USA Obesity Epidemic - how fast it happened!!! 25 years!

[Lsbcal]

I'm just watching one waist line.

[imoldernu]

A few things about obesity...
Standard calculations to determine body mass index BMI can be found here:

https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/edu...MI/bmicalc.htm

That said, the standards have been questioned and an alternate measure (based on height/weight ratios for taller persons is shown here:

New BMI Calculator

Not that his would be earth shaking information, still the margin between overweight and obesity (29.9) is relatively fine, and an inch or a pound can make a difference of points or tenth of points. For those who use the charts to assess their health and to worry or not the difference could cause alarm.

Morbidly obese #'s:
Morbid Obesity Bulge Gets Bigger

An additional factor that is not taken into consideration, is whether the weight is in fat or muscle, muscle weighing more than fat. Thus looking at two people with the same height and weight one might look trim and fit while the other would look "chubby".

This doesn't really mean anything with regard to the "Epidemic", but for an individual, concerned with personal health the BMI could be important. A matter of an inch in height or 4 lbs in weight could mean the difference between nomal and overweight, or overweight and obese. (clothes on or clothes off).

Insurance companies may/do require doctor's BMI measurements for calculating risk factors.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marita40 I think the major culprit is sugar. It is in everything now. We eat far more sugar than ever before.

Do you make a distinction between sugar and grains/starch?

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnnyBGoode Many good points here. My top three main culprits to the (relatively recent) obesity epidemic are: - People giving up smoking (e.g. https://www.statnews.com/2016/02/05/...y-rate-linked/) The timing seems pretty suspicious: smoking rates going down pretty dramatically and obesity rising dramatically over basically the same time period. If you assume people need to do something to keep from being board - smoking or eating both fit the bill. Not that I think we should go back to smoking more - far from it - but did we trade one deadly vice for another?

You might have something here. I remember in high school in the late 50s girls often smoked to help keep their wright down. So common was this that tobacco breath was kind of an aphrodisiac.

Ha

[JohnnyBGoode]

Yeah, unfortunately smoking vs obesity is pretty clear. Check this out:


Full article here (now 5 years old, but still...): https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.e3de0e069274

[Marita40]

I think people crave the simple sugars in carbs, as well as gorge on bakery, sweets, candy, pop, etc. in my family those who have gained significant weight have major sweet tooths. I've lost weight myself by cutting sugar only, except for that naturally found in fruit. Sugar is highly addictive.

Plus we've had our optimal diet information so utterly wrong for so many years. I spent years avoiding healthy fats. Here's to the whole avocado I just ate!

[Hyperborea]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnnyBGoode Yeah, unfortunately smoking vs obesity is pretty clear. Check this out: <snip>

Correlation is not causation.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hyperborea Correlation is not causation.

Well, it looks pretty clear to me that higher temperatures kill pirates!

[Fedup]

I wonder if we have taken into account of the Costco effect. I know I resisted the membership of Costco for years and then I gave in. I think sometimes, I'm too lazy to shop at other shops, so Costco is the one stop for everything. I tend to over eat with Costco portion even for fruits and vegetables. And fish too. Can't find a small piece of Ling Cod from New Zealand but around here only Costco carries Ling Cod. So I'm sure this has an effect in the general population.

[Ready]

I agree with others that the problem is mainly due to processed foods. If all we could eat was fruits, vegetables, meat, and fat, we would only eat when we are hungry, and our bodies would tell us when it's enough.

Try eating a bag of potato chips, doritos, or any salty/sugary snack, and see how much you can eat before you body tells you to stop. It may never happen. Your brain becomes addicted to these foods and craves more, even when your body has consumed as many calories as it requires.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ready Try eating a bag of potato chips, doritos, or any salty/sugary snack, and see how much you can eat before you body tells you to stop. It may never happen.

Doritos are my weakness and for that reason it is a rare day when I even go down that aisle in the store. When I fall off the wagon, which happens about twice a year, I am perfectly capable of eating all or most of a party size bag.

[MRG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnnyBGoode Yeah, unfortunately smoking vs obesity is pretty clear. Check this out: Full article here (now 5 years old, but still...): https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.e3de0e069274

Yeah well.

Might be said people dying of smoking related disease are skinny?:thumbdown:

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marita40 I think people crave the simple sugars in carbs, as well as gorge on bakery, sweets, candy, pop, etc. in my family those who have gained significant weight have major sweet tooths. I've lost weight myself by cutting sugar only, except for that naturally found in fruit. Sugar is highly addictive. Plus we've had our optimal diet information so utterly wrong for so many years. I spent years avoiding healthy fats. Here's to the whole avocado I just ate!

Me too! A couple of decades! Sure enjoy my avocados, nuts and oils now!

I used to avoid those, yet eat big bowls of pasta with lots of veggies sauce. Limited meats, used only lean cuts, and trimmed every last bit of fat off it it - plus no chicken skin! Cooked with the minimum amount of oil.

Quite the opposite now.

[Hyperborea]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walt34 Well, it looks pretty clear to me that higher temperatures kill pirates!

Or the lack of pirates causes global warming.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fedup I wonder if we have taken into account of the Costco effect. I know I resisted the membership of Costco for years and then I gave in. I think sometimes, I'm too lazy to shop at other shops, so Costco is the one stop for everything. I tend to over eat with Costco portion even for fruits and vegetables. And fish too. Can't find a small piece of Ling Cod from New Zealand but around here only Costco carries Ling Cod. So I'm sure this has an effect in the general population.

Nope - not for me. I buy mostly fresh seafood, meat, veggies, fruit, nuts and oils at Costco, and freeze what meat/seafood I won't cook immediately. The good quality produce lasts a long time, so I use it up over a week or two, not all at once. So for me Costco has made a great contribution to low-carb eating. It doesn't make me eat more.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walt34 Doritos are my weakness and for that reason it is a rare day when I even go down that aisle in the store. When I fall off the wagon, which happens about twice a year, I am perfectly capable of eating all or most of a party size bag.

There is a reason for that: Why Nacho Cheese Doritos Taste Like Heaven | Serious Eats

I once tried a store brand of tortilla chips. They had some tasty seasoning. It was very hard to stop eating them! Later I noticed that MSG was in the ingredient list. I didn't buy them again.

[Ready]

My weakness has always been dessert. I've never met a cookie I didn't like. I can easily eat 3 or more cookies and still want more. But each one has around 250 calories, so just 3 cookies adds 750 calories to my daily intake. Do that on a regular basis and I'll be a balloon! And I crave these even when I've had a very filling meal. It's a different part of the brain that craves these. Nothing to do with being hungry.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ready My weakness has always been dessert. I've never met a cookie I didn't like. I can easily eat 3 or more cookies and still want more. But each one has around 250 calories, so just 3 cookies adds 750 calories to my daily intake. Do that on a regular basis and I'll be a balloon! And I crave these even when I've had a very filling meal. It's a different part of the brain that craves these. Nothing to do with being hungry.

L-glutamine (an amino acid, available as a powder) can reduce cravings, making it much, much easier to cut down on snacking on whatever.

[AllDone]

My weakness is roasted, salted nuts. I keep a few raw nuts in the freezer for baking, but I know better than to eat even one salted nut, because that's going to lead to something ugly. And yes, it certainly has nothing to do with hunger or silly theories about insulin and glucose.

[Moemg]

I think the portion sizes not only at fast food places but at regular restaurants is huge . I went out with some friends for lunch and ordered a cup of soup and a half a crab salad croissant . When the croissant came it was so huge I took home most of it . The last time we went to a Mexican restaurant they had the calorie count of all the items listed . We ended up having an appetizer and even that was sky high calories .