Obesity Research ....a Shocker!
Obesity Research shows that
I was shocked to discover that not all obesity research finds: thin is always healthy -and fat is always a health ogre.That's another health myth. We've heard the 'fat is bad' myth so often that we never consider it might not be 100% accurate. A growing body of obesity research shows that we can be healthy at every size. Gaining health doesn't always entail losing weight. I may never have believed this if I hadn't met Joanne Ikeda (MA, RD) a 30-year veteran researcher and Nutrition Education Specialist from Berkeley University. She introduced me to an impressive body of research showing that fat people can be healthy ...that the key isn't necesarily your body size, it's how you live your life that matters most. Ok, so I understand that right now this may be hard to swallow but I'm going to share obesity research that pretty much turned my beliefs inside out and upside down about diet, health and fitness. The Joy-Filled Body discusses this research and more in depth. And Mind over Fatter shows you how to ditch diets and live light.
For more information on The Mind over Fatter Programme Obesity research from around the globe
In Denmark survival rates of 13 000 patients with blood clots, heart disease and brain hemorrhages, increased right up to levels that are considered obese.
In Japan obesity research found that physically active Sumo Wrestlers who were grossly obesity and ate 5000 to 6000 calories a day were metabolically healthy.
In Sweden obesity researchers found that the death rate fell steadily with increasing fatness, even at the upper extremes of obesity.
In Greenland the Inuit population, when compared with the Danes, had lower levels of glucose and insulin, blood pressure, and triglycerides, and higher levels of HDL (‘good’ cholesterol) than the Danish participants at any given level of obesity.
But here's the important point: even when they were more obese, the Inuit’s’ health indicators were always better than those of the Danes, so level of fatness wasn’t what made the difference.
In South Africa research found that rural South African women have a high prevalence of obesity without the expected morbidity and mortality.
In America a group of non-dieters who did not lose weight still succeeded in improving their overall health, as measured by cholesterol levels, blood pressure, physical activity and self-esteem. By comparison the group of dieters who initially lost and then regained weight had none of the above-mentioned health gains at the end of the 2-year period.
In Italy a research study found that 43% of their subjects were overweight and of these 23% were free of any metabolic disorders (and researchers point out that this figure would have been even higher if the sample had included people younger than 40)
Just because someone is thin does not mean they are metabolically normal or healthy. You get healthy fat people and unhealthy thin people. Not every fat person you know has diabetes, heart disease or raised cholestrol. And sometimes carrying some extra weight can actually help: According to June 2005 Reuters Health, a overweight and high-normal weight patients fared slightly better than underweight or obese patients when it came to in-hospital mortality rates (with coronary artery bypass grafting. "A little extra body fat apparently provides patients a needed source of glucose...to help them recover from surgery," lead author Dr. Ruyun Jin, from the Providence Health System in Portland, Oregon, said in a statement. What obesity researchers sayAs far back as 1958, reknowned obesity researcher, Albert Stunkard wrote: “Of those who lose weight, most will regain it.” In 1979, he concluded: the medical consequences (of weight regain) may be unfortunate enough that if people cannot maintain weight loss, they would be better off not trying to lose weight.” “
Professor Linda Bacon, who conducted the above-mentioned American study says: ‘We have been ingrained to think that seriously large people can only make improvements in their health if they diet and slim down. But this study tells us that you can make significant improvements in both metabolic and psychological health without ever stepping on the scales or counting calories. I think the research I've mentioned is revealing but I also think there's a whole other factor we haven't even begun to take into account yet. I think there's a potentially mind-boggling explanation for this that we seldom consider which you'll read more about in
myth #12 about how our thoughts affect us.
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