It would be very surprising if anyone in this country was not aware of
North America's "War on Fat." Since the l 950s there has been
increasing pressure in this country to lose weight. You can't read a
newspaper, listen to the radio, or watch TV without hearing the constant
injunction to be thin. All the rewards - money, friends, jobs, sex, health
are supposed to go to the thinnest people. Everything from sodas to
breakfast cereals to cigarettes are sold with the promise of weight loss.
Like evangelists at the pulpit, the diet and medical industries tell us to
shed those "extra pounds" or face the consequences. In 1990,
there were 53 million dieters in the United States who spent an estimated
$33 billion on weight loss programs. One survey found 62% of adults are
dieting and 18% are constantly on a diet.
One would think that with the enormous amount of time and money spent on
weight loss, people would be getting thinner. Yet, US. Department of
Health statistics show that Americans are getting fatter and living
longer.
National Institutes of Health and other studies show that 98% of people
who lose weight gain it back within five years. And 90% of those gain back
more weight than they lost. The failure of weight loss programs is so
great that a leading researcher has said, "Dieting is the
leading cause of obesity in the US."
Most( companies claim that their program will work and many even claim
that "they are not a diet." Yet these claims are not
substantiated by research. The top programs are so cavalier in their
claims that the Federal Trade Commission is investigating them for fraud
and there have been Senate Subcommittee hearings looking into regulating
the diet industry.
Study after study has shown that our natural weight range is determined
by genetics. Twins separated a~ birth and raised in different environments
were within a few pounds of each other's weight. More than a dozen studies
have tried and failed to show that fat people eat more or differently than
thin people. Some even showed that fat people ate less than their thin
counterparts. One of the biggest problems with weight loss programs is
that they assume that weight is regulated in the stomach. Our metabolism
is controlled, like most of our bodily functions, by the part of the brain
called the hypothalamus. We call this the set-point. Like a thermostat,
our weight varies slightly with environmental factors such as temperature,
food quantity, food choices, and exercise. Yet, this accounts for only
about 10-15% of a person's weight range. So a person's weight may
fluctuate naturally by 10-20 pounds.
Weight loss attempts which try to force the body's natural weight range
to change, instead of resulting in a lower weight. actually reset the
weight range higher in the body's attempt to compensate for starvation.
We are told that if one eats a sensible diet" one will maintain a
low weight or lose weight. Yet. studies show that most diets proscribe an
amount of food far below the normal amount of food people need. The normal
daily intake for adults is 2400-3000 calories a day. yet most commercial
weight loss programs range from 945- 1200 calories a day . The World
Health organization defines starvation (the point at which the body is
dying) as 900 calories or less a day. That means that most programs are
starvation or semi-starvation programs.
While weight loss is rarely permanent, the damage it can do to your body
can be permanent. When you don ' t eat enough to maintain your body, your
body begins to consume itself. Most people think they are losing fat when
they diet, yet study after study shows that dieting destroys muscle, bone,
and even brain tissue.
The muscle affected most is your heart. The Framingham study, published
in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1991, found that the risk of
dying from heart disease is 70% higher in those with fluctuating weights
than in those whose weight remains stable, regardless of their initial
weight, blood pressure, smoking habits, cholesterol level, or level of
physical activity.
High blood pressure is another side effect of the mental and physical
stress of dieting. The nutritional stress can also result in electrolyte
imbalance, which is excessively low levels of potassium in the blood, and
which can lead to heart attacks.
Recent studies have found a direct link between osteoporosis and dieting.
Osteoporosis is a deadly disease in which calcium is leached from the
bones, resulting in fragile and deteriorating bones. One study found that
a single five month weight loss program resulted in "significant bone
loss." Usually thought of as post-menopausal condition, now many
women, especially dancers and athletes, suffer from osteoporosis.
In addition, older women who have maintained a higher body fat percentage
are less likely to suffer from osteoporosis as well as many other
conditions associated with menopause. Fat cells retain estrogen which
helps maintain the calcium in the bones. And for young women, if they drop
below 15% body fat, they lose menses (their period) and suffer from a host
of estrogen deficiency illnesses including infertility.
The list of illnesses now associated with dieting is long and growing
longer every day as new studies find our "cure" is killing us.
The list includes: anxiety, depression, lethargy, lowered self-esteem,
decreased attention span, weakness, high blood pressure, hair loss, gall
bladder disease, gall stones, heart disease, ulcers, constipation, anemia,
dry skin, skin rashes, dizziness, reduced sex drive, menstrual
irregularities, amenorrhea, gout, infertility, kidney stones, numbness in
the legs, weight gain, eating disorders, reduced resistance to infection,
lowered exercise tolerance, electrolyte imbalance, bone loss,
osteoporosis, and death.
One study found that even "successful" dieters, who
have kept the weight off, have the chemical signature and many of the
illnesses associated with anorexia nervosa even though they have an
average weight.
The epidemic rise in eating disorders is staggering. It is estimated
that in the U.S. alone, 150,000 women will die from eating disorders, such
as anorexia and bulimia, this year. Studies now show that dieting is the
precursor to developing these deadly diseases. Dieting alienates us from
the natural process of hunger and sets us up for the real physical side
effects of dieting, resulting in women and men who have learned to ignore
their own "survival mechanisms" and literally starve and binge
themselves to death. Current estimates indicate that one in five women is
suffering from a severe form of an eating disorder, and eight out of ten
have some of the symptoms of one or more of these illnesses. And more men
are developing these disorders as well.
Normal eating does not need a meal plan. Normal eating is being able to
eat when you are hungry and continue eating until you are satisfied. It is
being able to choose food you like and eat it and truly get enough of it -
not just stop eating because you think you should. Normal eating is being
able to use some moderate constraint in your food selection to get the
right food, but not being so restrictive that you miss out on pleasurable
foods. It is giving yourself permission to eat sometimes because you are
happy, sad, bored, or just because it feels good.
Normal eating is three meals a day for some but it can also be choosing
to eat between meals. It is leaving some cookies on the plate because you
know you can have some again tomorrow. In short, normal eating is
flexible. It varies in response to your emotions, your schedule, your
hunger, and your proximity to food. If you eat foods that are good for you
and get regular exercise, you won't necessarily be thin but you will be
healthier and probably happier.
Many dieters are upset because they aren't "normal" -
they are upset about being "overweight". Over what
weight? Over the weight charts, right? One recent study found that 64% of
Americans weigh more than the charts suggest, and another 14% weigh "underweight"
according to the charts. That's 78% of us who don't fit the charts.
The charts are a statistical report created by Metropolitan Insurance in
1959 and only slightly revised in 1979. The research was not based on
medical studies, mostly included white males, and was economically biased.
It does not reflect any real population. Because of this, the term "overweight"
is inaccurate and, to many, offensive. Terms like fat or large are only
bad if we think being fat is bad. It is a description, not a judgment:
people do come in many sizes. The charts are not helpful, especially since
dieting does not work.
Many of those so-called "obesity diseases" are already
in our list of the risks associated with dieting. Most researchers who
study fat people do not separate those who have been dieting from those
who don't. In America, it is difficult to find a fat person who hasn't
been yo-yo dieting most of his or her life.
Studies done cross-culturally in areas where fat is accepted found that
the rates of the so-called "fat diseases" were lower
than the American average, and indicate that it is the dieting and stress
of being fat in a fat phobic society which causes many of our problems.
A lot has been said about the insurance studies linking heart disease and
fat. Yet., Ancel Keys, who coordinated sixteen separate long-term studies
in seven different countries concluded: "In none of the areas
of this study was overweight or obesity a major risk factor for death, or
the incidence of coronary heart disease."
With all the suggestions that we lose weight for our health, you would
expect mortality studies to show that thin people live longer, wouldn't
you? They don't.
The Seven Country Study, the Framingham, Albany, Tecumseh, Chicago
People's Gas, and Chicago Western Electric studies all found that people
20-40% over the weight charts lived the longest. And although mortality,
or the chance of dying, increases with weight, the people who actually
lived the shortest life spans were those at or below the weight charts.
In addition to longer life spans, fat people can have lower rates of most
cancers and respiratory diseases. Fat people have lowered incidence of
pre-menopausal breast cancer. stomach cancer. lung cancer, meningioma. and
colon cancer. They also have lower rates of bronchitis. tuberculosis.
scoliosis, peptic ulcer. anemia, hip fracture, and vertebral fracture.
Most Americans have been taught to view fat as some sort of poison in
their bodies. And while eating high quantities of fat may be bad for your
health, fat tissue is a vital part of our bodies which provides energy
stores, insulation from the cold, and cushioning for the rest of our
bodies.
Different body types have different strengths and weaknesses. While a fat
person might have more complications from a broken leg, they also are less
likely to break bones in the first place. Looking at how to be healthy and
happy in the body you have is more realistic and more productive.
Some of the information in this pamphlet is from these books. Most is
from recent studies. A more detailed explanation appears in Killing
Us for Our Own Good: Dieting and Medical Misinformation by Dawn Atkins
(audio and video tape) available for sale from:
Written by Dawn Atkins, NAAFA Research Committee Chair
© NAAFA
This information was taken from the NAAFA website with their permission.