Big Fat Lie: Overeating is a symptom, not the cause, of Obesity!

I really don't know if being overweight is caused by eating to much energy or by hormone imbalances caused by eating unhealthy food. But either way the problem can be solved by what Michael Pollan says about the subject:

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

reply to post by DevolutionEvolvd


If this guy has it figured out, why does he have a gut?

It's a combination really. You can eat fairly freely (portion-wise, and of course, not eat tons of breaded/fried/fast food), and as long as you exercise regularly, you are fine. As long as I'm on a regular 6 day a week exercise plan, I can eat fairly crappily quite honestly. But to obtain optimum weight, eating well and exercise is the way to go.

BUT... diets are crap, imo. The sole reason people are so plump anymore, is their utter lack of anything exercise. TV, computers, and lax (exercise-wise) jobs are what cause the fat to pile on. In the 1600, kings and royalty often were fat. They didn't have McDs or processed foods. Why were they fat? They didn't do much.

The best diet is: smaller portions. Not to cut off ALL breads, or to eat like a caveman, or any other fancy-schmancy diet, but eat sensibly, and exercise regularly. That is the most sure way to fit.

When I was in the Army, I and my fellow soldiers ate like CRAP! Just terrible. Yet we were in excellent shape. PT 6 days a week, twice a day on 3 days, and a fairly active lifestyle ensured that folks stayed in shape.

There are a lot of bad foods out there, but imo, lack of exercise is a much greater reason for obesity, than the food people eat. Of course combine lots of crappy food + no exercise, and it's no surprise that people are vastly overweight all over the place.

Originally posted by fleabit
When I was in the Army, I and my fellow soldiers ate like CRAP! Just terrible. Yet we were in excellent shape. PT 6 days a week, twice a day on 3 days, and a fairly active lifestyle ensured that folks stayed in shape.

Maybe you can be in shape while eating crap. But I really doubt you can be healthy long term. Eating like crap will make your body crap.

[edit on 25/6/2009 by FreezeM]

Originally posted by pieman
reply to post by Darth Lumina

 

I didn't say the discussion was about whether or not I liked fat people, I gave my opinion on the matter and if you don't like it then that's your problem, which I don't care. I'm just saying that any over fat person who looks into this will use it as an excuse to not try and change their habits. That is what my issue is, you are the one making it an issue against me. If you want some constructive advice, I would say get a life and quit being so sensitive to opinions that don't flow with yours.

Originally posted by DevolutionEvolvd


Besides, the point that Gary Taubes is making is, don't eat so many carbs, eat fat and protein because there is no evidence to suggest that they are bad for you.

-Dev

[edit on 24-6-2009 by DevolutionEvolvd]

Well, he basically just pointed out what bodybuilders have known for the past 50+ years. Geez, you could just pick up an issue of FLEX magazine at the seven eleven for $3.00 instead of wading through this guy's monster of a book!

Originally posted by badw0lf

Only if you can include the formula for :

Skinny female + lots of fatty fast foods + lots of alcohol + no exercise + smoker = skinny person who never gets fat or puts on weight & looks almost anorexic.

If you can work that out, in conjunction with your previous evaluation, then we can agree.
[edit on 25/6/2009 by badw0lf]

She has a low insulin level. She probably gets shaky and weak when not consuming large amounts of high-carb/sugar foods.

Originally posted by ravenshadow13
I've always heard that some forms of obesity are caused by chemical imbalances in the brain. When you eat, chemicals signal your brain to let you know that you're full and should stop eating. Some people don't receive these signals properly and eat past the point that they are full without feeling discomfort. And therefore become obese.

I've seen it happen, I don't understand how some people can eat plates and plates of food without feeling full or even ill. I can't eat past when I'm full, it's physically impossible for me.

It has a lot to do with either metabolism or your size. When I gained a lot of weight, I had been able to eat quite a bit more than I was when I was originally lean, but once I cleaned up my diet and started exercising, I didn't require as much food. Plus, by eating that much all the time, you make your body believe that you need all that food, but all you're doing is satisfying your taste. You have to be able to be aware of the difference between being actually hungry and your taste buds wanting to be satisfied. However, if you are an athlete, you would need more than the average person because of the muscle tissue damage you have done, and the depletion of other nutrients you lost during your workout, practice, etc. However, obviously athletes or anyone who is a workout fanatic puts better food in their bodies than the obese person cramming all that junk down their throats.

Originally posted by FreezeM

Originally posted by fleabit
When I was in the Army, I and my fellow soldiers ate like CRAP! Just terrible. Yet we were in excellent shape. PT 6 days a week, twice a day on 3 days, and a fairly active lifestyle ensured that folks stayed in shape.

Maybe you can be in shape while eating crap. But I really doubt you can be healthy long term. Eating like crap will make your body crap.

[edit on 25/6/2009 by FreezeM]

Well, keep in mind those in the Army usually are younger and have a young person's metabolism. I too don't recommened eating like crap, I was just saying that with regular exercise, you can overcome much bad eating.

It's almost all portions though. People could probably survive comfortably on about 1/3rd of the food they eat. When you go to a restaurant, it's amazing... people usually have eaten enough for an entire day just on appetizers and drinks (calorie-wise), before their main course even arrives! To anyone seriously wanting to lose weight, good advice to start on is regular exercise, and you can probably eat about half as much as you are right now. Portion sizes are ridiculous these days.

Oh.. and while it's true that lack of exercise imo, has just as much to do with gaining weight as overeating, overeating most certainly DOES cause weight gain. Saying overeating doesn't cause weight gain is just silly imo.

[edit on 25-6-2009 by fleabit]

reply to post by Darth Lumina


i have no issue with your opinion, it's the way it was stated, "fat little hands" and all that. just stupidity and ignorance, i don't like to let that stuff pass.

considering switching to a low carb diet takes more of an effort than a straight forward calorie controlled diet, i don't see how this could be used as an excuse for anything.

Eh -- it's just a question of semantics...

So Gary Taube says that a hormonal imbalance is the cause of obesity -- because this hormonal imbalance is what causes overeating.

That's like saying falling off of a cliff doesn't kill you, it's the landing on the ground that kills you. -- Or -- the gun itself doesn't kill you, it's the bullet that kills you.

So, the hormonal imbalance may be the gun, but overeating is still the bullet. People just need to figure out a way to keep that bullet from leaving the gun.

[edit on 6/25/2009 by Soylent Green Is People]

reply to post by pieman


Thanks! One of my other threads addresses the issue of fat intake and it's supposed effects on heart disease. Taubes talks about this in his book but the lecture was cut short so he didn't have time do get into it.

This thread might help you out. The lipid hypothesis is bogus. There is no evidence that shows eating fat increases cholesterol which causes heart disease.

-Dev

reply to post by FrankDux


My gawd. You, along with so many others, haven't taken the time to watch the damn video. I see you and others posting away non-sense and it's sickening. This is a thread to promote intelligent discussion about facts on the issue of obesity and fat gain, not your opinions. Saying what you believe and then saying that what you believe is true are two different things.

You're personal stories are not case studies and they are not evidence to support a rebuttal to the claims that are made by Gary Taubes.

If you're not going to take the time to watch the video or understand what his claims are, then please don't post in opposition with baseless opinions.



-Dev

Have you noticed how few Americans posted replies here. It seems to upset the Aussies, and the people in the UK more than the Americans. Very interesting. Could it be Americans are more tolerant of each others foibles.

Jack Spratt could eat no fat, his wife could eat no lean.
So between them both they licked the platter clean. (Nursery Rhyme)


Some people need to to eat low fat to stay slim and some people need low carb. We are all not the same.

Watched the video, what an informative piece. Very close to what I have read in Atkins book.

As an aside, I went on the low carb, no sugar diet about 5 months ago. I've lost just over 40 lbs and not once did I go to the gym.

Originally posted by DevolutionEvolvd
There is no evidence that shows eating fat increases cholesterol which causes heart disease.

sorry, i wasn't clear. ignoring the details of the mechanism, insulin and all that, as far as i can see, the theory here is that when the body burns carbs, in the form of glucose, a molecule is produced which allows the body to store fat by combining with fatty acids to lock them into a fat cell. the trick is to not burn carbs and therefore the body has to burn fats for energy as well as losing the ability to easily lock these fatty acids into fat cells.

what i am suggesting is that because the fats aren't stored in fat cells and because they are being pumped about for use in the body as energy there are more of them in the blood stream. not from eating more fats but as a normal side effect of a lack of carbs.

conventional wisdom says this is a bad thing. if not, then why not. any ideas?

reply to post by activeSeven



Just wanted to add this article from the BBC (circa 2005) to the discussion. BBC growing obesity problem Check out the difference in height and weight of the average British female from 50 years ago to the present. Clearly diet is responsible for the increase in height and weight and not some sudden onset of a heretofore unknown hormonal imbalance. Also, look at the obesity problem broken down by country and notice that the UK and the US have the largest populations of obese people. Unless the US and UK just happen to have larger populations with hormonal imbalances, I think the most sensible logical inference is that the obesity problem is the result of what most of us know: diet and a sedentary lifestyle.

Most of the Asian nations, where they eat more frequent and smaller meals, do not have nearly the obesity epidemic of the US and UK. Same goes for Europe, where I believe they consume far less per meal (examples are of a US 'small' soda being the size of a medium or large in many of these countries), and I'm also going to hazard a guess that they eat less processed and more fresh foods.

Again, to me and I think to many, it's clear that the obesity epidemic is a factor of (1) what you eat, (2) how much you eat and (3) how active or inactive you are. Of course there are some people with thyroid problems, etc. but I sometimes wonder if the people that blame those problems as the cause of the obesity epidemic might not be putting the cart before the horse. Rather, many of those problems can be corrected with dietary changes.

The reason, IMO, the obesity epidemic has been growing worse over the last 30 years is b/c people eat too much processed foods, too much food in general, and with the advent of computers we have been morphing more and more into a sedentary culture where our jobs require us to sit 8 hours per day.

Anecdotal evidence: I have a friend that lives in Thailand. They eat lots of small meals throughout the day and do not eat nearly the amount of proccessed and fast foods that we in the West do. Obesity is not an epidemic there. Am I to believe it has nothing to do with their diets and activity levels and is merely a product of hormones??? Nonsense.

Best I can recommend from personal experience:

1) Eat carbs in the morning (body gets energy from carbs during day time)

2) Eat whatever you want at lunch (but moderate portions)

3) Eat no carbs AT ALL at dinner (besides you can eat what you want) and do not eat anything after 7 p.m. (to keep the insulin level low. The body burns fat during night time, BUT ONLY if the insulin level is low)

4) Moderate exercises 2-3 times (min. 30 to 45 minutes) per week

And you will be fine!

Great stuff in the OP.

And horrible stuff from some others who simply wish to relegate anyone overweight to being selfish, gluttonous and lazy. The demonization of the overweight is a grotesque propaganda by a system that not only wants to make us fat, but to then mortify us for being so. Now the overweight have become a target of selective segregation being blamed for societies ills.

Fact: Some people are 'lazy' (ie they are not very physically active).

Fact: Some people eat 'bad' food. But in either fact not everyone who is lazy and eats badly is overweight.

A friend of mine who was slightly underweight drove cars for a living and lived on fast food.

I grew up on a 'welfare' diet in the '80's. Don't know what a welfare diet is (or was before fast food became so grossly cheap)? Well, I can tell you that it did not include 'fast food' or much junk food. It did maintain a high level of what were then cheap foods such as bread, potatoes, rice, cereal and other carbohydrates which for the ill-informed are nothing more than concentrated sugars.

What it did not include were many foods high in protein, such as meat, which are more expensive.

Guess what? I was absurdly overweight. I still am overweight despite maintaining a caloric intake well below the recommended 2000 calorie diet.

Wonder what is in a 'fast food' hamburger that makes it 100% Grade A beef? Filler. Not meat. The standards dropped, the fillers increased, the food became cheaper and people got fatter.

Is it the potatoes the french fries are made from or the 'lean' vegetable oil they're fried in that make you fat? Not to mention the added sugar that makes those McD's fries so distinct and tasty.

The question of why people overeat is a matter of nutrition. Ever notice how easy it is to eat a large bag of potato chips? Try eating the equivalent weight in meat. And notice the difference in feeling full. What's the difference in nutritional value of potato chips over meat? Huge.

How about the lazy issue. Try drinking an 'energy' drink and see how long you can sit still. More 'energy' equals more movement, not less. Energy motivates. A lack of energy stagnates. Why aren't the people who eat more doing more and therefore not fat?

Get it?

No, probably not. It's too easy to tow the government line that instigates hatred and discontent.

In closing, I'm not saying there is only one cause for obesity, and emotional and psychological factors play a role for certain as well as a build-up of toxic material in the digestive tract.

What I am saying though is that the bottom line, the FDA recommended guidelines for nutrition, is a farce at best and at worst a conspiracy to create a nation of complacent, overweight consumers lacking the nutrition and subsequent energy of good nutrition to want to do anything more than sit and watch TV which perpetuates the consumer model.

Originally posted by pieman
reply to post by Darth Lumina

 

i have no issue with your opinion, it's the way it was stated, "fat little hands" and all that. just stupidity and ignorance, i don't like to let that stuff pass.

considering switching to a low carb diet takes more of an effort than a straight forward calorie controlled diet, i don't see how this could be used as an excuse for anything.

In other words, you do have an issue with my opinion because my statement obviously reflects it now doesn't it? To you my statement "fat little hands" might have been stupid and ignorant, but it is neither, I'm simply stating a fact. Funny part is, I wasn't even trying to insult anyone or stir anything up, you are the only one making an issue about it with me, I simply made a statement. So what if i said skinny little hands refering to a thin person, is that ignorant and stupid too? No just like the fat hands comment, it's a statement of fact. As you might have noticed, I don't give a damn about PC, if someone's feelings are hurt by comments, then they should just lock themselves in a room and avoid all contact with the outside world. Obviously, you don't understand what I'm talking about as far as excuses. All someone will see is the headline and nothing else, "Overeating is a symptom, not the cause, of Obesity!" they will assume that gives them the ok to keep eating because the food isn't the cause, they won't even bother with the adivces that are given.