my vision of Heidi, she is forever now a Klump in my mind...

[Maria S]

"Right. It's about sex :)"

Well, of course!

[DB]

Well it ISn’t that simple.

Your body has to absorb and metabolize those calories in order for those calories to matter. You can eat Styrofoam cups to your hearts desire and your body won’t absorb any of those calories. Zip. A calorie is simply a measure of how much energy is released when burned. It contains no measure of how one’s body processes it if at all.

And if it is so simple, why is it millions lose weight with low carb diets even though they can be very high in caloric intake?

[ravingnutter]

I have two friends who actually forget to eat until somebody asks when they ate last. They're too busy doing...whatever they do all day.

I had a problem with that and that is what slowed down my metabolism so much that I could not lose the weight. I actually never got hungry and was eating 1 meal a day at the most and even then it was a normal portion. Some blame weight gain on sugar, but I have not eaten refined sugar for over 5 years now because I am hypoglycemic, even fruit will give me the same bad reaction as sugar. I recently went on a diet of 4-5 smaller meals per day, started walking 1.5 miles a day on my treadmill and lost 13 lbs. I still have about 10 lbs. to lose. However, it seems I have leveled off for awhile, which is normal, but frustrating.

[Timesink]

Jim, this is that same woman that whined to you a couple of days ago about about the obesity articles of hers I was posting. You may want to excerpt this one down before she moans and complains again. She doesn't deserve the publicity anyway if that's going to be her attitude.