Fat Shaming

[KMWylie Senior MemberPEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close KMWylie]

Age definitely plays a factor. Metabolism definitely slows, typically, with age.

The challenge, with society, is that our portion sizes continue to grow. Over the last 20 years, according to the National Institute of Health, the average standard portion size on items has doubled.

Bagels used to be 3" in diameter - now they're 6"
The average cheeseburger at a restaurant was 4.5 oz - now they're 8 oz.
Average popcorn at the movies was 5 oz - now it's 11 oz.
The average soda serving was 6.5 oz - now it's 20 oz... and usually with free refills!

So, if you're 45 - when you were 25 and ate out, you likely ate about half the calories at a meal than you do today. Now, couple that with the slowing metabolism of middle age, and you've totally exacerbated the problem.

Plus, we're now more sedentary than ever before. We spend more time surfing the Net than actually surfing.

portion size.jpg

[TheGreatDivider Senior Member Member of the Month Dec 2015 Find all posts View Profile Close TheGreatDivider]

Don't forget that the price of food is also artificially lowered, thanks to government subsidities on corn, rice, soy, wheat, meat, and dairy, etc. So all the affordable, high calorie, foods you can buy like those oversized bagels and burgers are much cheaper than they should be.

Not to mention we eat more protein and sugar than our bodies know what to do with, have been trained to go after sugary foods and beverages like Pavlov's dogs from an early age, get very little exercise compared to what we're capable of, sleep less than we should; we self medicate with caffeine, sugar, carbohydrates to feel better, and experience more stress than our parents.

It's really no wonder why we're so fat. I could show you the research on the original food pyramid produced by Luise Light and how it was changed by the meat, dairy, and agriculture heads to get Americans to buy more of their foods but no one followed those recommendations then and they sure aren't following the My Plate or whatever recommendations the UK and other countries put out now.

There's more proof that why we eat is making us fat than you'd think ... Many people in Western nations eat for pleasure and reward themselves with food daily, eating to keep energy and blood sugar levels high instead of for hunger, and choose over spiced and salty foods for pleasure.

[KMWylie Senior MemberPEGym Hero Find all posts View Profile Close KMWylie]

TGD - There's a great show -- Adam Ruins Everything -- he had an episode about the Food Pyramid (that I agree screwed several generations over nutritionally), and how the original creator cherry-picked research to purposely create a grain-centric plan... all to kowtow to the grain industry.

[TheGreatDivider Senior Member Member of the Month Dec 2015 Find all posts View Profile Close TheGreatDivider]

TGD - There's a great show -- Adam Ruins Everything -- he had an episode about the Food Pyramid (that I agree screwed several generations over nutritionally), and how the original creator cherry-picked research to purposely create a grain-centric plan... all to kowtow to the grain industry.

Seen it, streamed every episode. I think you're confusing the doctor responsible for the low-fat/fat phobic diet with Luise Light who had nothing to do with the food pyramid changes. The original food pyramid was not cherry picked by the Light, it was sold to the highest bidder and changed by heads of the meat, dairy, and agriculture industries.

Here is her account of what happened.

When our version of the Food Guide came back to us revised, we were shocked to find that it was vastly different from the one we had developed. As I later discovered, the wholesale changes made to the guide by the Office of the Secretary of Agriculture were calculated to win the acceptance of the food industry. For instance, the Ag Secretary’s office altered wording to emphasize processed foods over fresh and whole foods, to downplay lean meats and low-fat dairy choices because the meat and milk lobbies believed it’d hurt sales of full-fat products; it also hugely increased the servings of wheat and other grains to make the wheat growers happy. The meat lobby got the final word on the color of the saturated fat/cholesterol guideline which was changed from red to purple because meat producers worried that using red to signify “bad” fat would be linked to red meat in consumers’ minds.

Where we, the USDA nutritionists, called for a base of 5-9 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables a day, it was replaced with a paltry 2-3 servings (changed to 5-7 servings a couple of years later because an anti-cancer campaign by another government agency, the National Cancer Institute, forced the USDA to adopt the higher standard).

Our recommendation of 3-4 daily servings of whole-grain breads and cereals was changed to a whopping 6-11 servings forming the base of the Food Pyramid as a concession to the processed wheat and corn industries. Moreover, my nutritionist group had placed baked goods made with white flour — including crackers, sweets and other low-nutrient foods laden with sugars and fats — at the peak of the pyramid, recommending that they be eaten sparingly. To our alarm, in the “revised” Food Guide, they were now made part of the Pyramid’s base. And, in yet one more assault on dietary logic, changes were made to the wording of the dietary guidelines from “eat less” to “avoid too much,” giving a nod to the processed-food industry interests by not limiting highly profitable “fun foods” (junk foods by any other name) that might affect the bottom line of food companies.

[Vitex Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Vitex]

For the record, exercise like cardio has very little effect on weight loss, it burns calories but just makes you starving later as a result. So unless you have the self-control of a Buddhist monk, you're going to re-gain most of what you lost. Power-lifting for a short time is actually way more effective than a 45 jogging session because it uses way more calories to burn and continues to burn them throughout the day after the gym.

But a caloric deficit or diet is the number 1 key to weight loss. Cardio or lifting can never compensate a crappy diet.

[Pegasus AdministratorPE Gym EditorPEGym Hero ☺ Admin of the Month Mar 2015 Find all posts View Profile Close Pegasus]

How about lots of positive reinforcement for people the right weight ? I got nothing but negative reinforcement when I was slim.