Obesity: five facts

[Aractus]

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.

Actually, it does depend a lot on the type of Calories you eat.

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.

Although that's true, it doesn't explain the fact that office workers in the 1940's-1960's who did the same amount of exercise as office workers today were non-obese, nor does it explain the fact that Japan's office workers who get little exercise continue to be non-obese.

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!

You don't ingest dietary fats (lipids) directly, the fatty lipids are broken down into free fatty acids before being absorbed from the small intestine.

"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.

That's not entirely accurate. Just about every living cell in the human body can use glucose as energy, and for this reason it's the Liver's job to keep the blood-glucose level in equilibrium (generally 3.6 to 5.8 mmol/l).

The body's glycogen stocks are used to keep blood glucose levels constant. The body can only store about 2,000 kcal in glycogen. It's true that the Liver produces glycogen from excess glucose, but that itself is not fat storage - fat storage is the storage of lipids not glycogen. One the body has reached its capacity of glycogen storage, excess glucose that has to be removed from the liver is instead used to synthesise fatty lipids and hence stimulates fat storage.

Fructose, like all carbohydrates and alcohol that is not glucose, ultimately has to be converted to glucose to be used as energy (except by the liver which can burn fructose, galactose, and ethanol for its own energy). The fact that fructose, galactose, and ethanol have to be converted by the liver into glucose is what leads into the theory that excess fructose in the diet stimulates fat storage. It seems logical because when you think about it, if you've just eaten a meal high in sugar then your pancreas will secrete insulin and your liver will flush the glucose out of the bloodstream and make glycogen. While it's at it it also has to remove the fructose - but glucose levels are high so should it produce more glucose from the fructose or instead use it to make fatty lipids? Research done by Robert Lustig and his colleagues suggests this is true (watch "the skinny on obesity" on youtube).

He did get one of his facts wrong though in "skinny on obesity" - he claimed that "there is no food stuff on the planet that has fat and carbohydrate at the same time - except for fructose", however milk contains both fat and carbohydrate at the same time. Meat also contains both fat and some carbohydrate. He would have been correct if he said "no plant-based food stuff ..."

He also got another fact wrong when he said "and when your pancreas can't produce enough insulin it produces diabetes". That description is correct for type-1 diabetes, but it isn't driven at all by obesity or over-consumption of sugar. Type 2 diabetes is caused by insulin resistance, where the cells that respond to insulin have shut down their receptors, and obesity is the primary cause of it. He also missed the opportunity to mention that the overproduction of insulin may cause pancreatic cancer (seems logical to me).

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.

Yep, and you can also safely drink diet soft-drink, and milk. According to Mozaffarian et al. 2011, all those are safe when it comes to weight long-term, and 100% fruit juice had only a small weight-gain effect (certainly a lot smaller than the other diet factors). Avoid coca-cola, and all other non-diet soft-drinks, and don't put sugar in your tea or coffee.

[psychoslice]

-and what do you imagine compels a person to eat like that? Is the food itself actually that tasty, for example?

Well the way they shove it down their throat it must be tasty.

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Hehehe, buddy, I know it doesn't help (and even if it did help me lose a few pounds...I wouldn't point to that as a reason for smoking), just a joke.

Yep I know, I just wanted to give you another reason to quit.

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@psychoslice like Rhythm said - what do you think makes people over-consume?

Lack of discipline, an addictive nature, weakness, and trying to suppress whatever.

[Aractus]

Good, well then you're wrong. The only thing you were correct about is addiction - some foods can be addictive like drugs can be. Potato chips for instance - very addictive you can't easily stop eating them until the bag is empty.

[psychoslice]

Good, well then you're wrong. The only thing you were correct about is addiction - some foods can be addictive like drugs can be. Potato chips for instance - very addictive you can't easily stop eating them until the bag is empty.

Of course over eating can be from others reasons, its just that you don't know.

[Aractus]

Yes I do, I have science and I provided it.

[psychoslice]

Yes I do, I have science and I provided it.

I don't think all science think the same on diet, and the psychology of obesity, not at all, do your own research, there is a hell of a lot on the subject.

[rexbeccarox]

Uh, psycho, I'm pretty sure that part of the point of this thread is that Aractus has done research, and a ton of it.

[psychoslice]

Uh, psycho, I'm pretty sure that part of the point of this thread is that Aractus has done research, and a ton of it.

Yes that was my point, there is a ton of stuff out there, some contradicting the other, you just have to research and come to your own conclusion, that's what I do, and it worked out fine with me.

[Aractus]

I don't think all science think the same on diet, and the psychology of obesity, not at all, do your own research, there is a hell of a lot on the subject.

Of course not all science agrees on everything that's not my point.

Nor is psychology of particular interest to me either, although I'll grant you that psychological reasons can cause people to do unhealthy things.

Obesity is not just a physiological state of the body it is a disease, just like type-2 diabetes. You could argue that type-2 diabetes isn't a disease just like obesity for the reason that it merely describes a physiological state of the body: i.e. caused by insulin resistance. Obesity is caused by leptin resistance. It's so similar to diabetes in the way it is caused that seeing it as a disease seems the most appropriate response.

Your explanations completely ignore the role that hormones play in controlling appetite and the scientific findings that there is a biochemical process that drives abnormal weight gain, and the scientific findings that non-medical intervention cannot reverse obesity long-term.

You only have to look here in Australia, comedian/actress Magda Szubanski lost 36kg on Jenny Craig - (that's the one where qualified nutritionists help you to lose the weight through diet planning) - she became the main spokesperson for the company in their commercials - and within 2 years she regained the weight. The company dropped her. The company (Jenny Craig) blamed the consumer for their product not working, and not the product!

[psychoslice]

I don't think all science think the same on diet, and the psychology of obesity, not at all, do your own research, there is a hell of a lot on the subject.

Of course not all science agrees on everything that's not my point.

Nor is psychology of particular interest to me either, although I'll grant you that psychological reasons can cause people to do unhealthy things.

Obesity is not just a physiological state of the body it is a disease, just like type-2 diabetes. You could argue that type-2 diabetes isn't a disease just like obesity for the reason that it merely describes a physiological state of the body: i.e. caused by insulin resistance. Obesity is caused by leptin resistance. It's so similar to diabetes in the way it is caused that seeing it as a disease seems the most appropriate response.

Your explanations completely ignore the role that hormones play in controlling appetite and the scientific findings that there is a biochemical process that drives abnormal weight gain, and the scientific findings that non-medical intervention cannot reverse obesity long-term.

You only have to look here in Australia, comedian/actress Magda Szubanski lost 36kg on Jenny Craig - (that's the one where qualified nutritionists help you to lose the weight through diet planning) - she became the main spokesperson for the company in their commercials - and within 2 years she regained the weight. The company dropped her. The company (Jenny Craig) blamed the consumer for their product not working, and not the product!

Yes all that you have said is also a factor of obesity, there probably be as many reason as there are people with obesity. And how do we know that Magda hasn't got a psychological reason for her eating, or over eating ?. I think the only way is to find the reason that you are the way you are yourself, which again could be anything, this is why the dieting organisations do so well, plenty of money is made by so many confused people spending it on trying to lose weight.