Thoughts on losing weight...and keeping it off

Vragis

So I was on my way to the gym at lunch today and happened to catch a few minutes of On Point, on NPR. Today, they were talking about weight loss and the difficulties of losing weight and keeping it off. The guests they had on were basically saying that something like 80+% of people who try to lose weight fail to keep it off and there seemed to be a strong insinuation that your genes, hormones, etc played a big part in things. It got me to thinking and as I swam laps, I turned the problem over in my head. I won't argue with the statistics but, lest anyone be discouraged in their own efforts, I found something fishy about it, several things actually.

One of my big issues with nutritional science in general is that it involves way too much guessing and assumptions to ever make really good solid science. When trying to prove something using the scientific method, one needs to break things down into measurable variables. The problem is that the human body is so complex, it's virtually impossible. So many factors are there, so many miniscule reactions, that we can't control for everything. For example, science cannot tell us why we will absorb more nutrients from eating a vegetable than taking those same quantities in vitamin form. We just don't know because there could be things that help facilitate absorption in that vegetable we didn't even think to look for. Another example would be all the food additives we have on the market now. The FDA has a classification for them called Generally Regarded Safe For Human Consumption. Not safe, mind you, but "generally regarded" as safe. Translation, "We're pretty sure this won't kill you". These scientists don't know what they're talking about. If you don't believe me, ask 1980s you how that "Fat is EVIL!" thing worked out. How many of you are still snarfing fat free Snackwells happy as can be? As such, I take all these studies with a giant grain of salt.

Then I had to ask myself, why are we suddenly having this obesity epidemic now? What factors have changed that suddenly now, in the history of our species, we have all these weight problems. My own grandfather ate eggs, bacon, lard, etc. He worked in a bank. He wasn't active. He didn't go to the gym after work. He came home and went down the basement to take a nap on a cot until dinner was ready. It's possible he was a genetic aberration but we've always had people with sedentary jobs and that didn't automatically mean you'd be a roving land monster.

So, I thought to myself, what is different? The conclusion I came to is that it all comes down to food, or rather our definition thereof. If you looked in our grandparents pantry, before the rise of industrial agriculture, everything you saw would have a recognizable source. Butter from cow's milk. That's it. Nothing added. Bacon from pork belly and curing salt. Nothing added for "color" or "freshness" (ie. shelf stability). Lard, probably from that same pig that gave you bacon. Those eggs? They came from a chicken somewhere not too far away, clucking around in a yard. Canned vegetables meant "vegetables you grew, picked, and canned in a Mason jar". No metal cans lined with BPA leeching plastic. As such, I can't escape the horrible feeling that it is these fake foods we now eat that are somehow, some way, responsible for the current epidemic. The human body evolved over thousands and thousands of years to break down and digest things like lard. When something assaults your body like tetra-hydra-hoosafuzz, your body doesn't know what to do with it. Who knows what genetic switches may be getting flipped by these "Generally Regarded as Safe" chemicals? Who knows what hormones they are causing your body to produce? These food scientists are tinkering with nature to make things out of corn and soy that in no way resemble that from which they came from. Hell, they're even making insoluble fiber so you can eat more crap non-stop without feeling full. Stuff like Stevia? Sure, it originally came from a plant but what was done to it before it went into your "healthy" food? Sure high fructose corn syrup is calorically the same to sugar but what does it do to the body that cane sugar doesn't? I could go on and on.

I keep coming back to the inescapable conclusion that it is the "food" we eat that is undoing our efforts. Over the past couple of years, my wife and I have been getting into eating locally and organically. We both feel a real difference in our overall health as well as weight loss efforts. I suggest anyone who reads this take a look at the documentary Food, Inc. or read The Ominvore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. They're what started it for us. I don't mess with protein bars, shakes, supplements or any of that crap. I just eat food, real honest food of the type that has nourished homo sapiens for millenia.

A few final thoughts...

Don't get me wrong, I believe in exercise. I'm overweight myself and try to work out daily. I think it is especially important when trying to undo the damage of obesity because it essentially comes down to calories in versus calories out. I was once 350 lbs in high school and let me tell you, weighing 120 less is awesome. It's like not carrying a human around on my back anymore. I've also dealt with the dreaded plateaus before, which you just need to fight through. In the end though, I firmly believe that it isn't about losing weight as much as getting healthy and staying there. It's a forever lifestyle change. Things like a diet or drugs are temporary and their benefits end when you stop them. Eating right, exercising, avoiding turning your body into a chemistry experiment (and thus hamstringing your weight loss efforts), these are forever.