The Obesity Epidemic In The US Is Due Solely To Increased Food Intake

I am one who really struggles with my weight. But I feel I have finally found something that works. Low Carb. I just slowly starting cutting out the higher carb foods. I have done it a little at a time and I am now 5 months into it and 16.5 pounds of weight loss. I did not want to go as drastic as atkins but did know I needed a change as I was very slowly gaining weight.
Mine is coming off slowly but part of that is attributed to a thyroid disorder and the fact I am not doing atkins version of the diet but my own. It is doing wonders. The doctor said the slower the weight loss the more likely I am to keep it off as I am slowly teaching myself a new way of eating so that is a plus for me also. I just hope he is right lol.
I havent not figured it out but I think from quick mental calculations I am eating just as many calories as I was before but they are slowly turning into healthier calories. I was a soda pop junkie. I could go for days without eating as long as I had soda to drink. I am down to 1 soda a day now and by next week I will go to one every other day. It was nothing for me to go through a 12 pack a day!
While I understand some medical problems and meds can affect your weight a big portion of it is also the choices we make in our daily lives. I was at the doctors today with broncittis and he wrote me a script for predisone and let me know it would cause a temp weight gain but I just don't think I can bring myself to take it.

The big big problem in America is the portion sizes you are all brought up with!! My partner and came over there last year, and everywhere we went we had to share a meal!! Also, healthy foods aren't more expensive, if you cook at home. Vegetables can make a FULL MEAL. My partner and i spend between 150 - 200 on groceries (including toiletries and such) a week, and we always have spare food at the end of the week.

I've always been big and i understand that it's easier to go to the fast food place instead of cooking, but seriously!! Give your body the nutrients it needs!! We weren't eating quarter pounders 2000 years ago, and we still developed as a society (actually a lot faster than we are developing now). By eating healthy for the last 6 months i've lost 20kg! No exercise. I just get mad at the company's giving you guys this crap instead of what our body's really need.

Also, I think i'm right in believing that most american schools have mandatory sport through school? I haven't done sport since grade 5 (like most Aussies). I'm just saying excercise is great, but you won't be healthy until you start getting the minerals and vitamins that you need to function!

Rant finished, sorry if i didn't make sense.

Cherry

reply to post by CherryDuck


You made perfect sense..thanks for sharing.

Also, I think i'm right in believing that most american schools have mandatory sport through school? I haven't done sport since grade 5 (like most Aussies). I'm just saying excercise is great, but you won't be healthy until you start getting the minerals and vitamins that you need to function.

And most schools still offer burgers, fries and other crap in the canteens though. Talk about double standards.

[edit on 21/5/2009 by nerbot]

You gotta think about it. Supply and demand. That's a big reason why organic/healthy foods cost more.

reply to post by Melissa101


Vitamin deficiencies are not going to make you eat more, they simply cause diseases known as Scurvy, Pallagra, Beriberi and Rickets, to name a few.

It is made to look like fat people are lazy and eat to much and well they do but WHY? There must be a reason that 25 to 30 years ago our nation had fast food joints and junk food but people werent near as fat.

Why do they eat more? A diet high in carbohydrates induces satiety(feeling of fullness) slower than a diet low in carbs. What's the reason we we're fatter now than then? The increase of carbohydrate intake is obvious conclusion.

reply to post by CherryDuck

Give your body the nutrients it needs!! We weren't eating quarter pounders 2000 years ago, and we still developed as a society (actually a lot faster than we are developing now).

Wait. Who is we? If you're referring to ancient Egyptians, then yes, they didn't eat quarter pounders, but they did have heart disease. If you're talking about the Inuits, well, they ate a diet high in saturated fat and protein and almost zero carbs. Heart disease for them was not prevalent, in fact, it was almost non existant. So, it depends on who "we" is.

Also, I think i'm right in believing that most american schools have mandatory sport through school?

Actually, Physical Education is now a non-required class in many states.

-Dev



[edit on 21-5-2009 by DevolutionEvolvd]

Originally posted by LostNemesis
I do not know if anyone else knows this.... But I used to be huge.

I have lost over 100lbs, by starving. And keeping it off, with the same habit. Sure, I can eat what everyone else does, and not put the weight back on.......... If I go a couple days without eating, also.

Why? Why would you starve yourself? Nutrient deficiencies are going to be a real problem for you if what you're saying is true.

Just saying... No diet in the world took off any pounds. There are people getting rich selling miracle diets/pills. They know they do not work, but people are so desperate they keep buying.

What? Just because those diets didn't work for you doesn't mean they don't work. Almost any "diet" being sold to you will work for the simple fact that they are calorically restrictive. The same reason you lost weight. Starving yourself is a great way to lose weight, muscle and fat. This is very dangerous.

There is no doubt that a good number of these "fad" diets are the product of a guy looking to make a buck. Not all of them, though.

-Dev

[edit on 21-5-2009 by DevolutionEvolvd]

TM: So what's regulating the growth of the fat tissue?

GT: The answer, which we've known since the early 1960's, is insulin. Insulin is the hormone that primarily regulates fat accumulation. If you want to get fat out of your fat tissue, you have to lower your insulin levels.

And insulin is regulated for all intents and purposes by the carbohydrates in our diet. That's the simplest possible hypothesis. The physicist would call it "the zero-order approximation."

Other hormones play roles, and most of them work to get fat out of the fat tissue, but they can't do it if insulin levels are elevated. Adrenaline, growth hormones, all these things work to make you leaner, but they don't work if insulin levels are elevated.

And this has never been controversial. That's the weird thing.

TM: That's never been controversial?

GT: No.

TM: That carbohydrates make you fat?

GT: Well, that insulin makes you accumulate fat, and that carbohydrates regulate insulin levels.

TM: People don't just put those two ideas together?

GT: Nobody puts them together because they don't like the conclusions.

T-Muscle and Taubes

This is a great interview with Gary Taubes that is short and to the point. Obesity is not the product of overeating.

-Dev

[edit on 25-5-2009 by DevolutionEvolvd]