....Is it really just eating less and exercising more? Nope!
“If we all worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true is really true, there would be little hope of advance.”- Orville Wright
In America 65% of adults are overweight or obese. I would venture to say a vast majority of pilots at AA, and family members are overweight or obese as well. No, not solely restricted to International pilots, or F/As, or because of the “delicious” crew meals on board the planes....maybe the sundaes??? That IS some of the problem though....keep reading and I’ll fill in the rest of the obesity puzzle!
William L. Weis, a management professor at Seattle University, says that the obesity industries, including commercial weight-loss programs, weight-loss drug purveyors and bariatric surgery centers, will likely top $315 billion this year, nearly 3 percent of the overall U.S. economy.
400,000 Americans die every year due to obesity related diseases. In 10 years, this will be responsible for 4 million American deaths. While every year, it costs $100 Billion dollars in health care costs. Obesity-related medical costs (not obesity industries) are nearly 10% of all annual medical spending.
45% of children and teenagers are overweight/obese as well. Many are diet-induced type 2 diabetic. Normally this shouldn’t show up until reaching the late 30s or 40s years of age; if at all. But it’s showing up at a much younger age. Why? Are we becoming fatter and diseased because we are simply lazy and overeating? Or is it the nutritional advice we are receiving? In my view, it’s NOT your fault.
Nationally, two-thirds and nearly one-third of children and teens are currently obese or overweight. Since 1980, the number of obese adults has doubled. Since 1970, the number of obese children ages 6-11 has quadrupled, and the number of obese adolescents ages 12-19 has tripled. (healthyamericans.org, 2010 Obesity Report)
Why are we getting fat, and what’s the solution?.....read on....my diet/lifestyle will allow you to eat all you want, not be hungry, and normalize (reduce if you’re fat) your weight. And decrease your elevated blood lipids, triglycerides, and insulin resistance.
It’s getting worse every year...not better...even in spite of “expert” advice. New (but really the same) FDA food pyramids every 5 years, “obesity genes” found, the thrifty gene, more gym memberships, new methods of working out, pills/potions/procedures in the surgical room, motivational speakers, popular reality shows....”The Biggest Loser”???
The real loser are the people who recommend working out like a madman, getting you to believe you need to go to the gym in order to lose weight....and restrict your calories at the same time....The most unscientific concept I have ever heard of in over 40 years of being involved in nutrition and fitness. Like “Calories-In-Calories-Out” (CICO) is some mantra to be repeated and believed. Where’s the science for that theory? Where’s the long term clinical trials demonstrating humans can restrict calories and permanently lose weight? Where’s the research data? Show us the unequivocal results of long term caloric restriction that demonstrates how calories in and calories out theory works for humans???
....none, nada, zilch, zero, Zimbabwe!!!
The “experts” must have missed that day in human biochemistry/physiology class, that discussed the effects of food, macronutrients, and energy systems in the human body. Most doctors are not trained to use biochemistry or nutrition in any practical form. Formal nutrition education is woefully inadequate:
They take what the drug reps tell them as the truth. I know doctors do not want to harm, but not paying proper attention to the science has led us down a terrible road that not only takes our health away, it is bankrupting us. Look at what happens in most of us after dieting...restricting calories and working out more:
...temporary weight loss, with rebound weight gain past the beginning weight!
When you restrict calories in humans, certain specific, evolutionary-based survival mechanisms kick in and try to save you. Nature wants you to live...to survive...to thrive..to hunt, find food, eat and reproduce. When you restrict calories, autonomic hormones, (human growth hormone, insulin, cortisol, glucagon, etc.) are secreted to change your biochemistry to help you survive “the famine” you created when you created a caloric-restricted diet.
....here’s a hint: whatever your hormones do, your body will do! Change your hormones....change your body....keep reading!
Growth hormone increases (stimulates lipolysis) with a concomitant reduction in thyroid hormone (major energy conserving adaptation by decreasing basal metabolic rate and limiting muscle protein breakdown) Insulin decreases (insulin is an anabolic growth hormone) No reason to have a growth hormone around when there is no food. Cortisol (a stress hormone) goes up, and this stimulates your body to store calories....not burn them.
Your thyroid hormone goes down. You slow down, energy levels decrease, lethargy sets in, you want to sleep more, and YOU DON’T FEEL LIKE WORKING OUT!!! Hunger centers in your hypothalamus are stimulated to make you seek and find food....your will power will only last so long, and you end up over eating and becoming frustrated/disillusioned/discouraged with your diet in the weeks to come. You end up eating more calories and gaining your weight back and beyond.
Nutritionists, and many of us, think our bodies are biochemical “closed-systems” and whatever we eat either gets burned or stored. Not true. We are open systems with energy leaving and coming in to our body all the time to and from the environment.
Law of energy conservation: Change in energy stores = Energy intake - Energy
expenditure
The equation doesn't indicate which is cause and which is effect
It's possible that a change in energy stores could cause changes in intake and/or expenditure.
The evidence supports this interpretation (metabolic/hormonal changes that drive us to change adiposity by adjusting intake/expenditure).
Also, it takes energy to digest food, so this is lost as heat...98.6 degrees...and not all the calories in our food are fully digested. It also depends upon your hormones status during your meals which determines what you do with our food: burn it....store it....or excrete it....yes, some of our food is never digested and is excreted in feces. So calculating calories in minus calories out will not work.
Pregnant women fatten due to hormonal changes.
Female hormones induce hunger and lethargy to create the positive caloric
balance necessary for fat accumulation.
And in children, a positive caloric balance is associated with physical growth
Evidently, they eat a lot because they're growing (not growing because
they eat a lot).
Hormonal drive to grow causes increased appetite.
Positive caloric balance is a result, not a cause, of growth.
Caloric deprivation is compensated for by lowering expenditure.
No wonder dieting is so difficult: it is a fight against mechanisms which evolved
precisely to to minimize fat loss when caloric intake is reduced
▪ Traditional response to failure of dieting is to blame the victim for lack of willpower; the real problem is that you can't force a caloric deficit.
▪ Any weight lost from caloric restriction can only be kept off by continuous
restriction; a return to natural eating will bring the weight back.
▪ An extreme masochistic challenge: to fight hunger and lethargy for a
lifetime.
▪ A child's growth can be stunted by starvation; fat accumulation can be
offset by starvation. But in neither case will starvation address the root
causes.
◦ Obesity is a symptom of an underlying disorder; caloric restriction attempts to
treat the symptom, but doesn't address the root cause
And do you think you just need to go to the gym to burn off your food? Well, you better be planning to take up a residence at your gym. You need a hours to burn one pound of fat:
1lb fat=3500 calories
1 hour on a stair master burns=700 calories
Therefore...5 hours needed to burn one pound of fat on the stair master
Yes, I know about the residual effects of working out and the post-adaptive metabolic response to exercise. But, those very few calories you burn in the hours afterwards are minuscule compared to your total daily caloric intake. And the funny thing is, when you exercise more, you end up eating more....stimulating your hunger! Energy levels go up and this further stimulates your hypothalamic hunger centers. But the experts want you to believe the CICO principle and that it’s your fault why you are fat. They say: “You are lazy, and you need to workout more.” Well, we’ve been doing that and it’s obviously not working. It’s not your fault.
The take-home message: This metabolic “insult” creates adaptive changes and responses in the body that determines what you do with your food....not simply eating less and exercising more. It’s a very flawed hypothesis and has never been tested.
What’s the solution? Different macronutrients have different effects on our hormones. And hormones determine weight gain or loss.
A high carbohydrate diet, with low fats, is very lipogenic...it makes you fat. Your body can only store 1600 calories of carbohydrate, as glycogen; 400 in your liver, and 1200 in your muscles. Anything above this and your liver converts these carbs into triglycerides. And these excess triglycerides are stored in your fat cells.
Carbohydrates will always affect your hormones, blood glucose, insulin levels, and of course fat storage. Whenever you eat carbs, insulin is secreted and you will tend to store those sugars as fat.
Using a low carbohydrate diet will normalize your weight, stimulate fat burning, and balance insulin....ie. reducing your insulin resistance.
Here are some reported benefits from low carb diets: (embedded with references)
Here are my nutrition recommendations:
Eat food you can recognize (meat, veggies, fruit, nuts)
Eliminate grains (especially wheat, rye, barley) including corn, rice, soy, oatmeal, etc.
Eliminate beans (red, black, kidney, peanuts, legumes)
Eliminate sugar (white, brown, fructose/high fructose corn syrup, honey, agave nectar)
Eliminate all vegetable oils (canola, soy, safflower, corn)
Eliminate processed foods and chemicals you can’t pronounce!
Here’s a framework for my meals:
Breakfast: 2-3 eggs, 3-4 strips of bacon (or any kind of meat: steak, hamburger, chicken, pork, sausage, etc.), handful of berries, some nuts (macadamia, almonds, walnuts, pistachio, cashews, etc)
Lunch: Big salad with 4-5 different vegetables, meat (beef, chicken, fish, lamb, etc) Only use olive oil for a base of the salad dressing. No other kind of vegetable oil: No canola, soy, safflower, corn, etc.
Dinner: Any kink of meat, roasted/sauted/grilled vegetables (butter on top), avocados, olives, pesto, etc.
Snacks: nuts
Eat as much as your hunger (hormones) will direct. Do not count calories. Eating fat is good for you. Don’t worry about how much fat you consume. It has no effect on heart disease. Cholesterol (LDL-c, HDL-c, VLDL-c, etc.) affects heart disease; not fat consumption. You will eat less since your meals will be much more satisfying and filling from the increased fat consumption. Cravings will decrease since you will be eating more nutrient dense foods and not the junk foods from grains/cereals/rice!
Your level of activity/exercise will tell you how much to eat. Many studies have been done demonstrating it is difficult/impossible to overeat fat and protein. Your satiety brain center will prohibit overeating. Your weight will reduce, lipids improve, along with improved energy levels, reduced “brain fog”, lessened cravings for sweets, improved moods, emotions more even, less aches and pains, greatly improved gastrointestinal upsets (GERD)...to name just a few!
Wrapping this very long posting up....my apologies, and thanks to those still reading at this point! I went too long on the science/justification and not enough on the recommendations. I can elaborate more in my next posting and I will get my blog/website going soon.
As always...Healthful Regards,
Dr. John
