lurkette

*sheepishly*

I had the opposite problem the last time I went in for x-rays...they said I was so skinny they couldn't get a good enough contrast, or something. Looking at what I perceive as my little poochy belly I have a hard time believing it, but I'm gonna believe the medical professional

__________________
"If ten million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."

- Anatole France

krwlz

I too, am skinny. Just a fast metabolism, hard as hell to gain muscle mass, but I never gain fat weight.

Now just a theory I've been tossing around for a few days, totally conjecture, but on the idea of overweight americans, and weight loss, I'm going to toss it out. None of this is meant to offend (i really dont think it will anyway, but... )

The american culture focuses heavily on gratification. Consider this. If from infancy and through child hood, you were to always eat until you were "full" I have to imagine this in turn would slowly stretch the capacity of your stomach out. Not a real big stretch of the imagination to see that as a possibility. In addition, as Americans, we eat what we want, not what we need.

Fast forward from an early life of always eating until gratification, and possibly stretching the stomach. Now your 25, 30, or whatever and want to lose weight. Now you try to diet, and lo and behold, it feels like starving yourself, because your stomach is larger than it needs to be.

The amount of office job, rather than physically demanding work, just compounds this problem. 40-60 hours a week you work in the office, and even as a skinny guy that would just like to gain some muscle and tone... Working out after that blows. You're still tired, and it's a major effort to force yourself to do it.

So while it is an individual problem, I think largely the issue stems from our culture.

As adults, we need to take care of the problems ourselves, but as parents, I think (as much as it might pain you to deny your child what he wants) we really need to encourage a good diet, not stuffing yourself, and a lot more phyical play time in order to arrest this growing (and I don't even want to use this term) epidemic.

Much easier said than done, but I think the only way to solve the problem as a whole, is to start from the earliest point possible, aka, early childhood.
(EDIT/NOTE: I am not a parent, and as we I refer to americans in general. I was always active as a child, I loved video games, but when the sun was shinning... I took full advantage of it)

Nancy

That's exactly how it works. Some obese people get a stomach reduction surgery as a last, desperate resort but according to this study they really don't have to.

__________________
I have all the characteristics of a human being: blood, flesh, skin, hair; but not a single, clear, identifiable emotion, except for greed and disgust. Something horrible is happening inside of me and I don't know why. My nightly bloodlust has overflown into my days. I feel lethal, on the verge of frenzy.
I think my mask of sanity is about to slip.

Average_Joe

Seaver, you make it sound much easier than it actually is. It's not always the number of calories in vs. calories burned. It also depends on the kinds of calories you take in. For example, I went on the Atkins diet for 2 months back in January, and I lost 20 pounds without changing my exercise routines. The rules for Atkins is basically to eat as few carbohydrates as possible. However, a person can eat as much fat and protein as they wish. My weight didn't drop due to my decrease in calorie intake, but due to a process that my body went through called ketosis, which I won't try to explain in this post.

Fat can be decreased by eating low glycemic food (the ratio between simple sugars, like glucose, to complex sugars, like fiber). This is not common knowledge, but perhaps it sounds logical. As an example, 1 orange and 1 cup of orange juice both have a similar amount of calories. However, an orange is a low glycemic food and the OJ is a high glycemic food. Both are healthy foods, but only eating the orange will help you to lose weight.


Not entirely true. Stress can trigger a defense mechanism in the body that increases fat production in cells.

I agree, but still eating less and eating healthy won't solve the fat problem. Most people who suffer from this don't even know they have a bad thyroid, and doctors won't run this test unless you ask them.

No, you don't understand my point. There are people out there who are allergic to certain foods, such as gluten (a protein in wheat foods) for example, that causes internal inflammation in the body. The inflammation can cause higher water retention and fat production. Again, most people don't know they have this allergy because the only symptom is the inflammation. Not all allergies cause obvious symptoms like hives and sneezing.

Well if they were female, and they found their penis, then they would have bigger problems. Again, these people know they are overweight, but don't have all the information necessary to do something about it. It is my opinion that the medical profession should take more of an active role that I'm seeing.

I won't disagree with you, but I think this is still a fine line there.

OK, doctors are not well trained in nutrition, but are well trained in solving health problems that poor nutrition leads to. Perhaps if doctors are better trained in nutrition, then they would have less need to be well trained in curing diseases.

If a doctor is not responsible for explaining proper nutrition, then who is? A nutritionist, perhaps, but it is not common practice among the public to see a nutritionist regularly like they would a doctor. Perhaps it should be a mandatory subject in school like phys. ed. Unfortunately, I think the governments would prohibit schools from telling the truth about some foods due to pressure from big business. There really is no easy answer.

Willravel

Losing weight isn't easy for everyone and it isn't hard for everyone. Thank goodness we live in a world of shades of gray instead of black and white.

I used to be a porker. I was an athlete in HS, but I had to have serious heart surgery, which impaired my exercise for years. I went from 180ish to about 240ish in a few years. When I got the okay from my doc to begin exercising again, it was a pain in the ars. I had grown used to being somewhat lazy. My diet had also gone down the tubes (I blame no one but myself for that one). I found out later that I had a food addiction to deal with stress and depression, but I digress. I had to seriously change my lifestyle and it was one of the most difficult things I've ever done. I stopped eating red meat, I stopped eating complex and processed carbohydrates (think less doughnuts, more fruit), and I exercised for a few hours a day. Yes, it mucked up my schedule, but what's a schedule worth if you're fat and unhappy?

I could very well have been oen of the people who can't fit inside a cat scan or what have you. It would have been easy in the short run, but hard in the long run. Being fat really isn't too fun. You get out of breath tieing your shoes, you can't play with your kids in the way they want you to play with them, even wearing really nice clothes you still don't look your best, less engery for the luvin, and a plethora of other terrible things. Unfortunately, I have a few stretch marks that will always be there to remind me to do what I can to respect my body.

Do I think that building larger machines is enabling? Yeah. Do I think it's wrong? Not really. Are doctors responsible for the health of their patients? To a degree, yes. Doctors have to be part healer, and part motivator in order to help people overcome obesity. What if I had an ear infection, and my doctor said something like, "Well 1/3 of America has an ear infection, so take this medicine if you want to...", well what help would that be? Most people, in my humble opinion, are not usually self motivated. Maybe they should try this one, "You're sick, and the medicine is strict diet and exercise. Here's what you do..."

krwlz

Ok what you're pointing out are foods that change the way you're body deals with the calories. In the end though, while some changes may make it easier or harder, bottom line is... A calorie is a calorie is a calorie. There are NOT differant kinds. A calorie is simply a measure of energy.

It's the other stuff in the foods you're eating that make it harder or easier for you're body to extract those calories, and what you're body does with them. Some thing perhaps, your body will just excreet rather than store, carb convert to useable energy easily, so they get stored first, etc etc.

So no, it's not so simple as that, however, bottom line... If you burn more than you intake, it WILL trigger your body to start using the energy stored in fat. Fats just take more work to make into useable energy, so if there is any possible way for your body to get "easy" energy (AKA Carbs) it will.

Willravel

Calorie myth debuking time:

Let's say that tomorrow I eat: 1 bowle of Total in organic skim milk, 1 banana, 1 lean turkey sandwich with tomato, cucumber, and lettuce, and a cod fillet with steamed rice...all totalling to about 2200 calories. I exercise the exact amount nexessary to burn off 2200 calories (including sleep). Let's say that the day after tomorrow, I eat 2 McDonalds breakfast meals, Doritos, a few doughnuts, a Snickers bar, and Cheetos, totalling to about 2200 calories. Again, I exercise the exact amount nexessary to burn off 2200 calories (including sleep). Yes, calories are all the same because they are a base unit of measurement (in this case, energy). The problem is that's not the whole equasion. There are a million other factors, many of which are substantial, in how your body metabolizes food and liquids. Calories are an important part of the equasion, but they are not the only variables.

opus123

>>>Magnetic power is directly affected by distance. By extending the distance the power, and thus the clearity of the picture, is lowered. Lower quality of a picture leads to increased problems.>>>

Reply back when you have "talked" to a radiologist. My wife is an RN nurse and says you know zip about anything medical. She has talked with radiologists and assisted in people getting in and out of these machines. All this article talks about is the use of a medical term ! That means as this term is learned and used more and more in the medical field that this term will show up more on reports ! Read between the lines people ! The reason this term is used more is because more and more small town hospitals are starting to use the term and more and more older medical professionals who never used the term are retiring and new professionals are entering the field with that term in their vocabulary. Millions of dollars are spent on these x-ray, MRI, and other machines, they are tuned up and will always work just fine for 99% of the population. Just because you are normal sized or skinny in no way means you will "be killed or hurt" by having a larger machine. Some of the machines are hard to climb into. Some fat people used to kill themselves before they would ever see a hospital. Now more and more obese people are seeking treatments like stomach stapling and other treatments to fix themselves. If an obese person needs a scan or something along that process of self-healing, then they need a bigger machine opening ! To say that a larger opening is encouraging obesity is definitely paranoia to the nth degree.

Jonathan

__________________
"We are sure to be losers when we quarrel with
ourselves. It is a civil war, and in all such
contentions, triumphs are defeats." Mr Colton
==================================

Ustwo

Heh this sounds like one of those cute sounding things that the primary care advocates say which really means nothing. The other diseases are not going away reguardless of nutrition, so the doctors still need to be trained in them. Even if they go from seeing 100 cases of X to 1 case of X a year, you would hope they knew how to deal with that 1 case of X if it was you aflicted with it.

People need to take responsiblity for their own lifestyles. There is PLENTY of information out there and if they are too stupid or lazy to crack a book I have little sympathy for them. It would be nice if there were more nutrition centers or whatever out there, but most people are fat not because of a lack of education but a lack of desire to change. I view it like smoking, a bad habbit but no one put a gun to your head making you smoke, or eat that second helping for that matter.

__________________
Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host

Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps.

Average_Joe

Honestly, I couldn't disagree more with your statements. Yes, there is plenty of information out there, but much of it is contradictory and has little scientific basis.

For example, the food pyramid created by the USDA, which is the most recognized dietary outline to the American public, recommends that we eat 6 to 11 servings of bread, rice, cereal, and pasta per day. Most bread, cereals, and pasta are made from refined sugars. Intake of refined sugars are one of the root causes of obesity. This is scientifically proven.

The Atkins diet recommends eating as little carbohydrate as possible. The Pritikin diet recommends that 85% of your daily calories should come from carbohydrates. Which diet is the right diet? Could they both be right or both be BS? Can you see how this might confuse the general public looking for a diet plan to lose weight?

I would bet any money that most obese people would rather not be obese. I would also bet that most of these people wouldn't say "I want to lose weight, but if it means giving up donuts and Big Mac's, then forget it". Overweight people who try to diet typically fail because they either don't work for them or they suffer from undesirable side-effects like fatigue, headaches, increased hunger, and sleep deprivation. The typical overweight person needs more help than they are getting from professionals in order to succees in losing weight. I say that starts with our medical professionals, who should spend time detailing programs for overweight people when they recommend weight loss.

krwlz

The rebuttal of course is this... 2200 calories of Mcy D's food is going to keep you full for... Oh, and hour or two? That is not all you're going to eat. I acknowledged the fact that there are other influencing factors.

Mostly my post was discouraging the myth that there are "differant kinds of calories". How those other things effect your bady varies from person to person, but a balanced LIFESTYLE, is going to be the answer to the problem. That includes balanced nutritious diet, so your body can do its job. A balance of calories in vs calories out, and a balance of sleep to waking time. It's all interconnected.

Just because there are other factors doesn't mean any given person should throw the calorie balance out the window, was all I was saying.

Nimetic

I don't think this is any reason to not treat people, or grounds to criticise the obese as some have (probably only jokingly) suggested.

First up, the point of medicine seems to be treatment the sick. If you rule out a treatment for the highly obese you are on a slippery slope. What about those with lung cancer? Those with AIDs, others with heart disease? Liver damage from alcohol etc. What if we are presented with a repentant druggie? What about a motorcyclist with trauma/spinal? A skateboarder with a broken arm? Where to stop?

The second point is that health care is a business, at least as far as I see it. Unless I'm mistaken - this is not government funded on the whole in the US. Treatment cost must influence insurance costs though, and yep, I can agree with differential costs for various categories. Maybe.

But once again, if you are not careful - you start heading towards a system where only the healthy get covered and those with a genetic precondition, high weight, and so on will be cast adrift, left without cover.

And we should remember I think that many highly productive people (intellectually and economically) do not look after their health, either due to focus on work, family care and/or hobbies... It's easy to laugh at the fat person at the shopping centre - but their contribution to society may be much greater than the nearby pretty-young-thing in tights.