The subject of weight loss lends itself to analysis from an anatomical, physiological, sociological, biochemical, pathological, psychological, histological, and epidemiological point of view--one at a time, please.
But mention "The Mathematics of Dieting" and even the most frustrated overweight people become fascinated with the intricate workings of the machine we all inhabit, the human body. Like a car, a television remote, and a NASA rocket, we too need fuel, and as one would expect, there are relatively strict numerical formulations involved in the conversion of food to energy. The energy was may utilized immediately during a calisthenics class--or the "energy" may be stored visibly as body fat, encircling one's body like a corset of AA batteries.
3500 calories equals one pound in either direction. To gain a pound, the American equivalent of falling off a log, one must eat an excess of 3500 calories over one's metabolic needs. To lose a pound, not as easy as it seems, one must burn off 3500 calories--by swimming for 6 hours, for example.
How many calories do you eat per day? You can find this number approximately by multiplying your weight by 15. Therefore, a 200-pound individual is ingesting 3000 calories daily in order to stay the same weight. Any physical exercise must be taken into account and additional caloric requirements considered. But the math is still the same, and since many American do minimal if any physical exercise daily, the above calculation is quite accurate...and startling.
A 300-pound worker at my radio station was totally fascinated by "The Mathematics of Dieting" like a child hearing about Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. And no cross examination was needed: he silently added up his foods for the day and the math was correct. And if that person were to cut out 500 calories per day from any meal or snack, he would lose one pound per week.
Let's invert the formula and express it a different way. Since there are 365 days in a year and 3500 (let's pretend 3650) calories in a pound, any additional of 10 calories per day results in a one-pound weight gain in one year. A single 20 calorie biscuit per day will add two pounds per year. A 150 calorie can of soda per day will make anyone gain 15 pounds per year.
Review your daily food habits with this in mind. Are the extra pounds (daily or yearly) worth it? You might find ways of cutting back on calories that seem insignificant, yet it all adds up. Enjoying flavored seltzer (no artificial sweeteners, please) instead of juice or soda could remove 15 pounds of visible or visceral fat--all by itself.
"The Mathematics of Dieting" is a practical way of explaining that your weight is an understandable phenomenon. There will be a variation amongst people of about 15% due to slow metabolism, certain satiation hormones, and other biochemical parameters. But the basics are most definitely real, so write down what you eat, calculate your energy intake per day (weight times 15), see if exercise or its absence needs to be accounted for...and change for the better.
What's the first step in understanding the metabolic workings of your own body? Do the math !
Monday, February 21, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Notes on "The Park Avenue Diet Show: What Should I Have for Lunch?"; February 13, 2011
Lunch means different things to different people. Having traveled the world and temporarily becoming immersed in dozens of different civilizations. I have experienced as wide of a variety of noon-time meals as anyone I know. In Mexico I enjoyed ceviche, raw fish served as a beach food on the sands of Puerto Vallarta overlooking the Pacific Ocean. In Sherpa villages near Mount Everest, Nepal, I enjoyed momos, a type of dumpling. And in Ouarzazate, Morocco, I dug into chicken tajine, a hearty stew eaten native-style with both hands.
None of these exotic lunches is available in the United States. Moreover, these meals are part of a total cultural experience. A visitor to New York City from Puerto Vallarta, Nepal, or Morocco would probably be fascinated by and drawn to the same fast food franchises that millions frequent every day.
When I was about ten years old, a drive-in hamburger joint named Wetsons opened on Empire Boulevard and Flatbush Avenue, near my home. My mother was shocked that anyone would deny himself or herself the pleasures of a home cooked meal for a boxed cheeseburger and greasy fried potatoes. Unfortunately this was the shape of things to come, as H. G. Wells might have said.
The shape of things to come might also have included the shape of 21st century Americans. Although you can download, print, or read the nutritional content of your local chicken/burger/pizza/hero sandwich menu, few people if any read the fine print.
Except in individuals with highly physical jobs, lunch should never exceed 500 calories. Inattention to caloric content has immediate implications for weight. Inattention to salt and/or macronutrient content has immediate implications for blood pressure, fluid balance, and blood sugar. A high triglyceride level after a meal usually means that the person has the metabolic syndrome and is rapidly transforming dietary glucose into circulating, potentially dangerous fats.
A healthy lunch is not impossible to find. The choice is up to you. Please consider substituting the immediate gratification of fast foods for the delayed gratification inherent in longer life and better health. Which will you have for lunch?
None of these exotic lunches is available in the United States. Moreover, these meals are part of a total cultural experience. A visitor to New York City from Puerto Vallarta, Nepal, or Morocco would probably be fascinated by and drawn to the same fast food franchises that millions frequent every day.
When I was about ten years old, a drive-in hamburger joint named Wetsons opened on Empire Boulevard and Flatbush Avenue, near my home. My mother was shocked that anyone would deny himself or herself the pleasures of a home cooked meal for a boxed cheeseburger and greasy fried potatoes. Unfortunately this was the shape of things to come, as H. G. Wells might have said.
The shape of things to come might also have included the shape of 21st century Americans. Although you can download, print, or read the nutritional content of your local chicken/burger/pizza/hero sandwich menu, few people if any read the fine print.
Except in individuals with highly physical jobs, lunch should never exceed 500 calories. Inattention to caloric content has immediate implications for weight. Inattention to salt and/or macronutrient content has immediate implications for blood pressure, fluid balance, and blood sugar. A high triglyceride level after a meal usually means that the person has the metabolic syndrome and is rapidly transforming dietary glucose into circulating, potentially dangerous fats.
A healthy lunch is not impossible to find. The choice is up to you. Please consider substituting the immediate gratification of fast foods for the delayed gratification inherent in longer life and better health. Which will you have for lunch?
Monday, February 7, 2011
Notes on "The Park Avenue Diet Show: The Hidden Cost of Being Overweight"; February 6, 2011
"A tsunami of obesity" is how an editorial last week in the British medical journal The Lancet described the latest worldwide statistics. One in three people on Earth is overweight, one in nine people is obese. That this could happen in previously healthy, relatively isolated populations is indeed quite shocking. Even more frightening is the fact that the percentage of obese individuals doubled since 1980. "Worldwide" now has another meaning.
No one in the United States will be surprised since here the percentages of overweight and obesity are both 33%. We always stay ahead of the pack! At least initially, because residents of Pacific island nations currently have the highest BMIs on the entire planet. If Mutiny on the Bounty were being filmed today, the romantic scenes might not seem as glamorous.
Everyone will have his or her own explanation of this sorry state of affairs, whether socioeconomic, geopolitical, culinary, or biochemical. That doesn't change the fact that this "tsunami" is a mere harbinger of worse to come. As reported by various experts in the American College of Physicians, obesity is a risk factor for 40 illnesses in 9 different organ systems. Most people are aware of the most prevalent ones, namely hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, and circulatory illnesses. Yet obesity is unique in being directed implicated in breast cancer and prostate cancer, diseases worsened by diametrically opposite hormones. Also on this list: asthma, atrial fibrillation, colon cancer, sleep apnea, mood disorders etc...Such is the nature of visceral fat, a topic covered in depth elsewhere on this website and on the WOR radio show.
"The Hidden Cost of Being Overweight" refers to the various medications, emergencies, and hospitalizations due to the aforementioned illnesses. There cannot be a price on human suffering, for every life is precious--and good health is a priceless gift. The media at times have raised fear of global warming to a near hysterical pitch. In epidemic obesity, we have a health crisis that will affect younger generations within several decades. Meteorology is a most elusive science. Internal medicine is not, and unfortunately, things may have to get worse before they get better.
Just this once, please don't think about the rest of the world. Think about yourself !
No one in the United States will be surprised since here the percentages of overweight and obesity are both 33%. We always stay ahead of the pack! At least initially, because residents of Pacific island nations currently have the highest BMIs on the entire planet. If Mutiny on the Bounty were being filmed today, the romantic scenes might not seem as glamorous.
Everyone will have his or her own explanation of this sorry state of affairs, whether socioeconomic, geopolitical, culinary, or biochemical. That doesn't change the fact that this "tsunami" is a mere harbinger of worse to come. As reported by various experts in the American College of Physicians, obesity is a risk factor for 40 illnesses in 9 different organ systems. Most people are aware of the most prevalent ones, namely hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, and circulatory illnesses. Yet obesity is unique in being directed implicated in breast cancer and prostate cancer, diseases worsened by diametrically opposite hormones. Also on this list: asthma, atrial fibrillation, colon cancer, sleep apnea, mood disorders etc...Such is the nature of visceral fat, a topic covered in depth elsewhere on this website and on the WOR radio show.
"The Hidden Cost of Being Overweight" refers to the various medications, emergencies, and hospitalizations due to the aforementioned illnesses. There cannot be a price on human suffering, for every life is precious--and good health is a priceless gift. The media at times have raised fear of global warming to a near hysterical pitch. In epidemic obesity, we have a health crisis that will affect younger generations within several decades. Meteorology is a most elusive science. Internal medicine is not, and unfortunately, things may have to get worse before they get better.
Just this once, please don't think about the rest of the world. Think about yourself !
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Notes on "The Park Avenue Diet Show: The Salt of the Earth"; January 30, 2011
I haven't touched a salt shaker since 1976 when, as a medical student at Maimonides Medical Center, I saw the immediate effects of sodium chloride on blood pressure and fluid retention. When was the last time you used a salt shaker? Did you stop in 1976 as well?
What were those early clinical experiences that so alarmed me? One had to have been repeatedly seeing elderly people rushed to the emergency room after a large salty meal. The patients were sitting upright gasping for breath, blue in the face, alarming their family and friends. Pulmonary edema, commonly referred to as "water in the lungs" was what these unhappy people were experiencing. There was literally a parade of ambulances and stretchers on Christmas Eve after the Feast of the Seven Fishes. That enormously salty meal resulted in fluid retention and terrifying medical emergencies.
Sodium chloride exerts its dangerous effects via an osmotic affinity with water. That's why the people almost drowned internally after overeating on Christmas Eve. The same osmotic effect is responsible for sodium chloride's ability to preserve food. Did you know that? When added to a can of recently cooked string beans, for example, salt will draw fluid from any nearby bacteria, thus dehydrating and killing them. This property has been known for thousands of years and is exactly why Austrian "cavemen" and Roman soldiers learned to use salt as a means of preserving fresh foods. It certainly was not added to make the items taste better.
How much salt do you need in a day? Very little, because our kidneys miraculously extract just the right amount from what we eat. Rarely can adding salt to food be considered life-saving or essential (the only examples of the contrary would apply to people who have fainted or have severe diarrhea or dehydration).
Since only 2,000 milligrams of sodium is recommended per day, why would anyone throw caution to the wind and eat foods that have unnecessarily high amounts included? I have no idea. Even the innocuous gesture of adding salt to water when making pasta needs some re-evaluation. Do you know why salt is added? It's to raise the boiling point of the water. In that way the pasta will cook more quickly and thoroughly, especially if it is preferred "al dente". If salt were added simply for taste, it could just as easily be added afterwards.
Salt and its effect on weight is well documented. The last thing that someone struggling with weight needs is fluid retention. Therefore please consider doing what I did in 1976 and give up table salt for the next thirty-five years. And in thirty-five years, ask me whether or not to continue this way.
What were those early clinical experiences that so alarmed me? One had to have been repeatedly seeing elderly people rushed to the emergency room after a large salty meal. The patients were sitting upright gasping for breath, blue in the face, alarming their family and friends. Pulmonary edema, commonly referred to as "water in the lungs" was what these unhappy people were experiencing. There was literally a parade of ambulances and stretchers on Christmas Eve after the Feast of the Seven Fishes. That enormously salty meal resulted in fluid retention and terrifying medical emergencies.
Sodium chloride exerts its dangerous effects via an osmotic affinity with water. That's why the people almost drowned internally after overeating on Christmas Eve. The same osmotic effect is responsible for sodium chloride's ability to preserve food. Did you know that? When added to a can of recently cooked string beans, for example, salt will draw fluid from any nearby bacteria, thus dehydrating and killing them. This property has been known for thousands of years and is exactly why Austrian "cavemen" and Roman soldiers learned to use salt as a means of preserving fresh foods. It certainly was not added to make the items taste better.
How much salt do you need in a day? Very little, because our kidneys miraculously extract just the right amount from what we eat. Rarely can adding salt to food be considered life-saving or essential (the only examples of the contrary would apply to people who have fainted or have severe diarrhea or dehydration).
Since only 2,000 milligrams of sodium is recommended per day, why would anyone throw caution to the wind and eat foods that have unnecessarily high amounts included? I have no idea. Even the innocuous gesture of adding salt to water when making pasta needs some re-evaluation. Do you know why salt is added? It's to raise the boiling point of the water. In that way the pasta will cook more quickly and thoroughly, especially if it is preferred "al dente". If salt were added simply for taste, it could just as easily be added afterwards.
Salt and its effect on weight is well documented. The last thing that someone struggling with weight needs is fluid retention. Therefore please consider doing what I did in 1976 and give up table salt for the next thirty-five years. And in thirty-five years, ask me whether or not to continue this way.
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