Obesity can only be treated by and avoided by consciously eating a healthy diet.
Last week we talked about obesity as the biggest risk to both individual health and to the overall health of Americans. This is not fat shaming…this is a fact! Americans are inundated with advertising which literally makes them hungry for foods that make them fat, which then makes them hungry for more high calories food….we are being fooled into eating what is killing us!
I think the epidemic of Obesity in the US is caused by the following:
- Fast food, Junk Food
- Sugared and Diet soft drinks
- Excessive Alcohol intake (and high calorie mixers they are served in)
- Lack of physical movement
- Lack of exercise: TV, driving, video games,
- Mental vs Physical labor
- Sugar substitutes that cause obesity (Splenda (yellow) Saccharin (pink) Equal (blue)
- Stress
Fast food= High calories + High Carbohydrates= Weight gain
The only time I have fast food is when I am traveling by car. This summer, I took note of all the calories/carbs in the fast food we were stopping for which made me horrified at the possible total daily calories one meal can generate. By driving I am not exercising so basically, I am fatter when I get somewhere than when I started….next year I’m packing my food!
The basal metabolic rate = the number of calories you burn in a day if you aren’t working out and exercising is generally less than 2,000 calories, and the shorter you are the fewer calories you need. Your weight doesn’t increase the number of calories you need unless your weight is from muscle. Fat doesn’t burn any calories, only muscle does!! This means that if you eat 2,000 calories per day and sit at your job you will stay the same weight. If you eat more you gain if you eat less you lose.
But a calorie isn’t a calorie…in other words all calories aren’t equal. Even though fat contains more calories per oz than protein or carbohydrates, carbohydrates impair your ability to burn calories by making you insulin resistant…carbohydrates are more damaging to your weight loss than any other food and fast food is full of them!
Here is what I found out about fast food.
Big Mac = 540 calories
Burger King Large Fries = 434 calories
Chick Filet Chicken sandwich = 430 cal
Chick Filet sandwich = 440 calories
Chipolte Burrito-Carne = 570 calories
Dairy Queen ½ lb. grilled burger with cheese = 800 calories
Dairy Queen brownie batter Blizzard, medium = 880 calories
KFC Fried Chicken one Chicken breast = 360 calories
McDonald’s French Fries large = 510 calories (all carb and fat)
Panera/STL Bread Co asiago cheese bagel = 320 calories (all carb)
Pizza Hut meat lover’s 1- slice = 410 calories (who eats just one slice?)
Taco Bell soft Taco = 180 cal each
Coffee Calories: Coffee at Starbucks is really just drinking dessert!
Coffee black any size = 0 calories
Starbucks Café mocha Vente = 280 calories
Starbucks Café mocha vente = 330 calories
The Point: Cooking at home with olive oil and other polyunsaturated oils with low carb contents is more conducive to weight loss than eating fast food….No surprise!
Soft Drinks
Soda is just eating a bowl of corn syrup with carbonation—It is deadly because it readjusts your insulin, by increasing your insulin to cause insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is the problem when it comes to weight loss as adults…and some children. These drinks should be removed from the American diet…they provide no nutrition, and they cause obesity.
Obesity can only be treated by and avoided by consciously eating a healthy diet without fast and junk food, without soda and simple sugars. The other side of this is that Americans must sit less and exercise and walk more. Know how many calories you can eat and minimize carbohydrates. If we eat it, big business will continue to sell junk and fast food. We have been a bad example to the rest of the world by exporting all the fast-food franchises to other countries. We must take the lead in following healthy patterns that provide profit for companies that make healthy food and drink instead of the food and drink of obesity and the addiction to sugar!
