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According to Dr. Siguel, the fundamental problem in obesity is behavioral, not biochemical. Unless we change the reasons why people need to eat, we are unlikely to make a significant dent in obesity.
Genes and
obesity
In ancient societies, people maintained their weights by simple methods such as "lacking food," war, disease, and poverty. However, in the 1800's, millions of people across the world became "rich" and gained weight from eating too much food. Although scientists have been searching for genetic factors that cause obesity, there is no doubt that people who do not eat (for considerable lengths of time) lose weight.
When you read about studies that pretend to find a genetic basis for human obesity, or a drug to make you lose weight, remember: no matter what your genes are, if you eat more calories than your body needs, you gain weight; if you eat less calories than your body needs, you lose weight.
For a given age and height, the base amount of calories (without exercise) varies 10% to 20% from one person to another. This variation reflects differences in metabolism and energy utilization. If some people burned far more calories, their dramatically increased metabolisms would dramatically increase their body temperatures and dramatically fry their brains.
Some people, like most professionals, exercise very little, and only require 500 extra calories per day, whereas others, like professional athletes, exercise 8 hours a day, and require 3,000 extra calories per day. The solution to burn more calories is to exercise more.
Moral: do not wait for magic pills to burn more calories. Rats are quite different from humans, so drugs that work on rats are unlikely to work as well on humans. Rats spend most of their time moving around; drugs can make them move more or less. Drugs rarely change human habits and activity levels. Also, animals have limited brains, and their IQs do not decrease dramatically if they develop a fever from burning too many calories. We assume most humans do not want to take this risk.
Leptin and
obesity
Leptin is a protein hormone that may stop animals from overeating. Some scientists think that taking leptin (as a protein, must be taken by injection or else is digested) would help people lose weight. However, studies have shown that obese people have high leptin levels in blood, so taking more leptin is unlikely to cause weight loss.
Beware of clinical trials using leptin. With appropriate diet and exercise, leptin is likely to help. However, appropriate diet and exercise alone is probably just as effective, and doesn't require injections! Long-term side effects of leptin injections are unpredictable (to know the effects after 20 years, one would need to wait at least 20 years), and hormones are very powerful agents. At one time, steroids were considered "wonder drugs", but they were later found to cause atrophy of key organs.
Similarly, injecting leptin could atrophy the organs that produce it, leading to adaptation. The body may learn to deal with higher leptin levels and destroy it faster. Siguel's hypothesis is that obese people injected with leptin will "adapt." They may lose weight at first, but after several years, they will regain it again. I doubt that leptin is powerful enough to overcome the positive rewards of food.
History shows that when people get hungry, they do things they would never do otherwise. How can we stop eating? Perhaps by making sugar illegal and replacing it with something nauseating. Unless there are strong incentives against gaining weight, the pleasures far outweigh the distant penalties (i.e., potential shorter life span). Even the undesirable social aspects of obesity will disappear when obese people become the vast majority. In the future it may be illegal to be slim and slim people may be placed in "treatment" centers to make them "normal" (i.e., overweight).
We are seeing an increase in pleasure seeking, lack of self-responsibility, and lack of respect for the "greater good" (the good of the environment (including plants and animals) and the world over time). The result is more crime, more greed, more interest in material goods and ephemeral pleasures, less interest in long-term preservation of resources and species. Eating is part of this syndrome: pleasure today at the expense of disease tomorrow. When disease comes, we look for scapegoats and insist on the best available medical treatment, no matter what it costs.
Revolutionary treatment
for weight loss (money back guarantee)
I have uncovered an ancient weight loss method that is guaranteed to be 100% effective. Unfortunately, it has an undesirable side effect (pain). However, the method purifies the soul, makes believers out of fanatics and heretics, and benefits both the individual and society (unfaithful detractors call it "torture").
Whatever the semantics, modern research agrees that if a person is suspended from his toes without food for a period of 2 to 6 weeks, the person loses weight. After 8 weeks of this treatment, some subjects cease to be fully functioning and productive members of society (i.e. they die), but research indicates that the treatment continues to be effective (the person keeps losing weight). This is another useful treatment that has not received FDA approval and requires appropriate informed consent.
Weight loss programs
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Topic/Views |
Old |
Revisionists |
Scientific/Dr. Siguel |
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Ideal weight |
Determine from graphs, charts |
The weight that makes you feel good. Varies from person to person |
Be slim eating healthy foods. Most numbers in charts are too high |
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Weight vs. health |
More weight ~= worse health |
Weight is not a key factor in health. What matters is blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose, etc |
More weight ~ = worse health. Even with good blood pressure, cholesterol, etc., more weight imposes more strain on organs, bones, etc. leading to lower life expectancy, higher probability of disease |
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How to lose weight |
Balance calories in with calories burned |
Eat what you like. Learn to enjoy food and eat in moderation |
Eat fewer calories than you need. Exercise more |
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Fat and SFA |
Fat and Saturated Fat are bad |
Foods are neither good nor bad. They are just foods, and you can eat any of them in moderation |
Total fat or Sat. Fat are less important than eating Essential Fats in proper balance. Some foods prolong life, and others decrease life expectancy |
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When + what to eat. |
Eat predetermined amounts at regulated times |
Eat when hungry. Stop when full. Eat in moderation |
Eat when hungry and stop when full. Eat natural foods, avoid processed foods |
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Exercise |
At least 20'/day |
Exercise when you can, as long as you can. Do what makes you feel good |
Aim for 60'/day. Try to be active and move no matter what you do |
The recommendation that people should do what makes them feel good is extremely dangerous. Because of our past experiences and commercial advertisements, what makes us feel good is rarely what is good for our body, our mind, society, or the environment. We must accept responsibility for our actions and take positive steps to do what is best for our body, mind, society, and the environment.
"Eat in moderation" is another meaningless statement to encourage us to do whatever we want. What is moderation? For some, moderation means 2 lbs of food per day; for others, it means 8 lbs per day. We can eat huge amounts of food per day and feel good because eating tasty foods makes us feel better (at least while eating them). Without clear guidelines about what moderation means and what constitutes a healthy diet, our tastes and apparent needs are fulfilled by diets very high in sugar + saturated fat. Brownies made with butter and sugar taste fantastic; I could eat 2 lbs per day without even noticing!
Reasons why
most diet programs fail
Most people who diet either do not lose weight or soon gain the weight they lost. Understanding the reasons can help you to implement a successful weight loss program.
Eating low fat, high calorie foods rich in carbohydrates
(breads, pasta, cereal, pastries, candy). These foods provide as many (or more)
calories as natural high fat foods and contain few nutrients that make you feel
satiated (full);
Using artificial or highly processed foods which usually
contain few nutrients and produce nutritional imbalances or deficiencies;
Eating few vegetables and fruits (a small salad with a
meal is not "plenty of vegetables");
Exercising very little. Our bodies were designed,
through evolution, to be active more than 8 hours per day (looking for food or
being chased by food);
Psychological stress, self-indulgence, well-meant but
misdirected praise such as "you look good," well intentioned gurus
that tell you to do what makes you feel good or tell you that being fat is
healthy;
Liquid or junk foods instead of natural foods high in
fiber + nutrients.
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All information on this website is copyrighted; see use and permission to reproduce. The information in this website is not medical advice, merely a general scientific discussion. See warnings & disclaimers. |
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© 1998-9 Edward Siguel. All rights reserved |
modified 3/25/99 |