Anybody watch Weight of the Nation documentary?

peppiee

Anyone watch this? (If you don't have HBO, it's available online) I've watched the first 3 parts. Some interesting stuff. Here are some of the things that stood out for me.

You don't have to be significantly overweight to develop diabetes, even 20 or 30 pounds is enough. They showed an older gentleman, who was only about 30 pounds overweight, and developed peripheral neuropathy and had to have his lower leg amputated.

People who have dieted for a long time and yo-yoed, develop and set point weight that their body will try to get back to. So basically, your calories required will be much lower than someone of the same age, sex and weight, who never dieted.

Just decreasing your weight by 7% can decrease prediabetics risk to convert to diabetic.

Major reason for weight gain in the US is sugar in beverages, esp. in children. Fruit juice is a big contributor.

Key to keeping weight off is to continue to track calories, exercise, and to weigh yourself at least once a week. So I guess I will be a MFP member forever

jnh17

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/604192-weight-of-the-nation-on-hbo

abberbabber

I watched it and thought it was pretty interesting. My biggest issue was the obvious push for more government regulations. Uh, no thanks.

wendytc

I am NOT a big government proponent at all, but the point that the National Institute for Health was making is that the Food Industry Lobbyist are controlling the definitions of what is healthy. The example from the documentary is that we are pushing for children to receive more natural fruits and vegetables for public school lunches and in some convoluted way, Pizza sauce is considered a vegetable so therefore if the kids are fed pizza every day, that somehow satisfies their nutritional requirements. THATS CRAZY!! Pizza is now veggie?????... This is why there needs to be some oversight because it is all about profits for big business at the expense of our children's health.
I absolutely love the series. I have been watching it on HBO on demand. It is a huge eye opener. I gave up drinking juices 90% of the time over a year ago and have found it to keep me from gaining weight, I am now limiting is strictly with my kids. To realize that juice has as much sugar as soda was a biggie for me. Its basically sugar with a splash of vitamin. Better off taking vitamins and eating fresh natural fruit. check out Dr. Lustig on YouTube: Sugar The Bitter Truth (long and technical, but worth the watch) and search for Sugar Toxin 60 minutes on YouTube (shorter and much less technical). The other thing that really STRUCK me was the setpoint study. After weightloss, a formerly overweight person has to maintain a reduction of 20% of their calories (or 10% calories, and 10% increased energy expenditure) to maintain the loss permanently because your body works against you to bring you back to your higher weight. So there is no going back to old habits. Ever.


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