Another duh! health study

[harley]

A Cornell University study shows that eating junk food and drinking sweet sodas are not the cause of obesity. Junk Food Isn't To Blame for America's Obesity Epidemic

Soda and sweets aren’t making Americans fat. In fact, underweight Americans consume more junk food than those who are morbidly obese.

While eating a bunch of junk food isn't recommended nutritionally, the researchers think that portion control might be the answer.

Edit: This Marketwatch article actually has more information in it than the Fortune blurb I originally linked.

 

[JoeWras]

Uh, exercise? Hello?

That's the second part of the epidemic, aside from portion control. Just an unbelievable amount of people do absolutely nothing. I mean nothing. The only walking they do is to get from the bed to the couch. Then to the front door to get the pizza they ordered. Then maybe the next day they walk to their garage to get in the car where they go to the fast food place to go through the drive thru line.

This is not an exaggeration. It is a sad reality.

Just a bit more walking would cure many ills.

Edit: I now looked at the second pointer and still no mention of normal, everyday exercise.

I could also use the 1970 date as the time where pervasive drive thru windows got installed.

 

[harley]

Uh, exercise? Hello?

That's the second part of the epidemic, aside from portion control. Just an unbelievable amount of people do absolutely nothing. I mean nothing. The only walking they do is to get from the bed to the couch. Then to the front door to get the pizza they ordered. Then maybe the next day they walk to their garage to get in the car where they go to the fast food place to go through the drive thru line.

This is not an exaggeration. It is a sad reality.

Just a bit more walking would cure many ills.

Edit: I now looked at the second pointer and still no mention of normal, everyday exercise.


I could also use the 1970 date as the time where pervasive drive thru windows got installed.

Not necessarily. While I agree more exercise leads to better health, it doesn't really have much if anything to do with weight control. There have been plenty of studies (I'll see if I can find them) to show that increasing exercise usually means an increase in calorie intake, to create a wash regarding weight. You'd have to exercise more without increasing calories to lose weight, and that equals portion/calorie intake again.

Here's one from the British Journal of Sports Medicine, just as an example.

 

[AllDone]

The obesity "epidemic" is a whole bunch of confluent factors and there's just no way to pick out any one as THE cause. People want to, though, for some reason. I blame cable TV.

 

[REWahoo]

The obesity "epidemic" is a whole bunch of confluent factors and there's just no way to pick out any one as THE cause. People want to, though, for some reason. I blame cable TV.

Nope. It's the Kardashians.

 

[Mulligan]

Not necessarily. While I agree more exercise leads to better health, it doesn't really have much if anything to do with weight control. There have been plenty of studies (I'll see if I can find them) to show that increasing exercise usually means an increase in calorie intake, to create a wash regarding weight. You'd have to exercise more without increasing calories to lose weight, and that equals portion/calorie intake again.

Here's one from the British Journal of Sports Medicine, just as an example.

Plus it is a heckuva lot easier to eat 500 calories than it is to exercise off 500 calories. But for me, although I am not overweight, it is a lot harder for me to keep my weight in my desired range since retirement. The reason I believe this to be was when working I was very active in running the building. I bet I walked 3 miles a day during the work day, then I would do my normal workout. I continue to do my normal daily workout, but generally, I have become a bit more sedimentary in retirement compared to when I was working. And no, I am not going to needlessly walk 3 miles in my house daily to make up for it!


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[ElizabethT]

When I think of my childhood, I don't think of gloriously healthy meals. Quite the opposite - we ate horribly in the 60's and 70's. I recall lots of McDonalds, TV dinners, dinner from boxes, and fatty meats with oodles of margarine on everything. Plus candy as both snack and dessert.

Rather, we were all lean because our parents tossed us out of the house after breakfast and told us not to come back until dinner, so we spent our days biking, skating, swimming, playing hide and seek, etc.

I'm lean today because I'm careful with the calories that go in, and am regular with the calories that go out. Unlike when I was a kid, it's something I have to be mindful about daily, it no longer just magically happens.

 

[JoeWras]

Not necessarily. While I agree more exercise leads to better health, it doesn't really have much if anything to do with weight control. There have been plenty of studies (I'll see if I can find them) to show that increasing exercise usually means an increase in calorie intake, to create a wash regarding weight. You'd have to exercise more without increasing calories to lose weight, and that equals portion/calorie intake again.

Here's one from the British Journal of Sports Medicine, just as an example.

harley, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about the intentional 30 minutes per day.

I'm talking about living activities. Things humans did for the last 30,000 years. You know, get up off the rock and go over and pick a few berries. Maybe pound some wheat on a stone.

An incredible number of people in this world use their feet for less than 1,000 steps per day. The walk from the bathroom to the garage is taxing for them. Even going to the grocery store is a rarity -- you might get some exercise there.

As a kid in the 60s, it was the norm for people to walk to the store, even the supermarket and get groceries.

Then it stopped. And I'm not just talking suburbia. I grew up in the city where walking everywhere was normal, but then it changed and people started driving the 3 blocks to the supermarket.

What about the next gen? Sit inside, play games and order everything from Amazon. Yep, that will help.

But yeah, Alldone is right. There are many factors.

 

[photoguy]

As far as I can tell, the study didn't actually look at how much people ate of a given food and instead concentrated on "eating episodes".

Also the study trimmed the data and pulled out all of the really fat people.

 

[AllDone]

As a kid in the 60s, it was the norm for people to walk to the store, even the supermarket and get groceries.

My very affluent parents had one car. When one parent needed it, the other one walked. It was normal. My mom walked each of us to kindergarten the first week or two and after that, we were on our own. In Chicago. In the winter. (We had shoes and the terrain was flat both ways.)

 

[audreyh1]

A Cornell University study shows that eating junk food and drinking sweet sodas are not the cause of obesity. Junk Food Isn't To Blame for America's Obesity Epidemic

While eating a bunch of junk food isn't recommended nutritionally, the researchers think that portion control might be the answer.

Edit: This Marketwatch article actually has more information in it than the Fortune blurb I originally linked.

Well, they did find a correlation with French fries, so what's the deal?

The researchers did find one significant eating difference between those who were morbidly obese, and everyone else: french fries. Those whose BMIs surpassed 44.9 and were considered morbidly obese at 50% more french fries than the average person.

 

[haha]

Nice to see a thread about health, rather than merely how to pay for medical care. Fitbits can be helpful.

Ha


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[Chuckanut]

The fact that some people can eat lots of chips and sweets, while consuming huge amounts of sugary drinks and not gain weight proves only that some people can eat lots of chips and sweets, while consuming huge amounts of sugary drinks and not gain weight.

Others react differently to sugar and junk foods and need to avoid them. We are all different. People must do what works best for them. The idea that one diet or way of eating will work for everybody is nonsense, IMHO.

OTOH, some people think this:

Darn it! This diet worked for me. If it doesn't work for you then you must not be doing it right, your aren't doing enough of it, or you are defective in some way.

 

[bld999]

Not only defective, but morally defective.

 

[AllDone]

Some people also get fed up with their weight and ready to make a change, pick a new diet, and succeed. Then they are absoultely certain that the last diet they picked was the one that did the trick.

 

[MRG]

Some people also get fed up with their weight and ready to make a change, pick a new diet, and succeed. Then they are absoultely certain that the last diet they picked was the one that did the trick.

Yes very true. When I look back I thought it was cutting out refined carbs(read sugar) that enabled me to lose weight. Was it? I also paid attention to serving size by weighing all my food. So was it refined carbs or portion size, or something else?

One thing I do know is when I started eating ice cream and some candies, goodbye portion sizes, hello empty container.

 

[Walt34]

When I think of my childhood, I don't think of gloriously healthy meals. Quite the opposite - we ate horribly in the 60's and 70's. I recall lots of McDonalds, TV dinners, dinner from boxes, and fatty meats with oodles of margarine on everything. Plus candy as both snack and dessert.

Rather, we were all lean because our parents tossed us out of the house after breakfast and told us not to come back until dinner, so we spent our days biking, skating, swimming, playing hide and seek, etc.

I'm lean today because I'm careful with the calories that go in, and am regular with the calories that go out. Unlike when I was a kid, it's something I have to be mindful about daily, it no longer just magically happens.

That pretty much sums up my growing up in the '50's and '60's, except for the fast food and candy, we didn't have that. Mom did try to make healthy meals but there was lots of fried chicken too. She was good at that! Once in a blue moon there were TV diners but they were (and are) more expensive than home cooking so we didn't get those often.

But looking at photos of crowds of people from that era and you just don't see the obesity that we have now.

I know about the difficulty maintaining weight. It used to be if I wanted to lose weight I'd just cut back to two helpings instead of three. No more, now I have to make an effort to limit the one helping.

 

[AllDone]

One thing I do know is when I started eating ice cream and some candies, goodbye portion sizes, hello empty container.

Sadly, bad habits are a lot easier to maintain than good habits.

 

[Alan]

I continue to do my normal daily workout, but generally, I have become a bit more sedimentary in retirement compared to when I was working.

Does this mean that you put on fat in layers?

 

[Mulligan]

Does this mean that you put on fat in layers?

No, only about 3 pounds in last 5 years. 6'1 and weight 180, definitely not overweight, but I have really had to cut back eating since I am not as active. And that is tough because I love to eat! I bet I could gain 20 pounds in 2 months though if I ate like I did before I retired. Getting older in itself probably doesn't help the ol metabolism either!


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[Alan]

No, only about 3 pounds in last 5 years. 6'1 and weight 180, definitely not overweight, but I have really had to cut back eating since I am not as active. And that is tough because I love to eat! I bet I could gain 20 pounds in 2 months though if I ate like I did before I retired. Getting older in itself probably doesn't help the ol metabolism either!


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Sorry, I didn't mean to pry.

I was just attempting a joke on the fact your auto-correct put "sedimentary" instead of "sedentary".

 

[Accidental Retiree]

.

 

[Mulligan]

Sorry, I didn't mean to pry.



I was just attempting a joke on the fact your auto-correct put "sedimentary" instead of "sedentary".

See, I think about eating so much I cant even concentrate enough to spell correctly or catch a joke!


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[haha]

Sadly, bad habits are a lot easier to maintain than good habits.

Probably so, but there are a lot of people around who live very stable healthy habits. You just have to be clear about what you are after. Everyone says he wants to be healthy, but health is something that is only partially under our control. You can be a marathoner and have cancer nevertheless. My goal is clear, and I have never failed to maintain it. I want to to be lean. I hope this improves my health, but I know that it improves my appearance. Once you get a few years on you, no one expects you to look like you are young. I don't think there is any area of life where one gets a bigger bang for the buck as in maintaining an attractive body, and job number one here is weight control, and at least moderate muscle firmness. Very important inner changes can follow from this very straightforward essentially superficial goal.

For most of us, once past 35 or 40, to be lean means to be very aware of what is going into our mouths. I am not interested in whether a diet, or portion control. or regular exercise is what people choose, though I know people who do something month after month and it never seems to work. I know what I do and I will do it forever. I consider much food to be almost like heroin for a middle aged, middle class American. Just stand back, avoid the risk, because just looking around shows us that although fattening food can be avoided, it generally cannot be limited effectively enough to stay lean. This is a struggle this is best finessed.

Ha

 

[Which Roger]

Maybe it's an evolutionary thing, and being overweight is the state that we naturally strive for. Back in the hunting and gathering days, people would eat whenever they found food, but food was scarce and they burned a ton of calories looking for it. In the 19th century, it was cool to be overweight, since it indicated that a person had the means to afford lots of food, and that his or her work did not involve manual labor. When we grew up on TV dinners 50 years ago, a lot more people worked in manual labor than today. Now more people than ever sit at a desk, and food is more plentiful and affordable than ever, so...