Obesity: America's #1 Killer; Part I

As we all know, obesity has become an epidemic in not just the United States but in virtually every industrialized country on the planet. I would be beating a dead horse by going over the scores of diseases caused and exacerbated by obesity, so I'll skip that for now. The main issue is what is being done to combat this deadly epidemic?

First off, one has to realize that the human body is a truly marvelous invention. It is designed so that in times of starvation, it can utilize its own tissues to preserve the organism. During plentiful times, eating more calories than what you expend will result in the accumulation of bodyfat. Even though today excess bodyfat is thought of as unattractive it actually served a vitally important purpose in ancient times. During periods of starvation, the human body would call up these fat resources in order to provide the needed calories in order to survive. So you can see that when food was abundant, it would have been wise for ancient man to eat -or should I say gorge - in order to accumulate sufficient fat stores so that he would be able to survive the harsh periods of starvation that were sure to come.

Well, the human body hasn't changed significantly in the past few thousand years and we still have that wonderful fat storage trait. The main thing that has changed is that food constantly surrounds us and our physical activity level has plummeted. Additionally, the foods that are easily accessible are extremely high calorie foods - foods that you do not find in nature. Add these two issues together: high calorie, abundant food and minimal physical activity and you have a recipe for obsesity.

Are humans built to crave sweet things? Absolutely. Are humans designed to seek out high-fat items. Yes. In times of starvation, these were the foods that had the most "bang for the buck" so to speak. Obviously foods that were high in fat had potential for having tremendous amounts of calories. Additionally, humans have a desire for sweets but research shows that it's not what you think: it's not that we like sweets because we have a evolutionary trait to eat Oreos and cookies but instead it's built into us so that we seek out the nutrition in berries and fruits. Fruits have large amount of nutrients in them but we need an incentive to eat them. They're naturally sweet so we are drawn to eat them in order to stay healthy.

So, we can see that there are specifics reasons for our eating behavior but there are also other factors. Psychology plays a role as well. Some people use food to cover up emotional issues. Some people (myself included) eat out of boredom. In order to combat a chronic overeating problem you first have to ask yourself if you're really hungry. If you can etch that process into your mind I think you'll find it helpful in combating overeating. You can even go so far as to post a sign on your refrigerator "Am I hungry?"

Answering the question of, "Am I hungry," is fairly straightforward: is your stomach growling? Do you feel your blood sugar getting low? Perhaps you'll find it helpful to rate your level un hunger from 1 to 10 and then ask yourself where you fall on that scale.

Personally, I find night time to be the most dangerous time for overeating. During the day I find myself productive and staying busy; food is not really on my mind. Once I get home at night and relax, that is when my mind starts to wander towards food. I've found that if I keep myself occupied with things that I enjoy then I'm far less prone to overeat. Watching TV tends to make the situation worse so I try to do more mentally stimulating things. The more captivated and interested I am by the activity, the less I'm prone to let my mind wander off to think about eating. I'm just too engaged to think about snacking.

Remember: no one got fat overnight. Whatever techniques you choose to employ to keep the weight off have to be sustainable techniques that you can use for the rest of your life.

What About Supplements?

I get this question a lot: "What kind of supplements do you take?" It's very rare that someone asks me if I take supplements, but instead the question usually masquerades as, "Hey, how many supplements do you take and which ones?"

The answer to the question is that I take virtually no supplements at all.

How did I get to this blasphemous stage of taking no supplements? Well, I've been exposed to the health/supplement industry for quite some time. I started working at one of several different nationally known nutrition/supplement stores at the age of seventeen and worked there for nearly five years. In that time span, I was exposed to nearly every type of supplement that you could dream of - herbs, minerals, vitamins, oils, bodybuidling supplements, etc. During the first couple of years of working there I assumed that all of the products that are on the shelf must have some type of efficacy to them otherwise they wouldn't be on the shelf, right? In the quest for self-improvement I tried nearly every type of supplement known to man that professed to help in the bodybuilding process. After spending nearly half of my paycheck at my place of employment, for nearly two year, I came to the realization that every type of supplement that I tried yielded no results. Did taking extra protein powder help? Nope. Did taking the newest ultra-filtered whey isolate help? No. Did taking the bulk-up powders help in my quest for size and muscle. Well, it helped in my quest for getting fatter but that's about it.

The only exception that I found was creatine monohydrate and the now banned fat burning supplements (ephedra, caffeine, asprin combos). Creatine monohydrate has been found to effectively increase muscle size and strength, albeit to a small degree, but as we all know every bit helps. Not only has it been proven to work but it's been proven to be safe as well.

The ephedra, caffeine, asprin combos worked well but lets face it, they were essentially "drugs" in every sense of the word. It was basically a legalized stimulant that was found to suppress appetite and perhaps speed up the metabolic rate.

Before you jump head first into the crazy world of supplements and throw away your hard-earned money, ask yourself: are there any legitimate studies showing that this particular supplement will yield the results that I think it will? I'm amazed at the amount of people that will spend hundreds of dollars a month on supplement that don't a single scientific study done on them. On a related note, be cautious of who conducted the study as well. Was the study conducted by researchers in the exercise physiology lab at Ohio University or was it paid for and conducted by the company that owns the supplement?

Oh, and please - disregard the anti-rational establishment that feels that you can't trust medicine or the scientific community. By nature, scientists are seekers of the truth and you should put more trust in their findings even if it opposes what your favorite author in Flex or Muscle and Fitness says. Keep in mind, virtually every muscle magazine owns and runs their own supplement company. Make no mistake: they are out to sell you their supplements and push their ads. If you doubt my claims then pick up an issue and then gloss over the amount of ads in each issue.

In the future, other effective supplements may come down the pike but you really should first be critical and try to figure out if any reputable scientific organizations have studied the product. If they haven't, how do you know it works? What if it ends up being dangerous? What if you're prone to the placebo effect? Be as critical and inquisitive as possible and you just may save yourself a lot of money and a lot of frustration.

While we're on the subject, I highly recommend that you read the article entitled The Most Anabolic Diet - Real Food written by Dr. Richard Winett, PhD. The article can be found in its entirety here: http://www.cbass.com/WinettAnabolicDiet.htm.

Beware of Snack Food

Is snacking in between meals a good idea or bad idea? Well that depends a lot on what kind of snack food you're talking about. Even though some snack foods are touted as healthy or portion-controlled they may end up sabotaging your weight loss efforts.

One of the hottest selling items nowadays are the 100-calorie snack packs. You know. They have a myriad of different variations: Oreo, Twinkie, Chips Ahoy, etc. If you look at these packages they do contain 100 calories but the portions tend to be horribly small. You have to ask yourself, "If I eat this, is it going to satisfy me at all or am I going to be left wanting more when this is done?" If you look at the label you'll soon discover that you're certainly not eating anything worthwhile, at least from a nutritional point of view. If you're going to snack on something, in order to tide you over in between meals, then shouldn't you try to eat something with at least some semblance of nutritional value?

Personally, I find that when I start to snack on foods that are high in processed sugars and fats I have a hard time stopping the eating process. I eat a little bit of a cookie or a snack bar and I'm not satiated - I continue to want more and more. I've found myself in this situation many times and it typically starts with something innocent like a 100-calorie snack or a low-cal treat and then cascades into thirty minutes of non-stop eating. How did this happen? It's hard to say for sure but I've noticed that when I start to eat sugary foods it becomes extremely hard to become satisfied and I'm driven to eat more sugary foods. I don't notice this type of behavior when I snack on fresh fruit or other unprocessed foods. It seems that junk food turns on the eating mechanism in my body (and maybe yours too).

How have I overcome this situation? I've learned to steer clear of junk food in general. I've come to realize that when I start to indulge in just a tiny bit of junk food -especially if it's sweet-then I will have a hard time stopping. Just like a recovering alcholic tries not to go into a bar, I try not to indulge in sweets or junk food because I know what the end result will be.

Additionally, one should try to snack on healthy foods and not just empty calories. Unfortunately I think many people are happy to snack on these super convenient foods because they feel that the food is low in calories and does them no harm. Well, if you're very disciplined it may do you no harm but what about doing you good? Do you really think eating small versions of partially-hydrogenated, high-fat, high-sugar foods is really good for you? Don't fool yourself.

Try to eat foods that have a nutitional "punch" to them. Fruits can be a great snack and they pack a ton of fiber and phytochemicals in them as well. What about a small salad to get you through until dinner? If you're really pressed for time have a small packet of sugar-free oatmeal mixed with water. You'll find that you're much more satiated if you have a healthful snack as opposed to a package of mini-junk food.

You don't have to limit yourself to fresh fruits either. Studies have shown that frozen fruits can have just as much nutritional value and the fresh variety. Not only do these foods contain important vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals that the processed junk food doesn't contain, it also provides fiber as well. Fiber is a key component to satiety and something that is sorely lacking in processed food - especially junk food.

Lastly, ask yourself, "Am I really hungry? Is my stomach growling," before you think about having a snack. The calories from little meals can add up quite fast so don't fool yourself into thinking that a snack is irrelevant because it's not. That small snack can set you up for more eating later on in the day (high sugar content can drop your blood sugar levels below normal and cause an urge to want to eat more sugars throughout the day), make you feel lethargic, or cause arterial inflammation. Yep, that's right. Science has shown that merely eating a single meal comprised of saturated or trans fat can cause immediate arterial inflammation. The effects occur within several hours and last for several hours afterwards.

Focus on having three main meals a day with a couple of snacks interspersed. The snacks can be whatever you're in the mood for: a banana, a baked potato with spinach, an apple, or a handful of almonds. It's never too late to start and the sooner you develop healthy eating habits the quicker you'll see positive results.

Recommended Reading: Ripped

Back in 1980 the bodybuilding world was turned on its head by a gentleman by the name of Clarence Bass. The book was called Ripped: The Sensible Way to Achieve Ultimate Muscularity. What was the big deal you ask? Well just by looking at the cover you could tell that this guy knew how to get ultra lean. What the reader would come to find out is that not only did this person know how to get lean but he knew how to stay that way.

Clarence incorporated a way of eating and exercising that allowed him to obtain an unprecedented level of bodyfat - 2.4%! Not only did he achieve what some would consider an impossibly low level of bodyfat but he did it while remaining healthy and satisfied. He contends that starvation and deprivation should be nearly absent in any successful dieting plan.

The book was published in 1980 but that in no way means that the information is obsolete or out of date. The concepts that Clarence touches upon are just as valid today as they were thirty years ago.

Does the Ripped dieting philosophy work? Well, Clarence is a little over 70 years old today and still extraordinarily lean and muscular. He has remained this way for over thirty years and that's the key for any eating/lifestyle philosophy to work: it has to be a manageable and pleasant thing to do. Losing weight is no necessarily the hard part - keeping the weight off is. This is where I think the Ripped philosophy really shines through.

Clarence stresses that for any diet to work it has to be lower in calories and something that you can follow for a lifetime. It can't be some 1,000 calorie draconian diet that you can only follow for two months or a diet comprised only of hardboiled eggs and cabbage. Clarence stresses that your daily eating menu should be comprised of unprocessed fresh fruits and vegetables, grains, and minimal amounts of meat. His contention is that when you eat foods in their natural, unprocessed state, they will fill you up because they provide maximum bulk with minimal calories. He says that processed foods are full of salt, sugar, fats, and devoid of their natural nutrition. When we start processing foods and packaging them up we tend to strip the product of a lot of its natural nutrition. Additionally, you will become full on fewer calories when you follow this type of diet.

Clarence is also a proponent of a low-fat diet and he has several reasons for it. Primarily, fat has nine calories per gram whereas carbohydrates and protein have only four calories per gram. This makes fat twice as fattening as protein and carbohydrates. The logic is that in order to lose bodyfat one must keep their calories under control and there is no better way to do that than to keep the most calorically dense nutrient, fat, to a minimum. Clarence also recommends keeping dietary fat levels low in order to maintain a healthy blood profile. Using this program, one can eat a very large amount of food and not gain weight. You'll be satisfied and full and able to lose bodyfat.

He also touches on the low-carb diet as well. Clarence goes on to describe his brief stint with using a low-carb regimine while he prepares for a bodybuilding show and how it made him irritable and made him feel deprived. The nail in the coffin came when he describes a scene where, because of his low blood sugar levels, he gets into an argument with his wife and storms off while some fruit in hand. Once he ate some of the fruit he felt dramatically better and the fog of the low-carb diet had been lifted. He attributed his unusual behavior completely to the low-carb diet and vowed never again to attempt such a thing. He was convinced that the body needs carbohydrates.

Most diet books avoid the subject of exercise entirely or merely touch on it in such a brief way as to leave the reader with the idea that it's not important or helpful in the quest to be healthy and have a low bodyfat level. Clarence clearly states that in order for someone to become lean and maintain leaness one much include exercise in their program. The two go hand-in-hand, if you will. Of course you can lose bodyfat if you solely exercise or just go on a diet but you'll get much better results if you incorporate the two. The book has photos of several different exercises that Clarence is fond of and has his pre-competition workout listed so you can see exactly what he does. At this early stage in his career he does advocate aerobic exercise but not to the extent that he does now. Clarence clearly states that he achieved his rock-bottom 2.4% bodyfat level from his diet, weight training, and one single strenuous bike ride a week. Several years later, Clarence would come to amend his training slightly and place cardiovascular training on the same pedestal as weight training thereby giving them equal importance.

Go out and pick this book up. It's a relatively short read and it's very enjoyable as well. It comes in at around 88 pages and really is fantasic reading for anyone looking to read up about lowering their bodyfat and competitive bodybuilding. I certainly recommend this to anyone interested in health and fitness but it is geared somewhat more towards the competitive bodybuilder. Clarence has other books, which I hope to review soon, that aren't so directed towards the serious bodybuidling crowd and are more accessible to the general public. I hope to review these soon.

You can purchase this book at Clarence's site at http://www.cbass.com/. You can also purchase this at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Ripped-Sensible-Achieve-Ultimate-Muscularity/dp/0960971408/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240856520&sr=1-1

You just have to start

It's tragic, but obesity in this country is creeping up at an alarming rate. There are a multitude of different training programs and strategies and, unfortunately, just as many trendy, "what's hot now" type of diet programs. Which one do I choose? What do I eat? How many times should I go to the gym? How do I use that machine? The list goes on and on.

Where's the best place to start? Why not start with walking?

Years ago I scoffed at the idea that walking could be even considered exercise or even potentially have health benefits. I assumed that to derive any benefits it had to be a near Herculean effort. How wrong I was.

Walking is something that virtually anyone can do. It requires little to no equipment (perhaps a decent set of athletic shoes) and is pleasant. There is something fun and enjoyable about going outside, getting some fresh air, and enjoying the scenery. This aspect alone makes exercising a more enjoyable experience. The key to doing any type of exercise - and sticking with it - is to make it pleasurable. Don't enjoy the exercise you're currently doing? Guess what: you're not going to stick with it.

On average, walking a mile burns 100 calories. You can easily cover a mile within twenty minutes of walking at a very comforable pace (2 to 3 mph). If you do this every day for a year you'll have burned off the equivalent of 36,500 calories. That equates to nearly 10.5 lbs of body fat! Not a big deal you say? Ten pounds of fat added or lost makes a significant difference in how a person looks and feels. All of these results can be achieved just by taking a brief walk for thirty minutes a day.

The important thing to remember is that exercise doesn't have to be a high-intensity session. It can be something as comfortable as just taking a daily stroll or taking the dog for a walk. Try to get in at least thirty minutes of walking a day and do it consistently. Make it fun. Get an MP3 player and listen to your favorite music or listen to an audiobook. Get some light handweights and do some very basic exercises while you walk or just take the time to reflect on things and focus on upcoming goals or problem solving. Just make it fun...and you'll be ten pounds lighter by this time next year.