Trough With The Pounds
No, lifting the Big Gulp to your fat face isn't exercise. How obvious is that? Not obvious enough, apparently, because a professor just did a bunch of research and came to the stunning conclusion that Americans are huge because they eat huge portions:
The University of Illinois researcher has set up several food experiments that show the more people are given, the more they will eat - regardless of whether they are full or think the food tastes good."In the obesity war, portion size is the first casualty,'' said Wansink, who founded the University of Illinois' Food & Brand Lab. "It's easy to point at, and we don't have to take responsibility because we can blame the restaurant or the packaged food manufacturer.''
Wansink and other researchers hope the results can help the federal government devise more user-friendly nutrition labels for packaged foods. For example, instead of stating that a handful of granola has 200 calories, the label instead could say the consumer would have to walk 2 miles to burn it off.
We couldn't possibly ask people to reflect on the obvious all by themselves, now could we? Eat a feed-bag of Ding Dongs every day, and you'll have an ass the size of Kansas. Not exactly advanced-placement calculus, now is it?
Actually, I don't believe it's portion size really. I believe that it's simply filling up on empty calories. The "Big Gulp" drinks typically hold flavored sugar water. That stuff goes into your system quickly due to its high glycemic index (which basically refers to how fast the carbs are absorbed). Your pancreas senses this and says, "Whoa! Massive rush of sugar! Produce insulin like there's no tomorrow!"
When that much sugar comes in so quickly, you're going to produce more insulin than you need. When all of the excess calories are stored as fat, the leftover insulin will make you do one of two things: 1) eat more (probably more sugar) to bring your blood sugar to more normal levels, because the excess insulin will bring your blood sugar down to a level that wouldn't keep a gerbil awake, or 2) sleep.
The solution to obesity is simple. Lay off the empty calories, especially sugary, sweet stuff or stuff made from white flour. How hard is that?
Patrick at January 5, 2004 7:42 AM
Love the new body size descriptors:
Ass the size of Rhode Island
Ass the size of Kansas
Ass the size of Texas
Are there feed bags in Rhode Island?
Sheryl at January 5, 2004 1:01 PM
Wrote about obesity yesterday on my blog, and have been summarily clobbered in the comments section, to wit:
"Your error here is that the anti-fat campaign is not a demand by fatsos that the state rescue them from their fatness but the hand-wringing of skinny bastards who think itís important that fatsos slenderize."
I didn't demand they slenderize, simply that, if we were in a burning building, I would only expend so much effort toward saving someone so fat he was unable to help himself. I do not see the point in my burning, too. Apparently, this strikes some as selfish.
nancy at January 5, 2004 4:16 PM
Yes, but what about the even more critical
aspect of diet having to do with quality
rather than quantity ... and also, how
one begins one's day ... I have found that beginning my day by eating a nice helping of fruit (or anything raw) ... usually a fruit drink, preferrably with a protien powder added, is my most ideal way to begin.
Not eating in the morning (I believe) sends a message to one's internal metabolism telling it that one is either in a feast or famine period (remember, we were once a tribal culture that had such profound seasonal differences) ... such that, one's body will either attempt to store fat ... or simply burn calories. I read this a long time ago and i have found that it is true.
Now, I do love to eat meats and even fried foods (so I am not a purist by any means) ... as well as many indulgences, like ice cream and Vanilla Latte and Butterfingers ... but, I have found that trying to eat a healthy portion of raw foods helps enormously in "attuning" one's self to what is a healthy craving ... and maybe, what is an unhealthy one.
For the record, though, I am lean and in strong healthy condition at 40yrs old ... but then, I have trained in Martial Arts for almost 30 years ... so I am probably not your typical example of a 40 yr old male ... But, I typically eat huge portions. I eat when I am hungry and I sleep when I am tired. I dont really believe in any strict diets though I have tried most of them for short periods in order to learn what they do to my body. I even obstained from red meat for two years (many years ago) ... I much prefer eating red meat, to not.
arthur at January 5, 2004 8:03 PM
"if we were in a burning building, I would only expend so much effort toward saving someone so fat he was unable to help himself."
Fat is nice and crunchy when it burns a little around the edges. That's why I say: Let the Fatties Roast!
Lena at January 5, 2004 9:49 PM