Category: Diet

Diet

Most Americans Fudge on Weight and Height Surveys?

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NOT surprisingly the answer is yes.

When people in the U.S. are asked to provide their weight for research surveys, they underestimate their weight and overestimate their height, despite numerous public reports about increasing rates of obesity. Whites are more likely to do so than Blacks or Hispanics, a new study finds.

Wen and her colleague, Lori Kowaleski-Jones, Ph.D., found that in all ethnic groups, both men and women overestimate their height. Women also under-report their BMI more than men do, and White women are more likely to do so compared to Black and Hispanic women. The authors speculated this was because White women have a stronger social “desire for a lean body” and were more acutely aware of their weight problems. Those who were overweight, in the oldest age group and who had a college education were also more likely to under-report their BMI.

The researchers said, however, the under-reporting bias is “generally small” with the range of difference between measured and self-reported BMI falling within the 1 BMI unit range.

Wen said their results highlight the care that should be taken when making comparisons of BMI across different U.S. socio-demographic groups.

I think it is only natural to flatter yourself in these surveys or underestimate your own pathology.

Unfortuantely, using the My Fitness Pal application with my weight-loss peers, I am brutally honest. And, I have a way to go!

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Diet

Junk Food in Schools Linked to Obesity?

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Apparently not, according to a new study.

Having access to junk food at school did not cause middle schoolers to gain weight, according to a longitudinal study.

Data from a nearly 20,000-student study showed that in the 1998-1999 school year, 59.2% of fifth graders and 86.3% of eighth graders in the U.S. attended schools that sold junk food, Jennifer Van Hook, PhD, and doctoral candidate Claire Altman, of Pennsylvania State University in University Park, found.

Eight years later, although there was a significant increase in the percentage of students attending schools that sold junk food, there was no corresponding rise in the percentage of students who were overweight or obese, they reported in Sociology of Education.

Junk food is certainly MORE available outside the school environment.

But, do students really eat any of the foods in the school cafeteria any more – whether healthy or not?

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Diet

Will Mindful Eating Help Curb Obesity?

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Yes, according to a new study.

Supersized portions and high-calorie dishes in restaurants are often blamed for contributing to America’s obesity epidemic, and for good reason. People tend to carry more body fat if they eat out frequently, and they tend to consume more calories and fat in restaurants than they do when eating at home, studies suggest.

Eating 200 or 300 extra calories in a restaurant once or twice a week may not seem like a big deal, but those calories can add up.

“The restaurant is a high-risk food environment,” says Gayle Timmerman, Ph.D., a nursing professor at The University of Texas at Austin who studies eating patterns. “There’s a pretty good chance if you eat out frequently you’re likely to gain weight over time.”

How can people fend off these extra calories? We can stay away from restaurants altogether, of course, but for most of us that’s not a viable — or particularly appealing — option. A small new study, led by Timmerman and published this week in the Journal of Nutrition and Education Behavior, offers another potential strategy: mindful eating, a series of dining techniques that stress close attention to the enjoyment of eating and feelings of hunger and fullness.

I use My Fitness Pal for all of my meals, but scan the database at a restaurant to scout out the number of calories in a selection. Does this mindfulness work?

Apparently, as I now have lost 31 pounds in the past 200 days, while suing this technique. I, now weigh 231 pounds on the way down to a medically appropriate weight of around 180.

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Diet

The Fat Trap and Why Lost Pounds Come Back

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Here I am running up the Santa Monica Pier

Tara Parker-Pope has an interesting piece in the New York Times exploring obesity, and weight loss.

In this week’s New York Times Magazine, I explore new research that helps explain why most dieters who lose weight end up gaining it all back.

“If anything, the emerging science of weight loss teaches us that perhaps we should rethink our biases about people who are overweight. It is true that people who are overweight, including myself, get that way because they eat too many calories relative to what their bodies need. But a number of biological and genetic factors can play a role in determining exactly how much food is too much for any given individual. Clearly, weight loss is an intense struggle, one in which we are not fighting simply hunger or cravings for sweets, but our own bodies….”

Read it all and especially the comments about others’ personal stories of weight loss trials and tribulations.

There is a critic of her New York Magazine piece over at the Atlantic and I agree – albeit somewhat.

I’m not a scientist, but I have lost roughly a quarter of myself. I’ve done it at a glacial pace–almost eight years. So glacial in fact that I wouldn’t even call it a “diet.”: I’ve gained some in that time, but never yo-yoed back to the heights of my girth. The pattern has been more like lose lot, gain a some, lose some gain a little, lose a lot etc.

Obviously I wish this had happened faster and smoother. But the upshot of taking the long way is that I’ve learned a lot about how to negotiate  world where, at almost every step, cheap high calorie food is at the ready. You can’t get that understanding in a lab and you’re unlikely to get if your trying to burn of 3-4 pounds a week. That sounds like masochism.

I, now weigh 233 pounds, on my way down to 180 (I am 5-11). 9 years ago I weighed as much as 370 pounds.

Exercise, diet and accountability to myself and others (spouse and friends) have all helped.

It has been a lifestyle change.

There will be NO relapse – after all it is MY health at stake.

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Diet

Poll Watch: Americans Health Habits Decline as Winter Approaches

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According to the latest Gallup Poll.

As is typical during the winter season, Americans report exercising less. The percentage of adults who reported exercising frequently — for at least 30 minutes three or more days per week — fell to 49.8% in November, from 52.2% in October and from the year’s high of 54.5% in July. Fewer Americans exercised frequently last month than did in November of last year (50.5%).

Americans typically exercise more in the spring and summer and less in the fall and winter. Frequent exercise usually drops to its lowest point in December of each year and beings to improve again in January.

The percentage of Americans reporting that they exercise frequently was relatively low through the fall of 2008 and much of 2009, amid the worst of the economic crisis. However, the percentage who reported frequent physical activity was generally higher in 2010 and has since remained at somewhat higher levels. The average percentage of Americans who exercised frequently was 51.5% in 2010, 49.6% in 2009, and 51.4% in 2008.

It is all about the weather in the United States. I am blessed with year around temperate weather here in California for running, although it is cold in the morning and evening.

With regards to healthy eating, it is MORE expensive to eat fresh produce and vegetables in the winter. This could be a function of the economy, but more than likely, the cultural year end holidays also play a role.

One good thing is that healthy habits do rebound when spring arrives.

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