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Why is it that countries that have food shortages are made of overwhelmingly thin people (such as Ethiopia), but in America, overeating is often cited as not the sole cause for obesity? Genes, thyroidism, other factors are pointed to as the contributing factors?
I mean, if food shortage causes people to starve and be thin, then food abundance would cause people to overeat and be fat right? Or is this too simplistic?
Are we making excuses for being obese because we are not willing to look at overeating and eating the wrong foods starting as children?
I don't want to judge and sound harsh...just trying to understand. Any facts would be appreciated. Thanks!
Most of a person's thinness or fatness is genetic predisposition. When two thin adults have children, their children will most likely be thin, and if their children marry thin people, their children will most likely be thin. When two fat people have children, their children will most likely be fat, and if they marry fat people their children will also most likely be fat, and so on. This is true whether the genetics are ethiopian or American. The only difference in Ethiopia is that an adult in Ethiopia is mostly choosing a mate from other Ethiopians. With little intermingling of genes from other populations, the thinness quickly becomes a dominant trait. A geneticist or a scientist could probably explain this better than I could, but it all goes back to your high school science classes about blue eyes and red hair and so forth. Just substitute 'thin' for those characteristics and its the same math.
And if you take two genetically fat persons and put them through gastrointestinal bypass surgery or stomach stapling or lap band surgery or whatever, the children they have will most likely not be thin. No more likely than two people who dye their hair blonde will have blonde children. Because it is the genetics that determines these characteristics, not the outward appearance.
Unfortunately the media delivers the 'facts' in whatever way fits within a 30-second blurb and that often gives the impression that obesity is a simple issue. But substitute any other health or medical issue, and would you assume you know everything about it in thirty seconds? Cancer, for example? Fertility? Intelligence? Of course not. Instead of listening to news reports, even those by tv doctors, go to your own personal doctor and ask them about what really causes most people to be overweight.
They will tell you, the truth is, the people who most need to lose weight are genetically predisposed to do the opposite. And the people who have no need to lose weight have no trouble doing so.
I do not think you can boil it down to too many carbs. Calories that you do not burn are stored as fat. Macronutrient balance is important, but it is not the determining factor in weight gain/loss. Calorie imbalance is. Eat less than you use, weight loss results. Eat more than you use, weight gain results.
I also do not think that genetics are the main factor. Sure, some people are more "prone" to obesity than others, but those genes are not "expressed" unless a calorie imbalance of more input than output exists. People with thin parents do sometimes end up fat, and diet/activity is usually the reason.
In my case, it really was as simple as counting calories, ensuring a balanced diet (that did not seek to reduce carbs in proportion to protein and fat), and exercising both for improved health/fitness/metabolic rate and calorie "wasting". I used to be obese, and now I am not. I never eliminated carbs from my diet. I did not even reduce them. If anything, I increased them since my former diet had too much fat and protein (meat) in it. I also still drink diet soda, so obviously that cannot cause obesity on its own. In my case my consumption of diet soda did not change while my weight changed drastically, so in my case it has no effect on my weight whatsoever.
Sure you can. You can look back on history and see the rise in obesity rates as our cultural became more and more carb loaded.
I think it is correlation without causation, personally. Studies have shown that any diet that results in a caloric deficit is effective regardless of the macronutrient balance, and you can fail to lose weight on a low-carb diet if you consume too many calories.
Most of a person's thinness or fatness is genetic predisposition.
There is surely a portion of obese people due to genetic factors, but to base obesity rates solely on this? That is false. Bordering on irresponsible. Modern Americans have atrocious diets. Processed foods filled with chemicals, corn syrup, fats, etc...
Combine this with a sedentary lifestyle and... WHAMO! Obesity rates soar.
I do not eat as well as I should and I do not exercise enough. I am overweight (not sure I would consider myself obese.... yet) and I blame it solely on my own laziness NOT on something that is out of my control.
I think it is correlation without causation, personally. Studies have shown that any diet that results in a caloric deficit is effective regardless of the macronutrient balance.
Of course. If you starve yourself, you'll lose weight. That's an extreme end of the spectrum though.
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and you can fail to lose weight on a low-carb diet if you consume too many calories.
You have to eat an ungodly amount of calories on a low carb diet to stop losing weight, much less gain it. Even the most chronic of over-eaters would struggle to reach those levels.
Of course. If you starve yourself, you'll lose weight. That's an extreme end of the spectrum though.
You have to eat an ungodly amount of calories on a low carb diet to stop losing weight, much less gain it. Even the most chronic of over-eaters would struggle to reach those levels.
Nobody is suggesting starvation. There is a difference between a caloric deficit (necessary for weight loss) and starvation (bad).
The issues I have with low-carb diets is that they are trendy and I have personally never seen anyone succeed in the medium or long term using them because they are usually too restrictive. I also disagree that cutting carbs is necessary for weight loss and my own personal experience bears this out, and I disagree that overconsumption of carbs relative to fats and proteins is to blame for this country's obesity epidemic. That is not the reason. It is overconsumption of calories, period.
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