5 graphs and 4 photos tell the story on obesity, diabetes & walking

[SweetNightmare]

Speaking from the overweight-and-never-loses-weight-no-matter-what crowd, I can say that whatever is going on with 'nutrition' these days is killing us. I'll wake up starving, take two bites of something, and not be hungry anymore. I put it away, and I'm hungry again. It's like food makes me feel sick to my stomach, I don't know why, and I can't afford a doctor's visit. What's worse is that I'm not even losing any weight from eating like a bird. I'm 5'1" and 200 lbs(give or take ten pounds, our scale isn't calibrated right). I've been trying for two years to lose weight to no avail. At one point I was doing military style physical training once a week(rigorous as hell), visits to the gym another day a week, walking to and from school every day(now that I'm out of school, it's work), and cutting down what I ate, and I never lost a pound. If anything, I gained weight. After many other 'diets' I've tried, I've given up on diets all together. I eat whatever happens to be in the fridge, and I stop eating when I'm not hungry. ((I've gotten a lot better at telling when I'm eating because I'm hungry and when I'm just bored.)) Still, nothing changes.

So, it's not just immobility that causes obesity. I don't think I'm obese, but I am fat, and it's soul crushing to see how people look at me just for eating, for doing something all humans need to do, even when it's just a few pieces of sushi or a half a sandwich on my lunch break.

[chandltp]

Speaking from the overweight-and-never-loses-weight-no-matter-what crowd, I can say that whatever is going on with 'nutrition' these days is killing us.

My wife was the same way with not losing. As soon as she started eating low carb, she wasn't hungry all the time, didn't crave sweets and has lost 30 pounds since January. I don't know if it's the low carb, less processed foods (since almost all grain based foods are processed), or the elimination of wheat that really did it, but after struggling for years to lose weight and constantly gaining, the weight is practically dropping off her. All this started when I watched FatHead on Netflix.

[Smallwheels]

Forks Over Knives and Fat Sick And Nearly Dead are two amazing movies with plenty of information regarding diet. Both are on Netflix available for streaming. If you're not a subscriber you can get a free trial from them. Even if you just signed up for a month it would cost $7.99 to see those movies and many others for your thirty day period.

[chandltp]

Forks Over Knives and Fat Sick And Nearly Dead are two amazing movies with plenty of information regarding diet.

I agree that both of those were good movies. I tried to get more information about the FOK diet, but it said it wasn't available yet. The movie led me to believe it was ultra low fat, but they never specifically said it as I recall.

I'm noticing a trend among the "miracle get healthy" diets in that they eliminate processed food. They may have different focus as to what replaces it, but the common theme is there.

[malcolm_k]

I'll just link to this study as "food" for thought. While obesity is correlated with health problems, it's not a foregone conclusion that simply having a certain BMI entails poor health. Often people who are obese also have unhealthy habits, for various reasons (obesity is linked to societal factors like poverty and lack of access to healthy options). When you track habit-formation over time, the difference between various BMIs is much less significant.

I'm not an epidemiologist, so I won't pretend to know whether the statistical analysis in the article is correct (it was peer-reviewed, so it at least seems plausible that it is). However, it's worth thinking about when making the jump from "that person is fat" to "that person is unhealthy."

From the article: "Healthy lifestyle habits are associated with a significant decrease in mortality regardless of baseline body mass index."

[Roody]

I'll just link to this study as "food" for thought. While obesity is correlated with health problems, it's not a foregone conclusion that simply having a certain BMI entails poor health. Often people who are obese also have unhealthy habits, for various reasons (obesity is linked to societal factors like poverty and lack of access to healthy options). When you track habit-formation over time, the difference between various BMIs is much less significant.

I'm not an epidemiologist, so I won't pretend to know whether the statistical analysis in the article is correct (it was peer-reviewed, so it at least seems plausible that it is). However, it's worth thinking about when making the jump from "that person is fat" to "that person is unhealthy."

From the article: "Healthy lifestyle habits are associated with a significant decrease in mortality regardless of baseline body mass index."

I think the article makes sense. There's also another body of scientific rewearch that supports the idea that weight is a lot like height--at least partially determined by genetic factors that are pretty much beyond the individual's control.

But this is very controversial, and it will get you flamed on Internet forums that deal with weight and nutrition--including the two subforums here on BF. If you're interested, check out writing by Gina Kolata--a science journalist who has taken a lot of grief for reporting on these theories.

[chasm54]

I'm not an epidemiologist, so I won't pretend to know whether the statistical analysis in the article is correct (it was peer-reviewed, so it at least seems plausible that it is). However, it's worth thinking about when making the jump from "that person is fat" to "that person is unhealthy."

From the article: "Healthy lifestyle habits are associated with a significant decrease in mortality regardless of baseline body mass index."

I don't think this is all that controversial. It is possible to be fairly fit at the same time as being fairly fat. But it's quite difficult to become morbidly obese while maintaining "healthy lifestyle habits", so being fit and very fat will be rare.

Socio-economic status is also important. Fat rich people tend to be healthier than fat poor people. Rich smokers die less often from smoking-related diseases than poor smokers.

Having said all that, whether you are rich or poor your chances are better if you're not fat and don't smoke.

[bamboopiper]

There are people who have adopted the all meat and dairy diet and lost weight. It's amazing to see their results. The raw food vegan diets also accomplish the same thing. Both diets don't include wheat products. That makes me wonder if wheat is very bad for people. .

Just some personal anecdata for you. Before, when I was eating a vegan diet "for my health", I put on 80lbs and started getting migraines where I never had them before. In 2008, I had 83 different classic migraines (with aura) and a chronic, low level aura 24/7. Since I cut out the wheat completely, the very next year, I had 6 migraines total. This year, I've had ONE so far. Leaving out grains was the only thing I changed (kept up exercise regimen, same work, etc) so I certainly fault wheat for this.

[bamboopiper]

Speaking from the overweight-and-never-loses-weight-no-matter-what crowd, I can say that whatever is going on with 'nutrition' these days is killing us. I'll wake up starving, take two bites of something, and not be hungry anymore. I put it away, and I'm hungry again..

Snipped for length.

I'm in exactly the same boat here. I once went on a diet to lose some pudge as a teenager. When I weighed 125lbs. I only wanted to lose 10lbs. Add ten years, and I was 230lbs. I lost 30lbs over 5 years bicycling everywhere, but now... Nothing. I've accepted that I'm fat and nothing will change that.

[Roody]

Snipped for length.

I'm in exactly the same boat here. I once went on a diet to lose some pudge as a teenager. When I weighed 125lbs. I only wanted to lose 10lbs. Add ten years, and I was 230lbs. I lost 30lbs over 5 years bicycling everywhere, but now... Nothing. I've accepted that I'm fat and nothing will change that.

That just might be the wisest course, as long as your general health is good. For some people trying to change their weight is like trying to change their height.

[chandltp]

That makes me wonder if wheat is very bad for people.

I wonder the same thing. I'm reading "Wheat Belly" right now, and it supports my suspicion. Whether it's 100% right or not, I don't know.

[Doohickie]

Bleached wheat is of very little nutritional value and has very simple carbs that quickly raise blood sugar levels. This could be the cause of the migraines mentioned upthread.

When that sugar hits the bloodstream in a rush, the body overreacts and tries to do something with it, often storing it as fat. But the rush is short-lived anyway, so between it being used up and stored away, the blood sugar level goes down, and much too quickly, which creates a sugar craving. When things change too quickly, the body doesn't like it.

That's why the low carb diets work. They break the cycle of the carb craving by taking virtually all carbs away for two or three weeks (Phase I, Induction, etc.) What the body never gets, it adjusts to not having. So blood sugars moderate at stable levels and the cravings go away. Even better, the body moderates the blood sugar levels by converting fat back to sugar to get to the desired sugar level.

I lost 70 lb. on South Beach Diet (one of the low carb diets) in 2005. I went from about 240 to 170 (I'm 6'-2"). I was actually too skinny for comfort (especially when sitting) and purposely gained some of the weight back. Unfortunately, once it started to creep on, it continued to do so and eventually I gained 60 of the 70 lb. back. If I could lose about 30-40, I'd be right where I want to be. But even without losing it, riding the bicycle gives me good exercise and I feel healthier than when last time I was this heavy.

[Roody]

People have been eating wheat for at least 5,000 years so it probably isn't real deadly...unless you have a very rare disorder called celiac disease. Nothing fuels me better for a bike ride than a bowl of pasta or a PBJ.

[Doohickie]

For most of that time, though, they were eating whole wheat which is nutritionally quite different. And this thread needs this:

[chandltp]

For most of that time, though, they were eating whole wheat which is nutritionally quite different.

Something I never realized until I started reading Wheat Belly. Apparently the wheat we're eating has only been around since the 1960's (IIRC).