Posted on 09/04/2014 8:16:11 AM PDT by detective
Rates of adult obesity increased in six U.S. states and fell in none last year, and in more states than ever - 20 - at least 30 percent of adults are obese, according to an analysis released on Thursday.
The conclusions were reported by the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and were based on federal government data. They suggest the problem may be worsening despite widespread publicity about the nation's obesity epidemic, from First Lady Michelle Obama and many others, plus countless programs to address it.
From 2011 to 2012, by comparison, the rate of obesity increased in only one state.
The 2013 adult obesity rate exceeds 20 percent in every state, while 42 have rates above 25 percent. For the first time two states, Mississippi and West Virginia, rose above 35 percent. The year before, 13 states were above 30 percent and 41 had rates of at least 25 percent.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.msn.com ...
How does that disprove basic thermodynamics?
Another issue is that different types of food require different processes to metabolize.
So what? If I burn more energy than I consume, I will lose weight. The source of that energy doesn't matter.
If you wish to develop a better understanding of the topic, I recommend the book I linked above.
Taubes denies the thermodynamic perspective. That's just one of many reasons people should run fast and far from his advice.
It is glaring when you leave the country and come back. Go somewhere like Sweden or Spain and the women are thin and look like they just walked off the runway in Milan. Perfect care. They SMELL good. You would never leave the house, even to go to the market, in a pair of sweats or unkempt--the social stigma is too strong.
Not here. Fireplugs abound, in their pajamas--fat pouring out of the sides and tattoos all over their thigh sized arms.
Most of the states listed do have large black populations. It appears that, rather than race, the three best indicators of obesity are exercise (or lack thereof), fruit and vegetable consumption), and smoking (surprising as this tends to suppress appetite).
If the Feds want to have a positive effect on obesity, various food aid programs should encourage the consumption of fruits, vegetables, meats, and dairy that are unprocessed, or canned or frozen without sugar and other additives. However, no Senator or Congressman wants to face the wrath of lower income voters who can no longer buy packaged or junk foods. The voters might actually have to cook, rather than microwave or reheat.
I no longer have a weight problem.
Good for you. Simple steps like that certainly pay off in the long run/walk.
By middle age, one of those clones was becoming beefy and overweight, while the other continued to exhibit the eat-anything-not-get-fat lifestyle.
Guess which one was married to a woman who fed him the typical low-fat low animal protein mid to high-carb American "healthy" diet, and which one was the bachelor who continued to eat pretty much the way he was raised?
Genetics are overplayed by people who want to rationalize why being fat not their fault. Yes, genetics determine how a body metabolizes food for sure in a big way -- some people can depend on dairy for a large amount of vital nutrients, and others (lactose intolerant) must find different sources (eggs, hard greens).
Where this utopian "nutrition by government" business is headed, of course, is to try to justify in the name of "health" the removal of animal proteins from a human diet, and that is suicide.
Vegans are an illustration of Darwinism in action.
That would matter if he was presenting his own opinions. The book summarizes diet science and its political influences over the last 100 years. Taubes, as a professional science writer, is perfectly qualified to do that.
he's a great writer who happens to have learned how to leverage fad diets into an incredible fortune. He just another charlatan getting rich on the scientific illiteracy of the public.
He isn't selling fad diets; he's presenting the results of his examination of the scientific literature. If you don't understand that basic fact, you're in no position to criticize his findings.
“In fact, the history of nutrition and diet studies is replete with baffled scientists trying to figure out why many people can’t lose weight by eating less and exercising. “
I’m with you and have known people who struggled their entire lives.
I am one of the lucky ones and have always had great sympathy towards those with weight problems.
.
In fact, the history of nutrition and diet studies is replete with baffled scientists trying to figure out why many people can't lose weight by eating less and exercising."
Good point! Calories in, calories out, is is a very old school way of thinking (not that old school thinking in general is bad thing) that no longer should be taken seriously. That's not to say that exercise and caloric intake doesn't come into play at all. IMO, some people just want to blame the fat person for being lazy and eating too much. Everyone should promote personal responsibility, but there is much more involved than that.
Here is a good article on the subject.
Debunking The Calorie Myth – Why “Calories in, Calories Out” is Wrong
Why is this still a problem? I thought Moochelle fixed all this.
One third of young people are now obese. The number was less than 5% when I was growing up.
If you watch a movie made in the 1930s or 40's, it's amazing to see how thin people were then compared to now, especially the middle aged actors.
Over the last twenty-five years, finding clothing to fit me has been a struggle, because despite being old, I'm still slim. As the clothing I was used to buying became increasingly baggy on me, I at first thought it was me--that I might somehow be wasting away as I got older.
Then I dug out a shirt I bought from Sears around 1985, and it still fitted me perfectly. That's when I realized it's not that I was shrinking, but that clothing size was expanding.
In addition to clothing becoming baggier, I suspect other products have become larger to accommodate the increasing poundage of Americans:
For some time, I've wondered why so many pleasure boats seem to be designed with little thought to the boat's sea keeping ability. Now I realize they must be designing those boats from the inside out: let's create as much room inside the cabins as possible to make room for heavy people, and as for the ungainly shape of the exterior, we'll compensate for some lost performance by adding horsepower (which would be of little use when the SHTF in one of these oversized Clorox bottles, but at least the occupants will have plenty of room to thrash around as they drown).
Also furniture has become massive: I recently helped moving a sofa from one friends house to anothers. Had I known the size of the thing, I would have been too busy that day to help. We had to partly remove the door frames--in houses built back in the day when people were slim--to get the thing in and out of the houses.
Utter nonsense. Taubes's books are rife with his interpretations of the scientific literature. He is well traveled on the speaking circuit defending those opinions and he gets his ass handed to him whenever he tangles with someone possessing an education in human nutritional biology.
He isn't selling fad diets; he's presenting the results of his examination of the scientific literature.
But he doesn't have the skill sets necessary to examine the literature. That doesn't stop him, however, from offering his opinion as fact. He's a fist class charlatan who no one would know had it not been for Dr. Atkins.
If you don't understand that basic fact, you're in no position to criticize his findings.
LOL. Are you one of those people who looks to a journalist when you want to better your understand of human nutrition? If so, then I suppose you have no problem asking your car mechanic for medical advice. Criticizing Taubes doesn't require a deep understanding of human nutrition. He doesn't even grasp the first law of thermodynamics, and that renders anything he has to say as suspect. Your view of this is why charlatans and snake oil salesmen continue to thrive even in modern times. Always looking for the most complicated solution for the simplest problem will do that. Common sense is in such short supply these days.
It's true -- thinking solely calories-in, calories-out, is flawed, because not all calories are equal -- 100 calories from meat and fat or oil metabolize a lot differently than 100 calories from sugar or starches.
I think the big misconception is that eating fat makes you fat. In my personal experience, the only time that is true in an eating lifestyle that is very low carb, is in eating too many nuts. I can eat bacon and cook in lard (IMO as healthy as olive oil and much more flavorful for certain dishes), chow down on cheese and nice fat lamb 'til the cows come home and not get buttered-up around my middle. But once I start eating handfuls of nuts (the same as if I start eating bread, crackers, chips, cakes, and other starchy snacks) ... I start pudging up, and I exercise regularly, vigorously and long.
That is my experience as well.
Ok, well, I understand all that. I have a background in living systems. If you metabolism slows, you don’t burn as many calories. Red’s statement stands—his observation is correct in that if you consume a thousand and burn 1100 you will lose weight. He made no reference to metabolic changes. Also consider that when you ramp up the exercise routine you also ramp up metabolism and burn calories at a higher rate. Personally, I have pretty much maintained my same weight for about 40 years by adjusting how much food I consume, and how much physical activity I engage. It does take a good bit of effort. Starvation diets are mostly useless in the long-term.
“Where this utopian “nutrition by government” business is headed, of course, is to try to justify in the name of “health” the removal of animal proteins from a human diet, and that is suicide. “
Of course there will be the exceptions mandated by corrupt Rat politicians.
Is that fried chicken, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, carrots and gravy?
My mom used to make mashed potatoes and gravy. Or oven brown potatoes at least once or twice a week. I haven’t had either in years.
Once every few months my wife will make Bob Evans microwave mashed potatoes. Don’t get me wrong, my wife is a great cook. She just makes different things than my mom did.
Yeah, looks to be. Ya got to refuel and get ready for the next day of work.
Sorry about your loss[homemade mashed potatoes].
Good point! Calories in, calories out, is is a very old school way of thinking (not that old school thinking in general is bad thing) that no longer should be taken seriously. That’s not to say that exercise and caloric intake doesn’t come into play at all. IMO, some people just want to blame the fat person for being lazy and eating too much.””
It may be old but it is still correct. The link you provided is not a referred scientific article but it does state a law of thermodynamics. The first law of thermodynamics tells us that energy can not be destroyed, it can only change form. So if the energy that is entering the body is greater than the energy leaving the body, then the body will store the energy, usually as body fat.
If we take in more energy (calories) than we expend, we gain weight. If we expend more energy than we take in, we lose weight. This is an unbreakable law of physics and isn’t even debatable.””
I guarantee you, if someone will follow a reasonable plan with work, discipline, and passion, they will lose weight. There is no magic to it, just stick with the plan and change your ways.
“”If you watch a movie made in the 1930s or 40’s, it’s amazing to see how thin people were then compared to now, especially the middle aged actors.””
Exactly. Stating the facts can sure get you in trouble these days. People in those days ingested fewer calories and were far more physically active. Overweight people make a hundred excuses for why this is not so and the charlatans that sympathize with them make fortunes from selling the snake oil remedies.
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.