Tackling obesity

An article advising that almost 50% of US residents will be obese by 2030.

And Auatralia probably won’t ne too far behind from what I observe almost daily.

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And sometime, its chickens and eggs. For example, obesity is blamed for Type2 diabetes… but theres a school of thought which says Type2 diabetes may be one of the causes of it. (Fast food doesn’t help, of course!!). I look at kids today who are obese, well beyond anything I was at that age, and the only thing I can think is that they have really crappy diets (and diabetes and heart disease is in their not so distant future). Fast food is cheap and easy. I know a lot of pensioners will eat it because its affordable, even though so unhealthy. Go to any Maccas or Hungry Jack’s (better value there) at teatime and you’ll see what I mean.

I cook my own tucker and when I don’t want to, I’ll get chinese, or dominos or somesuch. It doesn’t help my size at all. But not having it makes no difference… except to BGL.

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That is one ‘ingredient’ but another are sedentary lifestyles. Instead of being out and about so many are captives to screens of whatever sort.

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Another study into Sugary Drinks (including Fruit Juices that have no added sugar) that points to increased Cancer risks. It also points out in the study the well established link to obesity from the increased consumption of kj in sweet foods including drinks.

https://www.bmj.com/content/366/bmj.l2408

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An article regarding Australian GP’s stating over 90% of obese patients refuse to do anything about it.

Not quite sure of why there is a Subway wrapper in the photo although what the person is actually eating may be from the brown paper bag.

Our medical profession also has a representative cross section of body forms by my observations.

Perhaps they could make good use of a survey of their own industry employees to find the solution? :thinking:

It might take some effort to work through the multitude of different causes and combinations of influences/factors. Although the study and understanding of human behaviour is part of medical science which should give the a helping hand. :wink:

Researchers have discovered an existing drug for treating Type 2 diabetesis successful in treating obesity.

With some 42% of the US population now obese, and most of the rest probably overweight, it is certainly a disaster, and Australia appears set to give them a run for their money.

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Not all that stunning … Average loss 35lb (15.4kg) over 68 weeks = 0.22kg/week. A cup of water weighs 0.25kg.
A 15% loss means the average starting weight of participants was 103kg. To have returned to the top of the Healthy BMI (25) they have to be 1.88m tall. That means the ‘average’ participant started in the top of the overweight (not obese or morbidly obese) range at 29.2 BMI and ended up at the cusp of Overweight/Healthy at 25.

The CSIRO’s Total Wellbeing Diet (national health guidelines) does better than that. www.totalwellbeingdiet.com/au/ It teaches participants to eat a healthy balanced diet and incorporate exercise. The results are a reduction in obesity related health issues, such as diabetes, cholesterol, heart, liver problems etc. Over half a million have participated. The CSIRO use the data for further research to tweak the program. The initial 12 week program is fully refundable on completion (T&Cs apply) or claimable through Health Insurance. Once you get the idea, it is easy to continue on your own. You cook your own food.

An unhealthy diet won’t be fully reversed by a weight-loss drug. I suspect the Pharmaceutical Company is chasing a new market.

WA Hospitals have banned the sale of sugary drinks.

“But Australian Beverages Council spokeswoman Cathy Cook said Australians were already making healthier decisions and the new policy removed consumers’ right to choose what they drink.”

Isn’t it great that to see that the beverage industry is so concerned with consumers’ rights.

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Cancer Council wants WA hospital soft drink ban expanded to other government facilities.

https://foodenvironmentdashboard.com.au/

An article regarding the UK planning to tackle obesity.

Banning junk food ads is certainly a good start.

Of course. the vested interests are not happy about it.

The extent of the problem.

As expected, the US is the worst, and Australia is worse than the UK.

North Korea missed out on making the list now that their only obese person has had a dramatic weight loss.

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You’ll use fat as a primary source of energy, along with protein. Obesity is more complex that calories in v’s calories out. When you take carbohydrate, especially highly refined forms like sugar, it is easily absorbed in the gut, goes straight to the liver where it will be used to make certain that the liver stores of glycogen are full and then stop the remainder as fat.

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I don’t follow, could you explain that a bit more. When would this happen? Why?

Quite so. I never said otherwise. Energy balance is only part of a quite complex story but it is still a part that cannot be ignored.

You seem to be heading towards some kind of dietary theory along the lines that fat is good but carbohydrates are bad. If so, you might like to start a thread on the topic as it may be interesting.

I can’t see that any of this addresses the claim that the fat on meat does not contribute to obesity.

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I am with PEKAY on this one for two reasons:

First up while it is true that there are more calories per gram in fat than carbohydrates, it doesn’t mean that you need to consume the same number of grams of each. To highlight this point, think about eating a meal with 10 grams of fat, compared to eating a meal with 30 grams of carbohydrates. It will be the second meal that has more calories.

Secondly, as PEYKAY is saying, the digestive processes of converting fat and carbohydrates to glucose in the bloodstream are very different. Critically, carbohydrates are processed to glucose more quickly, producing a higher and shorter spike in blood glucose levels, than fat does. This means carbohydrates give you a shorter “sugar hit” while fat gives you a longer “I’m full, so I don’t need to eat” feeling.

Eating fat based calories slowly enough to respond to the “I’m full” feeling is one of the stronger ways to manage your weight, as it is the excess blood glucose that triggers the storage of calories as body fat.

The above is based on medical advice given to me by my doctor as a type 2 diabetic. Interestingly, he also said that research shows that while we have dietary requirements to eat fat and protein, but we don’t need sugar or carbohydrates. Which he acknowledges is in contradiction to the classic food pyramid.

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You have been given good advice as far as I can see. The problem is that we are discussing the claim that fat on meat does not contribute to obesity which is not covered by that advice. As I said before we could talk about the role of fat in a healthy diet more generally but that is another question with other answers.

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As far as I can see anything we eat contributes to our calorie intake in one way or another, and this leads directly to contributing to obesity, or not.

And so, I see my comments as contributing to answering your question about how eating fat wouldn’t contribute more to obesity than eating carbohydrates.

Eating high/low fat meat will be one part of eating a meal, and it is the meal as a whole that will contribute to (or not) to obesity.
:sunglasses:

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We seem to agree on that.

I have not weighed in on the question of fats versus carbs so I don’t know what question that is.

Yup. And a few other things.

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I agree. The “classic food pyramid” is marketing nonsense from the US government that’s based on political lobbying by American food producers. This is the same lobbying effort that successfully argued that tomato sauce counts as a serving of vegetables.

So I seem to have inadvertently set off a fat vs carbs argument here!

I want to make it clear that I do not judge anyone for their diet; that’s none of my business & we all have to manage our own diets, I’m just talking about something that matters to me, which, in this case, is managing the amount of fat in my own diet. For me, I just don’t like fatty food, so my buying & cooking habits reflect that. That said, I do like my food to have some fat content in it, because a bit of fat does make food taste better, & as I’m sure that all of us have experienced, commercial “low fat” meals tend to replace fat with sugar, which a) tastes worse, & b) is no healthier.