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Weight Control |
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Articles and Commentary
| Title | Big Food vs. Big Insurance |
| Link (if applicable) | http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/opinion/10pollan.html?_r=1 |
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| Date | Sept 9, 2009 |
| Publisher | NY Times |
| Summary | Obesity is a major contributor to our healthcare costs in the US - at least $147B directly plus another hundred billion for diabetes and other conditions related to obesity. This adds up to at least 10% of the total $2.3T spent annually on healthcare in the US. The food industry is making money off of all the fast food being sold and the medical industry is making money off of treating the patients. |
| Comment | This article makes some great points. It is not hard to believe these numbers and the conclusions being made. They are supported by just looking around for yourself. As a nation, and down to each person, we have to stop killing ourselves with food. I have always believed that "most wounds are self-inflicted" in this life, and this topic falls right into that bucket. With some knowledge, common sense, a little effort, and a little self-control, each of us has the power to be at an ideal weight and to be very healthy. |
Websites
There are many websites with an incredible amount of information on this subject. We will break this information into sub-topics and explore them below.
Counting Calories
There are many good internet sources that will help you in understanding the calories you consume. Here is one: www.thecaloriecounter.com
This site has a calculator that will help you understand how many calories a day your body actually needs: www.nutritiondata.com. This site also has one: www.thedailyplate.com
Now the good part. Now you need to know how many extra calories a day you burn doing your exercises. Here is a great resource for that: www.livestrong.com. Here is another: www.caloriesperhour.com
Be aware of how many calories are in the things that you drink. Alcoholic drinks are no exception. It is interesting to see, and many people are surprised, at how many calories are in various alcoholic beverages. Here is a webpage that touts the merits of wine over other alcoholic beverages, but understand that all alcoholic beverages have significant calories. To stay on weight, you either have to give up something else (that may also contain valuable nutrition that your body needs), or exercise more. There is no free lunch (pun intended).
Supplements
There are many supplements out there directly targeting those who are trying to lose weight. The laws of science do not change (weight gain is determined by calories in minus calories out), but it is possible that some supplements may aid in the process of burning calories or may help to reduce the calories in by curbing appetite.
A compound called hCG, or Human Chorionic Gonadotropin, is thought to help reset the hypothalamus by sending signals to begin breaking down and using abnormally high body fat as a primary fuel source. This approach is examined at www.hcgweightlossdiets.com
Topic Summary to date
Here are some key ideas to take away from this section:
- Be aware of how many calories various foods and drink have. You don't have to count every calorie as long as you have a rough idea of things and are not overweight. Otherwise, you probably do need to keep a journal.
- Be aware of how many calories you burn each day. Know what various activities burn per half hour or hour.
- Weight control is not complicated. It is calories in minus calories out. From a weight control perspective (not nutritionally) , it doesn't really matter what form the calories are in. It also doesn't matter how you burn your calories. This is a law of science - all the fad supplements and goofy dieting approaches still do not change the laws of science.
- Being overweight, and certainly obese, is very unhealthy. One can haggle about the definition of overweight, but quite simply, if you are carrying around extra fat, and this fat is very visible when looking at your body, then you are not at your ideal weight. Obviously there are degrees to everything - a little fat is not as bad as having 30 extra pounds of fat. Extra muscle is fine, and it will help you burn more calories.