How Western Diets Are Making The World Sick

Post by janm » Wed, Mar 30, 2011, 12:47 PM UTC

kgo wrote: post #48

viggity wrote: post #30

I've been overweight my entire life, and honestly, I blame the Surgeon General in the 1980s for telling my mom that feeding me low fat foods (which end up being high carb foods) will make me skinny. Everyone believed this cargo cult "science" and it has had a devastating impact for hundreds of millions of people.

I'm asking this sincerely, but don't people from traditionally healthy Asian countries eat a hell of a lot of rice? That's my first thought every time someone mentions how bad carbs are. But I have trouble finding any non-antecdotal data. I want to believe the obesity problem is more of a portion control thing, for example, when McDonald's opened, did a normal adult actually eat a hamburger and small fries for lunch…

Post by krschultz » Wed, Mar 30, 2011, 1:04 PM UTC

wisty wrote: post #131

jerf wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With all due respect, that perfectly fits the theories that Taubes is advocating. "High intensity" exercise over six months manages to drop only 3.5 kilograms on average (and add 1.4 kg in muscle). That is not terribly significant by any definition, let alone the one I gave, and based on my (other) reading it seems likely that actually happened fairly early in the study and everyone has plateaued by the end. I droppe…

Exercise can decrease appetite, makes you feel better (which decreases binge eating), and makes unintentional exercises (like climbing stairs and moving furniture) easier. On the other hand, it takes 15 minutes to lose 100 carbs on a treadmill, and about 3 seconds to get them back at McDonalds.

Post by plastics » Wed, Mar 30, 2011, 1:22 PM UTC

beaumartinez wrote: post #58

3am wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not saying it's easy, discipline is as tough as you just described. I run every other day for at least 30 minutes, and I try to eat healthy. I have weighed more, and i have weighed less. Not morbidly obese, but my doctor would prefer I dropped 20. I have found stress is a factor.

(Friendly HN advice: if you want to lose weight, have a read of Liam Rosen's guide[1], I personally recommend it. Running isn't the most effective way to do it.) http://www.liamrosen.com/fitness.html

Post by mhb » Wed, Mar 30, 2011, 1:31 PM UTC

mhb wrote: post #146

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Excellent points. Bodybuilders know a lot about diet, especially in the context of controlling the body fat percentage - mostly because in their case, the diet must work, or else they lose the competition. They can't rely on the latest fad on Oprah's that may or may not actually work. So the stuff they do tends to have a solid reality-based backing. Any bodybuilder will tell you that low-fat diets are bullshit. Carbs…

I haven't read his stuff in a while, but in his book The 10% Solution For A Healthy Life , Kurzweil advocates 10% fat calories. Has he changed that?

Post by xiaoma » Wed, Mar 30, 2011, 2:37 PM UTC

jerf wrote: post #99

beaumartinez wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, then, what is the "Western diet" if it isn't what the Western people eat? (I see your point, though; it's been changing over time, and you're right: it is getting more and more processed and less balanced {and dare I say "healthy"}). Regarding obesity, exercise is far more important than diet. You can eat all kinds of, well, crap, and if you exercise, you'll still be physically fit and probably even look healthy.…

"Regarding obesity, exercise is far more important than diet." When Gary Taubes surveyed the literature to find the evidence that exercise is useful for losing weight, what he found is that the scientific literature itself proves this statement is either not true or even slightly false. There aren't any studies where exercise has lead to persistent, significant (which I would define as taking someone from clinically…