don's report archive

by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.

Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

In the last essay, I went out on a limb and suggested that "Being Fat Is Caused By Eating Too Much!" I know, it sounds outrageously simple as well as politically incorrect, but the evidence for such a drastic conclusion seems overwhelming. 

I also suggested that, once overweight (like most Americans), regaining (and sustaining) a state of lean fitness is somewhere between extremely difficult and impossible. This brings to mind Woody Allen's observation, "More than any time in history mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness, the other to total extinction. Let us pray that we have the wisdom to choose correctly." Not such great choices. Are other paths or possibilities to healthy body weight available, paths more attractive than the perniciousness of despair, utter hopelessness and total extinction? Sure, but they are too hard for most to manage. If I were you, I'd embrace the mindset "I Can't Do It." This eliminates the pressure to perform, lowers the stress of the struggle and encourages more modest goals. Then, just maybe, you can accomplish a few worthy lifestyle changes, make little advances toward wellness and even drop a few pounds here and there--and keep them off. For most, however, despair, utter hopelessness and total extinction seem more realistic--the gravitational attractions and imperatives of corpulence (the culture, genetics and so on) are too powerful to resist. No wonder some obesity experts, including University of Missouri-Columbia biomedical researchers Frank Booth and Simon Lees, predict that all Americans will be obese by 2044 and 2058, respectively, if the current progressive rise in the rate of obesity continues.

One other feature of the last essay on eating too much as the cause of all obesity was to ask if anything could be done, by anyone or any institution, to improve the lot of fat people, or create conditions that would improve their prospects. I answered my own rhetorical question in the affirmative, and promised to offer "Cures for Fat People."
 
While there are countless "cures" or initiatives that would enable the loss of a few pounds now and then, for a while (for example, dieting, choosing healthier foods, associating with healthier people who reinforce better habits and so on), only three "cures" seem worthy of mention:

1. Vigorous daily exercise for at least one hour while eating less than you do now. (Vigorous daily exercise could be expressed in terms of duration and intensity of exercise or in metabolic equivalents - METs. A MET is the amount of energy or oxygen used to do nothing for one hour except to stay alive. Moderate walking burns three to six METs per minute; running six METs.)
   
   
2. Vigorous daily exercise for more than one hour while eating less than you do now.
   
   
3. Vigorous daily exercise for at least one hour nearly every day while eating less than you do now most of the time.

Of course only the third option is feasible, unless you are totally independent and never get injured or otherwise lead a life that seems impossibly sanitized, safe, predicable, maybe even boring. Most of us, no matter how committed to vigorous exercise, are going to take a day or two off now and then, whether due to injury, illness or just a desire for rest and recovery. 

Some picky people might object to my three cures for fat people as consisting of only one cure in three variations. Basically, all three involve the same key element, namely, a hard daily exercise "cure" for fat with a measure of controlled eating added to the mix. This would be a reasonable observation to which I have no objection. Whether singular or plural (variations on a theme), exercise linked to eating less (in other words, less than an overweight person eats now) is the cure, as well as the prevention strategy. It is also the gateway to a wellness lifestyle. 

Be well and always look on the bright side of life.

(Note: This essay will be filed in the archives in the PHYSICAL DOMAIN under the skill area of exercise and fitness. Additional articles related to this theme may be found there.)

(Ed. Note: Views expressed in this and other columns are those of the author and not necessarily those of the SeekWellness Editorial Board.)

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