The study found that “obesity had a larger effect on disease, while smoking had a greater impact on deaths.” Translation?  Being obese leaves you wide open to a large number of diseases such as heart disease, liver disease, diabetes, kidney disease, degenerative joint diseases, and on and on.  Smoking, on the other hand, tends to lead to a narrower group of diseases, mainly forms of cancer.

The bottom line is that your future quality of life, your ability to move around and do what you want, will be (not “can be” but “will be”) significantly reduced if you’re obese or if you’re a smoker.  God help if you’re both because you’ve got a “double whammy” working against you.

From 1993 to 2008, the study noted, the number of adult smokers in America DEcreased 18.5%, thanks to the many anti-smoking campaigns and quit-smoking programs and treatments that have been implemented over that same time period.  However, the proportion of Americans in the obese category over the same number of years INcreased by 85%!  That’s a huge (no pun intended) increase.

You want to know why healthcare in this country is so expensive? There’s a big part of it right there – the treatment of obesity-related diseases.  Remember the study conclusion that “obesity had a larger effect on disease?”  This tells you that obesity-related diseases tend to put you in the hospital for much longer periods of time and the treatments are much longer in duration.

But even if you forget the cost to our healthcare system (such as it is) to being treated for weight-related Type 2 diabetes, for example, for the rest of your life, imagine what that does to your lifestyle.  Imagine what having to go for treatments or having to take injections every couple of days does to your ability to enjoy life.

I watched my late uncle’s weight-related diabetes destroy his kidneys, and eventually take his life, but not before doctors had to amputate his feet and he had to undergo dialysis every 3 days.  His life had very little “quality” at the end.

By the way, according to the US Center for Disease Control (CDC):

The estimated economic cost of diabetes in 2007 was $174 billion. Of this amount, $116 billion was due to direct medical costs and $58 billion due to indirect costs such as lost workdays, restricted activity, and disability due to diabetes. People with diagnosed diabetes incur average expenditures of $11,744 per year, of which $6,649 is attributed to diabetes. People with diagnosed diabetes, on average, have medical expenditures that are approximately 2.3 times higher than what expenditures would be in the absence of diabetes. Approximately $1 of  $5 health care dollars in the United States is spent caring for someone with diagnosed diabetes, while approximately $1 of $10 health care dollars is attributed to diabetes.

It’s been estimated that obesity can easily shorten your expected life span by 9 months or more.  That’s almost an entire year.  But that’s just your “expected life span.”  Being obese can reduce your quality of life to a point that living longer doesn’t seem like a good idea anyway.

Did you get that last sentence?  Did it sink in?  Being overweight can make you so disease-ridden that you don’t care whether you live any longer or not.  How sad is that?  Can you imagine what that does to your loved ones?

Well, here’s the good part.  The good news is that you can change all of that.  If you smoke, you can quit.  If you’re obese, you can lose the weight.  It won’t be easy and it won’t be quick but you can do it.  All you have to do in order to start is to decide you need to change, and then take each day an hour at a time.

The improved quality of life you receive will be well worth the effort.  You’ll not only benefit yourself, think of how it will affect your entire family.  They’ll see you improving and they’ll want to improve as well.  You’ll all end up supporting each other, step by step.

Take the first step right now.  Decide to change your life.  It will be the best decision you make.

Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach andPersonal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)

P.S.  Be sure to get my latest Fitness Blueprint called “Little Things That Improve Your Health.”  This ebook is packed with loads of helpful information on how to build a better body and you can get it FREE – no email, no cookies, no catch.  Download and enjoy!

Technorati Tags: obesity, smoking, quit, overweight, diabetes, nih, cdc, healthcare, disease, quality of life, bmi

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The Study.

From October 2004 to December 2007, a total of 811 overweight adults in Baton Rouge and Boston participated in a study designed to evaluate the effectiveness of diets consisting of varying amounts of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats.  In other words, they were trying to determine whether people on high protein/low carb diets (like the Atkins Diet) lost any more or less weight than people on high carb/low protein diets (like the Mediterranean Diet).

Most of the studies that had been done in the past were either, (1) relatively short term in duration (1 year or less), or (2) underrepresented a specific population group (usually men), or (3) were funded by a company with a direct financial stake in the outcome.  These are usually the reasons that the conclusions of past studies tend to contradict each other.  This new study attempts to address the shortcomings of past research.

The Harvard study was performed over a more than 2 year time span at the Harvard School of Public Health/Brigham and Woman’s Hospital in Boston and at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center of the Louisiana State University System in Baton Rouge.  The group of adults were between 30 and 70 years of age and had a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 20 to 40.  Approximately 40% of the study group were men.

The subjects were divided into 4 groups and each given a diet with different levels of carbohydrates, protein, and fats.  The diets ranged from low fat/low protein, to high fat/high protein.  Besides the composition of the diet, each diet represented a decrease of about 750 calories from the average daily intake of the participants.  During the study, the participants also had a weekly goal of 90 minutes of moderate exercise and they attended group counseling sessions.

The Results.

After about 6 months, it was found that the participants assigned to each group had lost an average of about 13 pounds (6 kg), which represented approximately 7% of their initial body weight.  However, after about a year, it was found that they had regained some of the weight.  By the end of 2 years, the weight loss had stabilized and remained similar across all of the diets.  Among the 80% of participants who completed the study, the average weight loss, regardless of the type of diet, was about 9 pounds (4 kg).  It was also found that all of the diets improved health risk factors and insulin levels equally.

Conclusions.

So what can we conclude from this study?  Despite all of the scientific jargon, what can we take away from this and use in our daily lives?  Here are a couple of conclusions that I have come up with based on what I read in the study as well as my own experience (note:  these are my conclusions – not necessarily those listed in the study):

1. One of the conclusions noted in the study is that “Reduced-calorie diets result in clinically meaningful weight loss regardless of which macronutrients they emphasize.” Amen to that.  The key to weight loss is to reduce the total number of calories you consume. Let me say that again.  If you want to lose weight, eat less. This study shows that it really doesn’t matter what you eat, just that you eat less of it.
2. Weight loss begins at the kitchen or restaurant table. I see people headed to the gym in order to “lose weight” all the time.  Sorry, but you don’t lose weight at the gym.  You can lift weights or ride the exercise bike all day long — and exercise is definitely an important part of any health plan — but you’ll never lose any weight unless you learn how to limit your serving sizes and push yourself away from the kitchen or restaurant table while there’s still food on your plate.  Weight loss happens at the table, not at the gym.
3. The body can adapt to just about any kind of diet. This study proves that it really doesn’t matter what kind of food you eat.  Whether you eat mostly salads or Twinkies, organic health foods or junk, if you reduce the number of total calories you normally consume, you will lose weight.
4. The study included having the participates attend regular counseling and group sessions.  They found that there was a direct correlation between attendance and weight loss.  What does this prove?  It proves that your chances of losing weight go way up if you have a friend or support group to help keep you on track.
5. Exercise is a critical part of any weight loss program. Why?  I think it’s because when you’re exercising, you’re not snacking or being tempted to snack.  It really doesn’t seem to matter what kind of exercise you do.  Whether it’s a hard-core cardio routine or a leisurely walk around the block, the point is to get up off the couch, get away from that bag of potato chips that’s been calling your name, and get out and do something that gets you physically active.
6. Ya gotta want to. The study found that the people that lost the most weight were the most motivated.  Big surprise, right?  But it still brings up a valid point.  To fix any problem, you first have to admit it exits – and then commit to doing something about it.
7. Permanent weight loss is a long term process. Sorry, but there is no “overnight” solution.  There is no “lose weight fast” answer.  PERMANENT weight loss is a 1-2 year process.  In other words, “dieting” or making the right choices about what and how much you eat, should be a permanent part of your lifestyle, not an event that you undertake once or twice a year.
8. If they can do it, you can do it. Of the 811 people that participated in the study, 80% of them completed the study.  That’s about 650 people.  80% is a fantastic success rate and it shows that if they can do it, you can do it.  All it takes is reducing your total daily calories by around 750 calories.  That’s cutting out 1 bag of potato chips (150 cal), a soft drink (155 cal), 1 donut (200 cal), and a bowl of chocolate ice cream (225 cal) from your diet.  Besides cutting down on snacks, you can find lots of areas where you can painlessly reduce calories such as getting a smaller portion size, leaving off the gravy, choosing baked instead of fried foods, and so on.  Remember, if they can do it, you can.

So there it is.  Nothing really earth shattering or surprising.  If you want to lose weight, forget the fad diets.  All you have to do is simply consume fewer calories.

You can read the full details of the study here:  “Comparison of Weight-Loss Diets with Different Compositions of Fat, Protein, and Carbohydrates”

Hiram
The Balanced Health Guy

Technorati Tags: diet, health, atkins, Mediterranean, weight loss, harvard, overweight, obese, BMI, exercise, carbohydrates, fats, protein, cardio

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