<p>And, here’s the flip side. Someone who is very insulin sensitive and processes carbs efficiencient will tend to store little or no fat. That means that they may literally fall apart on a low carb diets because they have no real fuel reserves. Without constant carb intake, they’ve got nothing to burn. These people tend to be skinny to begin with.</p>
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<p>This is absolutely crucial. People who are hungry every minute of every day aren’t going to be able to stay on a calorie-restricted diet. </p>
<p>Is there any research on how low-carb diets work for endurance athletes? I ride my bike a lot, and sometimes go on weeks-long tours. I’m just unable to imagine how I could possibly do that on a low-carb diet.</p>
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I must not have explained my point very well - it has nothing to do with one’s body type or metabolism. I’m talking about not stopping at a FF place, not going ridiculously overboard in what they order, making some decent decisions. They can even still eat at a FF place if that’s what they really want to do but they can select items that are better than other items. They can have a water or regular diet coke instead of a half gallon of sugared Coke. They can have leave off the high calorie secret sauce. They can select a grilled chicken sandwich and not eat the bun rather than a double quarter pounder with cheese and sause and a couple of extra large fries. However, most people who know they have some challenges in controlling what they order at a FF place need to learn to not expose themselves to that temptation and drive past it - it’s easier than ordering the smaller meal once there.</p>
<p>There are lots of things that can be done to improve the choices and it doesn’t involve going on starvation diets or a great deal of sacrifice. They don’t even need to be perfect about it and can splurge a bit every now and then as long as it doesn’t become a habit. </p>
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Almost everyone nowadays outside of third-world countries needs to be on a calorie restricted diet to some extent given that we live in a world where we have access to anything we want to eat and a food industry that’s trying as hard as it can to fine tune their products for maximum appeal. Some people have it fairly easy since their bodies happen to give the ‘full signal’ when it should or their metabolism burns the calories easily or by some quirk they don’t really feel the pull of the sugars and fats most people feel. Others have to work at it more (like me) and some have more extraordinary issues in exercising the controls. I’m not saying it’s the same level of effort for everyone but I do think everyone can skip the FF place if they exercise a bit of self control. If they refuse to make those choices then they unfortunately just will have to deal with the consequences which usally aren’t good.</p>
<p>I believe that modeling and what we pass on to our kids from infancy are very important determinants of health & weight as well. They say that fat cells we have in our bodies remain with us all our lives. For some reason, I gained over 50 pounds with my 1st kid, S, & he was only 6 lbs, 1/2 ounce! I lost it all & then for D I gained less than 20 lbs–S kept me very busy! She also weighed about the same as S did.</p>
<p>I have been about the same height & weight (except the above pregnancies), within 10 pounds in each direction since I was 12 years old! I am 5’5.5" & 135 (have ranged between 115-135 except when pregnant). Our kids are barely on the scale (about 5% for height & weight). H is also about the same height & weight as he has been for many decades.</p>
<p>With regard to heights of Asians, I have met quite a few who are very similar height of caucasians and others–about 6’ & taller!</p>
<p>My entire extended family (my spouse, folks, sibs & their spouses, nieces & nephews) is about ideal BMI–this is about 25-30 of us. We like being at or about our ideal BMI. We all have different strategies to do this–one brother likes working out so he can eat what he wants to, when he wants to & still have an enviable physique.</p>
<p>Empty calories, including alcohol & desserts play a role as well. We grew up with very few snacks & chips around & rarely have them in our home (they tend to end up going stale because we consume them so infrequently).</p>
<p>The BMI is a joke, I am 6’3" and weight 210 lbs. I can run 3 miles in 22 minutes, 18 pull ups, and 100 crunches in under 2 minutes. I am a US Marine and by this insane standard several of my 6’2" and taller Devil Dogs would be overweight.</p>
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<p>Unfortuately, the official US health policy against low carb diets has brought the research to a halt because funding and publication have been nearly imposslble for the last few decades. That is starting to change. Jeff Volek at UConn and a series of his PhD students have been doing a lot of low carb research, much of it focused on fairly serious exercise performance, i.e. looking at well-condidtioned athletes. I’ve heard one of these UConn PhDs, Cassandra Forsythe, talk about a highly controlled study they did with a very low carb ketogenic diet (~ 20 g per day) and athletes. I think they were, in part interested, because very low carb is a pretty common practice for bodybuilders, figure models, MMA fighters trying to make a weight, etc. to move down to very low body fat percentages while maintaining muscle. For the most part, even high level athletes adapt after a shaky transition period of a few days or a week. There was an early study that showed decreased athletic performance on very low carb ketogenic diet at one week and this became the conventional wisdom. Then, somebody hoping to duplicate the findings did another set of measurements after several weeks on the ultra low carb diet and found that the peformace had returned to normal. In the real world, this isn’t much of an issue because few of us get anywhere near ketogenic levels (20 grams of carbs a day). I eat virtually no grains, bread, cereal, potatoes, rice, or sugar and get 100 grams of carbs a day just from veggies, fruit, the occasional bit of pasta or rice in a can of chicken soup, and some starchy stuff like beans, peas, corn on the cob, etc.</p>
<p>Although she noted that some of the people on her study flourished on the ultra-low carb diet and others were just miserable. She is a big believer in the emerging belief that individual metabolism may give each of us a specific tolerance and/or need for carbohydrate consumption.</p>
<p>On the other hand, it appears that very long distance endurance athletes, I’m talking marathoners and long-distance cylists, etc. are the one group that generally needs carbohydrate intake because they really do fully deplete their energy stores. the dividing line seems to be: have you exerised hard enough and long enough (several hours) to completely deplete your glycogen stores (stored sugar) and do you need to replenish them sooner than your next meal? In other words, it’s not a problem for most of us because we exercise, even intensely, for an hour and then we replenish our fuel just by eating well. That’s different than if you rode for four hours in the morning and then need to get right back your bike and ride for four more in the afternoon. Your need for carbohydrates is probably going to be higher than an ultra-low induction phase Atkins level diet!</p>
<p>An Olympic marathoner, eating a carb heavy meal or drinking sugar after an event would not have the same problems of metabolism as the rest of us. The problems of sugar and carb consumption occur when your body is not immediately burning it and/or using it to replenish spend glycogen stores. Hence the damage from sports drinks. A marathoner could drink Gatoraid after an event and process the huge amount of sugar no problem. But, that’s not who is drinking Gatoraid. As Lustig puts it, “fat kids are drinking sports drinks…” The public transfers what works for a marathoner or a cyclist riding for 10 hours into what they might need/tolerate after a game of pickup basketball or a 30 minute jog on the treadmill.</p>
<p>I had low carb life during my marathoning days. No issues whatsoever.</p>
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<p>I see. For distance cyclists, the answer to that is, yeah. Bonking, or running out of blood sugar because you didn’t eat enough, is horrible, and it’s something distance cyclists have to pay attention to avoid. </p>
<p>DougBetsy, (which is it?), did you normally go on four and five hour training runs several times a week? If I’m out for an hour or two, I don’t need to worry about food, but an hour or two is barely a ride.</p>
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<p>I’m guessing that hydration is also a serious challenge, too, with the prolonged exposure to the wind.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I suspect that a veteran long-distance cyclist adapts to become so efficient that the cycling burns far fewer calories than it would for the average schlub. Leading to the bewilderment at riding hundreds of miles a week and not losing weight!</p>
<p>What nysmile said:
People need to stop eating like pigs and stop blaming their obesity on every thing under the sun other than their own lack of self control and bad choices. </p>
<p>yep–plain old laziness, in many cases: too lazy to buy fresh food and cook at home. With good planning, it’s easy to get a meal on the table in 20 minutes–less time than it takes to go to the restaurant and wait in line.</p>
<p>and many schools no longer teach physical education.</p>
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<p>That is sometime referred to as the gluttony and sloth hypothesis. American suddenly turned into gluttons and sloths 20 years ago. The obese infant is a glutton and sloth. The bassett hound isn’t as sleek as a greyhound because it eats too much and spends too little time on the treadmill…</p>
<p>Gary Taubes tells a story of watching his kids PE class with running around a track. There’s invaribably a few gazelle kids out front, running like the wind, thin as rails. And, a couple of fat kids stumbling along in the back, obviously feeling pure torture with every step of running. And, the theory is that, if you could just torture them long enough, they would turn into gazelle kids.</p>
<p>His alternate theory is that the gazelle kids have physiologies that compel them to run and burn calories. The fat kids’ metabolism compells them to store fat and not burn calories. Running is not the same experience for the two kids. One is doing what his body loves to do. The other is doing something his body entirely rejects. So, the sensible idea is to try to understand what things might trigger a change in metabolism.</p>
<p>Why I said that we need to start in the schools is because this is a national crisis( under nourished & overfed) & everyone needs to have good healthy food.</p>
<p>Our district which is relatively affluent has 40% of kids on FRL. These kids may not get breakfast or lunch if they don’t have it at school. Their parents are not necessarily going to take the time or interest to insure their children have adequate , healthy meals. But we all have a stake in whether ( & what) these kids are learning.
We need food programs that are not driven by how many adults they employ, but by the quality & amount of the food.</p>
<p>When my family was getting food from the food bank, it was not good quality & was not appetizing. ( We only went twice- & I was not very savvy about it) I put off other bills so my kids could still have good food. We also didn’t use the school lunch program because it was heavy on subsidized dairy & high in fat & sugar ( as with sweetened yogurt for breakfast) & low on taste. Some kids don’t have a choice & they are the ones who most need healthy food at school because that may be the only place they eat.</p>
<p>Families may not have access to electricity & cheap meals at fast food places can seem like their best option. I don’t frequent fast food outlets so I really don’t know what they have, but I do know that fried food is a lot more filling than a salad.
( I made that mistake last week, when I was on a trip & got a salad for my lunch/dinner from a local grocery- it was a long time till the free breakfast offered at the hotel the next morning!)</p>
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<p>It is not always laziness when it comes to buying fresh food. Poor, urban areas often lack grocery stores and fresh produce. Market chains stay away because of crime and there are only small stores and an abundance of fast-food places and poor people often lack cars to go further to obtain groceries.</p>
<p>Don’t even get me started on school lunch programs. That is where the insanity of flawed goverment nutrition guidelines does incredible damage. </p>
<p>There is nearly unanimous agreement among all factions of nutrition experts that drinking sugar is the absolute number one worst thing you can do in terms of obesity. There is no benefit and huge metabolic downside. Worse than empty calories. The sugar is converted to fat in the liver and directly contributes to insulin resistance. So, why are we using our tax dollars to buy fruit juices to feed to the kids in schools? This is not good for them. It literally makes them fat. It’s insanity.</p>
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<p>Statements like this, in addition to over simplifying the problem, come off as smug and amazingly judgmental, and reveal a lack of education about current research into obesity and its causes. Human beings are complex organisms and you cannot attribute one factor (“laziness”) to such a widespread problem. Of course there are people who simply refuse to practice commons sense and moderation in their eating and drinking habits. However, there are also other factors which can come into play with obesity. Certain medications have been PROVEN to cause weight gain. People have no problem understanding that certain medications can cause weight loss, yet they balk at the possibility of the reverse being the same.</p>
<p>Hormones are CRITICAL in fat distribution/storage and it shouldn’t take a genius to figure out that if someone’s hormones are disrupted due to whatever factor, it can impact their weight, causing either underweight or overweight. Until their hormones are back in balance, permanent weight loss can be near impossible to achieve. Insulin is one of the primary hormones of fat storage and people who have high insulin levels will usually ultimately become insulin resistant and overweight, eventually diabetic. They must make changes to the TYPES of foods they eat rather than just cutting calories (and many of these people eat no more than thin people, much less do they “eat like pigs”). They often don’t know that they are insulin resistant, and simply need some education (and compassion) about foods they need to restrict or completely avoid in order to improve their weight and general health. Simply telling these people to “start cooking at home,” is completely inadequate. A severely insulin resistant individual can spend all day in the kitchen cooking a marvelous meal, but if it is high in those “healthy whole grains,” starchy vegetables, and simple carbohydrates, they will stay fat. Laziness is irrelevant here.</p>
<p>Finally, individual genetics, “metabolism” does indeed play a part in weight. Studies of identical twins raised apart have borne this out, as have many other research studies. People seem to have NO problem assigning “genetics” or “metabolism” to people who can eat whatever they want in large quantities, be as sedentary as a slug, and remain skinny as a rail, yet resist until their faces turn blue the idea that others can eat a basically “pristine” diet and exercise obsessively yet remain fat.</p>
<p>As there is no ONE cause of obesity, there is not just one solution. It needs to be addressed on an individual basis. Even then, there are people who will NEVER be thin because their bodies are genetically programmed to be heavier (the basset hounds vs. the greyhounds). The most they can ever hope for is to avoid obesity by eating as healthy a diet as possible (and which diet that should be will depend on various factors), exercising, and just being content with their pristine bloodwork and quality of life.</p>
<p>I totally agree, nrdsb4.</p>
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<p>If the amount of food intake isn’t responsible for obesity, then how do you explain all these bariatric surgeries which in essence limit the amount of intake, have been so successful in weight loss.</p>
<p>And I can guarantee that no prisoner of war has ever gained weight while eating a “pristine” diet.</p>
<p>Jillian Michaels had hypothyroid and PCOS. She is now a practically compulsive heavy exerciser… and really “gets” what foods work for weight loss in insulin-resistant people. She lives it and tries to teach it, whether you like her or not.</p>
<p>The FDA and the US Gov are not on this page. And many MD’s are not, either. But go to an endocrinologist and you will hear ALL about it!!
Why don’t these endos talk to all the other MD’s, and why not MORE research into this cycle of obesity and hormonal disruptions???</p>
<p>Point is, eating RIGHT is more important than eating LESS. Need to understand better what is RIGHT, and teach everyone, and make it possible to practice via better resources for all.</p>
<p>Ok- am off the soap box…</p>
<p>Bariatric surgery DOES change the hormones and helps curb insulin resistance in the majority who do it!!!
There are hormones related to appetite and storage in the stomach, too. They change after this surgery, apparently due to less surface area in the organ.
Unfortunately, there are some who are not successful. They may be using food for emotional support and unable to listen to their body.
I am not sure what happens with lap band surgery.</p>
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<p>Who said the amount of food one eats is not responsible for obesity?! I said it cannot be shown to be responsible in all cases. Bariatric surgery is successful for some, yet it is NOT successful for all. Additionally, these surgeries often result in a ridiculous amount of muscle loss in certain individuals, and many regain the weight years down the line without increasing the amount of food they are eating. That should suggest that this is not a one size fits all problem, and will not have a one size fits all solution.</p>