Why Americans Keep Getting Fatter

[Nessa 23]

I believe we'll be getting fatter as technology advances.

50 years ago we'd have to get up and change the tv channel every time, or the volumn, nowadays we don't have to do that anymore. Kids would be outside climbing trees, playing, riding bicycles, not inside simulating the fun they could have outside on their video games/computers. We'd actually chop vegetables, cook, spend some time doing that isntead of dial a # or open a can and the food is ready, not counting all the kitchen appliances that makes our life easier, meaning we don't need any effort to do anything.

I'm not saying that technology is bad, but it's one of the reasons we're becoming more and more sedentary, and gaining weight, and getting sicker (high blood pressure, diabetes, high colestherol, etc), not counting the fast paced life style we have, where people wind up snacking or eatting fast food.

That, of course, doesn't mean that we have to get fatter. Just small changes in our life style such as parking our car further away from wherever we're going, taking the stairs instead of the elevator when it's like 1 or 2 floors, taking some time to cook healthy food, and many other things that added will make a difference. We still have a choice and we still can change that, it's up to us.

[mawilson 2,133]

The studies are still ongoing but there is mounting evidence that the huge spike in obesity in this country over the last 20 years coincides with the introduction of HFCS and trans fats into the food supply.

Again I ask:

Why are Europeans getting fatter? You won't find HFCS in European food.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

The studies are still ongoing but there is mounting evidence that the huge spike in obesity in this country over the last 20 years coincides with the introduction of HFCS and trans fats into the food supply.

Again I ask:

Why are Europeans getting fatter? You won't find HFCS in European food.

I don't know - is it parallel to the spike in the U.S.?

[mawilson 2,133]

The studies are still ongoing but there is mounting evidence that the huge spike in obesity in this country over the last 20 years coincides with the introduction of HFCS and trans fats into the food supply.

Again I ask:

Why are Europeans getting fatter? You won't find HFCS in European food.

I don't know - is it parallel to the spike in the U.S.?

They are about 5-10 years behind us.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

The studies are still ongoing but there is mounting evidence that the huge spike in obesity in this country over the last 20 years coincides with the introduction of HFCS and trans fats into the food supply.

Again I ask:

Why are Europeans getting fatter? You won't find HFCS in European food.

I don't know - is it parallel to the spike in the U.S.?

They are about 5-10 years behind us.

The internet?

Whatever the causes are - they must be tied to lifestyle changes.

HFCS facts:

63 Pounds A Year

"Our consumption of high fructose corn syrup has skyrocketed from zero consumption in 1966 to approximately 63 pounds per person per year in 1997," said Janet Bond Brill, a registered dietician and author of "Cholesterol Down: 10 Simple Steps to Lower Your Cholesterol in 4 Weeks -- Without Prescription Drugs."

A debate erupted in the 1980s when researchers suggested that HFCS may be a causal factor in the obesity epidemic. It's a matter of chemical makeup -- HFCS was developed by changing cornstarch into glucose (blood sugar) and then into fructose (fruit sugar).

However, the ratio of those two sugars can be manipulated. HFCS can contain equal amounts of fructose and glucose or up to 90 percent fructose and 10 percent glucose, hence the first part of its name, Brill said.

This relationship is important because some researchers say that fructose is metabolized differently than glucose. They think that fructose isn't broken down before it arrives in the liver, but instead is readily converted to fat, which increases the level of fat in the bloodstream. Critser referred to the fructose process as "metabolic shunting."

Blocking Brain From Sensing Fat

Furthermore, HFCS and obesity have been linked because fructose ingestion does not increase the production of insulin and leptin -- the two hormones that play key roles in the long-term reduction of food intake and energy expenditure, resulting in possible weight gain, said Ronni Litz Julien, a registered dietician and author of "What Should I Feed My Kids? How To Keep Your Children Healthy by Teaching Them to Eat Right."

"(High fructose corn syrup) blocks the ability of a chemical called leptin, which is the way your fat tells your brain it's there," Oz explained on the show. "It's not so much the 150 calories in the soda pop -- it's the fact at that same meal you will normally consume an extra 100 calories of food than you would have."

http://www.nbc11.com/health/13331929/detail.html

[JoeMama 0]

The studies are still ongoing but there is mounting evidence that the huge spike in obesity in this country over the last 20 years coincides with the introduction of HFCS and trans fats into the food supply.

Again I ask:

Why are Europeans getting fatter? You won't find HFCS in European food.

Because of this man:

or is it this man?