Posted by utopizen on September 12, 2002, at 6:50:28
In reply to Re: Prescription Slimming aids, posted by Ponder on September 12, 2002, at 5:01:07
Anyone buy a book called "Realizing the Law of Thermodynamics: What It Can Mean for Your Weight Loss Plan"?
Of course not, since it would be two sentences long. That's boring.
I'm a great believer in using prescription drugs to help out conditions, but I thought I'd like to share something I came across with all of you while I was reading a medical article about the history of weight loss drugs.
I am, and always will be, a metabolic machine. I try to eat as much as I can, but no matter what I always remain the same weight- about 170. Which sounds big, but believe me, I'm very thin, 6'3'', and have been referred to as "scrony" (even though I have a "natural cut" complex of muscles in my extremeities, these are hidden in clothing).
I'm also vegan, which people try to coorelate to my weight, as if I don't know what I weighed when I was a nonvegan. It didn't change a pound in my weight, even when I ate meat. But I still recommend others to go vegan or vegetarian with a high emphasis on dairy/cheese avoidance. It may help you if you are already overweight, as vegetarians in general average a 10 lb. weight differential from the population.
Just avoid the Atkins Diet, since the American Heart Association considers it damaging to the heart and the American Kidney Foundation (or Assoc.?) considers it damaging to the kidney. That's two respectable ambassadors to my organs I try to listen to.
Anyway, the article I read, which was written by an M.D., said much of the problem is that Americans do not receive reminders that the only proven way of losing weight and keeping it off is to burn more calories than they intake. The American Heart Assoc.'s head dietician said this as well.
Television networks, according to this report, avoid reminding the public this because they receive a heafty portion of food industry ads that rely on over-eating habits. If you don't believe it, go to consumerfreedom.com. The group receives millions in funding from companies in industries including the food industry to do nothing but appear in the media as "defenders of consumers" to try to fight off people trying to battle over-eating in America. This is an organized over-eating machine from ABC to KFC.
While I can't tell anyone not to do, I would like to simply offer a reminder that you are in control of what you can do with yourself, not me or anyone else.
And despite watching Oprah and other shows that have showed obese people stuffing donuts as they voiceover on the broadcast how they're physically addicted to over-eating, the fact is there's no special gene that physically causes someone to grasp a donut and shove it into their mouths... and the obesity epidemic is largely new in this country, with only a 20-year history at this point.
So obviously, we as Americans are over-eating. Please do not confuse this post as implying that -you- are overeating, since I am passing no judgements on anyone on this board. But medical speaking, I believe the very term "over-eating" simply means that you are intaking more than you are burning off. So it's a neutral term in the medical world, even if it sounds like a loaded word...
So exercising iand going veg is great, since they will help your cholesterol and organ systems as much as your weight. Plus vegans enjoy the added benefit of feelings a bit better about themselves morally, a good thing for those who have depression.
As rough as some presciptions are, I would at least advise you to avoid non-prescription diet aids as much as possible, since they receive even less review and control.
Just remember, burn more wood than you cut. I know it sounds overly simplified, but it's a point that requires emphasis because the television shows try to make you think this is too simple, and that a more complicated approach is necessary, and that there are genes that make food physically addicting, and that you need to be "empowered" and "feel good about yourself" and all of that anti-scientific nonsense.
The fact is, the obesity epidemic is new, and people in other countries don't have different genes than we do.
(Note: referring to the obesity epidemic is a general reference to measuring over-eating, and does not imply you are obese).
I'm sure none of you would listen to Oprah if she tried to give you advice on an AD... it is as equally anti-scientific for her to suggest someone can sidestep the Law of Thermodynamics with motivational empowerment bunk.
Thanks for listening. I have to say I can't know what it's like to be overweight, and I just try eat as much as possible because I require 3000 calories a day to keep my system healthy. So hopefully any words like "obese," "over-eating," or "anti-scientific" were understood as words of neutrality, as I like to call their context.
And most important, please remember the only thing you can do to empower yourself is listen to science, and not a show that tells you what to eat before they break for a KFC ad that pays them to say that.
poster:utopizen
thread:119090
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020906/msgs/119614.html