Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

Patrick Deuel used to weigh 1,027 pounds. He has lost over four hundred pounds, weighing at 530 pounds now. He was called the Half Ton Man and the media has been watching him ever since he went public. According to the following interview, he went public with his story to get the word out on obesity:

• No Breaking Space – An Interview with Patrick Deuel – by Hugo Fitch

He had a few things that he wanted the world to know about obesity:

• “First, to the insurance companies, I would like to say that weight in excess of 100 lbs plus overweight is NOT COSMETIC, as they tried to tell me for the 42 years I was so overweight.” They told him for years that his problem was cosmetic and not life threatening. He had to get to 1,027 pounds before he could get treatment.

• “Not all weight problems are just some fat guy or gal overeating either. Genetics play a great big part of weight problems.” I do agree that genetics can play a big part in weight problems. I also like to believe that I have some control over my weight. When I eat healthy and limit my portions, I lose weight. My problem has always been with bingeing.

• “The second point is the medical profession’s treatment of morbidly obese people. They are greatly ignored by the bulk of general practitioners and specialists other than bariatric experts and surgeons.” This is true. Doctors seem to give up easily on patients that are morbidly obese. I have seen it happen with my own eyes, but is it because they believe the patients have given up on themselves? I don’t know.

• “The last message is about transportation for the morbidly obese.” He had to wait for a special truck to move him to the hospital because there are very few medical vehicles that can support humans outside the normal range.

There but for the grace of God go [I].
– John Bradford, Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins

Via: The Food Museum Blog – Celery & Ciggies
Google News Search – Patrick Deuel

Aside from the obvious things like partially hydrogenated oil, have you ever wondered what some of the items in your favorite food’s ingredients list are? With things like Calcium caseinate, Butylated Hydroxytoluene, and Calcium disodium EDTA routinely appearing on labels, it’s hard to figure out just what’s in there and how it can affect you.

Cooking for Engineers, an excellent cooking weblog, has a very comprehensive list of food additives that you may find helpful, or perhaps frightening:

• Cooking for Engineers – Kitchen Notes: Additives

The alphabetical list includes common uses of each additive, known side effects, and a detailed description. If you’ve happened upon a food additive not listed there, you can submit it for future addition to the list.

Eating Disorders are a hot topic again. This one confuses me, though. The National Eating Disorders Association wants you to join their ranks. Buy this bracelet and make your voice heard, is what they urge. Does that mean they want me to develop an eating disorder? Does buying the bracelet mean that I have an unhealthy relationship with food and I’m admitting it to the world?

I’ll freely admit that I have an unhealthy relationship with food. Controlling my bingeing has been the greatest struggle I’ve had through this entire journey. Do I want a bracelet that reminds me of that? Is it supposed to remind me to eat healthy? Is it supposed to identify me to others so they know to make sure they don’t get in the way between me and food the same way you would avoid getting between a mother bear and her cub?

It seems like every cause has some sort of jewelry attached to it. I know it’s just a way to make money to support the cause, but I just have a problem with this one. Is it the “Admitting You Have a Problem” step? Am I somehow not quite where I need to be in the recovery process? I just don’t know what to think about this…

I’ve always thought of Raw Food Vegans to be a wayward branch of vegetarianism. They eat only food that is plant-derived that is uncooked. Corn flakes are out. Canned spinach is out. Meat and cheese? WAY OUT. I just couldn’t believe that one could be healthy and eat under such restrictions. This study begs to differ.

• Reuters.com – Raw Food Vegans Thin But Healthy, Study Finds

Now, you have to remember that this study looked at the health of only eighteen Raw Food Vegans, which isn’t a statistically valid number. Humans are such slipperly test subjects, however, it’s hard to do long term studies on these sorts of things. You just can’t lock them up in cages and only feed them what you want to test like you can with mice and rabbits. Until we are able to see the results of a larger group (double blind, please…) we’ll have to accept that raw fruits, vegetables, whole grains and nuts are a healthy way to eat.

Forget about whether vitamins and herbal supplements actually help you. The question today is: do your vitamins and herbal supplements really contain what they say they do? Consumerlab.com has tested a wide variety of products to determine whether they contained 100% of the labeled amount of vitamins, minerals or herbal supplement.

• Consumberlab.com – Independent Tests – Latest Results

This company offers a summary report for each testing for free. You do not have to subscribe to see the results of those tests. They show the brand names of the drugs tested (i.e. Vitamin World, Nature Made, CVS Pharmacy brand) and whether they passed the tests or not.

If you want exact measurements and all the full details, they have a one-year subscription to their website for $24, with savings for multiple-year subscriptions. Thirty-day access to one test is $9. I was able to find out a lot from just the summary report.

Check out the Nutrition Bar Testing to find the bars that actually contain what they say they do. To find the ones that contain more carbs than they actually do, you have to pay for the full report. Might as well just stick with the ones that are what they say they are.

I’ve held some strange nationalistic pride in what I considered the ever-growing life expectancy of Americans. Ever since I was a child, I have been told that because I live in America, I will live longer. Because they invented antibiotics, I will live longer. Because our medical care is the best in the world, the life expectancy of all Americans is higher. That may no longer be the case.

• Reuters – Obesity Threatens to Cut U.S. Life Expectancy – by Greg Frost

This article talks about the Social Security debates that are raging here in the United States. The Social Security officials have based the life expectancy on past performance in the U.S. and expect their citizens to live to their mid-80’s later in this century, but a group of concerned health experts warned them about the obesity epidemic. Considering that 1 in 3 Americans is obese, the life expectancy ages may be lowered for the first time. Just as I felt a nationalistic pride before, I feel a shame now that makes me lower my eyes.

Even when I know why the scale is higher, I find it extremely hard to stay motivated. I wonder how it would be for people who don’t understand the physics of losing weight. Here is some important information that can affect your relationship with the scale.

Weighing Basics:

• Use the same scale each time you weigh yourself. No scale is perfectly adjusted and each will read a little differently.
• Weigh at the same time every day. You’ll weigh the least in the morning after you have used the bathroom.
• Wear the same clothing every time you weigh. The idea that your clothes might account for that extra pound will go away when you wear the same clothes every time.
• Weigh yourself on the same day each week. That means only weigh yourself once a week. There are daily fluctuations in your body, but a week is long enough to see progress (or lack of it).

If you show a gain and you KNOW you had a perfect week, remember the following:

• It may have been extra salt in your diet. A high sodium intake can make your body retain water.
• If you have just started a workout regime or just increased the intensity or time of your workouts, your body may be retaining water. If it has been over two weeks since your last weigh-in, the gain could be extra muscle. Use a measuring tape to see if you have lost any inches.
• Constipation can show a gain at the scale.
• Pre-Menstrual Syndrome has the symptom of water retention. If your cycle is about to start, you can attribute the extra weight to that.
• If you had a large loss the week before, it is normal to maintain your weight or even show a gain the next week.

Health Issues that can create a weight gain:

• Diabetes
• Thyroid / Glandular Problems
• Pregnancy

For these reasons, it’s a good idea to check with your doctor before starting any weight loss program.

In the end, the scale is merely a tool, and often not a very accurate one. If you follow your weight loss program faithfully, the scale will become an indicator or your success, not the final word on it.

This article by Ruth Kava was written in 2003, but it is still very applicable today.

• Health Facts & Fears – Let Them Eat Cake! – by Ruth Kava, Ph.D., R.D.

The most important quote that I can take from this article is, “Poor Nutrition and Obesity Are Not the Same Problem.” When I tell people that I have lost all my weight using the Weight Watchers program, I hear the response, “Yeah, but you can just eat junk all day and if you stay within your points, that’s alright with them. That’s not healthy.”

Yep, they’re right. Eating to stay within your Points allowance with no regard to the nutrition guidelines that they give you is not healthy. But do you know what? You’ll lose weight anyway. I ate garbage the first few months on the program, but I still lost weight because I stayed within my Points allowance.

We are talking about two separate things. Obesity and poor nutrition are not the same problem. Quite frankly, I think that dealing with obesity first is the way to go. I ate junk food and fast food and all the hydrogenated oil that I could fit within my Points and I lost weight. After a while, however, I started paying attention to the nutrition guidelines that Weight Watchers provided. I slowly added healthier habits into my routine.

Sometimes I think that so many diets fail because people jump into things head first and make too many changes into their routine too quickly. I found that adding small changes slowly over the course of many months helped me eat healthier than I ever imagined I could.

Comment from Post: More on Trans-Fatty Acids

Name: BigChaz

Help! What is the difference between hydrogenated oil and partially hydrogenated oil. In the lit the two terms seem to be used in the same way. Surely there must be a difference.

Posted Feb 13, 2005 1:28 PM

According to this article:

• Biostructural Medicine – Trans Fatt Acids – by Alberto Ascherio, M.D., Dr.P.H., Meir J. Stampfer, M.D., Dr.P.H., Walter C. Willett, M.D., Dr.P.H., Harvard School of Public Health, and Martijn B. Katan, Ph.D., Peter L. Zock, Ph.D. of Wageningen Center for Food Sciences, Netherlands

…there is a difference chemically between hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils, but they have the same effects medically. Avoid both of them for a healthier diet.

Lies you tell yourself:

• “It’s just one day.”
• “I have to be gracious.”
• “We deserve to celebrate our love.”

Don’t lie to yourself this year.

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