<p>Clearly, everyone needs to move more, and that is kids and adults. Take the stairs instead of elevator. Eat less processed food. Walk. Play. Ride your bike. Swim. </p>
<p>When you are fat, it is hard to do these things. When you are obese, it’s even harder. </p>
<p>Add in the food catastrophe at the store, and it is easy to fall into victim mode. But most people don’t really want to be heavy, they just cannot get out of old habits.</p>
<p>Samurai, with the crap you ate as a kid, it’s a wonder you are still alive.</p>
<p>If you take this to its logical conclusion by assuming an obese person cannot possibly control his impulses, why bother with free preventative care. It’s not going to do any good because the patient isn’t going to take the doctor’s advice.</p>
<p>You have no idea. ;)</p>
<p>Plus, mom smoked when she was pregnant with me. Other factors also led to us eating really odd things, but cannot really go into that here. </p>
<p>Most of us do what we know. When my kids were growing up, I cooked differently. Fresh or frozen veggies, less pasta, more olive oil, less red meat. It is interesting to see what my kids like to eat now - hummus and quinoa and couscous are things I didn’t even know about when I was their age! </p>
<p>Yet, even eating this way, I still gained weight after my last kid and it is hard to lose. I am going to try poetgirl’s suggestion!</p>
<p>When I hiked the John Muir Trail this summer I was surprised by the number of overweight people I saw. I say ‘good for them’. They were doing one of the toughest physical challenges anyone can do and weren’t letting their weight stop them. It can be done.</p>
<p>Yeah, I am not giving up chocolate. Life is short.</p>
<p>Actually dark chocolate has health benefits. Or so I have heard.</p>
<p>Not giving up chocolate. No way. Also not giving up ice cream. Or bacon.</p>
<p>I tell people I could write a book about how to stay healthy. The only problem is that the book would consist of three words: “Everything in moderation”</p>
<p>CF, you are obviously not kosher. :)</p>
<p>What? Bacon ice cream isn’t kosher? NOW you tell me.</p>
<p>I think the ice cream is okay.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>There’s some of this. Quitting smoking is positively correlated with weight gain. Smoking tends to suppress appetite, accelerate metabolism, and suppress tastes and smells. Quitting smoking increases appetite and makes food taste and smell better, so caloric intake tends to increase, at the same time caloric need decreases because the body’s metabolism slows down. And many ex-smokers substitute snacking for smoking, trading one addictive behavior for another. Despite all that, the medical consensus seems to be that you’re better off not smoking, even with the risks of weight gain and associated maladies. And weight gain is something that ex-smokers can actively resist if they’re vigilant. As Cardinal Fang pointed out, it’s much easier for a non-overweight adult to resist becoming overweight or obese than it is for an overweight or obese adult to move in the opposite direction.</p>
<p>But there are also some interesting survey findings on obesity suggesting the medical profession is just not very far along in treating it. One survey of obese patients found that only 39% of those who were obese had ever been told they were obese by a doctor or other health care professional. Of those who were told, 90% were told they should lose weight, but only one-third of those were given specific advice about how they should go about it. If my math is correct, that means only 12% of obese patients were given specific advice by a doctor or other health care professional about how to lose weight. Seems to me it’s the medical profession that’s failing here, at least as much as the individuals.</p>
<p>[Obesity:</a> Doctors slow to address the problem - MayoClinic.com](<a href=“http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/obesity/MY01251]Obesity:”>http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/obesity/MY01251)</p>
<p>When doctors give advice to patients about how to lose weight, does it work? Does the weight get lost?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The last place I would go for good fat loss advice is a doctor or registered dietician. The official public health policy “advice” on nutrition is horrible and mostly wrong. The misinformation about nutrition from the medical community has been a contributing factor to the obesity epidemic. We have been told to increase our consumption of the stuff that makes us fat.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Well, I don’t know. That’s a very good question. The Mayo Clinic web page I linked in post #2593 says that while 90% of doctors believed it was their responsibility to help patients lose weight, 74% said no one in their practice group (including, presumably, themselves) had been trained to do so. And the “report suggests that the failure to address weight problems — so-called ‘clinical inertia’ — may be caused by doctors’ views on obesity (stigmatizing attitudes, belief that patient won’t try), lack of confidence in their ability to treat obesity, lack of effective treatments and poor reimbursement for providing them.”</p>
<p>I take from this that most docs aren’t convinced there are effective treatments, or if there are, they don’t know what they are. And on top of that, they have no financial incentive to figure it out.</p>
<p>Just a note – <a href=“http://healthcare.gov%5B/url%5D”>http://healthcare.gov</a> has gotten a site makeover. Definitely a huge improvement in terms of site usability & navigation. Mobile version looks great, too. I can’t comment on how well the interface works - but the 800 number and path to downloading a paper application is very prompted. There is a lot of navigational redundancy – I like that in a site – just means that people are more likely to find what they need even if they take different paths to get there.</p>
<p>In terms of basic site design, this is the site they should have started with.</p>
<p>Good luck Samurai!</p>
<p>It’s worked very well for H. He says it helps that he doesn’t have to “think” about it. It’s either a day he’s eating or a day he isn’t. For me, I like the clarity and extra energy. My body has responded very well to having a day without food. It’s as if it is a “relief”.</p>
<p>I’m not a big processed foods eater, so I can’t be sure if it will help with the sugar cravings, not from personal experience, but H still eats a certain amount of that and still has better numbers than when he was 30.</p>
<p>I don’t think he’s the only one who is having this reaction.</p>
<p>Can’t hurt to give it a try!</p>
<p>Friend of mine gave up eating dinner and his numbers came down enough to stop medication.</p>
<p>I can’t get angry at the government knowing that the government spends, on average, $100,000 per year for each medical resident in training, subsidizes student loans, provide billions for medical research, and is responsible for more than 50% of medical revenues. All I can do is wait and see. Obamacare is based on Romneycare. Republicans and the people of Massachusetts are happy with Romneycare until the Republican primaries. My premiums for next year are almost 30% less than this year. Only time will tell how it works for all Americans. The current speculations, well, it’s all politics.</p>