We all know the stats are not good.
Obesity rising in both adults and childen. Click—-> http://www.yournextlevelfitness.co.uk/?p=991
Its all over the TV!!!!!
……………..And about 3 or 4 others that escape my attention right now. There was even a programme Horizon did a few weeks ago entitled “The truth about Exercise” – and I did a review of the findings HERE (Click)
(By the way, it was just like they were finding out about interval training, which, if you’re a member of my site…you ll know is quite an accepted method of losing fat in the least amount of time)
Anyway, Horizon did another show ‘The Truth about Fat’ ……….here’s my review:
The Start
It was funny because the clip started with sprinters……….I thought the programme was going to focus on them as they are some of the leanest athletes in the world…..as guess what? They do high intensity sprints with weight training.
Turns out I was wrong about the content of the programme!
(But there’s a clue for how to train to get lean like Tyler Durden in Fight Club)
Very interesting programme. They spent the begining talking about hormones that influence APPETITE.
Ghrelin works with another hormone called leptin to balance hunger and satiation (‘fullness’) levels.
What Happened???
First off, they took some blood tests, and got the researcher to eat a feast, and then not eat for 24 hours. A few hrs later, She felt hungry, less alert, and then had to go shopping!
Talk about torture!
The next day, another blood test, and another feast.
The prof then decribed in a graph displaying her hunger and ‘fullness’ hormones……and showed how they can be different in obese people.
So Is it Genetic?
If you read this blog regularly, you’ll know that while I think genetics definitely do play a PART………the environment and our choices are things that can be controlled and have a MASSIVE influence.
They then looked at IDENTICAL TWINS, who also had the unusual situation of living really close to one another, and had really similar lives.
Yet one one clearly holding more body fat than the other.
They thought that they were unique……….until they researched further. They have now found more and more sets of twins that still look the same…………but have quite DIFFERENT body fat levels.
Even with one set of the twins, one womans weight gain was down to moving away from family and caused by a stressful situation.
While Genetics obviously play a big role – I’m not a massive fan of the genetics-fat link when it comes to changing behaviour….for a number of reasons.
Explain it to Me Mr Cammish!
1) Often, an overweight parent will have a plate loaded full of food. They will serve this to their children.
This starts the habit.
“You are what you do every day” is what a client once said to me – this is sound advice.
2) Stress can cause people to eat more. This has been documented in that people in poorer areas often show higher levels of obesity. If you were struggling to make ends meet, You’d go for the cheap chicken nuggets and chips instead of the expensive salmon – im sure you would! They then looked at childrens obesity rates and what happened to the mothers diet during pregnancy.
What was the deciding factor?
The mother’s diet.
This is something you can control, so it is your choice to control it. I ve always thought that if a mother smokes, has tons of sugary stuff, and perhaps even drinks………….it’s like a baby being addicted to something addictive like cocaine from the start……and then at birth its instant withdrawal!!!
Instant pain!
They then talked about gastric bypasses. I know these are different from gastric bands (which showed promise 15 years ago or so). I know people who have had gastric bands fail miserably (and leave them terrified from surgery)……but these gastric bands may be different. Either way if this works for some people…….I know that any first diagnosis for weight loss should focus on low energy-high nutrient foods, lower portion sizes, and some weight training with some high intensity intervals for that indiviual.
What else did they do?
Brain scans and emotional responses to food was quite interesting. One person’s brain reactions to high-fat foods were quite large compared to the researcher……who was lean.
Does this mean that some of us are pre-determined to eat more as we are addicted? One thing that concerns me is this: If someone is addicted to high fat food, are we suggesting that the right thing to do is to operate on them?
There are a lot of alcoholics out there…..and they are simply given support groups to help change their behaviour.
What’s the difference? Is it a case of both are addicted to something that can be potentially harmful?
Why the different diagniosis?
So what can we do?
1) Get more sleep to manage our ghrelin and leptin levels – or to manage our appetite.
2) Exercise daily (or for 3-5 hours a week) which will manage our other hormones (insulin and glucagon manages sugar)…..im surprised the program didnt even touch upon this.
3) If pregnant – make sure this is a time of your life when you eat good nutrient dense foods like vegetables, lean meats and fish, berries.
4) Exert your CHOICE where possible. Every time you eat, you have a choice.
5) Dont go shopping when hungry! Sometimes we need to stop and think before we make conclusions.
6) Learn to filter out what you agree with and disagree with. Only then can we sometimes make progress.
‘Til Next time,
John
PS We rocked some indoor Bootcamp yesterday, with some weight training and high intensity cardio intervals. If you want to change your body shape and don’t fancy the outdoor bootcamp – I suggest you book your trial session for a Tuesday morning at 9.30am. Summer is near…….