1C Lesson for “Rethinking Weight” (336) and “Caloric Imbalance and Public Health Policy” (343)

 

Part One: The Simple Math of Weight Gain (64% of Americans are overweight or obese):

 

We move less and eat more. Or put differently, technology reduces the need for human physical activity and easy accessibility of cheap calorie-rich foods encourages excessive food consumption.

 

This is the challenge of living in the modern world.

 

Part Two: Grotesque Paradox:

 

Americans spend $33 billion on dieting and are getting fatter (337). And the overwhelming majority of weight-loss programs are frauds (339, 340).

 

The two best books on food, nutrition, and having power over the fraudulent food and diet industry are the following:

 

In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan

 

Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink

 

Part Three: Avoiding the Either/Or Fallacy of Attributing a Cause to Obesity.

 

Some blame lack of will power or a gluttonous impulse in fat people (the “HomeTown Buffet Effect).

 

Some say that to be fat or obese is a sign of stupidity. I heard Ricky Gervaise the comedian talk about a 1,000-pound man who was taken from his room with a crane. He looked like a blob with eyeballs sticking out. “When he weighed 500 pounds, didn’t he think then it was time to do something? Why wait until he weighed 1,000 pounds?” The implication is utter stupidity.

 

 

 On the opposite camp are those who blame biology. In fact, the obesity crisis is not either this or that cause but a multiplicity of causes.

 

My favorite line in the essay on page 338. “All you have to do is eat less is like telling someone suffering from asthma all you have to do is breathe better.”

 

Part Four: Psychological Cues Encourage Eating (339)

 

1. Eating from larger plates and bowls.
2. Social eating with people who are big eaters.
3. Eating in front of TV or Internet (mindless eating)
4. Learned helplessness (constant failed diets)
5. Getting punk-fed by roach coaches, fast food eateries, cafeterias and the like
6. Not knowing the difference between real food and processed food
7. Not having the self-reliance to cook meals for yourself that you like

 

 

Part Five: Weight loss and mindful eating matter.

 

At a weight of 232, my overall cholesterol was 209 (should be 200 or lower) and my LDL was 142 (should be 130 or lower). At a weight of 220 (the result of keeping a food journal, a major pain, but it’s worth it), my overall cholesterol is 195 and LDL is 132.

 

Major study shows that food journal is effective for losing weight. Here's another article. 

 

Part Six: Refuting the Biological Cause Theory

 

See page 344, paragraphs 3 through 5.

 

 

Part Six. The 16 Causes of Obesity:

 

1. There is an abundance of convenient, cheap, calorie-rich food everywhere we go.
2. We move less than we did generations ago. Do we chase the animals we eat? No.
3. Mindless eating; not even knowing the quantity of what we consume every day, much of it done while talking, watching TV, or surfing the Internet, all forms of Mindless Eating. See book of same title by Brian Wansink.
4. Poverty; there is a relationship between poverty and obesity. This is due to a lack of education combined with reliance on cheap fast food.
5. Parents. Children eat what their parents eat. If the parents eat a “fat lifestyle,” so will their children.
6. Friends. We eat and look similar to our friends. We often call this “social eating.”
7. Eating processed foods instead of real foods and not knowing the difference. Please see In Defense of Eating: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan. In short, only shop at the far left and right of supermarkets; avoid the middle; or shop at the Farmer’s Market.
8. Super-sized portions are marketed as a “good deal.” See the film Super Size Me and read the book Fast Food Nation by Erich Schlosser
9. Boredom; stay at home with nothing to do and you’ll overeat
10. Emotional eating; eating to feel “love” or “self-esteem” or because you feel lonely.
11. Lack of sleep. The more tired you are, the more you feed your blood sugar to compensate.
12. Education; knowing how to enjoy good healthy food should be very practical but too few people know how to prepare food for themselves that they both crave and that is good for them.
13. Learned helplessness
14. Dieting; it leads to weight gain, splurging, neuroses, and messes up the metabolism which rebels and goes on “shut down.”
15. Fast food is marketed to children in an aggressive way; see Fast Food Nation.
16. Increased television viewing

 

Part Seven: Writing Options

 

Option One: In Chapter 8, the writers disagree as to the causes of obesity, its dangers, and the effectiveness of diets and other strategies. It appears that Chapter 8 suffers from a lack of critical thinking as some authors make two critical errors: over simplification of the causes of obesity and siding with an either/or fallacy in which obesity is either biology or learned behavior. Find some middle ground rooted in common sense and propose a way for people to free themselves from obesity, futile dieting, and learned helplessness.

 

A sample thesis might look like this:

 

Sadly, Chapter 8 is chockfull of excuse makers for obesity. Some claim we are doomed for biological, economical, and technological reasons to a life of bloatedness and crapulence. Others argue that being fat is okay and is an “artificial social construct” that stigmatizes those who don’t conform to the skinny ideal. Others use hopelessly fat people as evidence that we are all fated to be fat. In fact, these fat-people enablers couldn’t be more wrong. If we open our eyes, we can cull from Chapter 8 and other research sources that there is an Exit Sign to help guide us out of Obesity Hell. This path to a healthier, skinnier lifestyle consists of __________________________, ______________________________, ___________________________, ________________________________, and ____________________________________.