I believe most people understand that epidemic obesity is overwhelmingly accounted for by too many calories in, too few calories out. But in many quarters, there is surprising resistance to that notion.
There is resistance among my academic colleagues who seek 'the obesity gene.' To me, that seems a bit like looking for the 'fish out of water' gene to explain the breathing difficulties of...a fish out of water. Every gene that makes a fish a fish is guilty of the charge.
Similarly, a lot of the genes that make us Homo sapiens -- who survived through all the ages when calories were scarce and hard to get and physical activity was unavoidable -- explain why we succumb en masse to obesity in a modern world where physical activity is scarce and hard to get, and calories unavoidable. My prediction is that when the inventory is done, the genes that make us get fat under conditions of modern living will prove to look a lot like the genes that make us human.
There is resistance, as well, among the conspiracy theorists who think some nefarious intent must be behind it all. And there is resistance among the environmentally devout, who are convinced this is all due to industrial chemicals, hormones, and antibiotics. In fact, following a recent talk at Lincoln Center to some 1200 aspiring nutrition professionals, one asked me why I had left the issue of environmental pollutants out of my presentation.
My view has long been, and remains: once we account for that portion of the obesity epidemic that is readily explained by too many calories in, too few out -- if there is any left to explain (and I don't think there will be much!) -- then I will be interested in exotic theories, from hormones, to industrial chemicals, to the microbiota of our GI tracts, to adenovirus S36.
And while I was confident in this stance all along, I am one increment more so following a recent report in the New York Times regarding the rapid progression of obesity and diabetes in Qatar. The whole case is beautifully summed up in one paragraph:
"Like other oil-rich nations, Qatar has leaped across decades of development in a short time, leaving behind the physically demanding life of the desert for air-conditioned comfort, servants and fast food."
Period, end of story.
It matters that there is no great mystery behind epidemic obesity, whether its victims live by purple mountains' majesty, upon the fruited plane, or on the sands of Qatar. It matters that the mystery of epidemic obesity is explained, everywhere, in just the same way. It matters, because even the tough can't get going so long as they remain lost and befuddled.
We can't begin to fix what we don't understand. Fortunately, we understand the causes -- and thus the cures -- for global obesity, and the chronic disease attendant upon it.
The forces conspiring to impose the global health threat of obesity upon us will be difficult to change but they are unmysterious. Conditions of modern living account for, and demystify, obesity. The explanations are...everywhere. So, too, are the opportunities to do something about it!
Follow David Katz, M.D. on Twitter: www.twitter.com/DrDavidKatz
Till 2005 people involved in research, treatment and prevention of obesity didn’t know that metabolic waste contain calories. (A significant amount of energy in food intake leaves body as metabolic waste.)
Even today, the majority obesity researchers, including almost all medical practitioners, and medical science researchers, paediatricians, dieticians, physical therapists and exercise therapists are not aware about that fact. http://www.biomechanicsandhealth.com/calories.htm
For the majority of people it is unbelievable to think that in the twentieth and twenty-first century that humans can make such a misconception; the energy balance model simply a matter of energy in and energy out is accepted because leading obesity scientists didn’t know that the some amount of energy leave the body as metabolic waste. http://www.biomechanicsandhealth.com/energybalance.htm
Quote: “There is resistance among my academic colleagues who seek 'the obesity gene.â€'
Genetics research related to obesity is a waste of time and money. It needs to bear in mind that all theories about weight gain whether they are based on “hormoneâ€, Genetics†etc. is made by people who have been learned in medical schools that “unused calories body storage as fat mas for later use.â€
The first essential step in solving obesity crisis is to confront with the fact that the basic science of obesity is wrong.
Luke Tunyich
http://www.biomechanicsandhealth.com/
I don't agree. :)
(Shall I turn off the sarcasm alarm now?)
Peace,
Shannon
One day, he was fed up with his weight and decided to lose it.
He stopped eating fast-food and started commuting by bicycle.
He incorporated exercise into his lifestyle and started cooking for himself.
In a few months, he was at his lowest adult weight and felt great.
Exercise needs to be fun, it needs to be enough to make you short of breath for a sustained period of time and it needs to be consistent.
I don't think it is easy, but it is possible.
Atchka-please look at the WHO site again. Obesity is not a healthy state of being.
Don't give up just because it is difficulty.
In other words, it's complicated.
Anyway, it's great to see so many rational, educated voices out there on the subject.
Finally.
Peace,
Shannon
Atchka.com
FierceFatties.com
Thank you for your thoughtful replies; both were greatly appreciated. Also, Cia2, thank you for that definition of bigot -- it really expanded in scope the idea I had about this word and its meaning. Yes. I don't know. You both could be right. We could all be right. Frankly I am baffled. What I remember about growing up in the 1970's were huge pancake breakfasts, desserts after dinner, and no one but bodybuilders belonged to gyms, and people were not so overweight as we are today. At least where I live in California, people don't eat as much as they used to and we exercise much more -- and yet, and yet..... and yes I know, Ilovemyprez, that when I diet and exercise (especially for me the exercise part), I do manage to feel and look better. But it is a constant trial, constant work, and feels more like a battle of "containment" than anything else. Meanwhile my blood sugar continues to rise and the insulin resistance does seem to stymie the weight loss. It just leaves so many of us frustrated and confused. I appreciate your thoughtful answers very much, and wish both of you brilliant alive health and happiness now and in the future!
I believe many people continue to eat because their bodies are starving for certain (possibly not yet discovered) nutrients.
Our bodies cry for nutrition so we pile on another burger. Not helpful.
These nutrients are not found or have been destroyed in processed or fast food.
We are becoming a nation of obese people starving for nutrition.
Without mention of the M word, metabolism, we haven't reached the end of the story. Some foods are metabolized differently. For example a Princeton University study found "Rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same. "
http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/
The study found that sugar, as opposed to HFCS "must go through an extra metabolic step before it can be utilized." If so, it would seem to me that the extra energy required to metabolize the sugar leaves less energy remaining to be stored as fat.
So, I don't think a simple calorie count explains the story. The difference in the energy required to metabolize certain foods needs to be taken into account. I have a feeling that the metabolism differences account for the success of the low carb diet for some.
I've gone HFCS free since reading the study.
And HFCS is creeping into products overseas too. I used to be relieved not to have to avoid it traveling abroad and am alarmed now to see it in many more products.
I watch my sugar too. Regular yogurt, sweetened with sucralose. I have a big bag of sucralose (generic Splenda), and a big bag of stevia to put in things like coffee.
I think as taxpayers, we're subsidizing HFCS, which makes it cheaper than sugar.
So while the good doctor inadvertently fuels the American Scapegoat approach to difficult issues even while he rejects them, I know in my experience that poor emotional health, whether it comes from abuse or mental illness, is a significant instigator of weight gain and strips the sheen off of his pat and snappy repartee.
All food is not the problem. Once I framed it in my mind as an addiction, I identified the couple of culprits, and now avoid them.
I also think that over thousands of years, famines have programmed the species to pile on reserves in anticipation of the food shortage that now doesn't occur. I don't think it is necessarily always the result of poor emotional health. There are likely muliple factors, and an approach needs to be individually tailored to the factors.
In my case, there was the additional medical condition of hypothyroidism.
Addicting kids to sugar should be considered child abuse!
Can't get adequate rest due to sleep apnea / snoring -> decreased energy -> decrease ability to exercise -> increased weight.