New Study: It's Okay to be Fat
Well, okay, that's not quite what the study says. But for those of us who are trying, not terribly successfully, to lose a few, this is a perfect thing to read when we're facing that pint of Coffee Heath Bar Crunch. From the Bioenergetics: Open Access blog:
Our better understanding of obesity, as witnessed by an impressive amount of publications in the field over the last decades, suggests that body fat can be both detrimental and protective. Simplistic messaging that body fat is “bad” and weight loss is “good” for our health can be misleading and ignores the truth about the biological response and side effects of weight loss, as well as the importance of fat gain in maintaining body homeostasis in a “toxic” environment. Fat gain is part of a regulatory strategy that permits the recovery of energy balance and body weight stability in a world that has increasingly added obesogenic factors to our lifestyle over time.
Agree!
Pass the spoon.
- Comment (41)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (1)
Comments:
May '10
Re: New Study: It's Okay to be Fat
If the NR cruise ship ever crashes, at least you'll know you will float.
Jun '10
Re: New Study: It's Okay to be Fat
It only gets dangerous when it starts limiting your physical activity. You don't get sick from being moderately fat. You get sick from not moving.
Jul '11
Re: New Study: It's Okay to be Fat
When you BMI is pushing 40 I am pretty sure you do not feel good but etoiledunord has it right barring substantial complicating factors.
May '11
Re: New Study: It's Okay to be Fat
Evolution made it rare for anyone to live to their 40's or 50's. If you couldn't run and keep up with the nomadic tribe, you were left to die, so I hardly think that every accident of our bodies is some perfected solution.
We'll find a cure for aging and weight gain someday and no one will want to stay that way if they can avoid it, and no claims of some biological intent will win over anyone sensible.
But then, there will probably always be the Paul Ehrlichs to complain.
Nov '11
Re: New Study: It's Okay to be Fat
As with most things, there are pluses and minuses.
For example, after The Impending Fall of Western Civilization As We Know It, those of us with the foresight to have accumulated plenty of extra body fat will be more likely to survive the initial food shortage. On the minus side, fat people probably taste good.
Edited on April 18, 2012 at 6:49pmRe: New Study: It's Okay to be Fat
Normally, the words "regulatory strategy that permits the recovery of ..." would make my eyes glaze over. But here, it has a nice sort of ring to it! I'm part of the solution! I'm participating in "energy balance" and "stability." Go, me!
Re: New Study: It's Okay to be Fat
My grandmother would have agreed.
That said, Americans are completely insane about food. Whenever I go back to the US I'm just astonished by the amount Americans eat, by the ubiquity of food--it's just everywhere--and the simultaneous, paradoxical obsession with insanely complicated, whacko diet plans that seem only to feed the obsession. I don't really understand it, sociologically. I sense that somehow, the obsession with food is a surrogate for some other hunger, but I'm not sure what it is. Any thoughts?
It seems impossible not to be overweight in the US, unless you have some kind of grimly obsessive and controlling personality. The stuff is everywhere! In most of the world, food is served only at mealtimes, and it's served in portions appropriate to humans.
Is it just a function of wealth?
Apr '11
Re: New Study: It's Okay to be Fat
You had me at Coffee Heath Bar Crunch...
Sep '10
Re: New Study: It's Okay to be Fat
Claire Berlinski, Ed.: My grandmother would have agreed.
Is it just a function of wealth? · 3 minutes ago
If I had just finished re-reading Josef Pieper's Leisure the Basis of Culture, I would say that its the old vice of sloth (acedia) dressed up in a buffet.
May '10
Re: New Study: It's Okay to be Fat
Yep. Next time you're here, drive across Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and the Dakotas. I know it doesn't sound like much of a bang-up good time, but you'll see miles upon miles of corn, wheat, soybeans, oats, sunflowers, vegetables, cattle, hogs and chickens. It's gotta go somewhere. You can't convert it all into fuel additives.
Jun '10
Re: New Study: It's Okay to be Fat
I was just going to get my Total Gym set up (we recently moved). After reading Rob's post, I just scratched that off today's to-do list. On to the next one: "eat a few cupcakes."
Dec '10
Re: New Study: It's Okay to be Fat
After losing just 15 pounds I feel tremendously better, so I know there is a threshold where being fluffy becomes a negative.
Dec '10
Re: New Study: It's Okay to be Fat
Claire Berlinski, Ed.: In most of the world, food is served only at mealtimes, and it's served in portions appropriate to humans.
· 7 minutes ago
Are you sure? It seems that anytime I go with one of my friends to visit his/her mother/grandmother who was born in the old country, I am practically force fed.
Apr '11
Re: New Study: It's Okay to be Fat
Claire Berlinski, Ed.: My grandmother would have agreed.
That said, Americans are completely insane about food. Whenever I go back to the US I'm just astonished by the amount Americans eat, by theubiquityof food--it's justeverywhere--and the simultaneous, paradoxical obsession with insanely complicated, whacko diet plans that seem only to feed the obsession. I don't really understand it, sociologically. I sense that somehow, the obsession with food is a surrogate for some other hunger, but I'm not sure what it is. Any thoughts?
It seems impossiblenotto be overweight in the US, unless you have some kind of grimly obsessive and controlling personality. The stuff is everywhere! In most of the world, food is served only at mealtimes, and it's served in portions appropriate to humans.
Is it just a function of wealth? · 14 minutes ago
In Iraq, we used to be constantly fed snacks by office girls. Little cups of tea with pastries, cookies (many of them Turkish), cheese, nuts, and so on; sometimes burgers, pizza, kebabs, sandwiches, etc.
What America does really well, better than anywhere else, is quality microwave meals. Man, but I pine for Healthy Choice.
Apr '11
Re: New Study: It's Okay to be Fat
The prejudice against, and abuse of, Americans of size is horrific. Being plump may not be bad for your health today any more than being dark skinned was thirty years ago, but I'm just as grateful for my size as I am my skin tone, citizenship, class, gender, sexuality, cis-gendered status and all the other things that shield me from needless cruelty.
Sep '10
Re: New Study: It's Okay to be Fat
I have finally found the key to losing weight this year: after that 10 mile run, just have a bowl of soup and a croissant for dinner. It's pretty simple, really.
Mar '11
Re: New Study: It's Okay to be Fat
Me too - though I prefer Vanilla - I am generally on a low-sugar diet (sugar is most certainly disastrous for good health). When I occasionally fall off the diet, Heath Bar Crunch is where I go.
But then all the sugar highs and lows re-appear and I remember why I am on the diet.
Same goes for bread.
Mar '11
Re: New Study: It's Okay to be Fat
I think Americans have a penny-wise, pound-foolish obsession with "value". Better to get a big plate of cheap food than to get a small plate of quality food. Or why pay for plain cheesecake when for the same price I can get it topped with Oreos, caramel, and whipped cream?
Oh, and don't waste that food... I paid for that!
May '10
Re: New Study: It's Okay to be Fat
I'm doing my part to win the war against anorexia.
Jul '11
Re: New Study: It's Okay to be Fat
Claire Berlinski, Ed.: My grandmother would have agreed.
That said, Americans are completely insane about food. Whenever I go back to the US I'm just astonished by the amount Americans eat, by theubiquityof food--it's justeverywhere--and the simultaneous, paradoxical obsession with insanely complicated, whacko diet plans that seem only to feed the obsession. I don't really understand it, sociologically. I sense that somehow, the obsession with food is a surrogate for some other hunger, but I'm not sure what it is. Any thoughts?
It seems impossiblenotto be overweight in the US, unless you have some kind of grimly obsessive and controlling personality. The stuff is everywhere! In most of the world, food is served only at mealtimes, and it's served in portions appropriate to humans.
Is it just a function of wealth? · 47 minutes ago
I am theoretically supposed to keep up with every lunatic diet plan that comes along. The latest is the paleo craze.