Gee, you think?
Posted by enrico | Under Medical and Health Sunday Jan 15, 2006I normally don’t post links for health news and events straight from a news feed, but this latest study does kinda have me scratching my head:
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Though countless fad diets promise a trimmer physique, the old-fashioned route of portion control and calorie consciousness may be the way to go after all, a new study suggests.
“May” be the way to go? You think? Wow! As the dearly departed Scotty poignigantly said, “You cannot change the laws of physics,” and while weight loss/management is much more than managing energy equations (see below), all programs/plans/etc. will all come down to tipping the energy balance in a negative state whether they do it via intake restriction, attempts at fine-tuning the body’s metabolic cycles by certain types of foods to have/not have, and/or increasing physical activity. Yes, I know the point of the report also seems to be about modest cuts, but that’s also a “duh” conclusion since hardly anybody (except that whacko Jared) will tolerate radical changes for long.
The reason people don’t lose weight/keep it off isn’t because they don’t understand (although some are in denial about) energetics, it’s because weight loss is such a multi-factorial problem dealing with such deep emotional, environmental and social factors. More studies need to address these aspects rather than constantly reiterating that which is obvious.