A friend of mine claims she’s a 25-year-old trapped in a 59-year-old body. She swears she’s not kidding.
Another friend who struggles with his weight insists that underneath his excess pounds there’s a set of six-pack abs. I think he’s kidding but he might not be.
No doubt, many of us identify more closely with our ideal than with reality. And that fact is revealed in a recent survey that shows quite a few overweight and obese people believe they’re on the right track with exercise and nutrition.
Point of view
Does a five-minute search for the remote control qualify as “vigorous exercise”? If you eat an entire box of low-fat, reduced-calorie crackers, is that “eating healthy”?
According to a recent survey, there are people who might answer “yes” and “yes” to both of those questions.
Thomson Medstat – a health care research company based in Michigan – conducted a random telephone survey that asked more than 11,000 U.S. adults about their exercise and eating habits. Questions about height and weight established each person’s body mass index (BMI). Respondents were then grouped into four categories (numbers are approximate):
- Underweight: 200
- Normal weight: 3,800
- Overweight: 4,200
- Obese: 3,100
Dr. David Schutt – associate medical director of Thomson Medstat – told the Associated Press (AP) that the breakdown above is generally consistent with U.S. demographics reflected in the federal health survey.
SURVEY RESULTS:
- 24 percent of normal-weight people said they always
read nutrition labels - 19 percent of obese people said the same
- 24 percent of normal-weight people said they snack
two or more times each day - 28 percent of obese people said the same
- 31 percent of normal weight people said they always eat
all the food they’re served at restaurants - 41 percent of obese people said the same
Perhaps the most revealing responses regarded these more general questions:
- About 40 percent of obese people said they perform vigorous exercises at least three times each week
- About 75 percent of obese people described their eating habits as “healthy”
Back to reality
Dr. Schutt told the AP that there’s either “some denial going on,” or there’s a misunderstanding of the terms “vigorous exercise” and “eating healthy.”
Too bad Dr. Schutt’s team didn’t also ask, “Are you normal weight, overweight or obese?” A comparison of those answers to the BMI stats might reveal even more of a disconnect between perception and reality.
This survey reminded me of the concept of “health at every size” (HAES) that I first told you about in the e-Alert “Get Real” (1/2/06). For people who struggle unsuccessfully to lose weight, the HAES program provides an alternative approach to weight management that puts an emphasis on physical and emotional well-being, and embraces the idea that you can be healthy even if you’re not in the “normal weight” category.
HAES is an appealing concept that many overweight and obese people will find useful. But to any HAES program I’d offer two notes.
Many people assume that low-fat diets provide the key to healthy nutrition. But these diets generally ignore the fact that some fats are essential to good health. And as I’ve mentioned in several e-Alerts, consumption of carbohydrates (especially simple, refined carbs found in many processed food products) creates natural cravings for more carbs, setting off a cycle that undermines attempts to lose weight.
When it comes to exercise, there’s no need to overdo it. This is illustrated in a study from the University of Colorado at Boulder in which obese subjects were found to actually burn more calories while walking at a relaxed pace than they did while walking at a normal pace.
I haven’t been able to find the original source of the HAES approach, but the concept is well represented in many Internet web sites, which can be easily found by using the search term “health at every size.”
and another thing
More than half of the coastline of the entire United States is in Alaska.
Maybe you knew that, but I didn’t, and I found it pretty amazing. It’s just one of the surprising items in a list titled “Interesting Geography” a friend forwarded to me this week. Here are a few more gems from the list.
Detroit: Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, carries the designation M-1, named so because it was the first paved road anywhere.
Amazon: The Amazon River pushes so much water into the Atlantic Ocean that, more than one hundred miles at sea off the mouth of the river, one can dip fresh water out of the ocean. The volume of water in the Amazon river is greater than the next eight largest rivers in the world combined and three times the flow of all rivers in the United States.
Brazil: Brazil got its name from the nut, not the other way around.
Canada: Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined.
Ohi There are no natural lakes in the state of Ohio, every one is manmade.
Antarctica: Antarctica is the only land on our planet that is not owned by any country. Ninety percent of the world’s ice covers Antarctica. This ice also represents seventy percent of all the fresh water in the world. However, Antarctica is essentially a desert. The average yearly total precipitation is about two inches. Although covered with ice, Antarctica is the driest place on the planet, with an absolute humidity lower than the Gobi desert.
Damascus, Syria: Damascus was flourishing a couple of thousand years before Rome was founded in 753 BC, making it the oldest continuously inhabited city in existence.
Rome, Italy: The first city to reach a population of 1 million people was Rome, in 133 B.C. There is a city called Rome on every continent.
Los Angeles: Los Angeles’s full name is El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula – and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size: L.A.
Siberia: Siberia contains more than 25% of the world’s forests.
Sahara Desert: In the Sahara Desert, there is a town named Tidikelt, which did not receive a drop of rain for ten years. Technically though, the driest place on Earth is in the valleys of the Antarctic near Ross Island. There has been no rainfall there for two million years.
Spain: Spain literally means ‘the land of rabbits.’
United States: The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one-mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.
Let me know if you enjoyed these. If you did, I’ll send some more.
Sources:
“Survey: Most Obese Claim to Eat Healthy” Mike Stobbe, Associated Press, 8/1/06, ap.org
