Aractus, great essay you must have there! 
Now, for everyone else, a little more info.
Obese people, and those on their way to becoming obese, eat a lot... and aractus has given us a piece hinting that they eat a lot because of a hormone imbalance... but what are they eating?
What is in the food that accumulates in the adipose tissue?
Could they eat something that does not accumulate like that, thus leaving the hormone imbalance bearable?
We all know, from all the campaigns, that energy rich foods are the culprits here... calories that go unspent turn to fat, to put it simplistically.
Why is that? Evolution supplies an answer: from our far hunter-gatherer ancestors, food sources were, sometimes, scarce. It was then an advantage to be able to store energy from times of plenty to use in times of lacking. Typically, eat a lot during the warm times to burn through in the cold times.
Summer brings with it fruits, bees and honey, vegetables, lots and lots of them... and game, animals, meat, fish, protein.
Winter brings almost nothing, so you need to store whatever you can, dry fruits, salted meat and fish.... and that's not enough so you need to use up your own inner reserves.
The body was built to get fat and slim with the seasons...
However, nowadays, food is always available.
http://www.movieweb.com/movie/over-the-h...ive-to-eat
or
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/o...at/5we7mmx
(sorry, no youtube link for this clip...
)
You can, if unrestrained, eat too much, all year round.
In the olden days, there was also something which we'd call exercise: hunting and gathering required walking, running, picking things up, carrying, etc... physical activity.
Nowadays, exercise if faked, but it works for those who start it before going over the limit of obesity, as Aractus explained.
The obese seem to be, pretty much, hopeless.. they can improve a bit, but it's a daunting chore. The pre-obese have it easier and I think it's at them that the policies are aimed.
So, what's in food that get you fat?
Well... fat does the trick. Eat pork, bacon and other fatty meats and fish, and you're ingesting fat directly. duh!
Then you have sugars...
Sugars are the new salt.
Salt and sugar are the main ingredients when you want to make something taste good. The more, the better.
Sugar is part glucose and part fructose.
Both glucose and fructose are "absorbed directly into the bloodstream during digestion".
However they then take different roles:
"Some of the glucose is converted to lactic acid by astrocytes, which is then utilized as an energy source by brain cells, some of the glucose is used by intestinal cells and red blood cells, while the rest reaches the liver, adipose tissue and muscle cells, where it is absorbed and stored as glycogen (under the influence of insulin)."
Fructose, however, "after absorption, [...] enters the hepatic portal vein and is directed toward the liver." In the liver it is metabolized and then stored nearby....gut fat.
And is also a major factor in liver disease: "Virtually unknown before 1980, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease now affects up to 30% of adults in the United States and other developed countries, and between 70% and 90% of those who are obese or who have diabetes.
Early on, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is reversible. At some point, though, the liver can become inflamed. This can cause the low-grade damage known as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (steato meaning fat and hepatitis meaning liver inflammation). If the inflammation becomes severe, it can lead to cirrhosis — an accumulation of scar tissue and the subsequent degeneration of liver function."
So, in general, sugar should be avoided. But it just tastes so good! And is virtually ubiquitous in processed foods. Read the label on any soda and you'll find some 20~30% of sugar in there; ketchup is also high up there; ah, heck, ALL processed food is about 20% sugar!
Trouble is... the least expensive foods are also the most sugar rich... The other day, I read an article on National Geographic about hunger in America, where low income families eat less, but also worse, so they end up obese.... counter-intuitive, huh? hungry, but obese!
So, eat this not that... but what is this?
A first step is to avoid all sodas. Tap water, in most developed countries is good... and cheap... the cheapest hydration source in most homes. Sure it tastes of nothing, but you drink to to sate thirst, not because it tastes good. And water is the number one liquid for thirst.
Avoid processed foods. The old advice, cook your own food from the basic ingredients. Not so easy when you're on a tight budget and have little time... but try to do it as often as possible. Around here, chicken and pork is quite inexpensive, have them grilled or baked.
Avoid sauces, gravies, ketchup, mustard, etc. Olive oil isn't so bad, but still...don't overdo!
Do note I said "avoid", not stop altogether... you can have the good things of life, just try not to overdo them. Make it a treat for when you do something awesome... the exception, not the rule.
Now, for everyone else, a little more info.
Obese people, and those on their way to becoming obese, eat a lot... and aractus has given us a piece hinting that they eat a lot because of a hormone imbalance... but what are they eating?
What is in the food that accumulates in the adipose tissue?
Could they eat something that does not accumulate like that, thus leaving the hormone imbalance bearable?
We all know, from all the campaigns, that energy rich foods are the culprits here... calories that go unspent turn to fat, to put it simplistically.
Why is that? Evolution supplies an answer: from our far hunter-gatherer ancestors, food sources were, sometimes, scarce. It was then an advantage to be able to store energy from times of plenty to use in times of lacking. Typically, eat a lot during the warm times to burn through in the cold times.
Summer brings with it fruits, bees and honey, vegetables, lots and lots of them... and game, animals, meat, fish, protein.
Winter brings almost nothing, so you need to store whatever you can, dry fruits, salted meat and fish.... and that's not enough so you need to use up your own inner reserves.
The body was built to get fat and slim with the seasons...
However, nowadays, food is always available.
http://www.movieweb.com/movie/over-the-h...ive-to-eat
or
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/o...at/5we7mmx
(sorry, no youtube link for this clip...
)You can, if unrestrained, eat too much, all year round.
In the olden days, there was also something which we'd call exercise: hunting and gathering required walking, running, picking things up, carrying, etc... physical activity.
Nowadays, exercise if faked, but it works for those who start it before going over the limit of obesity, as Aractus explained.
The obese seem to be, pretty much, hopeless.. they can improve a bit, but it's a daunting chore. The pre-obese have it easier and I think it's at them that the policies are aimed.
So, what's in food that get you fat?
Well... fat does the trick. Eat pork, bacon and other fatty meats and fish, and you're ingesting fat directly. duh!
Then you have sugars...
Sugars are the new salt.
Salt and sugar are the main ingredients when you want to make something taste good. The more, the better.
Sugar is part glucose and part fructose.
Both glucose and fructose are "absorbed directly into the bloodstream during digestion".
However they then take different roles:
"Some of the glucose is converted to lactic acid by astrocytes, which is then utilized as an energy source by brain cells, some of the glucose is used by intestinal cells and red blood cells, while the rest reaches the liver, adipose tissue and muscle cells, where it is absorbed and stored as glycogen (under the influence of insulin)."
Fructose, however, "after absorption, [...] enters the hepatic portal vein and is directed toward the liver." In the liver it is metabolized and then stored nearby....gut fat.
And is also a major factor in liver disease: "Virtually unknown before 1980, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease now affects up to 30% of adults in the United States and other developed countries, and between 70% and 90% of those who are obese or who have diabetes.
Early on, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is reversible. At some point, though, the liver can become inflamed. This can cause the low-grade damage known as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (steato meaning fat and hepatitis meaning liver inflammation). If the inflammation becomes severe, it can lead to cirrhosis — an accumulation of scar tissue and the subsequent degeneration of liver function."
So, in general, sugar should be avoided. But it just tastes so good! And is virtually ubiquitous in processed foods. Read the label on any soda and you'll find some 20~30% of sugar in there; ketchup is also high up there; ah, heck, ALL processed food is about 20% sugar!
Trouble is... the least expensive foods are also the most sugar rich... The other day, I read an article on National Geographic about hunger in America, where low income families eat less, but also worse, so they end up obese.... counter-intuitive, huh? hungry, but obese!
So, eat this not that... but what is this?
A first step is to avoid all sodas. Tap water, in most developed countries is good... and cheap... the cheapest hydration source in most homes. Sure it tastes of nothing, but you drink to to sate thirst, not because it tastes good. And water is the number one liquid for thirst.
Avoid processed foods. The old advice, cook your own food from the basic ingredients. Not so easy when you're on a tight budget and have little time... but try to do it as often as possible. Around here, chicken and pork is quite inexpensive, have them grilled or baked.
Avoid sauces, gravies, ketchup, mustard, etc. Olive oil isn't so bad, but still...don't overdo!
Do note I said "avoid", not stop altogether... you can have the good things of life, just try not to overdo them. Make it a treat for when you do something awesome... the exception, not the rule.
