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Okay...or not?
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Make these small diet and exercise adjustments each day and you will shed the weight in no time
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By Jonny Bowden, M.A., C.N.S.
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REMEDY Summer 2006
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When it comes to America’s attitudes about being overweight, there’s bad news and good news. Discrimination against fat people is the last socially acceptable form of prejudice. Obese people are the brunt of jokes, cruel remarks and unsolicited “helpful” remarks from complete strangers. The good news—from a humanitarian point of view, anyway—is that times may be a-changing. According to research by opinion polling firm NPD, America’s attitudes towards overweight people are shifting from rejection toward acceptance. Over a 20-year period, the percentage of Americans who said they find overweight people less attractive steadily dropped from 55 to 24 percent.
Are these changes real? Who knows? Kelly Brownell, Ph.D., director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, argues that the studies showing greater “fat acceptance” don’t necessarily pick up on unconscious bias. “There’s a difference between what people say and what actually happens,” Brownell says. Nonetheless, with Americans getting fatter and fatter—about two thirds of U.S. adults are now overweight—Americans do seem more accepting of heavier body types.
But no matter what we think, we can’t change the medical facts: Being overweight is still unhealthy and presents major challenges with serious consequences.
A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that being overweight in midlife substantially increases the risk of dying of heart disease later in life. Fat tissue “is not like an inert storage depot—it’s a very dynamic organ that is actually producing hormones and chemical messengers,” says JoAnn Manson, M.D., of Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital. These substances can damage blood vessels, increase the risk of blood clots and cause insulin resistance that makes people prone to developing diabetes.
While some research shows that fit people who are overweight are better off than sedentary normal-weight people, the hard truth is that being overweight puts you at risk for a host of health problems. As David L. Katz, M.D., an obesity researcher and the director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center, says, “People who say obesity has been hyped are wrong.”
Speaking of David Katz, he’s got a new book out: The Flavor Point Diet. Dr. Katz says that people stop eating when their brain’s appetite center gets the message “This dude is full.” But, he claims, the American diet makes it very difficult for the brain to get that message. The overwhelming number of flavors and choices at a typical meal stimulates a correspondingly wide variety of flavor sensors, and in order for you to feel like pushing your plate away from the table, all of them have to be turned off.
That’s why everyone always has room for dessert, but not necessarily for another portion of grilled chicken. And why Thanksgiving dinner is such a nightmare for the calorie-conscious. Katz’s solution? Flavor-themed meals. A day of pineapple-themed meals, or a day of vegetables. And it’s not as boring as it sounds: For example, “pineapple day” might include pineapple juice and cereal for breakfast, pineapple-almond chicken salad for lunch, and pineapple shrimp for dinner along with a vegetable and salad. Dessert? Sure: pineapple rings.
Dr. Katz, a correspondent for NBC News and Oprah, claims to have tested the diet on 20 people for 12 weeks and says they lost an average of 16 pounds. Unlike other flavor-limiting diets (think the cabbage soup diet), Dr. Katz’s diet features fruits, vegetables, lean protein and healthy snacks. He also recommends 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day.
Still looking for the fountain of youth? We may have a lead—if you're prepared to trim calories. Turns out that when they eat a severly calorie-restricted diet, rodents, spiders, guppies, water fleas and even primates don't get the ailments of aging, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. Cutting calories by 30 percent in animals increases their life span by 30 percent.
And the same restrictions may help promote human health and longevity as well. Human fans of the approach say that they consume large quantities of bulky foods like fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and rarely feel hungry. They typically budget their calories over two or three days (i.e., 6,000 calories over three days), allowing leeway at a business dinner or family celebration. They avoid refined foods and empty calories.
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