indyfabz

in today's NYT:


https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/27/he...gery.html?_r=0


I find the part about the physical alteration of the digestive tract's influence on the brain fascinating.

Cyclist0108

Interesting link. Thanks for the read.

What would be great would be to figure out how to reset the satiation response ("thermostat") without surgical intervention.

This is quite a contrast to the NYT report on "The Biggest Losers", where almost everyone rebounded.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/h...ight-loss.html

Jarrett2

This part is tough to read:

'A year after his surgery, Keith weighed 284 pounds, down from his starting weight of 377, but not at his projected weight of 230. It is increasingly unlikely that he will get there. But he looked and felt transformed. “Some people I haven’t seen in years don’t recognize me,” Keith said. “And I do have more energy,” he added. “It is a huge difference.” “I expected all my weight to be gone,” Keith confessed over lunch at a sushi restaurant near his work. “I wanted to be 230. I was hoping."'

Jarrett2

This article reads like an ad for bariatric surgery. There are people here that have proved this wrong.

What do you mean specifically here? Are you asking if hunger can be reduced without surgery? It can.

ColonelSanders

What methods are you aware of?

Jarrett2

The hard way is to meticulously track and slowly reduce your calorie intake until your hunger reduces. That's a mentally tough process, but doable.

The easier way is to work towards ketosis by keeping carb intake very low. It kills hunger quickly. A fast is an even quicker way kill off sugar carvings and minimize hunger.

The first thing for me was to identify and realize the difference between actual hunger and the cravings associated with sugar/carb withdrawals. My whole life, what I thought was hunger was mostly sugar/carb withdrawals. I didn't realize that sugar/carbs produce a very potent addiction and that I was an addict.

Throughout life I had this vague but unsubstantiated knowledge that I needed lots of carbs as part of a healthy diet. The food pyramid we've all grown up with tells us that over and over. Once I found out that our carbohydrate intake requirement for living is actually zero, it has allowed me to really dial in my carb intake to lower and lower numbers. Doing that has allowed me to dip into ketosis and that started a real reduction in my sugar/carb withdrawls leaving with only actual hunger. Which is much less and not that bad to deal with comparatively.

I've found a direct correlation between carb intake and insatiable cravings. The more simple the carb, the more intense the "hunger" (craving) afterward. High fructose corn syrup causes an immediate craving for more simple carbs, for example. But even a potato or slice of bread can start the cravings back up again to an extent.

I'm still getting it all dialed in right now, but my weight is going down again and not dealing with "hunger" is the big reason for it.

indyfabz

I'm sure Big Pharma is working on drugs to do that right now.

Cyclist0108

Well, if Big Pharma, or far more likely, smart little startup biotech, manages to do so, they could potentially save millions of lives and help to avert a growing public health crisis, in addition to lessening the burden and expense on the medical system.

Couple this with making high fructose corn syrup an illegal additive, and much more strict regulation of sugary junk foods and misleading labeling of packaged foods, in a sane public health policy ...

Jarrett2

I wouldn't hold my breath...

Corn Subsidies in the United States totaled $94.3 billion from 1995-2014.
https://farm.ewg.org/progdetail.php?...&progcode=corn

Wheat Subsidies in the United States totaled $40.0 billion from 1995-2014.
https://farm.ewg.org/progdetail.php?...progcode=wheat

Food recommendations from the American Diabetes Association:

A place to start is at about 45-60 grams of carbohydrate at a meal. You may need more or less carbohydrate at meals depending on how you manage your diabetes.

Foods that contain carbohydrate or “carbs” are:

• grains like rice, oatmeal, and barley
• grain-based foods like bread, cereal, pasta, and crackers
• starchy vegetables like potatoes, peas and corn

Food & Fitness for People With Diabetes


They invest in corn and wheat, tell folks to eat lots of corn and wheat, even when they have diabetes. 45-60 grams worth per meal or more. That could be 180 grams a day or more depending on meal frequency and food choices. I don't think this is an accident they publish that. Weigh that against the fact that we need 0 grams of carbs a day to live.

ClydeTim

Lady makes some interesting points.

Stop using medicine to treat food. As a person who does not take medicine for anything, that is so true. I know people who take insulin and meds so that they can eat junk food. It's a vicious cycle. Eating a balanced diet and avoiding the junk helps greatly as far as decreasing the cravings. I've always avoided meds. I even know some cyclists who take pain killers because they have aches and pains on rides. Doesn't make sense to me. If you hare having pain and need meds while recreational cycling, something is wrong. Fix the problem, don't mask the problem.

Second is eat FOOD, real food! I eat at home and prepare my own food. At times I have out of convenience ate at a restaurant. Even the meal you thing would be healthier is trash. Chicken or steak at an Applebee's, Chili's, TGIF, Black Angus? Trash! If I put that food in my mouth, it tastes terrible and it does not compare to a real piece of meat cooked fresh at home. I can pretty much taste the chemicals and preservatives in the food.

Fast food? I don't eat fast food at all. I tried once about a year ago. I had to walk out and leave my food there. It was either that or puke.

Sadly, society as mentioned in the video, seems to want to keep people sick. I guess the only way to cure that problem is outlaw the junk food and restaurant fake foods on your own. I can't eat that unhealthy junk, I need food, real food.

Milton Keynes

Every time that's tried there's a certain segment of our population which has a collective fit. But even so, I don't know how this can be successfully done. When they tried outlawing sales of 32 oz. sodas in New York, customers simply purchased two 16 oz. drinks. The way I see it, people have to regulate themselves and that's the major failing of our obesity problem in this country.

Milton Keynes

I used to work with a woman who ate out for EVERY MEAL. Over the course of a few years that I knew her, she had gained a lot of weight. I haven't seen her in many years so I don't know if she's still heavy or if she and her husband still eat out all the time.

As far as I and my family are concerned, eating out is a rare treat. And I never eat fast food except on very rare occasions as a convenience. If I do, usually it's something a little more on the healthy side like Subway. I can't eat much fried crap without feeling terrible afterwards.

ClydeTim

Exactly! I have had many people ask me to write out a meal plan for them. I have taken literally hours writing out plans for various people who insist I help them. Though it is just a balanced diet, they insist on knowing what I eat and how much.

After hours of writing out better eating habit plans for friends and relatives, do you think even one of them followed it?

Really frustrating when you take the time to help someone but they won't help themselves. Eating a bowl of ice cream and frozen burritos for dinner after you've given them some great guidelines is frustrating. MANY People need to take responsibility for their own health and well being. Sure some have medical problems but most I know, is just flat out neglect.

Milton Keynes

And I say that as not someone who is a fat shamer, but as someone whose love of food allowed myself to get up to 280 before realizing that I really needed to regulate my diet.

And I'm sure some people have psychological issues which make them overeat, but I would say that the vast majority of people are just lazy about exercise and losing weight. That's why there are so many "quick & easy" diet fads & pills on the market nowadays. People want the easy way out without realizing that you can't just take a few pills and lose weight without changing your diet.

Drew Eckhardt 

That's fine. I shrunk when I did that.

You just need to notice that servings are too big for one person and split meals, take left overs home (half a super burrito is a good second meal), or leave food behind.

Cyclist0108

You guys are preaching to the converted (or at least people who know the "right" answer), and at the very least are spending their time on a BB concerning a physical activity. But for whatever reason, our society as a whole is not where we would want it. (I'm at least 20 lbs too heavy myself.) Certainly it would be best for people to eat high-quality foods in appropriate quantities. But we have to recognize that something else has gone terribly wrong, with extremely negative consequences. If people are resorting to radical surgical intervention, I would say that is much worse than resorting to a drug that reduces the craving response (which the surgical technique seems to be somehow inducing indirectly). Obviously if you can do this without any intervention, it is by far the best. But that option, which is freely available to everyone, essentially without cost, somehow isn't working universally.

Cyclist0108

But what if there was a drug that made you want to change your diet?

Cyclist0108

I'm not in a great position to be at all critical, and I really don't want to sound mean-spirited in saying this, but in another thread you report your weight as x, where x is well into Clyde-territory. Yet it seems you have all the priorities correct, understand every aspect of this, and are a smart, disciplined, rational, controlled person. Why don't you weigh 160 lbs?

Most likely the answer is that your body fights back, very hard, to maintain your weight at x, and that if through rigorous self-discipline and excersize, you got to 160, statistically there is a very large chance you could rebound to x (or even higher), regardless of how good a person you are. Feedback metabolic down-regulation is extremely complex, and most people won't win their battle through force of will alone.

gabedad

Gastric Bypass surgery and cycling saved my life. 5.5 years ago.


Jeff Reim (from Chelmsford) // Lowell General Hospital


Say what you want - it's a tool. It is not a magic bullet. you have to stick to the rules.


Cycling helps. I have ridden about 15,000 in the past 5 years