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Remember all the nagging that we've had to suffer through for decades, from the government, our doctors, assorted health "experts", and virtually anyone else inclined to offer dietary advice, who insisted that junk food was the reason why we were overweight? Well guess what? They were wrong again. In fact, I'm beginning to wonder if anything we have been told by those "authorities" regarding dietary recommendations has any inkling of truth in it.
From the latest issue of the journal Obesity Science & Practice (published yesterday):
Consumption of "junk food" is unrelated to weight for the vast majority of Americans, according to a new study suggesting that weight loss efforts focusing on these foods are too simplistic.
For 95 percent of Americans, the study found no significant relationship between one's body mass index, or BMI, and junk food consumption. The exceptions were the underweight and the most morbidly obese.
Note that this doesn't mean that we can now go out and eat all the junk food we want and not have to worry about gaining weight. It just means that there's much more to the issue than junk food. But that should come as no surprise, because nothing is ever as simple as it seems.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
It is complex....
Just look at Us! I think it really is up to the individual and their ability to break down carbs, proteins..and how healthy their gut is to begin with. Of course kids are a different topic, who knows how their guts are and why they can't break down food properly, perhaps a lot of them can't roam the streets as I used to as a kid (I mean ride a bicycle, swim, play at the school)....
I'm sure the added 'stuff' in foods makes our immune system just go nuts, so it doesn't surprise me that different body types do different things with the foods we eat. It sure is sad to see young kids get too big at an early age though.
To Succeed you have to Believe in something with such a passion that it becomes a Reality - Anita Roddick
Dx LC April 2012 had symptoms since Aug 2007
When we were growing up, we were always active. I hated to have to sit still for any length of time. We burned calories anytime we weren't sitting in a classroom or sleeping. There were no cellphones, no computers, no electronic games. I was about 10 years old before I saw my first TV. We got to watch TV for an hour or 2 on Sunday afternoons at my grandparent's house. So we had to create our own entertainment by actually doing something physical — either working or playing, most of the time.
Today, I'm not sure if some kids (and some adults, for that matter) can actually tell the difference between real life events and the life they attempt/pretend to live on their cellphones. And the problem is that cellphones and tablets require no calorie expenditure to operate. So when kids spend time on digital devices, they bank a lot of those extra calories as fat, rather than burning them. And it matters. The effects of that, and the habits they develop, stay with them for the rest of their lives.
Do I sound like a typical old-timer, or what. But one thing I didn't do is walk 10 miles to school every day, through 3 feet of snow — I rode the bus, and it rarely snows here in Central Texas.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Interesting article. I've been fascinated by the WheatBelly sight, with the number of people reporting big weight loss from avoiding wheat/gluten, sharing before and after pictures, and discussing not only weight loss but of different disease conditions improving. The wheat free diet doesn't help everyone but it seems to help many. It has made me wonder about the recent push to avoid sugar and carbs. It's probably not a bad idea to do so if with a disease or looking to drop pounds, but I've seen write ups about eating higher carb diets and seeing weight loss, and diabetes improvement. Along those lines I read this article on Denise Minger's sight recent about a rice diet that brought about weight loss.
IN DEFENSE OF LOW FAT: A CALL FOR SOME EVOLUTION OF THOUGHT (PART 1)
Then again maybe the base commanders concern about precious bodily fluids and fluoride added to water in the movie Doctor Strange Love was right! Some feel the level of fluoride all to often added to water is a medication dose, that can slow down the thyroid resulting in hypothyroidism. I was reading that mention again the other day. Remember this older article on that.
"UK health minister calls for mass medication through water supply"
I have a friend who is packing on the pounds at an alarming pace, despite not working, playing a sport all the time, and having a personal trainer. We were chatting in a group about the success of paleo diets for weight loss, and she insisted her trainer says it's all about portion control, and she doesn't buy into paleo, gluten free, etc (although she tried GF once - eating corn starch pretzels and GF pasta all day long, and wondering why she never lost weight. ) I simply commented that most people on Paleo diets, including me, have no need for portion control. For some reason, eating foods that don't cause inflammation can lead to water loss and weight loss without feeling hungry.
Or is it the paleo diet causing changes in our microbiome in favor of lean-promoting gut bacteria?
Anyway, I hope she comes over to the whole foods/paleo dark side before her health starts to suffer...
It is funny how some refuse to change their diet and instead insist on exercise to loose weight. I know a few people like that, that have not lost weight with that plan but keep at it. There was one somewhat humorous incident with a family friend on this that I needed to get into the middle of and ended up talking about the paleo diet with him. The friend happen to be using the same exercise trainer I was. One day the family friend really lit into the trainer over working out overly hard for months and yet not loosing weight. The friend is a good person, but I knew when he blew his top it could be frightening. Well, I show up for my workout session and my trainer was stressed out, big eyed over the chewing he experienced earlier in the day. The trainer said he talked with my family friend about the importance of diet for loosing weight but that was ignored. So I said OK I will talk with the friend, which I did, and even gave him a book on the paleo diet, the diet I follow. It was a good talk I remember, he asked questions, said he was greatly interested in loosing weight obviously and possibly also improving a serious GI problem he had - different than an IBD.
Well, it was sometime later that I saw the family friend again and when I did he had lost all kinds of weight! It was nice to see, and I congratulated him on following the paleo diet. He couldn't do the paleo diet he told. It was to tough. In the end what he found easier to do was to follow some diet where he injected himself with I think it was female horse hormones, and ate a diet of 500 calories a day. He had no energy, but was pleased about the weight loss. Later I remember he had surgery to remove more of his colon. To each their own.
Zizzle wrote:Or is it the paleo diet causing changes in our microbiome in favor of lean-promoting gut bacteria?
The paleo diet drastically alters the gut microbiome demographics, because it disallows most of the high-calorie carbs.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
That makes sense that the gut bacteria would be altered by eating paleo and maybe that contributes to weight loss. I've seen Dr. Davis on the WheatBelly sight mention that gut bacteria is altered when avoiding wheat. What has made me wonder about gut bacteria and weight loss and health is the use of antibiotics. Many have written that antibiotics can cause weight gain in humans and farm animals. I've thought of antibiotics as mold or fungus poisons that are meant to kill off competing bacteria for food. With less bacteria to compete with more fungus or yeast are able to grow. Possibly more yeast in the gut leads to weight gain. Or less helpful healthy bacteria in the body leads to weight gain. Don't know, just guesses. Yeast and fungus use carbohydrates/sugar as a fuel source so with less carbohydrates in the diet in theory there would be less yeast and fungus in the body.
) I simply commented that most people on Paleo diets, including me, have no need for portion control. For some reason, eating foods that don't cause inflammation can lead to water loss and weight loss without feeling hungry. 
He had no energy, but was pleased about the weight loss. Later I remember he had surgery to remove more of his colon. To each their own.