Synopses & Reviews
Quite a bit has changed in the American diet in the past several decades. We used to dine in steak houses, feasting on fatty prime rib, baked potatoes buried under mountains of sour cream, and pies slathered with whipped cream. Nobody worried too much if they were overweight or ate the wrong foods, and only exercise fanatics worked out. But today we line up at salad bars and flock to gyms. We fret that we'll develop heart disease or cancer if we eat fatty foods. And more than ever, we want to be slim. There is a stigma in our culture attached to those who are obese. Slim folk, on the other hand, are generally considered healthy, successful, and attractive. And we've taken this message to heart: at any given time, some 40 percent of women and almost a quarter of men are on diets.
Yet, despite our national obsessions with healthful eating, dieting, fitness and thinness, we're not slimmer and healthier than before. In fact, we're even heavier. The statistics are alarming:
* The average American adult has put on eight pounds in the past ten years
* The incidence of obesity in adults has increased from one in four to one in three in the past decade.
* Adolescent obesity has increased by a whopping 40 percent since 1980.
* Despite the "fitness craze," we burn over 200 calories a day less than people did thirty years ago.
The discouraging and frightening result: obesity in the United States has taken on epidemic proportions, and there's no end in sight.
Obesity has traditionally been defined as being at least 20 percent above the recommended weight limit for your height, frame size, and sex. In June 1998, two divisions of the National Institutes of Health issued newguidelines, using the Body Mass Index (BMI) to help us determine whether or not we're obese. The BMI, which works the same for men and women, measures the relationship between height and weight. It's not a perfect tool; heavily muscled football players or weight lifters, for example, may register as being obese according to the BMI, even though they have little fat on their bodies. For most of us, however, the BMI is a good indicator of our "fat status."
According to the latest guidelines, those with BMIs over 25 are overweight, and are classified as obese once their BMI hits 30. There's a table showing a range of BMIs in Chapter Five. Here are some quick numbers to give you an idea of what constitutes being overweight:
* If you stand 5 feet 1 inch and weigh 132 pounds...
* If you stand 5 feet 4 inches and weigh 145 pounds ...
* If you stand 5 feet 7 inches and weigh 159 pounds ...
* If you stand 5 feet 10 inches and weigh 174 pounds ...
* If you stand 6 feet 1 inch and weigh 189 pounds...
... your BMI is 25 and you are overweight. About ninety-seven million American adults fall into this category. 3 Unfortunately, it doesn't take many more pounds to move from the overweight to the obese category:
* If you stand 5 feet 1 inch and weigh 158 pounds...
If you stand 5 feet 4 inches and weigh 174 pounds ...
If you stand 5 feet 7 inches and weigh 191 pounds ...
If you stand 5 feet 10 inches and weigh 209 pounds ...
* If you stand 6 feet 1 inch and weigh 227 pounds...
... your BMI has hit 30 and you're obese. And adults aren't the only ones with girth problems. Sadly, one quarter of our children are already obese, and many of them will neverknow what it's like to be in the peak of health. Obesity is a "package deal," full of unwanted "bonuses" such as an increased risk of heart disease and stroke, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, osteoarthritis, adult-onset diabetes, and cancer (especially of the breast, prostate, colon, and uterus). The statistics quite dearly show that being obese increases your odds of dying early. That's right-carrying too much body fat can actually kill you! If you are more than 30 percent overweight, your odds of dying early shoot up by 42 percent (compared to persons of normal weight) .4 All told, an estimated three hundred thousand deaths each year are directly related to obesity. The new overweight and obesity guidelines issued by the National Institutes of Health note that obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States today. (Smoking is number one.)
Too Much and Too Little
Why are we continually growing heavier? The answer is simple: we eat too much fat and not enough fiber. Let's begin with our fat intake. The average American takes in 85 grams of fat per day, the equivalent of about one half cup of butter -and many of us consume even more than that. The fat that we feed ourselves makes our bodies fat in several ways:
1. Fat is the most concentrated form of calories, so it's easy to gobble down more than your body needs without knowing it One piece of pecan pie tops off your dinner with a hefty 575 calories, a taco salad from Wendy's packs a whopping 640 calories, and Boston Market's Chunky Chicken Salad Sandwich with mayo and dijon serves up a gut-busting 980 calories! That's because they're all extremely high in fat: 32 grams of fat in the pecanpie, 30 grams in the taco salad, and an incredible 65 grams in the chicken salad sandwich! Most of us could probably eat an entire portion of these foods without feeling too uncomfortable because the concentrated calories from fat don't take up much space in the stomach. The unfortunate result: we can pack away large amounts of fatty foods with ease.
2. The fat on your plate is easily converted to body fat. Calories come in the form of fat, protein, carbohydrate, and alcohol. Every single excess calorie we take in is used to make fatty tissue, but it's easier for the body to turn the fat from food into body fat. The body "spends" about 30 calories converting 100 calories of carbohydrate or protein to body fat, but it takes only about 5 calories to convert 100 calories of dietary fat to body fat.
Synopsis
Discover the healthy way to eat right and lose weight!Stop worrying about what to leave off your plate and add the all-important ingredient for any super-effective diet: fiber. Doctors and nutritionists agree that a low-fat, high-fiber diet will help you shed weight, prevent disease, and improve overall health quickly and easily. Building on these principles of healthy eating, this safe, proven, and easy-to-manage program fits any lifestyle and includes:
- More than 100 delicious high-fiber, low-fat recipes
- content listings for more than 5,000 favorite foods
- a handy plastic counter wheel to help you track your daily fat and fiber intake and figure out what you can eat freely and what you should cut back on or avoid.
The 20/30 Fat & Fiber Diet Plan will dramatically improve how you look and, more importantly, how you feel--and get you started on a lifetime of healthy living.
Synopsis
Discover the healthy way to eat right and lose weight!Stop worrying about what to leave off your plate and add the all-important ingredient for any super-effective diet: fiber. Doctors and nutritionists agree that a low-fat, high-fiber diet will help you shed weight, prevent disease, and improve overall health quickly and easily. Building on these principles of healthy eating, this safe, proven, and easy-to-manage program fits any lifestyle and includes:
- More than 100 delicious high-fiber, low-fat recipes
- content listings for more than 5,000 favorite foods
- a handy plastic counter wheel to help you track your daily fat and fiber intake and figure out what you can eat freely and what you should cut back on or avoid.
The 20/30 Fat & Fiber Diet Plan will dramatically improve how you look and, more importantly, how you feel--and get you started on a lifetime of healthy living.
Synopsis
< p=""> < center=""> < b=""> Discover the healthy way to eat right and lose weight <> < enter=""> < p=""> <> < p=""> Stop worrying about what to leave off your plate and add the all-important ingredient for any super-effective diet: fiber. Doctors and nutritionists agree that a low-fat, high-fiber diet will help you shed weight, prevent disease, and improve overall health quickly and easily. Building on these principles of healthy eating, this safe, proven, and easy-to-manage program fits any lifestyle and includes: <> < p=""> < ul=""> < li=""> More than 100 delicious high-fiber, low-fat recipes< p=""> <> < p=""> <> < li=""> content listings for more than 5,000 favorite foods < p=""> <> < p=""> <> < li=""> a handy plastic counter wheel to help you track your daily fat and fiber intake and figure out what you can eat freely and what you should cut back on or avoid.< i=""> < l=""> < p=""> <> < p=""> < i=""> The 20/30 Fat & #38; Fiber Diet Plan<> will dramatically improve how you look and, more importantly, how you feel--and get you started on a lifetime of healthy living.<> < p=""> & #160; <>
About the Author
Gabe Mirkin, M.D., a practicing physician for 40 years, is board-certified in four specialties and is an associate professor at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. A pioneer in the fitness movement and host of a medical talk show for 25 years, Dr. Mirkin is the author of eight books, including the bestselling The Sportsmedicine Book, and numerous scientific articles and textbook chapters.Barry Fox, Ph.D, is the author or co-author of many health-related books including the bestselling Beverly Hills Medical Diet.