The Land of the Obese?

There is somewhat of a learning curve that you have to go through so that you understand macronutrients. What the terms 'fat', 'carbs', 'protein' really mean; what the beneficial ratio they should be in; what are essential nutrients and what the good fats are.

I get a kick out of shows like 'Blaine's Low Carb Kitchen'. He has an idea what 'low carb' means, but he's still obviously over consuming calories by a large amount for him to be so portly.

image source: http://fittv.discovery.com/gallery/bottom_promo/april06/box4_blaine0501.jpg

Have you seen Graham's show? He really gets into explaining it all very thoroughly. However, as has been said it's best to study it all and how it relates on your own to get the true story.

I do know how different aspects of food react depending on how they are cooked, mixed with other foods, time of day, etc...

Yea, it's hard to trust an overweight cook to know what's healthy. Graham actually had a heart attack and bypass surgery which changed him from the galloping gourmet into a very knowledgeable dietary chef.

You have made a better point then you think. What parents say has a huge effect on a person's impression of food.
I sum it up as "If you make an issue of eating, you make eating an issue.
Parents also need to keep in mind that kids do plump up a little before a growth spurt. Especially in teen years. The body needs the extra calories. My teen cousin did this. Her very thin mother harped on her about it. Now at 18 all she drinks is milk, and her mother harps on her about not eating, and she is rail thin. Poor thing must be confused. The next child is 15, plumped up a little, and the cycle is starting over.
Kids instinctively know what they need and don't need, until commericalism kicks in.
Well meaning parents interfere.
When I say it is multi-faceted, it is such a complex issue that I can't fit it all in a few posts. And I don't want to bore you. I am a veteran of weight loss. Like everything in my life, I have studied it till I can be an expert. Where people tell me I should start my own commercial program.
Yes, it is about a proper diet and exercise, but eating is 90% mental and 10% physical.
But some other issues are to be considered:
One psychological aspect of it is that there is peer pressure. When I was losing weight, it is amazing the amount of sabotage that goes on. Here, eat a piece of cake, it is my birthday. Oh come on, it is a holiday. Just one cookie, I made them for you. If I refused, I get hurt looks. I had one girl threaten me that after refusing 3 times that it was bad luck not to eat her birthday cake. I said the calories were bad for me also.
Then there is other psychological associations. People eat when they are depressed, bored, scared, etc. They have done studies recently to prove this. That their full factors have been over-ridden.
Then there is what I call the clean plate syndrome. Where as children we are told there are starving children in Africa, eat everything on your plate. Don't waste food. So you had to eat everything. Or children are not allowed to leave the table till they finish. This teaches children to over-ride their senses of what they need and when, and when to feel full, leading to overeating issues the rest of their lives. If you finish your meal, you can have dessert. So now we stuff ourselves in order to get tastey rewards.
Then their is the association. People bribe children with food. You behave and I will take you to McDs. Or a person has a happy memory of going to get ice cream with mom and dad every weekend. So now, to bring those happy memories back, they go get ice cream. It is now associated with a happy feeling, so when feeling depressed, they eat.
McDs plays on psychology too, pointed out in SuperSizeMe.They make it a bright shiney happy place, with clowns,playgrounds,and parties.
As far as not having time to cook good food. The cooking is the easy part. It is the cleanup that is hard. Yea, you have rachel ray's 30 minute meals, but she has interns to clean the kitchens. I could cook a healthy stir fry, but then I have to clean the counters, the pans,the wok, the dishes,put them in the dishwasher, and then unload it again. Many mothers have stopped cooking because they can't work,cook, and then cleanup,and take care of the kids.Yes,the family should help.But in many instances, they don't or won't.

Yes, I know who he is now - didn't realise he was still going though.
And changed to a dietary chef, excellent.
I always enjoyed the re-runs of his old shows, although not very informative, they did make me giggle a bit.

I'm pretty sure we don't get him over here, unless he's on one of the satellite channels, but I'll keep an eye out for any books he's done - recent ones of course, can't be doing with all that galloping gourmet stuff
Just makes me hungry and wanting to eat rubbish

nixie_nox,

I know exactly what you're saying. I also know exactly what to do and how to do it, it's the doing it that's the hard part. I am doing very well but I often dream that my brain was rewired to be like a thin persons brain. Which does start to happen as I lose weight but it never locks into that mode for the lifetime it needs to be.

All of those things you have mentioned I have either witnessed, discussed or researched. In fact you often seem like you're reading my mind. So, obviously I like the way you think.

Bud,

Here is Graham's site: www.grahamkerr.com...

And a quote from him:

I don't know if my approach is unique, but as far as 'dieting', my feeling is that one has a very limited menu, and as much as possible the food is fairly bland or even monotonous.

I have to avoid certain foods because they can stimulate the appetite.

For me it's mostly egg whites, bland fish, shrimp without seasoning, and protein drinks.

As far as my diet goes, I stick to the old "plenty of colour" method, and try to steer clear of red meat.

I allow myself the occasional treat, especially after a few beers at the weekend, but I'm quite lucky in that I don't have a sweet tooth. In fact, I can't remember the last time I ate chocolate or bisuits.

There is a form of dieting, or lifestyle if you please that is little unheard of called ethnic dieting. The gist of it is that you only eat foods from your land of origin. The thought behind it is that people are genetically predisposed to have metabolisms adjusted to your land of origin. Since that is what your ancestors ate for centuries before becoming worldly.
Many people eat asian food. Because Asians live longer, thinking that it is healthy for them. But Asians have adapted to eat that food. Why they can be sustained on rice, someone from say, Europe isn't. Rice for them causes a boost in the glycemic index, making them hungry instead of satisfied. Chinese food doesn't make you hungry in an hour, it is the rice. It acts like a shot of sugar. So if you eat foods that you are not genetically predisposed too, it can wreak havoc on yoru metabolism, causing diabetes and obesity. For example, if you are native American, you would eat corn, buffalo, berries, and any other indigenous foods. But not bananas, kiwi, or rice, that comes from another local.
Folks of meditteranean decent would eat pasta, olives, seafood, etc.
I think it is something that nutritionists and geneticists should look into, and that it has a lot of merit.
Now, if you are of a pure ethnic group, this will work out. But I don't know what you would do for someone like me, who is an American mutt.

[edit on 8-8-2007 by nixie_nox]

nixie_nox,

I couldn't agree more! Every time I see someone trying to push something like "Asian" for example I think: Why would I do that? I'm not Asian and didn't come from a rice and fish culture. It's more what you are designed to eat and nobody was designed to eat the processed crap you find more and more of in the USA.

I am mostly German and Scottish but don't have a clue as to what a healthy diet is in Germany. I would however consider myself European by make and I do know what European's should eat for health.

I think that's where all those studies get messed up. Just because the French are healthier drinking 2 glasses of red wine a day doesn't mean I will be as well. That's why you get these recommendations after a study and then years later they do another study but this time in another country and find that the red wine didn't work. So, they will come out and say that after further study we have found that red wine is not good for you. They seldom go back to the original study and find that the French (example) are doing just as well as always. Certain cultures were made for certain foods.

I believe there are all types of people from all nationalities. I saw many very large people in China, both times I was there. At first I was a bit surprised that there were so many fat short people.

Then I understood, people are people, no matter what country they are from.

It is the healthy digestive tract that maintains a person at their optimal weight, which is different from one person to the next.

Strive to keep your digestive tract and waste management systems in order, and you will stay at your optimal weight.

Parasites are a result of an unhealthy system. They are a result of neglect, not a cause for being sick. Being sick and unhealthy is an open invitation for parasites and candita to flourish. By the time these guys take over, your body is already in toxic overload.

How do you neglect your digestive system? Plug it up with the wrong foods.

Fibre intake is important in the equation.

living in the middle ages or in anciant sparta has its good sides...as above sayd u use ur body to train and work so ur always in perfect shape...and u can be a phalanx or a paladin
now that most of us dont have to do hard work the only way to stay in shape is to do fitness and exersize which is TROUBLESOME if u know u have to do it u just dont wanna do it...couse were lazy^^
but in ancient cities that was part of the work so no problem^^
i even worked on a gas station for 3 weeks and i feel i exersized more then ever before

And inhaled/absorbed an inordinate amount of petroleum. My father worked in a refinery for over 40 years and died of cancer that I know was caused by his exposure to this environment for so long.

Unfortunately I too worked there for 3 years and continued to work in unhealthy chemical environments for 13 more years after. I've actually had my clothes literally burned/disintegrated completely off my body after being doused with sulfuric acid. I've also had metal fume fever (horrible) and I'm not sure but it's almost a certainty that I've inhaled asbestos fibers. I've been exposed to triclor before it was banned and I could go on and on.

I have made it a priority since escaping that world to stay as far away from chemicals as possible and I am always searching for ways to rid my body of toxins that may be sitting in my organs.

Yes, activity level has a great impact on health and weight. The more I sit behind a desk the more I know that I need activity to keep my heart, lungs, etc.. healthy.

win,

I agree with you but I do think it's a combination of factors and I believe cultural predisposition is one of those factors.

These type of reports just keep coming and coming, here's another one:

Full Story

It seems that the UK government, via the media and especially the BBC, is on a crusade.
Perhaps not a bad thing.

Just like over here and while I agree that's it's not a bad thing it does seem to be like most other crusades in that the action comes way too late.

It's difficult to fight something that is literally programmed into you not only in your mothers womb but in the media womb that takes over afterward.

Half the media tells you to eat and drink this or that and the other half tells you how much of a reject you are via the "industry" idea of beauty.

It's almost like we are set up to lose in one way or another right from birth.

The whole media/fashion industry monster that developed from the sixties up until quite recently forced us to look at ourselves in a different light.
However, once the monster was out of the box, it became a growth industry, and spawned many subsidiary industries - all through the power of the media and advertising.
This, combined with more sedentary lifestyles, sat in front of the TV, not wanting to cook (the "have it now" generation), became an indictment of the world we live in.

It's really easy to see what a "normal" size is - just walk down nearly any high street in the country - skinny people are pretty much a minority. Yet so many people feel castigated and ugly or abnormal simply for being normal, through media/fashion pressure - and if they feel ugly or abnormal, that discourages them from trying to live a healthy life with a good diet - the frame of mind being "if I'm ugly anyway, why should I bother - I'll just do what I like, cos I'm buggered anyway"

So now finally, the powers that be have realised their mistakes and are trying to rectify them - again through the media and the power of advertising.
Maybe in the future, we'll have normal sized happy people, and the skinny size zero "freaks" will be the ones who are being told they are the unhealthy ones.

[edit on 15/8/2007 by budski]

I was talking to my Chineese connection about what was being expelled from my body. He called a few of his friends and gave me a report. The sad part is I had to go there, because Doctors here will hardly recognise parasites as a cause for sickness and disease.

The bottom line is these parasites can only be detected by a CT scan. They live in your body. All over within your body. They live for forty years or more and can lie dormant for years. This gives the host the impression they are gone. As soon as the body gets worn down, bang they become more active again. A person can live with thousands of these monsters feeding off digested food, blood, and who knows what.

The idea of a parasite is to not destroy the host, because that would not be good for the parasite. Get the picture.

You may think, ok, but I don't have any. Well, how do you know. Have you ever petted a dog? Aparently they are the most infected animal on the planet. They are the most likely animal to infect a person. Here fido, give a kiss!

Have you ever french kissed another person? That is far more dangerous than unprotected sex, as far as these parasites are concerned.

They say if it lasts longer than 4 hours, go see your Doctor.

My Doctor is a man! I hope he understands.

Apparently I've broken yet another rule.

If I have offended anyone with my "too racy" for ATS post I apologize.

From now on I will stay rigidly on topic. Actually I think I may just go back to reading and not posting at all.

thread killed

Thought that was my job - ah well