America Wasn't Born Fat

Right about now, a whole bunch of Americans are quitting their New Year's resolutions to lose weight -- if they haven't quit already. What a shame. Americans can't really afford to pack on any more pounds. With more than 225 million overweight people, the Unites States is the most obese country in the world, at a cost of $117 billion a year. It's an understatement to say we're facing a pandemic.

Yet, dare I boldly say the solution isn't all that complicated? The alarming obesity rate in the U.S. can be distilled to one basic truth: Americans consume more calories than they burn. It's a fact. And, I hate to be so blunt, but America wasn't born fat. The birth weight of the average American infant is 8.13 lbs. In fact, the standard deviation for birth weight is relatively small. Therefore, it's safe to say, we all come into this world approximately the same size. So, where do we start to morph into chubby kids, fat teens and obese adults?

We often hear of "the fat gene." Many overweight Americans plead their innocence by claiming their parents were fat and they inherited the same genetics. To some extent, there is a genetic component to metabolism (we all have that friend who can eat anything in any amount and never gain a pound). However, with the exception of some rare metabolic diseases, there is no excuse for being overweight.

Let me personalize the reasons for my frustration with obesity. Both of my brothers were born with Type 1 diabetes, a metabolic disease that requires them to inject themselves with five needles a day, multiple daily blood sugar tests, and dietary modifications. Diabetes is the number one cause of heart disease, blindness and amputation. Short of a scientific miracle, my brothers will have diabetes for the rest of their lives. Unlike Type 1, Type 2 diabetics are not "born" with their disease. The number one risk factor for Type 2 diabetes is obesity.

So why is America the fattest country in the world (with, subsequently, the highest number of diabetics, heart attacks, and kidney failures)? Could the soil in America contain too much of a rare enzyme that inhibits our livers' ability to metabolize fat? Maybe the air we breathe in America destroys our thyroid gland dramatically slowing down our caloric expenditure. Perhaps the Unites States proximity to the North Pole causes a magnetic field over the country that causes us to store more fat. Obviously, it's none of the above.

Through my work as a nutritionist and trainer to celebrity clients, I've had amazing opportunities to travel the world. In my experience, I made what seemed to be a remarkable discovery: the farther I travel from the U.S., the easier it is to find foods that are both nourishing and slimming. And, people outside the U.S. appear to be healthier and leaner.

I've gleaned a unique perspective on the nutrition, diet and lifestyle habits that many foreign countries have followed for centuries and it's inspired me to want to educate people on just how easy it is to live healthier. And, it IS easy. Creating an overall healthy lifestyle for yourself doesn't require a radical diet or significant life change. In fact, it can be attained through common sense decisions about the way we eat, move and live. This is the foundation of The 5-Factor World Diet.

The world's 10 leanest and longest-living nations are Japan, Singapore, China, Sweden, France, Italy, Spain, South Korea, Greece and Israel. Why? They consume, prepare and burn their food in a manner that enables them to stay healthy and lean. Let me share examples from a few countries:

Japan

• They eat mainly rice, fish and vegetables - naturally high in carbs and fiber, low in calories and fat - and their primary protein source is fish, high in Omega-3 fatty acids; they rarely eat the red meat Americans consume in such heart-stopping portions. Rather than sugary beverages, they drink antioxidant-rich green tea.
• The Japanese prepare their food by boiling, grilling, steaming and serving it raw.
• They burn what they consume through much more active lives than Americans. For the business of everyday life, they travel by foot.

Oh, and the Japanese follow hara hachi bunme -- the practice of eating until 80 percent full, then waiting 20-30 minutes to determine if you're still hungry.

Sweden

• Sweden's year-round diet consists of dairy, dark fibrous breads and fish, fish, fish. The calcium in dairy can help the body convert from fat-storing to fat-burning mode. Dark bread like rye or pumpernickel is much healthier than the refined white bread favored by many Americans.
• The Swedes prepare their food through curing, smoking, pickling and boiling. Pickling food contains digestive-system-friendly probiotics and, while boiling may not be the tastiest, it's effective without adding fat!
• Year-round fitness is a key component of Swedish slimness. Nordic walking (walking with long poles) burns 20 percent more calories than walking without poles. And, people in Sweden primarily walk and bike to work.

Oh, and Scandinavians make their sandwiches open-face, emphasizing the healthy fillers and not the bread.

Israel

• Israeli cuisine is a delicious hybrid of Middle Eastern styles. They consume grilled meats (mostly chicken), protein-rich legumes, and meals made with tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, lemon and olive oil. Sesame seeds - consumed by Israeli's nearly every day - are not only a nutritional powerhouse, they can help lower cholesterol and prevent high blood pressure. Pita bread -- the country's preference -- being thin and hallow, has a fraction of the calories of other breads.
• Israel favors grilling and baking their food. Meat dishes are prepared simply -- often grilled with a mixture of spices and no fatty sauces.
• Because Israeli's are required to join the army at age 18, they are instilled with a strong foundation of fitness at an early age. Burning what they eat is a lifelong habit.

Oh, and many Israeli families prefer to eat at home over a restaurant. It's a wise practice, as they have more control over the content and size of their meals.

If Americans want to get healthier in 2010, they need to resolve to take lessons from beyond our borders. The good news is, the extraordinary journey of living a healthy life doesn't require a passport.

Harley Pasternak is one of America's most renowned nutrition and fitness experts and author of the new book, The 5-Factor World Diet

 

Comments

[Shzron1946]

08:47 AM on 01/25/2010

In 1971, when I went to Germany as an Army wife, there was still a national campaign in effect for years to improve the German international image. The campaign, called "Trimm Dich" effectively put the German public on a diet. The whole time I was there, I was extremely aware of this health craze. I was also aware that I was considered far too big and I was only a size 16. I remember one saleslady in one store who, on seeing me, said, with dismay and pity, "Ach! So Grossen!" Wake-Up Call!

I started trying to live like a German. No eating between meals, smaller meat portions, more vegetables, and very good beer, which didn't hurt much--it was so much more potent that I could barely finish half a glass. And walking. Cities have whole areas, called "Fussganger", which only allow walking. On Sundays, there was a tradition called Relaxation. After church, whole family groups just took off and strolled all afternoon. They stop and have dinner. They may stop later and have ice cream (one or two tiny scoops) or a glass of wine. No walking around eating (--also no litter!) they walk and talk, meet and greet neighbors, window-shop and enjoy each others company.

I have to say. In six months in Germany, hardly working at it, just living more like a German, I lost over forty pounds.

Then I came home and gained it all back, because I lived like an American...

[lorcan3]

01:49 AM on 01/25/2010

I'm 51 years old and I drink regular milk. Ever since the '70's when the government went on this low fat kick (and was wrong btw), people have been getting bigger and bigger. Screw all this trans fats stuff. We grind red wheat and make our own bread and if we can get it, we get milk in GLASS containers not plastic. The only time I drink soda pop is when we got to the movies otherwise I drink green, white, or red tea. Irish breakfast tea in the mornin' for all us paddys. No, I don't strip the skin off the chicken before I cook it and that's stupid because the meat is going to dry out and be worthless. I use butter and not that worthless margarine. I eat regular eggs and bacon and not that worthless thin lean stuff you can see thru. I'm 6'4" tall, I weigh about 270 pounds and I like it. Forget the government and live your own lives. Don't let Uncle Sam control you, control yourself. Make your own decisions. Thy're so stupid, they're still trying to push through his Obamacare and we all know it just won't cut it.

[Catriona]

01:15 PM on 01/23/2010

You made some good points. I would like to add another. Far too many Americans 'graze'. Europeans don't wander around shopping plazas and town centres, eating.

During the summer we go to the many local concerts and Pardons in Brittany. Hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people attend with their children and grandchildren, teens and young adults. People sit at tables for moules frites, or grilled chicken or sausage, and drink wine, juice, or Breton cidre. Afterward there is Irish and Breton music and dancing until well after midnight. (The Bretons are French Celts.) One NEVER sees the children snacking after dinner, or anyone else for that matter. They don't come running up to their parents whining for snacks. From about 7pm to after midnight, these people listen to music, watch the dancing on stage, talk, socialise, and dance in the field.

Can you imagine American children sitting, watching a show, without stuffing food of some sort into their faces?

Two years ago I took my kids to the US. We went to a mall, and they wanted to know why 'everybody was eating'?

[KYZipster]

08:02 AM on 01/22/2010

No mention of our toxic food supply. I live in one of the fattest cities in the country, we have 5 or 6 natural food groceries and they're all located in the upper income part of town, a town with bad public transportation, and of course Whole Foods is significantly more expensive than the regular grocery. Go to a city like Paris and fresh food is available in every neighborhood. We're struggling just to inform the public of the toxic effects of corn syrup, trans fats and all kinds of toxins. We use tax dollars to subsidize industrial farming when we should be doing all we can to give farm aid to local, organic farmers. It's always about money in this country.

[bowseat93]

10:52 AM on 01/21/2010

All of these cultures you mention are protective while these people live there. These folks move to the US and boom, they become fat like us.

What's that expression? Follow the money. America is going to have a fat problem as long as there is money to be made from both making us fat by selling us the crap that passes for food these days and making us temporarily thinner by selling us diet books (like yours).

If we're to be successful at reducing the obesity rate, it is going to have to be because people realize they are being jerked around on a chain by people whose interests are really their bottom line ($$), not your (or my) bottom!

[BlazeKING]

08:39 AM on 01/21/2010

Lots of conventional wisdom is in this article of the type that caused this obesity epidemic. First off, fat is not bad and that has been proven. Olive oil is a great addition to any diet. Fat is the most satiating thing we could eat and does not cause intense cravings. Most Americans mistake carb cravings for hunger. Secondly, a diet high in carbohydrates especially of the sugar and starch kind (a mainstay of the American diet) causes intense cravings. Thirdly, red meat is not bad. It satiates and is a great source of iron, zinc, and b vitamins. I have known no fat carnivores. All I have seen, and the numbers are growing, are skinny. I have seen many a fat vegetarian and many a fat omnivore.

We did not evolve eating all these carbs all year. Go outside right now into the woods and tell me what the highest source of easy attainable energy is. I don't see fruits or veggies, but I see deer and some nuts.

[leanjhuls]

07:57 PM on 01/20/2010

When it comes to food, it's always about the portions, and how fast a person eats. I, for one, enjoy any meal that is on my plate, but I don't discount the servings. The problem in the States is that most people are eating for two, even for three.

[leftcoastindy]

06:23 PM on 01/20/2010

There are lots of reasons for the problem, but I would contend that the number one reason BY FAR is fast food ADVERTISING. Poor people watch a lot of TV and fast food corps would not spend the money for the adds if it didn't work.
It doesn't help that a lot of people fell for the 'low carb' diets. Complex carbs are by far the best diet food. I challenge anyone to eat only raw vegies and gain weight. You won't feel hungry and you won't get fat, but you WILL get very healthy.

[quindy]

01:25 PM on 01/20/2010

The fact is that US is probably the only country where junk food is plentiful and cheap thanks to govt. subsidies. It is probably the only country where poor neighborhoods lack access to fresh produce. Fresh produce around the world is the cheapest way to feed people. Only in US it is cheaper to live on fast food. The lack of mandatory health insurance makes it hard for people to get proper care for diabetes and obesity related diseases. Last but not least is laziness to spend time preparing nutritious meals.

[LMPE]

11:01 PM on 01/19/2010

Let's also not forget. States like Louisiana have the highest obesity rates in the country (and the shortest life expectancies). Unhealthy diets, lack of exercise, and a reliance on air conditioning.

[LaurieLee]

10:51 PM on 01/19/2010

I was at a Fresh Choice salad bar restaurant with a friend. A woman in her mid-twenties was behind me in line getting her salad. I heard her say "I eat salad all the time, nothing but salad, and I just can't lose any weight.'
I looked over at her. She was obese but had a cute face. I looked at her salad. "Salad" was an unusual description of it. She had a giant plate covered with potato 'salad', macaroni 'salad' and this 'salad' made with small cubes of jello. She must have had 2000 calories of 'salad'.

[msoverall]

02:43 PM on 01/19/2010

Until people realize that there are some things they can control, we'll always have this problem. You shouldn't be ashamed of being overweight, but at the same time, you should stop acting like they way you live your life has nothing to do with it. People act like their weight is completely out of their hands. Also, perhaps a salad should be cheaper than getting a Big Mac supersize meal.

[YesWeCouldHave]

01:42 PM on 01/19/2010

Harley, you are wrong.

I can tell you from what I learned on another article here about plus sized models....being fat is completely 100% HEALTHY and it's (evidently) BEAUTIFUL.

So, nothing to see here.

[DennyCrane]

10:23 AM on 01/19/2010

This is a great article. The problem is many Americans are too arrogant to learn from other nations. Just look at the debate about our health care system. Other countries are able to provide their people with health care. No one goes bankrupt over health care costs in Canada or the UK. But even suggest that we should base our system on what other countries use and you have people on the right shouting "Socialism!" The banking system is a similar story. Other countries believe in regulation. But we Americans are such strong believers in free markets that we refuse to even entertain the idea that our system is flawed. I follow a lot of the practices outlined in this article such as eating a lot of fish, olive oil, grilling food or eating it raw, and drinking green tea. I also exercise daily. All of this has kept me from getting seriously ill. Imagine how healthy we would be as a people and how much lower our collective health care costs would be if we actually took take for ourselves and, God forbid, actually modeled ourselves after all those 'fereners.'

[ArtsyJane]

05:10 PM on 01/19/2010

It's ironic, isn't it, when you consider that America is a country created by people coming from all those other countries. Even town and city names come from other countries, as do many other things. We can call a whole region New England, but cannot take example of the British Health Care system. We can call a city Louisville or a state Louisiana, but we cannot learn how to eat nutritious high quality food from the French. Ironic.

[JSDKoeln]

04:36 AM on 01/19/2010

You calories-in/calories-out is a bit simplistic and old school. Yeah, Americans eat too much, but more importantly, they eat the wrong foods. The "fat gene" is nothing more than hormonal disorder resulting in a severely messed up metabolism....thus, the myth of the fat gene. If we were from the get go, able to eat healthy and reasonable portion sizes needed to maintain whatever amount of lean body mass we have, then there would be no obesity. However, the dirty foods we eat, excess gluten, excess sugar, meat with hormones, over-pasteurized milk products (infected with numerous steroids and other hormones), pesticides, etc., all have a serious impact on the way our bodies produce and deal with insulin. Diets do not work because people are not changing the way their bodies function.... they are just putting it into starvation mode. Eating less is NOT going to solve the problem, it will only give a temporary fix. A lot of research is being done on this and I believe it really is the only way to solve obesity. A healthy diet of clean foods, weight training mixed with aerobics. That's the only ticket in town.

[ArtsyJane]

06:49 AM on 01/19/2010

I think you need to re-read his article. He didn's simply say to eat less... he said that Americans eat cr*p and gave examples of how other nations eat and what. That said, Americans do eat too much - portions in restaurants are on avarage bigger than those in most other countries.

[JSDKoeln]

07:54 AM on 01/19/2010

I think he more implies that cutting calories is the first and foremost way to lose weight. I disagree because, even if they eat crud while reducing calories, the body will just think it's starving. I am a firm believer in changing what you eat first and don't worry about how much is going in. A body needs time to readjust and heal. I live in Germany, where I consider it the nitrate capital of the world, and I see that as the #1 health hazzard in Germany... well that and smoking. But Germans are a lot more active than their American counterparts. But, it is all about what you put in. Once that is under control, it is easier to control how much we eat because the body's hormones are not whacked out. If you pig out on a big meal at Red Lobster with an oversized grilled salmon, broccoli and some natural rice... so what? It's the potato's smother with sour cream, cream of broccoli soup, surf and turf deluxe that is the problem.

[scubalady]

11:45 AM on 01/19/2010

I totally agree with you about the portions.You go in a fast food in France,the large soda is 500ml(about 17 oz) not 32oz.Sizes of plates,steaks, pizzas are a lot smaller too.People in the USA seem to take great pride of the fact that they have everything "bigger".

If you order a family size pizza in France (and in most parts of Europe I know),it would be at best a medium size in the US.