Letter from Jess Meyers

Hmm, eat the right foods in moderation, don't snack on sugar filled
junk, don't drink carbonated sugar water (soda), excersize and you
will weigh what you should weigh for your height. This is news?

I remember a doctor being interviewed on 60 Minutes some five years
ago, he was a cardiologist and had studied obesity and obese people
and their eating/ excersize habits. He thought he knew how most
overweight people got that way. His radical revelation was that obese
people just ate too much, ate the wrong stuff and didn't excersize
enough. He shrugged, said "sorry, but it's really that simple." He
added that the percentage of folks who actually had some sort of
glandular problem causing them to be overweight was so miniscule, it
could hardly be tabulated.

Corky Scott

wrote in message
...
Hmm, eat the right foods in moderation, don't snack on sugar filled
junk, don't drink carbonated sugar water (soda), excersize and you
will weigh what you should weigh for your height. This is news?

I remember a doctor being interviewed on 60 Minutes some five years
ago, he was a cardiologist and had studied obesity and obese people
and their eating/ excersize habits. He thought he knew how most
overweight people got that way. His radical revelation was that obese
people just ate too much, ate the wrong stuff and didn't excersize
enough. He shrugged, said "sorry, but it's really that simple." He
added that the percentage of folks who actually had some sort of
glandular problem causing them to be overweight was so miniscule, it
could hardly be tabulated.

Hmm.......... Perhaps it is him who is simple. Or outdated. I suggest
reading recent literature on gene effects of obesity. There is a good
layman's article in (IIRC) Reader's Digest last month on this subject. It is
more complicated than simply lack of will power or eating habits.

Rich "It ain't my fault!" S.
)

Rich S. wrote:

wrote in message
...

Hmm, eat the right foods in moderation, don't snack on sugar filled
junk, don't drink carbonated sugar water (soda), excersize and you
will weigh what you should weigh for your height. This is news?

I remember a doctor being interviewed on 60 Minutes some five years
ago, he was a cardiologist and had studied obesity and obese people
and their eating/ excersize habits. He thought he knew how most
overweight people got that way. His radical revelation was that obese
people just ate too much, ate the wrong stuff and didn't excersize
enough. He shrugged, said "sorry, but it's really that simple." He
added that the percentage of folks who actually had some sort of
glandular problem causing them to be overweight was so miniscule, it
could hardly be tabulated.


Hmm.......... Perhaps it is him who is simple. Or outdated. I suggest
reading recent literature on gene effects of obesity. There is a good
layman's article in (IIRC) Reader's Digest last month on this subject. It is
more complicated than simply lack of will power or eating habits.

Rich "It ain't my fault!" S.
)



So you are saying that our genetics have changed dramatically in the
last 40 years? I don't buy it. Our rate of obesity has increased
dramatically in the lat 40 years, but I don't think we've mutated all
that much genetically. Then again, I'm not a geneticist... :-)


Matt

Matt Whiting wrote:

So you are saying that our genetics have changed dramatically in the
last 40 years? I don't buy it. Our rate of obesity has increased
dramatically in the lat 40 years, but I don't think we've mutated all
that much genetically. Then again, I'm not a geneticist... :-)

Matt

That's not quite correct - at least according to my doctor.
They call it Factor-X diabetes.

I have hardly any genetic risk for diabetes, but have developed
Type-1 anyway.

The cause is generally explained as the massive amount of sugar
and alcohol that have been introduced into our diets since about
1940 or so.

The doctor prescribed an oral med (Metformin HCL, in my case) and
over the first year I shed 50 pounds with very little change in diet
or activity. I'm now 196 pounds, which is not too bad at 6'3.

If you are overweight (and by media reports, most of us are seriously
so), might be wise to get screened for Diabetes.

Especially if your diet has included a lot of soda or alcohol...


Richard

On Fri, 09 Jul 2004 03:11:16 GMT, Richard Lamb
wrote:

Matt Whiting wrote:

So you are saying that our genetics have changed dramatically in the
last 40 years? I don't buy it. Our rate of obesity has increased
dramatically in the lat 40 years, but I don't think we've mutated all
that much genetically. Then again, I'm not a geneticist... :-)

Matt

That's not quite correct - at least according to my doctor.
They call it Factor-X diabetes.

I have hardly any genetic risk for diabetes, but have developed
Type-1 anyway.

type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease.
the beta cells in the pancreas are a type of secreting nerve cell
different from those around them. the immune system occasionally gets
it wrong and removes them.

in australia type 1 means no pilots licence but in the usa you have
about 250 pilots who manage the problem in flight so well through
continual monitoring that they have their licences.

amazing to see that after the hoover fiasco.

Stealth Pilot

"Stealth Pilot" wrote


in australia type 1 means no pilots licence but in the usa you have
about 250 pilots who manage the problem in flight so well through
continual monitoring that they have their licences.

amazing to see that after the hoover fiasco.

Stealth Pilot

I have a niece that has type one. It is amazing, the advances that have
been made. She has a pump that lets a controlled constant dose of insulin
into her body, then before every meal, she checks her blood, then calculates
what she will be eating, takes into account where her sugar level was, then
programs the pump to release just the amount needed for the meal. She is
almost always right on the right blood sugar level.
--
Jim in NC


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Richard Lamb wrote:

Matt Whiting wrote:

So you are saying that our genetics have changed dramatically in the
last 40 years? I don't buy it. Our rate of obesity has increased
dramatically in the lat 40 years, but I don't think we've mutated all
that much genetically. Then again, I'm not a geneticist... :-)

Matt


That's not quite correct - at least according to my doctor.
They call it Factor-X diabetes.

I have hardly any genetic risk for diabetes, but have developed
Type-1 anyway.

The cause is generally explained as the massive amount of sugar
and alcohol that have been introduced into our diets since about
1940 or so.

The doctor prescribed an oral med (Metformin HCL, in my case) and
over the first year I shed 50 pounds with very little change in diet
or activity. I'm now 196 pounds, which is not too bad at 6'3.

If you are overweight (and by media reports, most of us are seriously
so), might be wise to get screened for Diabetes.

Especially if your diet has included a lot of soda or alcohol...


Richard

I don't understand your point. You say I'm not correct, but then what
you say pretty much supports what I said, that it isn't genetics that is
to blame for our obesity problem in America.


Matt

Matt Whiting wrote:

Richard Lamb wrote:

Matt Whiting wrote:

So you are saying that our genetics have changed dramatically in the
last 40 years? I don't buy it. Our rate of obesity has increased
dramatically in the lat 40 years, but I don't think we've mutated all
that much genetically. Then again, I'm not a geneticist... :-)

Matt


That's not quite correct - at least according to my doctor.
They call it Factor-X diabetes.

I have hardly any genetic risk for diabetes, but have developed
Type-1 anyway.

The cause is generally explained as the massive amount of sugar
and alcohol that have been introduced into our diets since about
1940 or so.

The doctor prescribed an oral med (Metformin HCL, in my case) and
over the first year I shed 50 pounds with very little change in diet
or activity. I'm now 196 pounds, which is not too bad at 6'3.

If you are overweight (and by media reports, most of us are seriously
so), might be wise to get screened for Diabetes.

Especially if your diet has included a lot of soda or alcohol...


Richard

I don't understand your point. You say I'm not correct, but then what
you say pretty much supports what I said, that it isn't genetics that is
to blame for our obesity problem in America.

Matt

Sorry Matt.

I was just saying that I thought genetics have _not_ changed.
But I see that was your point as well.

Richard

On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 13:17:31 -0700, Rich S. wrote:

layman's article in (IIRC) Reader's Digest last month on this subject. It is
more complicated than simply lack of will power or eating habits.

I don't think it's that complex. I heard on the radio today that
basically 2/3's of the population is overweight. Now there can't be that
many genetic/medical problems because it doesn't occur in a lot of other
countries.

I'll give you a personal example. As of Jan 1 2004 I weighed 215 lbs and
had a blood pressure that was around 138/88 and as of this date I weigh
168 lbs with a blood pressure of 112/72 on average. Want to know my
secret, it wasn't some fancy diet or medicine or genetic modification to
fix natures mistake. I cut out the sweets during the day and stopped
drinking soda like I had been.

I did a quick off hand calculation of my caloric intake then and now.
That gave me a daily total of around 3500 to 4000 calories each
and every day, then.

I now eat the serving sizes suggested and for dinner I try to limit my
deserts to one slice of cake if I have it, and try to end up with a total
intake of around around 1800 - 2000 calories each day.

I just had a physical done last Friday and for the most part I'm in good
health even though I still have a higher cholesterol level of around 225.
My ratio of good to bad is excellent and in fact it's better than average
so the doctor doesn't seem overly concerned about it, but he would like to
see it lower if I can do it. Of that I'm not sure how because I'm not
eating foods that would make it high. He did talk about overweight
problems in general being due to over eating and the way I fixed it was
how it should be done. PS, my so called diet was started under advice of
the medical profession, a dietitian suggested a simple balanced meal and
it worked.

Watch the people around you the next time you eat out. I'll bet you see
them overeat by a HUGE amount. Go to KFC, Hardee's, McDonals, etc. and
watch. You'll see the majority of people consume over 1000 calories at
one sitting, imagine them doing the same for 2 more meals. Now you'll see
why eating is why we're overweight as a nation.

That is the meat of the problem if you ask me and my observations confirm
it. Yes, some people have a real problem and can't help it, that's what
the RD article suggested. It didn't say 66 percent of our population had
real medical problems. That figure came from a CBS radio broadcast today
on obesity in our nation, take it for what it's worth because it came from
CBS.

Calories are calories regardless of where they come from and if you
have too many you're going to gain weight, it's that simple.

The war is not yet won. Although I have lost all the weight I intend on,
now I must maintain it and I fear that's the hardest part to come. I feel
better now than I did at the beginning of the year and my knees hurt less,
so I figure I did a good thing by curbing my desire for sweets which is
where most of calories came from.

Matt, you're describing "Fork-in-Mouth" disease.


"Matthew P. Cummings" wrote in message
news
On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 13:17:31 -0700, Rich S. wrote:

layman's article in (IIRC) Reader's Digest last month on this subject.
It is
more complicated than simply lack of will power or eating habits.

I don't think it's that complex. I heard on the radio today that
basically 2/3's of the population is overweight. Now there can't be that
many genetic/medical problems because it doesn't occur in a lot of other
countries.

I'll give you a personal example. As of Jan 1 2004 I weighed 215 lbs and
had a blood pressure that was around 138/88 and as of this date I weigh
168 lbs with a blood pressure of 112/72 on average. Want to know my
secret, it wasn't some fancy diet or medicine or genetic modification to
fix natures mistake. I cut out the sweets during the day and stopped
drinking soda like I had been.

I did a quick off hand calculation of my caloric intake then and now.
That gave me a daily total of around 3500 to 4000 calories each
and every day, then.

I now eat the serving sizes suggested and for dinner I try to limit my
deserts to one slice of cake if I have it, and try to end up with a total
intake of around around 1800 - 2000 calories each day.

I just had a physical done last Friday and for the most part I'm in good
health even though I still have a higher cholesterol level of around 225.
My ratio of good to bad is excellent and in fact it's better than average
so the doctor doesn't seem overly concerned about it, but he would like to
see it lower if I can do it. Of that I'm not sure how because I'm not
eating foods that would make it high. He did talk about overweight
problems in general being due to over eating and the way I fixed it was
how it should be done. PS, my so called diet was started under advice of
the medical profession, a dietitian suggested a simple balanced meal and
it worked.

Watch the people around you the next time you eat out. I'll bet you see
them overeat by a HUGE amount. Go to KFC, Hardee's, McDonals, etc. and
watch. You'll see the majority of people consume over 1000 calories at
one sitting, imagine them doing the same for 2 more meals. Now you'll see
why eating is why we're overweight as a nation.

That is the meat of the problem if you ask me and my observations confirm
it. Yes, some people have a real problem and can't help it, that's what
the RD article suggested. It didn't say 66 percent of our population had
real medical problems. That figure came from a CBS radio broadcast today
on obesity in our nation, take it for what it's worth because it came from
CBS.

Calories are calories regardless of where they come from and if you
have too many you're going to gain weight, it's that simple.

The war is not yet won. Although I have lost all the weight I intend on,
now I must maintain it and I fear that's the hardest part to come. I feel
better now than I did at the beginning of the year and my knees hurt less,
so I figure I did a good thing by curbing my desire for sweets which is
where most of calories came from.