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The role of
exercise in all of this.
What
it really boils down to is this. The food industry is led by only a
handful of companies--- companies like  ,
 ,  , and  to name but
four. Surely you recognize them. And many would blame companies
like these for the trend toward obesity in this country. A recent
study on obesity suggests that 60% of our population right now is either
overweight or obese and a full 1/3 of all our children in this country
are not just overweight, but obese. Are we simply
ignorant of the food value in what we eat? I think that is
in large part the cause of our problem.
Some would blame the
government in not educating us enough or in failing to regulate the food
industry in what they put up there on the shelf or present us with at these drive-thru
windows. We read the labels on the food we buy and yet we
have absolutely no idea of what we have just read. Others
blame the food industry which spends billions of dollars every year pushing
unhealthy food in our direction. And they continue do so, blaming our
spiriling weight gains not on their products--- but
on ourselves for failing to take personal responsibility for
our actions. It is not the food
industry's fault, but yours. Note the
shift of responsibility here--- FROM
the food industry that puts all this food in front of us that we know so
little about TO you, the indulging
consumer of it! So in the end, its not their fault for
selling it, but your fault for buying it! This idea plays
well in America because it fits the American Dream of taking charge of our own
lives in this, the land of the free. So, if everybody is responsibile
for their own actions, why should the government do anything about it?
And the less regulation of the food industry, the
better---Right?
The food industry also
heavily promotes the idea that we should all exercise more.
Why? Because of their claim that exercise will
offset the weight-building food they sell and we eat,
day-in-and-day-out. But does it? Does
exercise work-off all those extra calories we so generously eat?
Ask yourself this single question, "Is it possible that the
benefits from one hour of exercise can be wiped out by eating just one
muffin?" Recent research on this question suggests
that the answer is "Yes!"---see the May 2010
issue of "Nutrition
Action".
Conclusion:--- "Exercise has so
many health benefits that it's hard to count them. Exercise lowers the
risk for cancer, heart disease, and even cognitive impairment as people
age. There's a very long list of reasons to be physically active--- but
weight control--- despite what the food industry would have us otherwise
believe--- may not be one of them."--- see the May 2010 issue of "Nutrition
Action".
NOTE THIS TOO:--- Recently I saw on NBC Nightly News a
segment about conern over the growing obesity in our children, and how
this one featured school was emphasizing increased physical
activity during the school day for all their students,
irrespective of grade-level, as their answer to the issue of obesity in
their school. And so we saw all these school kids running around
outside doing just that--- exercising.
And there were some kids who could keep up--- but many who conspicuously
enough, could not--- for they were obviously too heavy relative to their
height in their huffing and puffing to finish the
exercise.
In retrospect, as
I now think about this TV segment seen by millions of Americans that
evening, I ask myself this question? What do these school
administrators know about the root cause of obesity in the kids they
teach? Has anyone ever stood up in a PTA meeting and
suggested that what they needed was for all these same kids to return to their
classroom and learn that real weight control has little or nothing to do
with exercise, but on educating these kids in what they eat---
"eat this, not
that?" It's OK to have these kids
running about in their exercise programs to teach them about lowering
their personal risk for cancer, heart disease and the like, but for God's
sake, don't tell them its going to help them with their weight
control!
...Bruce************
NOW THIS FROM HUGH
WANG, M.D. --- on exercise --- May 2, 2010
Hi, Bruce & whoever else
is in the Weight Room:
When I read your
teaser about what exercise has to do with losing weight, I thought I'd
weigh in on this topic.
All of us have seen thin people with pot
bellies. These and the obese with the same who have the omental fat
that is related to insulin and leptin resistance, in other words hormonal
fat. These are also the ones who will benefit from avoidance of
sugar, fructose, and grains to shut off this resistance. Omental fat cuts
off the blood flow to your organs. Ask yourself why you are short of
breath climbing stairs or trying to run. Why is your heart
on medication? Why must you take blood pressure pills? Why have
you
considered Viagra or Cialis? Why do you suffer from
dysfunction of your excretory organs? The freeway to your organs is
one or two lanes narrower because of the pressure of omental fat. The
traffic backs up, of course. A familiar scenario?
I
have proven to my own and anyone else's satisfaction who will do it that
avoidance of these substances will cause you to lose weight without the
usual plateau or yo-yo effect that is such a discouraging fact of weight
loss programs. You need not count calories or exercise. Most
doctors do not know this. Test your doctor, but be sure not to hint
as to the answer. It is not on TV or in women's mags. It's not in
the newspaper on the front page, altho it should be. It's not even
buried in the obit columns.
Now, exercise. Why
exercise? If you believe the above, and you should, you will not
exercise to lose weight. A good workout will make you lose five .lbs. of
sweat. Tomorrow after you drink some fluid and eat, you will be back
to your prior weight. Count calories. Eat only half the food
you normally eat. You will lose weight, i.e. muscle weight, not fat.
You will be weaker because of this. Rocket science!
Exercise just to maintain muscle strength and tone, and
exercise for cardiovascular aerobic value. I recommend light weights
in your hands for a few minutes several times a day. If you break a
sweat, you may be overdoing it. If you are sore the next day, you
are indeed overdoing it. I recommend you do a few squats several
times a day. You are lifting your entire body weight, no small
matter. This entire exercise program will take you no more than 15
minutes a day, leaving you the rest of the day to solve world problems, to
eliminate poverty, to encourage entrepreneurship, to contemplate your
navel, to watch the clouds float by, to bond with your family, and to
enrich your spiritual life and that of your friends.
I know
these thoughts are heretical. Who else have you heard say these
things? You have spent your life proving that the usual sources of
your weight loss knowledge are not correct. The Emperor wears no
clothes. Try to disprove ME! Do what I ask of you, and try to get
fatter. I dare you!
My
sincerest and most caring love, Hugh
Thank you for this,
Hugh. And such a timely response too! So timely that I have
already added these comments of yours on exercise just below mine at
"The York '52 Weight Room." So your words too
are there now--- as we speak.
And in particular, I do
so love your last couple of lines--- those that say, "You have spent your life proving that the usual sources of
your weight loss knowledge are not correct." --- followed
immediately by--- "The
Emperor wears no clothes." Oh, that's so
good! I hope my friends at York '52 remember the Hans Christian Anderson tale
of "The Emperor's New
Clothes" to appreciate how perfect your analogy is when
you close-up with "The Emperor wears no
clothes!" Most will probably miss it...but hey, the
rest of what you have to say here will be universally understood by all.
That's for sure. So thanks for this, Hugh. Very informative, and
well written too--- as per your usual self.
...Bruce**********
And then here again is Malcolm Ing M.D.'s
point of view on the importance of exercise... (May
2, 2010)
ed note: While I subscribe to using exercise to reduce the risk of cancer, the
onset of Alzheimer's, and a host of other medical problems--- and
Hugh Wang, M.D.
prescribes exercise for
its cardiovascular aerobic qualities and to maintain muscle strength and tone
as we age, what follows here now is Mal
Ing, M.D. prescription for exercise to grow new neurons in our
brains. It's a simple case of exercising to relieve stress and helping
our brains function better, and at the very least maintaining and perhaps
even expanding our memory capabilities.
But note especially that these
Doctor friends of ours do not suggest that
exercise will help
us control our
weight--- a notion that is promoted only by the food
industry in this country today. To the food industry, weight
control is not about what we eat--- but about how much we exercise.
Nothing could be further from the truth of the matter! ---
Bruce******
Hi Hugh and
Bruce,
While I agree to all of what Hugh has to say on
the subject of using diet to control omental fat etc, I must throw in my
"two cents" about exercise.
Exercise has been found to be the only way to
sprout new neurons(neurogenisys) in the brain. The use of anti-oxidants
and the like are to prevent or slow the deterioration that occurs
when we "age". However, studies (PET imaging etc )have shown that you can
develop new neurons in the "hard drive " of your brain for memory. This occurs
in the dendate nucleus of the hippocampus. So you should exercise, if you can,
to maintain your memory and there are some studies out of the University of
Illinois that showed that women who participated in cross country did
better in academics than others who did not exercise etc.
Also, where exercise (PE classes) were
utilized by 4th and 5th graders, these students did better academically than
their counterparts who did not have PE. This is why it is a mistake for
schools in our country to be cutting back on exercise programs in favor of more
sedentary class time. Exercise is also a great stress reliever. In
short, you have to get off your gluteus maximus (posterior) to save your
brain!
Aloha,Mal
Now for
some comic relief on the exercise program we all know as "WALKING " --- provided for us
here, curtesy of Tom Hodge, York
'52:---
On The Importance of Walking
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Walking can
add minutes to your life.
This enables you at 85 years
old
to spend an additional 5 months in a nursing
home at $7,000 per month. This is my reason.
My grandpa started walking
five miles a day when he was 60.
Now he's 97 years
old
and we don't know where he
is.
I like long walks,
especially when they are
taken
by people who annoy
me.
The only
reason I would take up walking
is so that I could hear
heavy breathing again.
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I have to walk early in the morning,
before my
brain figures out what I'm doing.
I joined a health club last
year,
spent about 400 bucks.
Haven't
lost a pound.
Apparently you have to go
there.
If you are
going to try cross-country skiing,
start with a small
country.
I know I got a lot of
exercise
the last few years,......
just
getting over the hill.
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Every time I hear the dirty word
'exercise',
I wash my mouth out
with chocolate.
The advantage of exercising every
day
is so when you die, they'll say,
'Well, she looks good doesn't
she.'
We all get heavier as we get older,
because
there's a lot more information in our heads.
That's my
story and I'm sticking to it.
AND
Every time I start
thinking too much
about how I look,
I just find a Happy Hour
and by the time I leave,
I look just fine.
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