25 Reasons Why You Don’t Want to Carry the Extra Weight…

Taken from, “25 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Your Body and Health”

Number 6….

6. Obese people spend approximately $485 more on clothing, $828 on extra plane seats, and $36 more on gas each year than their thinner counterparts. Researchers say an overweight driver burns about 18 additional gallons of gas a year. Plus-sized clothing costs 10 percent to 15 percent more than smaller-sized clothes. When it comes to jet fuel, a recent issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine estimated that the extra weight of obese Americans caused airlines to spend $275 million to burn 350 million more gallons of fuel.

As if you really needed another reason to NOT pack on the pounds another year!

View all 25 things now!

J`

The NOT-eating mistake most people make…

Let me make a point right away: Fat does NOT make us fat!  Most of us aren’t gaining weight because we are eating too much fat.  In fact, I just finished reading a study that states we are eating less fat than ever!  Since the 1970s, Americans have decreased their proportion of calories from fat from an average of 37 percent to 34 percent. What I find oh-so-very-interesting is that we have (us as Americans) increased our collective girth (our guts, our tush, whatever you want to call it).

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 50 percent of adults are overweight.

What are we doing wrong?  I know the answer, so here goes…

The NOT-Eating Mistake Most People Make

The focus on fat consumption seems to have backfired; We have forgotten about calories. According to a government study, Americans are taking in nearly 250 more calories a day now than we did 30 years ago. All while spending more than $30 billion a year on weight control, a large chunk of that on diet and low-fat foods.  Are we accomplishing anything by this?  NO!

I can’t tell you how many of my clients have made the [mistaken] assumption that because a food is labeled fat-free, they could eat as much of it as they wanted. So instead of replacing high-fat foods with low-calorie fruits, vegetables, and real-food, they have been bulking up on highly processed foods loaded with added sugar and refined starches, and have bypassed great tasting, nutritionally rich, real-food!  Which at the end of the day give you nothing but dead-calories:( 

Save your $$$. Fat-free snacks cannot substitute for good eating habits and awareness of calorie consumption.

Studies at Penn State University have shown that people on 35 percent fat diets lose the same amount of weight as those on 20 percent fat diets, as long as there is no difference in the total calories consumed.

Cut calories, increase exercise, lose weight. This is not something that we don’t already know.  I am just refreshing your memory:)

Incase you needed more reason about the drawbacks on all this “I only eat fat-free” stuff…

Besides having to pay double on your next flight to Vegas (AKA obesity), drastic fat cutbacks can be unhealthy.  It increases your risk of heart disease by decreasing high-density lipoproteins (HDLs, the “good” cholesterol) and boosting blood levels of triglycerides. They may also raise your risk for such conditions as gout and gallstones.

Severely limiting your fat intake to below two percent per day (believe me, I’ve seen it in my clients, even those without eating disorders) will cause your body to compensate by making its own (yes, I said it…its own fat), in the form of an enzyme called lipoprotein lipase. This increases fat storage in the body and may be unhealthier than getting fat from food.

Fats provide energy, maintain cell membranes and blood vessels, transmit nerve impulses, and produce essential hormones.

Your body needs fat to function!  It requires a certain amount in order to absorb nutrients, including vitamins A, D, E and K (essential for proper eyesight, bone formation and blood clotting). Vitamins A and E are also antioxidants and have been shown to reduce the incidence of heart disease and a variety of cancers.

Lack of dietary fat may also prevent the absorption of the disease-fighting phytochemicals contained in fruits and vegetables. How many times have I said it…pouring fat-free dressing on a salad is one of the most unhealthy things you can do!  Carotenes (phytochemicals that are some of the most potent anticancer antioxidants) bind to fat. If you do not eat any fat within a few hours of consuming carotenes, you will not absorb them. The health benefits of eating that salad are flushed right down the toilet. 

We were taught loonnnnggggg ago that fat was bad.  Research now shows that not all fats are created equal. Saturated fats (think red meat, butter, reese’s peanut butter cups) raise blood cholesterol levels and thus the risk of heart disease and perhaps colon cancer.

There are two basic types of good fats that you should stick to:

Monounsaturated fats are found in olive oil, olives, canola oil, peanut oil, flaxseed oil, most nuts (including almonds, cashews, pecans, pistachios and peanuts), peanut butter, and avocados.

Omega-3 fats are plentiful in fatty fish — salmon, anchovies, sardines, rainbow trout, bluefish, caviar, white albacore tuna — as well as in green leafy vegetables, walnuts, walnut oil, canola oil, flaxseed, flaxseed oil and tofu. If you’re not crazy about fish, experts say fish oil capsules are an option. The most recent research raves about omega-3 fatty acids in the prevention of heart disease and stroke. Omega-3 fatty acids may even ease the symptoms of a range of conditions, from manic depression to PMS.
 
And of course, I cannot end this segment without mentioning the word-of-the-year…Trans fats.

Remember, I started this blog out with the mentioning of real-foods…Stick to real-food and you will be OK.  Those foods that can sit on a shelf for months, foods that have been in your freezer since new year’s and you would still eat them, and that grocery store isle with all the donuts, pop-tarts, and Dorito’s any man could want…TRANS FATS!  These man-made fats are found in margarine, shortening, and most packaged baked goods, crackers, and candies. Stay away from a food if the ingredients read hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated appearing before any oil or fat.  Just plain gross, PUT IT BACK!

All fats are high in calories — nine calories per gram. To avoid gaining weight as you eat more beneficial fats, use them in place of heart-damaging saturated fats. OK, enough about that, what is the take home message:

Stop eating fat-free fake-foods because you think they are going to make you skinny.  That’s the biggest load of ‘fat’ I have ever heard!

Fat does not make you fat.  It is mostly due to poor math skills of calories-in vs. calories-out.

Stay away from trans fats, hydrogenated anything, and donuts (among other things)!

Your body does NEED good/healthy fat to absorb proper nutrients and keep your body running efficiently.

And my favorite take home message of the day…

Fat-free/no-fat diets, on a day to day to basis, will make you fat!  This is a proven fat! Oh, I mean fact:)

J`