… that you heard for the first time today!

At the outset let me begin by saying that if you ever hear someone tell you “Eat This To Lose Weight”, then you should ask that person to wait for a minute while you replace your regular ears with a pair of “skeptic” ones! Note that the operative word in “Eat This To Lose Weight” is “To” which implies that eating that particular food by itself can cause you to lose weight.

Here’s something that is so painfully obvious that it hurts me to even write it: If you put something in your mouth other than air or water and swallow it, it will (repeat: will) add to your weight. Obviously at the end of the day if you have eaten a total number of calories that is less than what you have expended (by exercising, walking around, doing your chores and even just plain breathing) then you would have lost weight compared to what you weighed yesterday; but the first statement still stands: food itself will (always) add to your weight.

OK, now that I have that out of my system, let’s get onto the topic at hand! Last week saw the announcement from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which also oversees product advertising, that ads suggesting eating dairy will make a person lose weight are finally coming to an end. The FTC said that although it did not actually enforce this, the dairy industry behind the ads finally gave in to a group of doctors called the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (disclaimer: this purportedly vegan group promotes the absolute abolishment of animal based foods) who claimed that such a cause-and-effect relationship simply did not exist.

The two marketing campaigns at issue involve the “Milk your diet. Lose Weight!” ads on television, Internet and in magazines, and the “3-A-Day. Burn More Fat, Lose Weight” ads, which are now mostly Web-based.

- Lose the ads, not the weight, say doctors

Now when Yoplait features a plump girl lose weight by simply gobbling down loads of yogurt with the song “It Was An Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” playing in the background, you just have to know there’s something wrong with this message. Heck, they even built a website around this fallacy!

Granted, the site has the mandatory “As Part Of A Regimen Of Exercise And A Low Calorie Diet” (or some similar phrase) tagged on to the bottom, but who reads disclaimers anyway? All viewers see is someone losing weight as they eat something sweet. And they think: Sweet!

And so I am sure we have hordes of people at home wasting away on their couches, gulping down yogurt and wondering when they need to weigh themselves again so they can see the pounds drop off. Well, here’s some news folks, it ain’t happening. You eating, you gaining. You use more energy than you take in, you losing. Simple.

This site itself has twice before commented on the benefits of milk, but in both cases I have always been particularly wary of calling milk a “weight-loss food” (there’s no such thing). Got Milk is my first post on the topic of dairy and although I have mentioned studies that show calcium plays a part in preventing the body from easily storing food as fat, nowhere will you see outlandish claims that milk will actually help you lose weight. Infact, I said (and i quote):

Believe you me: It is; but don’t get me wrong: If you really drink milk all day (especially the “whole” kind), you will not only not lose weight but add some artery-clogging saturated fat in the process.

In the very next paragraph I mention the milk study that only shows that adding calcium to an already planned-out calorie-restricted diet helped in reducing fat stored - but there’s obviously no way the calcium (or the dairy products themselves) can cause weight loss.

Even when I gave you “5 Reasons You Should Drink A Glass Of Milk Before Bedtime” not one of the reasons was anywhere close to “Milk will help you lose weight!”.

What can we learn from all of this?

• If it sounds too good to be true it probably is (the only itsy bitsy bikinis I see these days are on lifeless store mannequins - and I know they don’t eat a lot of yogurt)
• Just because you discovered people were attributing outlandish magical powers to good foods does not mean you should stop eating those foods in protest. Remember, dairy products (especially the low-fat and fat-free varieties) are still excellent sources of whey protein and function as good snack fillers (in lieu of other fatty snacks).
• Keeping the attributes “moderation” and “common sense” uppermost in our minds will enable us to see through the hype on either side of this issue (No, Yoplait - we are not going to believe that eating your yogurt alone will help women get into itsy-bitsy bikinis - not until your ad shows that woman burning some calories as well! And No to you too Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine - granted milk may not have weight-loss powers, but that does not mean you ask people to become vegan!)

Let’s hope we are all granted the wisdom to understand the motives behind the actions and comments of others and, more importantly, figure out for ourselves what is best for our bodies and ourselves.

Technorati Tags: health, fitness, nutrition, dairy, milk, yogurt, yoplait

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Welcome to “FitnessMantra Weekend”, your once-a-week health news update. As always you can also stay updated with the latest in fitness news by subscribing separately to the Fitness Mantra del.icio.us feed.

On average I bookmark about 25 interesting health and fitness related articles each week and in most cases I skim through the article and can grasp the gist of it. This week’s highlighted article, however, was an exception. I actually read through it twice to understand the implications and while many of the theories expounded seemed to make sense and I had read similar articles in the past that hinted at this conclusion, it was still a tough pill to swallow and see more conclusive evidence: being obese or overweight could be a purely inherited condition.

Genes Take Charge, and Diets Fall by the Wayside is the attention-grabbing New York Times article I speak of. It describes the experiments conducted by Dr. Jules Hirsch of Rockefeller University who had set out in 1959 to find out more about the effects of weight loss on obese. I urge you to read the 2-page article completely so you can understand how Dr. Hirsch came to this startling conclusion: As the obese lost weight, their metabolism also started to slow and their mental outlook became similar to that of normal people who were suddenly starved.:

The Rockefeller researchers explained their observations in one of their papers: “It is entirely possible that weight reduction, instead of resulting in a normal state for obese patients, results in an abnormal state resembling that of starved non-obese individuals.”

But if you thought that the result was as simple as that and once people got fat they could almost ever lose that weight again, then you are in for more food for thought: the reverse was true too! Thin people who gained weight by unnaturally compulsive eating spiked their metabolism (by almost 50%) to the point where it became really difficult to keep the weight on! After the study this second group of (naturally thin) people had no difficulty shedding the weight they gained during the study.

Then in the 1980s, Dr. Albert Stunkard of the University of Pennsylvania performed a study that showed that adopted children assumed a particular body-type and weight at adulthood that had more to do with who their biological parents were than with their eventual adoptive environment or even what they ate during their childhood growing up! The startling result is succinctly summed up as: 80 percent of the offspring of two obese parents become obese, as compared with no more than 14 percent of the offspring of two parents of normal weight.

Think it’s easy for that fat person to lose weight? Just eat less and exercise more, you say? Dr. Jeffrey Friedman, an obesity researcher at the Rockefeller University has this to say about the matter:

“The feeling of hunger is intense and, if not as potent as the drive to breathe, is probably no less powerful than the drive to drink when one is thirsty. This is the feeling the obese must resist after they have lost a significant amount of weight.”

Gina Kolata is the author of Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss-and the Myths and Realities of Dieting, an eye-opening book that describes the futility of overthinking weight-loss and why, after a certain point, pure genetics could take over what you will finally weigh. The studies above and more are included in her book which talks about issues at the very core of the multi-billion-dollar weight-loss industry in the United States and the rest of the world.

Fat Chance is an article that reviews the book and offers highlights from it. You can read the first chapter of Rethinking Thin on the New York Times website or buy the book from Amazon.

So what does this mean for the millions of people trying to lose weight? Just sit back on the couch, tear open that chips-packet and blame your parents? Not a chance - that will only make a bad situation worse. The rules of calorie balance apply to everyone and they can lose weight using that very same regimen of eating less than they expend and including a well-balanced exercise program.

Granted, this entire blog post tells us it’s going to be more difficult for them to keep the weight off, but then isn’t that what mental-discipline is all about?

On to the week’s top health and fitness stories:

1. One town proves fighting obesity takes a village: Five years ago, Tufts University enlisted the entire city of Somerville, Mass. to attack childhood obesity, not just in schools, but on every front.
2. Self-esteem tied to body image for most teens: The happier most adolescents are with their bodies, the more they like themselves, a new study shows.
3. Chocolate conundrum: Is it good to indulge?: How do we reconcile boosting chocolate’s antioxidants, which supposedly help lower risk of heart disease and cancer, with possible weight gain, which may increase the risk of these diseases?
4. Milk campaign under fire ending: An ad campaign that suggested milk can help people lose weight is ending, the Federal Trade Commission told a doctors’ group that had complained.
5. Feeling down? Refuel with tofu and turkey: Are your meals giving you the most bang for your bite?
6. Preschool girls more fat than boys: As every Western nation struggles with child obesity, the Swedes are puzzled by an unusual blip in the data: Why are little girls more likely to be fat than little boys?
7. Germany launches obesity campaign: The German government is launching an action plan to cut obesity rates sharply by 2020.
8. 100% Juice May Not Boost Kids’ Weight: Drinking 100 percent juice may not make children more likely to be overweight, a new study shows.
9. Pediatricians Not Tracking Kids’ BMI: Despite recommendations that came out years ago, two new studies suggest that many pediatricians are failing to properly track the body weight of their young patients.
10. Cut Your Diet’s ‘Energy Density’ and Lose Weight: Want to lose weight? Focus on reducing the “energy density” of your diet, a new study suggests.
11. Genes Take Charge, and Diets Fall by the Wayside: “The feeling of hunger is intense and, if not as potent as the drive to breathe, is probably no less powerful than the drive to drink when one is thirsty. This is the feeling the obese must resist after they have lost a significant amount of weight.”
12. New diet winners: We rate the diet books and plans. Plus: 8 strategies that work: The basic formula for losing weight has not changed: Consume fewer calories than you burn-about 500 fewer every day, to lose about a pound a week.
13. The Skinny on Getting Thin: Gina Kolata on ‘Rethinking Thin’: In a new book, journalist Gina Kolata looks at America’s obsession with dieting and the science behind our frequent weight-loss failures.
14. Study: Dieters slather on the optimism: When it comes to losing weight, people have high hopes: 41% are trying now to trim down, and they’d like to lose 37 pounds, a poll reported Monday.
15. Best and worst diet strategies: You’ve done the cabbage-soup diet, the grapefruit regimen, even the ice-cream plan. Still those stubborn excess pounds taunt away every time you pass a mirror.
16. Fathers responsible for fat children: Australia study: Fathers who play less of a role in child rearing are more likely to have overweight or obese offspring, Australian researchers said.
17. Coffee can be good for you, experts say: Drinking coffee can help ward off type 2 diabetes and may even help prevent certain cancers, according to panelists discussing the benefits — and risks — of the beverage at a scientific meeting.
18. Diabetes prevalence more than doubles in King County: The prevalence of diabetes has about doubled in the state’s most populous county over the last decade, and public health officials believe eating habits are the main culprit.
19. Cavities increasing in baby teeth: Tooth decay in young children’s baby teeth is on the rise, a worrying trend that signals the preschool crowd is eating too much sugar.
20. Kids’ comics spread awareness about diabetes: The evil Dr. Diabetes leaps from a hospital window, crashing through the glass, determined to infect anyone in his path with the chronic, debilitating disease from which he takes his name.

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Have a great weekend!

Technorati Tags: health, fitness, health news, fitness news, health links, fitness links, del.icio.us

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