Health in the last 20 years

Oishii

Isn't it rather disingenuous to write a blog about health in the last 20 years without mentioning that the percentage of overweight and obese Americans (and people of other nationalities too) is still on the increase? Is there any point looking at changes in other areas if there is still no change here?

bpetrosky

Depends on the blog and what the author was trying to address

yarwell

"Health" may be improving while overweight is increasing, there's less heart disease around I suspect for example. Is this a reference to a specific blog ? Relevance to Nutrition ?

Oishii

This is with reference to the MFP blog 'How has health changed in the last 20 years?' which says nothing about health and everything about the health industry.

lemurcat12

Here's the blog: http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/ua-411-health-changed-20-years-ago/

It's best to link, as many of us (like me) don't read the MFP blog.

IS the obesity rate increasing? I recall reading that it's not anymore.

juggernaut1974

lemurcat12 wrote: »

Here's the blog: http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/ua-411-health-changed-20-years-ago/

It's best to link, as many of us (like me) don't read the MFP blog.

IS the obesity rate increasing? I recall reading that it's not anymore.

That was my reaction too.

I mean we are all well aware it's much higher than it should be, but it seems that nationwide - the trend has slightly started to reverse over the last couple years. There's still pockets of the country (the south, primarily) where that's not the case.

senecarr

lemurcat12 wrote: »

Here's the blog: http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/ua-411-health-changed-20-years-ago/

It's best to link, as many of us (like me) don't read the MFP blog.

IS the obesity rate increasing? I recall reading that it's not anymore.

I thought it was still increasing but child obesity in several regions is now steady to declining.

yarwell

lemurcat12 wrote: »

Here's the blog: http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/ua-411-health-changed-20-years-ago/

It's best to link, as many of us (like me) don't read the MFP blog.

IS the obesity rate increasing? I recall reading that it's not anymore.

The rate of increase has reduced and possibly flattened to zero or reversed, depending which population you're looking at.

bpetrosky

lemurcat12 wrote: »

Here's the blog: http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/ua-411-health-changed-20-years-ago/

It's best to link, as many of us (like me) don't read the MFP blog.

IS the obesity rate increasing? I recall reading that it's not anymore.

Thanks for finding the link.

Having read the blog, I didn't find it disingenuous. It really didn't have enough substance to be disingenuous, but that's because UAs blogs are there to be click bait for UAs brand recognition.

senecarr

lemurcat12 wrote: »

Here's the blog: http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/ua-411-health-changed-20-years-ago/

It's best to link, as many of us (like me) don't read the MFP blog.

IS the obesity rate increasing? I recall reading that it's not anymore.

Well the particular blog seems to be targeted at athletics.
Of course, the UA branded experts makes me sad, but not surprised. Trinh Le I've seen parrot Lustig talking points on the MFP blog before. Now I see they also added an accupuncture martial artist to their roster - so UA is directly putting quackery endorsers on their blog. Can't wait for the double bull of someone claiming you can lose weight with acupuncture. Also, the word holistic used on the blog as if evidence based medicine isn't holistic continues to make me angry - it is such a cop-out false dichotomy. Nothing about evidence based medicine is any less holistic than naturopathy or quackery - honestly it is more holistic because it actually works and has evidence, the problem is your doctor says "eat more fruits and vegetables because research, and if that doesn't work, we'll use a statin" gets ignored as not holistic, but "eat more fruits and vegetables because naturopathic feels, and if that doesn't work, we'll use a placebo effect herb your insurance plan won't cover," is called holistic and possibly listened to.

Oishii

If you look at the last 20 years obesity has definitely increased.

lemurcat12

Lots of things have happened in the past 20 years.

1996 was pretty cool.

Dreamyriver

lemurcat12 wrote: »

Lots of things have happened in the past 20 years.

1996 was pretty cool.

Yeah, but 1996 was only about 5 years ago.

Wasn't it?

::counts on fingers::

OMG NOOOOOOOOOO it really was 20 years ago.

I feel really old now.

lemurcat12

Dreamyriver wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

Lots of things have happened in the past 20 years.

1996 was pretty cool.

Yeah, but 1996 was only about 5 years ago.

Wasn't it?

::counts on fingers::

OMG NOOOOOOOOOO it really was 20 years ago.

I feel really old now.

You and me both! ;-)

haviegirl

The thing I remember the most from the nineties is that "fat is bad, carbs are good." At least that's what I believed--I could eat fat-free food all day long, because our bodies just burned up carbs like fire consuming paper. NO WAY a person could ever gain weight as long as most of what one consumed was low fat! Right? Right?

Oops. Maybe not.

lemurcat12

haviegirl wrote: »

The thing I remember the most from the nineties is that "fat is bad, carbs are good." At least that's what I believed--I could eat fat-free food all day long, because our bodies just burned up carbs like fire consuming paper. NO WAY a person could ever gain weight as long as most of what one consumed was low fat! Right? Right?

Oops. Maybe not.

People didn't actually change their diets to eat low fat in the '90s, however. People used the "low fat" label or general positive approach toward some low fat foods to eat more of them (and not the ones nutrition experts or the dietary guidelines were recommending, like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, but highly refined carbs) and also continued to eat the same amount or more of fat. So we ended up upping overall calories, and carb consumption while keeping our fat consumption about the same. The SAD was not and is not considered a low fat diet.

I also recall lots of mixed messages even in the '90s about fat vs. carbs. My take-away is that focusing on a macronutrient as the problem is wrong.

nvmomketo

lemurcat12 wrote: »

haviegirl wrote: »

The thing I remember the most from the nineties is that "fat is bad, carbs are good." At least that's what I believed--I could eat fat-free food all day long, because our bodies just burned up carbs like fire consuming paper. NO WAY a person could ever gain weight as long as most of what one consumed was low fat! Right? Right?

Oops. Maybe not.

People didn't actually change their diets to eat low fat in the '90s, however. People used the "low fat" label or general positive approach toward some low fat foods to eat more of them (and not the ones nutrition experts or the dietary guidelines were recommending, like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, but highly refined carbs) and also continued to eat the same amount or more of fat. So we ended up upping overall calories, and carb consumption while keeping our fat consumption about the same. The SAD was not and is not considered a low fat diet.

I also recall lots of mixed messages even in the '90s about fat vs. carbs. My take-away is that focusing on a macronutrient as the problem is wrong.

I did. I remember changing my breakfast so that I no longer used butter on my toast - it was just jam on toast. I used skim milk on my Special K, and even cut back on the skim milk and used some water. My favourite packed lunch was bagels with cucs, sprouts, a nice mustard and the thinnest smear of light cream cheese, and then a banana to go with it. Dinner was often noodles without butter, with a chicken breast and some cooked veggies (without oil).

Ugh. I really gave high carb and low fat a good go for many many years (decades). Eventually I started adding fats back about 10 years ago, in moderation. That was a disaster for me. High carb plus moderate fat = fat me.

senecarr

nvmomketo wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

haviegirl wrote: »

The thing I remember the most from the nineties is that "fat is bad, carbs are good." At least that's what I believed--I could eat fat-free food all day long, because our bodies just burned up carbs like fire consuming paper. NO WAY a person could ever gain weight as long as most of what one consumed was low fat! Right? Right?

Oops. Maybe not.

People didn't actually change their diets to eat low fat in the '90s, however. People used the "low fat" label or general positive approach toward some low fat foods to eat more of them (and not the ones nutrition experts or the dietary guidelines were recommending, like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, but highly refined carbs) and also continued to eat the same amount or more of fat. So we ended up upping overall calories, and carb consumption while keeping our fat consumption about the same. The SAD was not and is not considered a low fat diet.

I also recall lots of mixed messages even in the '90s about fat vs. carbs. My take-away is that focusing on a macronutrient as the problem is wrong.

I did. I remember changing my breakfast so that I no longer used butter on my toast - it was just jam on toast. I used skim milk on my Special K, and even cut back on the skim milk and used some water. My favourite packed lunch was bagels with cucs, sprouts, a nice mustard and the thinnest smear of light cream cheese, and then a banana to go with it. Dinner was often noodles without butter, with a chicken breast and some cooked veggies (without oil).

Ugh. I really gave high carb and low fat a good go for many many years (decades). Eventually I started adding fats back about 10 years ago, in moderation. That was a disaster for me. High carb plus moderate fat = fat me.

That you were using products labeled low and reduced-fat does not mean your diet itself was what would be considered low fat according to the dietary recommendations.
While few people have records to show what exactly they ate during the era - and I imagine anyone that would have said records would not be a good example as they'd probably be someone with a could understanding of calories determining weight - we do have records of what the dietary recalls make, and what food stuffs were consumed in mass market. Based on NHANE survey method, we had a slight decrease in the late 80s, and another, weaker drop in the mid 90s. Neither one really saw Americans reduce fat by even 20 grams.
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2015/11/fat-added-fat-and-obesity-in-america.html

lemurcat12

nvmomketo wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

haviegirl wrote: »

The thing I remember the most from the nineties is that "fat is bad, carbs are good." At least that's what I believed--I could eat fat-free food all day long, because our bodies just burned up carbs like fire consuming paper. NO WAY a person could ever gain weight as long as most of what one consumed was low fat! Right? Right?

Oops. Maybe not.

People didn't actually change their diets to eat low fat in the '90s, however. People used the "low fat" label or general positive approach toward some low fat foods to eat more of them (and not the ones nutrition experts or the dietary guidelines were recommending, like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, but highly refined carbs) and also continued to eat the same amount or more of fat. So we ended up upping overall calories, and carb consumption while keeping our fat consumption about the same. The SAD was not and is not considered a low fat diet.

I also recall lots of mixed messages even in the '90s about fat vs. carbs. My take-away is that focusing on a macronutrient as the problem is wrong.

I did. I remember changing my breakfast so that I no longer used butter on my toast - it was just jam on toast. I used skim milk on my Special K, and even cut back on the skim milk and used some water. My favourite packed lunch was bagels with cucs, sprouts, a nice mustard and the thinnest smear of light cream cheese, and then a banana to go with it. Dinner was often noodles without butter, with a chicken breast and some cooked veggies (without oil).

Ugh. I really gave high carb and low fat a good go for many many years (decades). Eventually I started adding fats back about 10 years ago, in moderation. That was a disaster for me. High carb plus moderate fat = fat me.

That's fine, but I'm talking about on a population level based on studies, so what you did is not relevant.

What you did is stuff I would have considered unhealthy even in the '90s (little protein, all refined grains), so I don't think we can blame nutrition advice for that.