"Tobacco is one of the healthiest substances for the body."
Posted on 08/15/2011 11:14:26 AM PDT by Mount Athos
Being fat can actually be good for you -- with obese people who are otherwise healthy living just as long as slim people -- according to a Canadian study published Monday.
The study, published in the Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism journal, found that obese people with no other health problems were also less likely to die of cardiovascular causes than their slim counterparts.
Researchers at York University, Toronto, said the study of thousands of obese Americans indicated that trying and failing to lose weight may be even worse for obese individuals than remaining fat.
Lead author Jennifer Kuk, an assistant professor at York University, said, "Our findings challenge the idea that all obese individuals need to lose weight."
She added, "Moreover, it's possible that trying -- and failing -- to lose weight may be more detrimental than simply staying at an elevated body weight and engaging in a healthy lifestyle that includes physical activity and a balanced diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables."
Kuk's team looked at 6,000 obese Americans over a 16-year span, comparing their mortality risk with that of lean individuals.
They found that obese individuals who had no (or only mild) physical, psychological or physiological impairments had a higher body weight in early adulthood, were happier with this higher body weight, and had attempted to lose weight less frequently during their lives. However, these individuals were also more likely to be physically active and consume a healthy diet, according to the study.
Researchers used the Edmonton Obesity Staging System (EOSS), a new grading tool for obesity which combines body mass index (BMI) readings with other medical factors to identify which individuals should attempt to lose weight.
Kuk stressed that in order to determine whether or not they should lose weight, obese individuals should see a physician to be evaluated using the EOSS criteria.
When John Candy died of a heart attack, he had just lost 40 pounds on a diet.
Many of my relatives who lived well into their 80’s, 90’s (and one into his 100’s) were very thin when they got older (they were slightly heavy when younger... not fat just a little heavy). As we get older, our taste buds die. If a person can’t truly “taste” their food then they eat less. Plus, many nursing homes have people who can’t feed themselves just like you said. A few Ensures a day doesn’t really keep weight on a person.
I think it depends on what they mean by obese. The weight charts are way out of whack and any muscular athlete of 210 pounds and 6’ would be considered obese. They need to qualify this by body fat percentage and strength to weight ratio.
Reminds me of the Lumberjack Song:
I cut down trees; I eat my lunch,
And go to the lavatory."
Tell ya what wise guy...I’m in my 40s and never married. Looks like I will be getting married finally in a year or two and then with a little luck, have my first baby just before hitting the half century mark.
Tell me again why its a waste of my time to try to live to be 90. I dare ya to try! You can convince yourself you are doing the right thing by being a lazy fat slob, but you will never convince me to be like you. You dam lazy fat slob.
I said retirement home, not nursing home. Retirement homes don’t take invalids like you listed.
Also, elderly people, even if they were obese their entire lives seem to lose weight when they hit their later years. My grandfather had been overweight his entire life although he was a hard worker, when he retired he kept eating like he always had, but was not longer getting excercise. He jumped up over 300lbs and stayed there until he hit his late 70's. Within the span of a year he dropped in weight, to the lowest he had been since he was a teenager, around 170lbs. He wasn't dieting or even paying attention to his weight, he just didn't seem to have the appetite he use to. He went on to live to 87, but stayed thin the rest of his life.
"Tobacco is one of the healthiest substances for the body."
So sorry about your brother.
I did “diets” too for a lot of years. Lost weight, gained weight, lost weight, gained weight. The standard “diet” tries to starve you into losing weight. You might lose weight temporarily, but without a permanent change in your eating habits, you won’t keep the weight off permanently.
Today, I don’t deprive myself anymore. I eat just about anything I want. The key is moderation and portion control. For example, I can still eat pasta — I just can’t eat the whole one pound box in one sitting. (Yes, I used to cook a whole box of spaghetti and eat it all at one time.)
Unfortunately, many of us don’t learn how to eat properly and get exercise until it’s too late. It nearly was too late for me. It took a cardiac arrest to wake me up. It’s too bad that a lot of commercial time on tv and other media is spent on fad diets, pills, potions and the like, and so little is devoted to eating right and getting moving.
Leon Askin, who portrayed General Burkhalter in Hogan's Heroes, lived to 98, which was longer than Jack Lalanne lived.
Specifically, you must account for a person's gender, height and current weight, in order to determine a general overweight issue vs. obesity, but I agree with you.
I'm a 5'7" man and lost 50 pounds since January of this year (I was 195 and am 145 now ... don't want to go any lower).
However, I have been doing a lot of weight training and bulked up.
In January, I was 27% body fat and now am 9%.
The reason I'm keeping the weight off this time is because I've educated myself about food.
A lot of people go on crazy fad diets, instead of keeping it simple, i.e., eat foods that help you stay full (protein, fiber and healthy (monounsaturated) fats, such as those found in almonds, pecans, walnuts, avocados, etc.).
Take your body weight and divide it by 2 and that's how many grams of protein you should be taking in daily (you need even more protein if you workout regularly).
Also, if you are a man you should be eating 40-50g of fiber daily. Most men eat no more than 15-25g of fiber daily.
If was a registered dietician I would recommend people eating sensibly four days a week and then cheating the other three days a week.
I think most diets fail because you are always expected to stick to them 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
With those high expectations, it's no wonder why so many people get stuck or ultimately fail.
The main thing is to break the pattern of bad eating EVERY day of the month.
If people went from eating bad 12-15 days a month instead of 30 days a month, the weight loss results would be incredible.
However, many would balk at such a strategy, since it lacks consistency.
And many people would say a plan which lacks consistency is doomed to fail.
To the contrary, I think a plan you have to stick to 365 days a year (or very close to it) is exponentially more likely to fail.
Just my two cents...
IMHO, "Diets" are terrible for you.
People need to make - permanent - lifestyle changes. Eating nothing but lettuce and H20 for three weeks will take off pounds, but that type of lifestyle can't be maintained and a "dieter" will just put the weight back on when they revert to old habits.
Moderation - not Deprivation - is better. Moderation and exercise is better still.
Last year, I cut out fast food pretty much completely. Started walking most days at lunch as well. I feel 100% better, though my weight loss has been minimal. Just for what it's worth.
...Reminds me of what happened to runner Jim Fixx...
Exactly, the best diet is, “Eat what you like, just less of it.”
I’ve never had a problem with my weight until I got a desk job. Went from 178 - 195 (6’ 2”) and felt horrible. I finally hit 200+ and am now back under 180. I’d still like to hit the 160s again.
When I got into the military, I was 145. After eight weeks of basic training, I was 185. Most people barely recognized me when I came home. I had to change uniform sizes three times during basic.
Another study last week proved dining with a smaller folk will make you over eat.
...That’s funny. They don’t eat at Faber, just throw food...
Exactly. Obese people don't go to retirement homes to rot. They live life then die. Now the super obese people are another story. They get t.v. shows.
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