HSI e-Alert - What Lies Beneath

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" HSI - Jenny Thompson " <hsiresearch

HSI e-Alert - What Lies Beneath

Wed, 09 Aug 2006 06:50:00 -0400

 

 

 

Dear Reader,

 

A friend of mine claims she's a 25-year-old trapped in a 59-year-old

body. She swears she's not kidding.

 

Another friend who struggles with his weight insists that underneath

his excess pounds there's a set of six-pack abs. I think he's kidding

but he might not be.

 

No doubt, many of us identify more closely with our ideal than with

reality. And that fact is revealed in a recent survey that shows quite

a few overweight and obese people believe they're on the right track

with exercise and nutrition.

 

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Point of view

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Does a five-minute search for the remote control qualify as " vigorous

exercise " ? If you eat an entire box of low-fat, reduced-calorie

crackers, is that " eating healthy " ?

 

According to a recent survey, there are people who might answer " yes "

and " yes " to both of those questions.

 

Thomson Medstat - a health care research company based in Michigan -

conducted a random telephone survey that asked more than 11,000 U.S.

adults about their exercise and eating habits. Questions about height

and weight established each person's body mass index (BMI).

Respondents were then grouped into four categories (numbers are

approximate):

 

* Underweight: 200

* Normal weight: 3,800

* Overweight: 4,200

* Obese: 3,100

 

Dr. David Schutt - associate medical director of Thomson Medstat -

told the Associated Press (AP) that the breakdown above is generally

consistent with U.S. demographics reflected in the federal health survey.

 

SURVEY RESULTS:

 

* 24 percent of normal-weight people said they always

read nutrition labels

* 19 percent of obese people said the same

 

* 24 percent of normal-weight people said they snack

two or more times each day

* 28 percent of obese people said the same

 

* 31 percent of normal weight people said they always eat

all the food they're served at restaurants

* 41 percent of obese people said the same

 

Perhaps the most revealing responses regarded these more general

questions:

 

* About 40 percent of obese people said they perform vigorous

exercises at least three times each week

* About 75 percent of obese people described their eating habits

as " healthy "

 

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Back to reality

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Dr. Schutt told the AP that there's either " some denial going on, " or

there's a misunderstanding of the terms " vigorous exercise " and

" eating healthy. "

 

Too bad Dr. Schutt's team didn't also ask, " Are you normal weight,

overweight or obese? " A comparison of those answers to the BMI stats

might reveal even more of a disconnect between perception and reality.

 

This survey reminded me of the concept of " health at every size "

(HAES) that I first told you about in the e-Alert " Get Real " (1/2/06).

For people who struggle unsuccessfully to lose weight, the HAES

program provides an alternative approach to weight management that

puts an emphasis on physical and emotional well-being, and embraces

the idea that you can be healthy even if you're not in the " normal

weight " category.

 

HAES is an appealing concept that many overweight and obese people

will find useful. But to any HAES program I'd offer two notes.

 

1. Many people assume that low-fat diets provide the key to healthy

nutrition. But these diets generally ignore the fact that some fats

are essential to good health. And as I've mentioned in several

e-Alerts, consumption of carbohydrates (especially simple, refined

carbs found in many processed food products) creates natural cravings

for more carbs, setting off a cycle that undermines attempts to lose

weight.

2. When it comes to exercise, there's no need to overdo it. This is

illustrated in a study from the University of Colorado at Boulder in

which obese subjects were found to actually burn more calories while

walking at a relaxed pace than they did while walking at a normal pace.

 

I haven't been able to find the original source of the HAES approach,

but the concept is well represented in many Internet web sites, which

can be easily found by using the search term " health at every size. "

 

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...and another thing

 

More than half of the coastline of the entire United States is in Alaska.

 

Maybe you knew that, but I didn't, and I found it pretty amazing. It's

just one of the surprising items in a list titled " Interesting

Geography " a friend forwarded to me this week. Here are a few more

gems from the list.

 

Detroit: Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, carries the designation

M-1, named so because it was the first paved road anywhere.

 

Amazon: The Amazon River pushes so much water into the Atlantic Ocean

that, more than one hundred miles at sea off the mouth of the river,

one can dip fresh water out of the ocean. The volume of water in the

Amazon river is greater than the next eight largest rivers in the

world combined and three times the flow of all rivers in the United

States.

 

Brazil: Brazil got its name from the nut, not the other way around.

 

Canada: Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined.

 

Ohio: There are no natural lakes in the state of Ohio, every one is

manmade.

 

Antarctica: Antarctica is the only land on our planet that is not

owned by any country. Ninety percent of the world's ice covers

Antarctica. This ice also represents seventy percent of all the fresh

water in the world. However, Antarctica is essentially a desert. The

average yearly total precipitation is about two inches. Although

covered with ice, Antarctica is the driest place on the planet, with

an absolute humidity lower than the Gobi desert.

 

Damascus, Syria: Damascus was flourishing a couple of thousand years

before Rome was founded in 753 BC, making it the oldest continuously

inhabited city in existence.

 

Rome, Italy: The first city to reach a population of 1 million people

was Rome, in 133 B.C. There is a city called Rome on every continent.

 

Los Angeles: Los Angeles's full name is El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la

Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula - and can be abbreviated to 3.63%

of its size: L.A.

 

Siberia: Siberia contains more than 25% of the world's forests.

 

Sahara Desert: In the Sahara Desert, there is a town named Tidikelt,

which did not receive a drop of rain for ten years. Technically

though, the driest place on Earth is in the valleys of the Antarctic

near Ross Island. There has been no rainfall there for two million years.

 

Spain: Spain literally means 'the land of rabbits.'

 

United States: The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one-mile

in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as

airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.

 

Let me know if you enjoyed these. If you did, I'll send some more.

 

To Your Good Health,

 

Jenny Thompson