Good Health is
more about Habits than Weights
Jun 21, 2005
It seems some sort of warning should be put on news
stories about the dangers of being overweight - and
the necessity for weight loss. Something like "Caution:
Reading health headlines may be hazardous to your well-being
and level of confusion."
The current weight debate was kicked into high gear
by an article
in the Journal of the American Medical Association on
April 20. The authors - researchers from the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention and the National
Center Institute - revised estimates for the number
of excess deaths in the United States "associated
with" overweight and obesity.
This was a drastic downward revision from 400,000 excess
deaths per year in CDC's 2004 estimates to 25,814 deaths
per year in the April 2005 article. This means, according
to CDC, that obesity fell from the second-leading cause
of death to the seventh.
Without going into the details of statistical analysis
or the political arguments over "junk food"
taxes, I'll share my opinion about the great weight
debate of 2005. Actually, it's the same old-fashioned
advice that I have been giving for years.
Health troubles due to extremes
It's not healthy to be severely overweight or underweight.
It is not healthy to be a complete couch potato, nor
is it healthy to be a compulsive exerciser. It isn't
healthy to subsist on a diet of fast food and soft drinks,
and it isn't healthy to severely restrict fat and/or
carbs.
Health is more about your habits than your weight.
Study after study has shown people with healthy habits
are at a lower risk of death and disease - whatever
they weigh. By healthy habits, I mean getting plenty
of physical activity and eating nutrient-rich whole
foods, as well as not smoking or chewing tobacco, not
drinking excessive amounts of alcohol, and not using
dangerous drugs.
Sometimes overweight is healthy, and sometimes it isn't.
It all depends on your habits. If you come from a family
of large round people, you may always have a higher
BMI than the folks at the CDC think is healthy. But
you can be healthy and happy if you are physically active
for 30 to 60 minutes per day and eat fruits, veggies,
whole grains, low-fat/skim dairy foods and lean meats/fish/poultry.
For more about that, get a personal pyramid from Mypyramid.gov.
A BMI in the "healthy range" may be good for
you or not. It depends on your habits. If you keep your
weight low by smoking cigarettes, taking over-the-counter
diet
pills, exercising more than two hours a day, or
by severely limiting your intake of any food with fat,
you are not healthy.
Dieting is risky behavior
Diets are often ineffective and unhealthy. Most dieters
will regain all the weight they lose and more within
a few years. This weight cycling may be especially risky
for obese women who tend to diet more than anyone else.
Clinical studies confirm that weight cycling of as little
as five to 10 pounds can:
Increase rates of high blood pressure, insulin resistance
(type 2 diabetes), heart disease and gallbladder problems.
Cause build-up of visceral fat around organs and weight
gain especially in the upper body (the worst possible
place to gain weight).
Decrease bone density and lead to osteoporosis.
A study in the June 2005 Journal of the American Dietetic
Association demonstrates both the ineffectiveness of
traditional diets and the positive benefits of the "Health
at Every Size" approach. This is the same non-diet
philosophy I have advocated for years.
The two-year study at the University of California-Davis
involved overweight women 30 to 45 years old. Half were
assigned to a dieting group and half to a non-dieting
"Health at Every Size" group. Both groups
met weekly for 24 weeks, and the women were then followed
for a total of two years.
Women in the dieting group were given typical weight
management advice. They were told to moderately restrict
their food consumption, maintain food diaries, monitor
their weight and exercise regularly.
Those in the non-dieting group were taught to let go
of restrictive eating habits and to pay closer attention
to internal body cues of hunger and fullness. They also
received tips about choosing healthful foods and becoming
more physically active, and participated in a support
group to become more accepting of their larger bodies.
After two years, self-acceptance trumped dieting hands-down
when it came to achieving long-term health improvements.
Here's what the UC Davis researchers found:
The non-dieters maintained their weight throughout the
study. The dieting group lost 5.2 percent of their initial
weight during the 24-week treatment period, but regained
almost all by the end of the two-year study.
The non-dieters showed a significant decrease in both
total cholesterol and LDL "bad" cholesterol
by the end of the study. The dieters showed no significant
change in cholesterol levels at any time.
Both groups lowered their blood pressure during the
first year of the study. By the end of two years, the
non-dieters had maintained this improvement, while the
diet group had not.
By the end of the study, the non-dieters had almost
quadrupled their physical activity. The dieting group
had increased their physical activity right after the
treatment period ended after 24 weeks, but slipped back
to their initial levels when the study ended.
The non-dieters demonstrated significant improvements
in self-esteem and depression, while self-esteem worsened
in the diet group. The dieters' depression levels initially
improved but then returned to baseline.
In summary, while the non-dieters did not lose
weight, they improved their overall health, measured
by cholesterol levels, blood pressure, physical activity
and self-esteem. The dieters were not able to sustain
any of their short-term improvements and actually worsened
in terms of their self-esteem.
So, what does all this mean for your weight and health?
Whatever your current weight, switch your focus from
the number on the scale to positive lifestyles changes
you can maintain. Forget about which diet will help
you lose weight quickly, and find enjoyable ways to
improve your eating habits and activity patterns forever.
Source: http://www.billingsgazette.com
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