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Study: people who eat and exercise the same as people 20 years ago are fatter

theatlantic.com

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Re: Study: people who eat and exercise the same as people 20 years ago are fatter

#111

Post by Litost »

yabatopia wrote: post #75
tracker1 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is spot on, and came to comment likewise... I think the types of product we are using for our macros is way off base from even a few decades ago. I only had a little glimpse of how much so because I know someone very allergic to soy, and it's in almost everything these days. I don't think that most things in particular are necessarily bad for you, but it might be worth taking a few steps back and switch…

> I think the push towards vegetarianism, low-fat, low-carb, etc as fads combined with industrialization of food has done a lot of harm to the public. What's wrong with vegetarianism? I would think it has lots of benefits. It's better for the environment, you don't risk eating very processed meat filled with hormones and additives, from animals often kept in horrible conditions. The meat industry is a textbook exampl…

I've just watched this and assuming it's unbiased which it seems to be, it makes a number of very compelling arguments to go vegetarian/vegan. Not least the huge water, grain and land requirements and the resultant methane emissions of eating meat which are globally unsustainable: http://cowspiracy.vhx.tv/

Re: Study: people who eat and exercise the same as people 20 years ago are fatter

#112

Post by wavefunction »

arethuza wrote: post #78
peteretep wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> one of the primary causes of America's obesity > problems. As any European who's spent time in the US can tell you, a dramatically simpler explanation is that portion sizes are enormous and many foods are "low fat" which mean they're loaded with sugar.

My first meal in the US, 21 years ago - a club sandwich. Safe choice? Came battered, deep friend and sprinkled with icing sugar. I mean if a Scot is surprised at what you do to food then you are doing some weird stuff. [NB I know you can get really good food in the US - but the portion sizes still amaze me].

It sounds like you ordered a Monte Cristo rather than a club sandwich.

Re: Study: people who eat and exercise the same as people 20 years ago are fatter

#114

Post by Erwin »

greatthanks wrote: post #113

The actual conclusion is hidden in the middle of the text: eat less meat First of all b/c its contribution to health is doubtable in general and at current times in particular.

That's not what I got out out if; they mentioned: avoid chemicals in food or packaging (i.e. eat organic - no antibiotic/hormone laden meat) - avoid artificial sweeteners - avoid antidepressant and unnecessary medication.

Meat is fine, as long as you don't eat something too industrial.

Re: Study: people who eat and exercise the same as people 20 years ago are fatter

#115

Post by haywirez »

netcan wrote: post #107

I have no particular expertise in this area, but I've been making the "we don't know why people are fat" argument to whoever will listen for a while. Doctors (socially, not at an appointment FWIW), academics… I'm actually quite surprised how often they've been thinking along the same lines and/or they are convinced by the general idea. basically: People have been getting fatter, to pathological levels for quite a whi…

Didn't read the study, but part of the explanation could be that people spend less time outside and are generally in warmer environments. Omnipresent AC, different clothing, better insulation all means that the body burns less calories to keep itself warm.[0]

"[...] in the U.K., average living room temperatures rose from 64.9F/18.3C in 1978 to 66.4F/19.1C in 2008 and bedroom temperatures increased from 59.36F/15.2C to 65.3F/18.5C."[1]

[0][1] http://hypothermics.com/2011/02/ch-ch-changes/

Re: Study: people who eat and exercise the same as people 20 years ago are fatter

#116

Post by maxerickson »

com2kid wrote: post #24
xiaoma wrote: post #16

> A given person, in 2006, eating the same amount of calories, taking in the same quantities of macronutrients like protein and fat, and exercising the same amount as a person of the same age did in 1988 would have a BMI that was about 2.3 points higher. I think the recent obsession with macronutrients is a big part of the problem. I'm not sure if the macronutrient ratio I eat has changed much from when I was growing…

I agree, the macros look sort of the same, but the source of those calories is much different. Just the types of cooking oil we use has changed a lot. Look at what goes into cookies now. It used to be butter, now I've seen recipes with canola oil. (if anyone tells you to use canola oil in your baked goods, ignore them and use butter!) There is evidence that gut bacteria is passed down from generation to generation, w…

Most food cans are steel. And the liners contain a small amount of BPA, they are not composed of it.

I agree that people shouldn't shy away from butter, cookies should be an indulgence and the type of fat shouldn't be a big deal, but canola oil is probably a better choice in general than corn or soy oil (that is, it's better than "vegetable oil").

Re: Study: people who eat and exercise the same as people 20 years ago are fatter

#117

Post by pflanze »

emp_zealoth wrote: post #74
danlindley wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The study factored in the nutritional value of the food, so your comment seems counter to their findings. "...eating the same amount of calories, taking in the same quantities of macronutrients like protein and fat, and exercising the same amount as a person of the same age did in 1988 would have a BMI that was about 2.3 points higher."

Except the calories are obsolete (meaningless) A lot of the food now is higly processed, ground to microns, resulting in way higher "usable engergy" that can be extracted. Especially the "cheap" food - full of awful sugars, stabilised fats or other junk, gelatine, mechanically abused.

Your answer may look unscientific (hand-wavy, with the word "meaningless" being too strong, that's how I explain the downvotes), but I guess if eating is (partially) feeding gut bacteria, then the micro structure of the food could well matter a lot with regards of which kinds of bacteria it promotes and which it weakens, and hence change the composition of the biome.

Re: Study: people who eat and exercise the same as people 20 years ago are fatter

#118

Post by maxerickson »

peteretep wrote: post #85
MichaelGG wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is sugar that much cheaper than aspartame, sucralose, erythritol, or other fake sweeteners? I found that chewing on erythitol-based bars (Quest) sorta satisfied most of my need to eat sweets. I suppose it's a bit of an arms race: keep adding sweetness to add a bit more flavour and soon we're escalated so far up the sweetness chain with no commercially viable way to back down.

I believe that high-fructose corn syrup is, because of subsidies.

Commodity sugar costs less than $0.15 cents per pound, so the price difference with corn syrup only matters to a profit maximizer.

(There is 1 or 2 cents of sugar in a can of soda!)

Re: Study: people who eat and exercise the same as people 20 years ago are fatter

#119

Post by philliphaydon »

netcan wrote: post #107

I have no particular expertise in this area, but I've been making the "we don't know why people are fat" argument to whoever will listen for a while. Doctors (socially, not at an appointment FWIW), academics… I'm actually quite surprised how often they've been thinking along the same lines and/or they are convinced by the general idea. basically: People have been getting fatter, to pathological levels for quite a whi…

We don't know? We do know and have known for a long time...

Re: Study: people who eat and exercise the same as people 20 years ago are fatter

#120

Post by maxerickson »

netcan wrote: post #107

I have no particular expertise in this area, but I've been making the "we don't know why people are fat" argument to whoever will listen for a while. Doctors (socially, not at an appointment FWIW), academics… I'm actually quite surprised how often they've been thinking along the same lines and/or they are convinced by the general idea. basically: People have been getting fatter, to pathological levels for quite a whi…

The food supply has increased and people are consuming more. See here:

http://www.usda.gov/factbook/chapter2.pdf

Two big increases in consumption are in chicken and cooking oils. The average American eats 40 pounds more chicken than their grandparents and 30 additional pounds of fat and oils.

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