Why It's So Hard Not To Be Fat
Fat, sugar and salt; the triple threat to our waistlines... and health. Mere decades ago, the food industry made a conscious choice to seduce the American public into eating more food by making these three ingredients the cornerstones of our beloved diet of processed food. And we could not have made it easier for them.
Complicating matters? Our busy, connected, blackberry-ruled lives leave us little time to worry about what's on a label, let alone time to cook. We left the door wide open for health-stealing pirates known as marketers to walk right into our living rooms and rob us of the ability to rationally identify what's truly healthy as they deadened our taste buds with the 'Big Three' (as I call them). The result? Overeating in search of satisfaction.
Now I'm not saying that we, the consumer, have no responsibility in this scenario. It's not good enough to sit, hypnotized in front of glowing television screens as our good buddies Papa John, Wendy and the Colonel sell us swill in place of real food.
Look, we are evolutionarily programmed to eat and rest as much as we can. When foods like fat and sugar were scarce and hunting and gathering was an exhausting necessity, we ate and rested to preserve our lives. I don't know about you, but unless you count hunting for a parking spot, those days are over. And while a lot of things have changed in the last 10,000 years, our basic drive to find food and eat hasn't. Marketing has staked a big interest in that truth.
So how did we get into this mess? With the end of the Industrial Revolution and World War II (sweeping history lesson, I know...), most of us abandoned a rural lifestyle and evolved into the Ozzie and Harriet-esque 1950's. Everyone bought a car and moved to the suburbs. The 1960's came and went in a fog (well, for a lot of us) and women pretty much abandoned the kitchen that had been the center of the universe for generations before them.
At the same time, we experienced a dramatically altered economic culture that saw the two-income family as a necessity rather than a luxury and the beat went on. The post-Vietnam era dawned on a society that saw money not going as far and our mortality staring us in the face. So we worked to buy stuff, lots and lots of stuff.
Before we knew it, we found ourselves living in this fast-paced world with lots of labor-saving conveniences, more sedentary work and no time to stop and smell the roses...or cook dinner from scratch.
When our stoves grew cold; our pots and pans gathered dust, somebody had to step in and feed us. Their names are warm and familiar: Sarah Lee, Betty Crocker, Chef Boyardee (now boasting a whole serving of vegetables in a can... don't get me started) teamed up with our favorite neighbor, the McDonald's, and here we are... in a health crisis that is changing society as we know it.
What the food industry has done is criminal. From the invention of high fructose corn syrup (yes, I said 'invention'... by the Japanese in 1968... funny how sugar cane and beets weren't invented, just grew there waiting to be used as food) to the chemicals, additives, preservatives, herbicides, pesticides, growth hormones, steroids and other toxic waste that's legally a part of most of the labels on processed food, large food corporations have done nothing but steal your health and make you fat.
But we buy into the propaganda and eat more. The 'food-like' substances that Michael Pollan describes have little or nothing to do with food in its natural state and everything to do with why we are so fat and getting fatter. A new study published in Prevention Magazine (August 2009) tells the sad results of a survey of consumers done by Duke University. Apparently, just because people see and consider the healthy salad option on a fast food menu, they feel justified in ordering the fries. It's called 'The Vicarious Goal Fulfillment Effect' and considering the salad leads people to feel better about themselves so it's okay to order junk food instead. So plan on seeing gorgeous, seductive photos of salads at each and every fast food franchise you visit. Oh... and then order the fries and the Angus Third Pounder (I guess a quarter pound of beef wasn't fulfilling enough).
Every expert agrees, from T.Colin Campbell, author of The China Study, (perhaps the greatest epidemiological study ever conducted on the effects of food on health) to Dr. Mehmet Oz that our health begins with what we put in our mouths. Quality has to take precedence over quantity in order for us to dig out of the fog of fast food and become healthy, vital humans.
The Standard American Diet has to be re-thought and I don't mean going from Kentucky Fried Chicken to Kentucky Grilled Chicken. You won't see the dramatic results we need to rescue humanity by reducing your intake of food by a few chips, a soda or two and paring away the fat on your pork chop. Nothing short of a complete re-thinking of how we feed ourselves is going to turn the tide of this epidemic of obesity that threatens the very existence of future generations.
It's time to say enough and head back to the kitchen and cook. It's easy and delicious. You're not splitting the atom; you're making dinner... and taking control of your health and waistline deliciously. I have spent most of my career teaching people to do just that.
We have to stop kidding ourselves and put a stop to the special interest groups and advertisers that just want your money. They don't care about you, your kids or your husband's heart attack. They care about their profits. It's time to return to food that was produced by the sun, earth, wind and water, not in a lab or a Petri dish. Instead of worrying about each micronutrient that advertisers tell us we need, just eat unprocessed, natural food (and exercise, but more on that later...). You'll enjoy robust health and live in a body of normal weight.
Look, in the end, we all wake up dead, as the saying goes. No dietary choices can ultimately prevent that. But wouldn't it be nice to spend your days more productively than worrying about how heavy you are and what your disease risks look like? Wouldn't it be nice to live free of the specter of preconceived illness and disability so common today? We can, you know. We just have to change how we think about food and say... enough!
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Thanks, KJLSanDiego . Good luck getting to your goal BMI. I am satisfied where I am, but would love to drop another 4 lbs or so, which would take me to around 21 also. If I don't get there, however, I am okay where I am.
I forgot to mention in my original post that light weight lifting is beneficial to tone muscles and has helped in my weight loss.. I lift light weights, no heavier than 7 lb dumbbells, that are plenty heavy if you do multiple reps.
Good luck to all wishing to lose, and actually are doing something to make it so.
Jude
Congratulations Jude, but I am a much bigger believer in body fat percentage than BMI. BMI is seriously flawed. If you are at all muscular, there is no way to get into the low 20's.
Brilliant article by Christina Pirello. Other culprits include high fructose corn syrup and the fact the chronic diseases/conditions can often result in immobility. You have to move it to lose it. How did this happen to us as a country? Brava, Christina!
eating too much....stop eating to much.
Greedy is word !!!
What do you do if you have chronic fatigue syndrome and can't exercise a full 30 minutes a day with out ending up in bed for days recovering? It's a bummer moving into menopause with the weight gain and not being able to work it off; after all, there is only so much spinach and broccoli one can eat!
I can't pretend to know what chronic fatigue syndrome is like, but here are some uninformed suggestions.
Exercise for as long as you can. Work up to 30 minutes. You don't have to do 30 minutes at a time. You can break it up into 10 minute segments. I sometimes do that just to prevent boredom. Even one 10 minute session is better than nothing.
Overall, diet is more important for weight control than exercise. I am a huge advocate of exercise, but I only truly lose weight when I cut calories.
Good luck. I'm at that point in life too. It's tough.
You don't have to eat a lot of spinach and broccoli. Just don't eat a lot of the other junk that makes you fat and sick. As long as you are eating whole, natural food that you have to prepare yourself instead of pre-packaged food, you should do okay. And alieninvader is right: exercise often if you can't exercise for an extended period of time. Your chronic fatigue will be less severe if you move.
Thanks for the tips, gals. I forgot to add that I'm terribly addicted to sugar, have been all my life. I know I can have it in moderation, but it's so hard to, well, be moderate. I think the menopausal years will be interesting to say the least! Good luck to us all. Sorry, but I just get sick of hearing that EVERYONE needs to exercising 30-60 minutes a day! Not in my world.
I used diet and exercise to go from a 29.6 BMI a few months ago to a svelte 22.8. On most days, I get approximately 90 percent of my food from natural foods: fruits, nuts, vegetables and whole wheat. I also exercise an hour a day --- very difficult but I get 30 minutes in the morning, and 30 at night. It is not easy, but anyone can do it, as long as they have the motivation.
I feel very little sympathy for the morbidly obese. I don't think anyone can get that f-a-t just because one has hypothyroidism. It is not easy, but one can adjust their calorie intake based on activity. On the days that I absolutely cannot exercise, I take in less calories to maintain my weight.
I also cook breakfast, lunch and dinner at home, on an actual stove. If one's health is important, one will take the time to ensure that mostly health foods enter the mouth. This is one of the few things in life that we have absolute control over.
Jude
Word... You've got the formula..Rock on!
Too many people confuse "simple" and "easy".... Good living is simple, often not easy.
good job, jude!
I am in the process of trying to get mine to 21.something!
lets wish each other luck and good health!
Thank you!
Real food doesn't make people fat. But there are so many substances on the market masquerading as food that a lot of good people are very confused, and suffering for it. Knowledge is power. Know what's in that stuff you're eating! Don't buy what isn't food. The manufacturers will get the hint right in their wallets and change accordingly.
Go vegan, you won't be fat, unless you really really try.
true!
I am trying to re train myself back into that lifestyle, I felt and looked better!
I agree. I am not vegan, but vegetarian, and that is a good first step for anyone wanting to eventually become vegan.
When you are forced to cut out a major part of your diet - meat, you will surprise yourself at how resourceful you become in finding new tasty dishes to make and eat. Try eating veg at a restaurant for a while, if you are concerned about taste. Restaurant food is usually tasty, and once you find that you like some of those dishes, try to make them at home.
Great post.
Here is my opinion regarding animal fats, salt, and sugar. We crave them because, in their natural form, they promote health and were part of our original diet for almost 2.5 million years. However, I agree that if we eat what is presently offered by the food industry in these categories, we are likely to get very sick. An answer to this paradox is to go back to nature and see what she had in mind.
Natural animal fats are those from grass and grub-fed free range animals. The nutritional profile of these natural fats is different from the grain-fed caged-animal Frankenfood offered today, and is filled with healthy nutrients. All of the demonizing studies of animal fats in today's literature are based on the grain-fed junk.
Next is salt. Most of the salt present in today's foods is refined salt, which is another Frankenfood, quite likely to make you sick. Natural salt is unrefined, has a nutritional profile different from Frankensalt, and can actually lower blood pressure!
Moving on to sugar. Most of the foods today that contain sugar are yet another category of Frankefoods. Nature's version of sugar is raw, sweet, ripe, whole fruit, which is a far cry from the refined junk brought to you by the food industry.
References in support of the above can be found in: "The Original Diet - The Omnivore's Solution."
Roy Mankovitz, Director
http://www.MontecitoWellness.com
Amen, Christina.
My roommate makes homecooked meals every day, and she's overweight and has high blood pressure. Everything I eat is cooked in the microwave and I'm slim and healthy. I think I just have better genes.
Well, ingredients do count for something, you know. If your roomate makes homecooked meals with a lot of starchy, sugary ingredients, no wonder she's fat and sick.
You stated it for most, but not all.
There are those with medical conditions. Low thyroid, high cortisol/mast cells, adrenal fatigue and other issues. For them eating healthy and exercising more has little effect.
And there's nothing like the stigma of being labeled a fast, lazy pig by people that make it sound so easy to lose weight and pinning the fault on the victim.
All the more reason for these folks who have an existing pre-condition to take good care of themselves with what they eat. Food can be a form of medicine if you let it. Of course not the cure, but it can enhance the quality of life in a big way. I have seen it in some of the volunteer work I do with cancer patients who have been written off by the medical establishment. The Colonel and Burger King have little regard for that.
As a formerly fat prson who suffered from a variety of health problems, I can personally attest to the fact that putting in the extra effort to eat consciously and exersize (at what you like doing, not what you think you should do or someone tells you to do) will not only make you look better but you will FEEL 210%! better than you ever thought you could. Don't let the inevitable set-backs get you down. Just wake up the next day and start again. Eventually doing all of the right things to maintain your health will become the core of who you are. Think of how great it will be to wake up everyday feeling good and energized and all of the money you will save not making the drug companies even richer. What it would be like to be still going strong at 7pm and not drop down in front of the tube like a dead person. Not suffer from the brain fog that the fat-salt-sugar trio bring on after every calorie fest. The benefits are too numerous to mention really.
Amen.. cheers to you. I was a heavy child allowed to eat as many snacks and sugared sodas as I wanted, in addition to nice, home cooked but calorie rich foods. Exercise was a total drudge, trying to drag that plump body around.
It takes time, simple common sense, and tenacity, but these things ARE changeable for the vast majority of the population. My mom, bless her soul, saw the error of her ways and put me on a diet. I didn't get slim, but I lost enough weight to be able to run a little. One thing lead to another..
Now at 47, I can't imagine a day dominated by healthy foods, and without exercise. It really does become the core of who you are, and those who are in the trap of overweight and out of energy need to put trust in that fact and carry forward. It's not easy, but it is incredibly simple.
Meant to say ".... not dominated by.."
There is no question that we need to eat better. We need to cut processed foods from our diets, and we need to get rid of HFCS. As the article points out, there is a lot of room for improvement.
On the other hand, we as a society have been obsessed with skinny since the dawn of the flappers in the 1920's. We have really over-idealized the size 0 concept of "beauty" to the point where you don't see normal-looking women on television and fashion. If you look at paintings from the 19th century and before, you will note that the ideal of beauty for women was much more full figured than it is today.
How about a compromise? Bring curves back into fashion as well as concentrate on eating healthy. Whatever your weight, you will benefit from a better diet. And whatever your weight, you look wonderful if you feel good about yourself.
Ms. Pirello, I am in your debt. You have explained the issues as well as I have ever seen.
I would like to add something. I LOVE cooking healthful meals, but I disagree that it is easy. Easy is ordering take-out, pizza delivery, or microwave instameals.
The fact is that a large number of people don't know how to cook anything more complicated than a pre-packaged microwave dish. Parents, do your kids a favor and have them cook at least one meal each week.
Obesity is a disease. Until Big Pharma give us a pill, the best way to combat this disease is through education.
Don't trust any pills that Big Pharma give you for weight control.
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