Article in my local news a out it being harder to lose weight than it used to be.

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Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,894 Member
    Lord. Could they fit any more woo into five paragraphs?

    It lost me in the second paragraph with this:
    According to researchers, even if you work out as much and eat the same amount as people did in the '70s and '80s, you're not going to get a summer bod nearly as easily. After comparing weights of people with the same lifestyles and similar food intake in 1988 and 2006, they saw that the latter group had a BMI 2.3 points higher than the first group.

  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,860 Member
    BZAH10 wrote: »
    Excuses, excuses! Basically, it's just a message to "give up!". I found this paragraph ridiculous as well:

    "But the third assumption might be the most upsetting — because there's literally nothing you can do about it. Americans' microbiomes, the army of bacteria in your gut, have altered since the '80s. This is not necessarily new: Humans' microbiomes have been changing since ancient times. Even so, the changes in the past few decades have made us more prone to weight gain and obesity. It might be all the meat we're eating at last, a case for Meatless Mondays!) or the artificial sweeteners that clog so many foods."

    Yeah, that's pretty darn bad.
  • Sunna_W
    Sunna_W Posts: 744 Member
    You are not at the mercy of your microbiomes, you can restore them, but you have to work at it.

    ref: https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/childrens-health/modernizing-your-diet-with-traditional-foods/

    The reason most of us are in such dire need of replacing these valuable bugs is that many common lifestyle choices lead to their demise. The most obvious gut flora nemesis is antibiotics (literal translation means “against life”), either overdosing through prescriptions or the residual remaining in the meats and dairy products from commercial farming practices. Chemicals found in our food and water supply, along with contraceptive pills and most other prescription drugs used today have a detrimental effect on gut flora. Finally, a diet laden with sugar and processed breads is perfect for tipping the scale toward the unfavorable species of intestinal critters.

    So how can we get more of these “for life” bugs? The easiest way to get started may be to supplement with a live culture probiotic (ask for assistance at your local health food store). However, even better than popping a pill is regularly consuming cultured foods that are teeming with a wide array of species, such as yogurt, kefir, and fresh (unpasteurized) sauerkraut. Culturing foods (which is accomplished through the process of fermentation) is one of the oldest and most economical methods of preserving foods and was widely used before the time of fridges and freezers. Fermentation is simply the predigesting of a food, which is more accurately called lacto-fermentation because the process involves lactobacilli (lactic-acid-producing bacteria). The lactobacilli convert the natural sugars and starches in fruits, vegetables, and dairy products into lactic acid. The lactic acid then goes on to preserve the food, enhance its digestibility, and encourage growth of good bacteria throughout the digestive tract while discouraging the bad. Finally, when consumed with other foods, the enzymes found in cultured foods improve digestion of the entire meal.

    Cultured foods are easy to consume and small amounts will make a dramatic impact on your health. Cultured veggies, such as kimchee or sauerkraut, make a zesty garnish with almost any meal, kefir (a yogurt-like drink) makes fantastic bases for smoothies, and kombucha is a tangy, thirst-quenching beverage. Making cultured foods in your own kitchen is easy; however, raw, unpasteurized varieties of many of these foods are now available at your local health food stores or online. When you are ready to learn more about making your own, read Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon (www.newtrendspublishing.com), The Body Ecology Diet by Donna Gates (www.bodyecology.com) and Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz (www.wildfermentation.com). Many recipes and directions abound on blogs and websites as well.

  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,860 Member
    Thanks!
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    peckchris3267 wrote: »
    cmriverside wrote: »
    Lord. Could they fit any more woo into five paragraphs?

    It lost me in the second paragraph with this:
    According to researchers, even if you work out as much and eat the same amount as people did in the '70s and '80s, you're not going to get a summer bod nearly as easily. After comparing weights of people with the same lifestyles and similar food intake in 1988 and 2006, they saw that the latter group had a BMI 2.3 points higher than the first group.

    I'm guessing the people they are questioning are overestimating their exercise and underestimating their intake. Either that or they're downright lying.

    What do you think has changed since the 1980s about this?
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,726 Member
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    peckchris3267 wrote: »
    cmriverside wrote: »
    Lord. Could they fit any more woo into five paragraphs?

    It lost me in the second paragraph with this:
    According to researchers, even if you work out as much and eat the same amount as people did in the '70s and '80s, you're not going to get a summer bod nearly as easily. After comparing weights of people with the same lifestyles and similar food intake in 1988 and 2006, they saw that the latter group had a BMI 2.3 points higher than the first group.

    I'm guessing the people they are questioning are overestimating their exercise and underestimating their intake. Either that or they're downright lying.

    What do you think has changed since the 1980s about this?

    Computers
  • rachelleahsmom
    rachelleahsmom Posts: 442 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    This was discussed a few weeks ago...

    My contention is that it is because we generally move less...an office worker now moves less than an office worker then because then we had to get up and go file things in big filing rooms and we had to go talk to people, etc...still pretty sedentary, but an office worker today is more sedentary...everything is electronic...I could literally do everything I need to do without ever getting out of my chair except to go to the bathroom...but I choose not to do that.

    Please tell me you don't choose not to use the bathroom. :-)
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    stanmann571 wrote: »
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    peckchris3267 wrote: »
    cmriverside wrote: »
    Lord. Could they fit any more woo into five paragraphs?

    It lost me in the second paragraph with this:
    According to researchers, even if you work out as much and eat the same amount as people did in the '70s and '80s, you're not going to get a summer bod nearly as easily. After comparing weights of people with the same lifestyles and similar food intake in 1988 and 2006, they saw that the latter group had a BMI 2.3 points higher than the first group.

    I'm guessing the people they are questioning are overestimating their exercise and underestimating their intake. Either that or they're downright lying.

    What do you think has changed since the 1980s about this?

    Computers

    People had computers in the 80s. How are they related to people "downright lying" about how much they ate?

    For context, this is the comment we're talking about:

    I'm guessing the people they are questioning are overestimating their exercise and underestimating their intake. Either that or they're downright lying.

    I don't think those things have changed much at all since the 1980s. Even though we had computers back then.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,860 Member
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    peckchris3267 wrote: »
    cmriverside wrote: »
    Lord. Could they fit any more woo into five paragraphs?

    It lost me in the second paragraph with this:
    According to researchers, even if you work out as much and eat the same amount as people did in the '70s and '80s, you're not going to get a summer bod nearly as easily. After comparing weights of people with the same lifestyles and similar food intake in 1988 and 2006, they saw that the latter group had a BMI 2.3 points higher than the first group.

    I'm guessing the people they are questioning are overestimating their exercise and underestimating their intake. Either that or they're downright lying.

    What do you think has changed since the 1980s about this?

    As I said upthread and in the similar thread before:
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    peckchris3267 wrote: »
    http://www.wmur.com/article/americans-cant-lose-weight-as-quickly-as-before/10202970

    There have been a couple of threads on this already (not criticizing you for not seeing them, beats me where they are or I'd link them). Anyway, as discussed on the other threads, it's probably nonsense.

    Big thing is that it's HARD to estimate how many calories people are eating, it's self reported in these studies, obese people tend to underreport calories more, and more people are obese now. Add to that that our portions (and thus estimates of how much we ate) are more distorted now and people are more likely to be grazing throughout the day, which is another area that makes underreporting more common. So I see 0 reason to believe that our TDEEs are collectively lower, all else equal.



  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 19,266 Member
    I think a lot of things have changed since the 80's but we don't notice until it's in our faces. One very small example leaps to mind - I recently had to drive a 1976 Datsun. Holy crap, even being a small car, no power steering was hard work! Now, driving my car takes very little more effort than sitting on my couch playing Xbox.

    It made me think how many things which we didn't notice then are so much easier now?
  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,753 Member
    Alatariel75 wrote: »
    I think a lot of things have changed since the 80's but we don't notice until it's in our faces. One very small example leaps to mind - I recently had to drive a 1976 Datsun. Holy crap, even being a small car, no power steering was hard work! Now, driving my car takes very little more effort than sitting on my couch playing Xbox.

    It made me think how many things which we didn't notice then are so much easier now?
    Ah, I once owned a '76 Datsun.
  • whitpauly
    whitpauly Posts: 1,483 Member
    Maybe food's better tasting now and people eat more,also the hobbies of the 70's and 80's were disco dancing,skating rinks goofy stuff that got people moving who knows
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,185 Member
    Alatariel75 wrote: »
    It made me think how many things which we didn't notice then are so much easier now?

    The power steering thing was remarked upon by my driving instructor in 1978. My '78 Arrow had no AC, no power nothing, no airbags, and a stick-shift transmission. I loved it.


  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 19,266 Member
    JeromeBarry1 wrote: »
    Alatariel75 wrote: »
    It made me think how many things which we didn't notice then are so much easier now?

    The power steering thing was remarked upon by my driving instructor in 1978. My '78 Arrow had no AC, no power nothing, no airbags, and a stick-shift transmission. I loved it.


    Heh, right? My first cars were all Datsuns or Mazdas, all stick shift and yeah - no power anything!! Hell, even cranking the windows up and down would have burned calories. I really think that small, every day things like this which we no longer have to do make a difference.

    I also used to have a twin-tub washing machine, switching the clothes to the spinner would have burned a few calories. Heavier vacuums. No microwaves (or very early ones, if you had one) making cooking take a little longer. I just wonder how much these minuscule conveniences have added up to contribute to this gain over time?
  • WendyLeigh1119
    WendyLeigh1119 Posts: 495 Member
    I think probably in the same vein as "computers" and sitting, people have unlimited, in-your-face access to so much woo through social media marketing, blogs, etc that people are doing crazy things to lose weight (extreme exercises, weird cleanses, leaves around your fat pouches, pills, powders.....). People used to just hit the gym or take a walk. Now people are destroying their guts and bodies over and over with yo-yo nonsense. A technological woo-a-thon.

    Not to say it didn't exist back then. But you weren't bombarded with it 24-7 like you are now. At worst, you probably saw your Mom using a Richard Simmons VHS with the "Deal A Meal" cards.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 19,266 Member
    WendyLeigh1119 wrote: »
    I think probably in the same vein as "computers" and sitting, people have unlimited, in-your-face access to so much woo through social media marketing, blogs, etc that people are doing crazy things to lose weight (extreme exercises, weird cleanses, leaves around your fat pouches, pills, powders.....). People used to just hit the gym or take a walk. Now people are destroying their guts and bodies over and over with yo-yo nonsense. A technological woo-a-thon.

    Not to say it didn't exist back then. But you weren't bombarded with it 24-7 like you are now. At worst, you probably saw your Mom using a Richard Simmons VHS with the "Deal A Meal" cards.

    True-ish - there were some AWFUL diets back then, I remember my mum and grandma doing a bunch of them. The one where they could only eat apples one day, salad the next, boiled chicken the next, then repeat lol.

    Those weird vibro machines date back to then, and sauna suits!

    Woo is timeless ;)
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