OBESITY - causes & cures(?)

I loved the article. That's been my food outlook my whole adult life. I think low-fat food replacements aren't whole-foods and I think whole foods are better for you. I'd rather occasionally eat buttered toast than eat a daily dose of some hydrogenated margarine. I love food, I eat smallish portions often - I graze as I call it. I'm not skinny, but I'm definitely not over-weight.

And, like non-fat yogurt better than full fat.... just do.

hello, littlek!

Glad you found that interesting ... Me, too.

I have pretty much the same attititude as you ... I don't diet, eat pretty much (in medium-sized serves) what I want & am about the "right" weight for my height. It's not that I have a PLAN, or anything like that ... I just HATE the taste of processed food. Boring! Besides, I can't afford to eat out a lot, or buy a lot of prepared food, even if I wanted to.

I have a hunch that one of the causes of obesity is that people are so darn busy these days! Not enough time for ANYTHING (apart from work!), say nothing of planning, buying, then cooking daily. So it's food on the run, usually fast or processed food with lots of fats & sugars.

Random thoughts of American food by a non-American:

When in the US I am amazed:

By the quantity of food put on any given plate in a restaurant. It's huge and it get bigger every time I go to the States.

By the size and quantity of muffins, donuts and other sweet starch Americans eat during coffee break. By the extremely sugary taste of it.

By the growing percentage of very obese (not overweight, not fat, not obese: very obese) people one can see walking -or rather, riding authomatic carts in malls, marts and streets.

fbaezer

Re the SIZE thing: (speaking about my experiences in Oz) I'm astonished at the size of chocolate bars, soft drink containers, packets of potato chips at the supermarket. And it's dowright depressing seeing some child in the process of demolishing any one (or 2) of these goodies as a snack.

And when ordering coffee & cake at a cafe I often have to ask for half the slice, simply because they're HUGE & I couldn't eat all of it even if I wanted to!

MsOlga - I actually don't often cook for myself from scratch. I have a limited budget and I speand waaaay too much on food. I buy health-food items.

fbaezer - I am amazed and I'm american! I can't eat a whole portion of dinner in a restaurant. And, most dessert type things are way to sweet for me.

Quote from article:

Sorry, fat is not a feminist issue. It's a health issue. And it's increasingly a public health issue, giventhat the hospital costs in Victoria alone of treating obesity-related illnesses are $128 million a year, and are expected to double in the next decade. We are doing our daughters, or our sons, no favours by telling them not to worry when they are getting fat. Rather, we are leaving them open to increased risks of cancer, diabetes, stroke, heart disease and depression.

Yes, it's a health issue, but I think it's a feminist issue as well ...
I have a very good friend who is very over-weight (for a variety of complex reasons) & I KNOW it is extremely difficult for her to reduce her weight, try though she does.
It's interesting to me how much DISAPPROVAL is directed at women with a weight problem in this society ... Sometimes the reaction my friend receives is downright hostile. There is nothing like this same sort of pressure on men to be "attractive", nothing like the same degree of disapproval directed at them. Double standard there.

And if it's such a huge health issue I'm wondering why there aren't more organisations out there to assist those who want to lose weight ... We have Quit campaigns & programs to help people to stop smoking ... Support for people who are addicted to alcohol, but very little of real assistance for people who are obese & want to lose weight. (I don't count Weight watchers, Jenny Craig, etc as much help to people like my friend ... the emphasis on being "attractive" is a turn off for her, for a start. ) I'm thinking more along the lines of government, non-profit, HEALTH support.

I don't know if we have standard government weight-reduction programs. I know we've had a campaign about healthy eating here in the US. Seems it might be working as McD's and such are losing business. Our physicians are always telling patients to lose weight. But, maybe not HOW to lose weight.

One should use low-fat diets very cautiously. They have been implicated in cases of depression and suicide, especially among men.

New Haven

Really? I didn't know that. Do you know the source of this information?

I don't have a written reference. I heard this information on the radio, several years ago.

This makes sense, when you consider that a major constituent of the brain is lipid.

Interesting that it's young men who a most affected.

Another factor with the overweight issue is lack of knowledge. Go to your doctor for a diet and he'll put you on 800 - 1,000 calories without even taking your stats and activity level in to account. One thousand calories is starving if the person is overweight or obese. They will lose muscle and water, gain fat and lower their BMR. What was accomplished? Nothing but a rebound.

The Food Guide Pyramid is old and ineffective. Who can benefit on 6-11 servings of grains a day? Processed no less... Perhaps a runner, but the majority of the population are not runners. Those (processed) grains are just spiking the insulin and being stored as FAT. What are we told? To lower calories and exercise. Again, they do this, still eat the grains and still get fat. It's lack of knowledge people, and they can't change their eating habit over night.

Low-fat products are loaded with trans fat, which is just as bad, if not worse than processed grains. Yet trans fat is not listed on the labels. Hum....government trying to keep us ill and dumb. The more it's "reduced" or "free" the worse it is for you. However, there is a move to put trans fat on labels in 2006, but what will this accomplish? Be on the lookout for "trans-fat reduced" and "trans fat-free" products. *thinking what will take the place of trans-fat* What ever it is, it will be even worse. Hence the decline in health and the waist line.

The latest trend is carbs. OMG, carbs are bad, they are fattening.... Negavite. Processed carbs are bad, wrong combinations, and excess portions are bad. The sad thing is, people want to take weight off fast and easy, but it's not that simple. It took time to gain weight, therefore it will take time to take the weight off. That's the biggest factor that is overlooked in the weight loss issue. There is no need to completely restrict any macronutrient or the other. Control and planning is the basis.

I feel for the obese who truly have the will to exercise and the discipline to say "no" to the twinkies, yet with the lack of proper information they live a vicious cycle.