I’ve written before that the average American gains about 1 pound per year. It’s pretty easy to point to the end of the year holidays as the time when it’s most easy to eat excessively and not get enough activity. So it’s pretty timely that December’s issue of the Nutrition Action Health Letter has a cover story on How to Get a Gut!
It’s a tongue in cheek article that points out the top 8 reasons why Americans gain weight each year. Some of the reasons–I’ll get into them later–are pretty interesting while some of them are very obvious. But the point that I found most interesting in the article has to do with the location of fat on your body. Many people complain about their “problem areas.” Some women ask if their butt looks big, or their thighs. For many men, it’s love handles and man boobs. But the worst fat of all is the intra-abdominal fat, the fat that lines your internal organs and adds inches to your waist. This type of fat has the highest correlation with diseases like diabetes and heart disease. It’s not just about how you look–intra-abdominal fat kills.
So, as I said earlier, many of the the reasons why we’re getting fatter are pretty obvious–we move less, we eat as much as we did when we were more active, we drink lots of calories in the form of 760 calorie venti hot chocolates.
But did you know that you’ll pretty much eat the same volume regardless of caloric density? Your stomach feels full when it contains a certain amount of food. According to researchers at Penn State University, “When people ate the same number of spoonfuls, they don’t notice if each one has fewer calories. They eat a consistent weight or volume of food. It’s a pretty fundamental response.” So if you eat foods with high water content and lower caloric density, you’ll eat fewer calories. What could be better than feeling full while eating fewer calories?
The final point in the article that I can really relate to deals with the amount of sleep people get. People who sleep less than 7 hours per night are more likely to become obese during their lifetime. When people are deprived of sleep, not only do their appetites go way up, but their desires for high carb foods and sweets also increases. So not only do they eat more, but they eat less healthy foods.
It looks like my wife is right again, I need to get more sleep. And eat better. I’m working on it.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Good stuff.
I now eat a minimum of one salad a day, and often eat two of them.
I hate feeling bad and being unproductive. When I eat like crap, I feel like crap.
That is one of my main motivations right there.
Hmm…that’s good to know. More bulky low calorie food appears to be in my future!
While I agree with the volume thing, there’s something to be said for “sticking power”. Food with a higher water content will more often that not make you feel hungrier sooner. A couple hard-boiled eggs will keep me going a lot longer than a huge bowl of corn flakes.
Brigid, that bowl of corn flakes will spike your blood sugar faster than the eggs will. This causes your insulin pancreas to produce more insulin, which leads to a blood sugar low.. making your body more interested in food.
The eggs, with the high fat (not all fat is bad) and protein content, will be slowly and steady absorbed in the blood stream.
I bet that the huge bowl of cornflakes will have more calories than the eggs to by the way.
I like to fill up on low GI bulky foods like oatmeal, raw veggies, along with meat, eggs, and cottage cheese. A low cal soup is nice too, but I have a thing for soup.
Should read *This causes your pancreas to produce more insulin*
My husband constantly deprives himself of sleep and it worries me. I think it does hinder him in his quest to lose weight. But he prefers to stay up half the night on his computer so what can ya do!
The sleep thing is a reall killer. I was doing so great before I moved. I was in bed by 9-9:30(and even a little earlier once in a while) and up at 5am for a morning walk before getting ready for work. It was a great setup; I enjoyed it and felt rested, especially after coming off the caffine addiction(again). I think it will require some serious restructuring in my life and some sleeping pills to start out, but I plan on getting back to that routine, at least closer than I am now.
for clarification, pre-move, I lived 8 minutes from work(and everything else). Post-move, I live 45 minutes away.