Does Food Make you Fat?

[sweetnpetite]

you know, nymphy said something in a previous thread about eating lots of reses cups (I thought of it today as I pulled a handful of minis out of a bag) that seemed to imply that if she ate too many she would gain (too much) weight. A common idea, but one that I -without conciously thinking about it- reject.

Does food really make you fat? Or are we just brainwashed into believing that it does?

For example, many people can eat anything and not gain an ounce, while others joke that if they even look at a pie, they will gain ten pounds. Maybe there is more to that joke after all.

I am the type of person who what I eat has never effected my weight. My birth control method effected my weight, my pregnancies (obviously) effected my weight, even some diet pills I once took effected my wieght. But food- no.

Now some people would say, "well that's just metabalism- of course (too much) food makes people fat." What a contradictory statement! Here what your really saying is that metabolism controls your weight (but apparently only in some) and then food controls your weight.

People are made to be different sizes, and I don't think it has to do with what they eat- *or* for that matter their matabolism (at least not soley) We've also been tought of course that size 6 is 'perfect' when in fact, it is not perfect for everyone. Imagine the girl who is meant to be a size 12 but is an 8 struggling and suffering because she's not yet 'perfect' Naturally, it happens all the time. Is it food that makes her a size 8? Is it her matabolism? Is it those things that make her body naturally want to be a size 12- I don't think so either.

In the case of extememly overweight people, I still believe that by and large (no pun intended) the food is not causing the weight gain. Attitudes about food and self, combined in large part with many of the chemicals we ingest have more to do with weight gain and loss. These things wreck havok on our bodies natural state of being.

I belive that you have to work hard to be overweight. As hard as we so often work to be underweight. (Truly over weight for you, not above societies perfect standard) I think that your body naturally gravitates to a comfortable and healthy medium, when given the chance. If you don't believe me, consider your average overwieght female in America. She's been told that she has no self control- and yet, she has been practicing self control from teh time she was 12- if not before. She's starved herself, dieted, chastized herself, denied herself- and all to no avail- the wieght either stays stubbornly on, or it simply comes right back (and usually brings friends) The constant dieting throws off the natural ballance of the body, making in all the harder for the woman to get to her correct weight. Instead, it feeds her insecurities about herself and her negative emotions and causing her to feel emotional pain and stress. And stress has been proven to signal the body to store fat.

So you may hate me when you see my imperfect size 10 body sitting around enjoying a handful of Reeses and not gaining an ounce. Or you may wrongly assume that I am either going to puke it up later, or work out later to burn it off.

But my suggestion instead is to A) Learn to love yourelf. B) Relax, Destress and C) Enjoy life. None of us live forever.

 

[Liar]

Tried to follow you line of resoning. I got lost.

You say that what you eat does not affect youer weight. Fine. But then you try to apply the behaviour of you body as a general rule for all huans. Well, sorry but that is just incorrect.

Eating food puts something into your body. To remain the same weight, one has to dispose if as much as one eats. One way to do this is through metabilosm -- turning food into energy. The other way is to let it pass through and out the natural way. (A bulimic don't even let it pass through, but let's not go there, shall we?) Food that is not turned into enegy or expelled is stored in your body. You gain weight. Eating more food than you burn makes you gain weight. Period.

Now, how can you control weight gain and loss? By regulating either what you put in or what you take out. Simple, huh? No contradictonary statement there. I don't know what you mean by calling it that.

You and I are probalby quite alike when it comes to this. What I eat doesn't affect my weight more than marginally. My doctor says it's because my metabolism adapts to what I eat, I burn more food when I get more food. And not everybody functions that way.

Yes, there are those that have body types that are larger and smaller, and those body types have differenty ideal weights. But many people today have a weight that is far from the right one for their body type, and that's where the real problem is. Many try to lose (and some, bot they are fewer, gain) weight for health reasons - too high blood sugar levels, too tired, bad for the knees, and so on.

The way you say it hints of an attitude that someone struggling with their weight should not bother. "Don't diet, because you are supposed to be fat." That's just not true.

#L

 

[CharleyH]

Different body types generally have different rates of metabolism, and in addition, those of same body types gain weight in same areas. For example, I have a thin body type, and when I gain weight, it is easy to hide because it is usually in the stomach/abdomen area. Other types gain weght in thighs/hips for example.

There was a time when I could put anything away, and look skinny as hell, but my metabolism has slowed down with age, particularly this last year . . . although sitting infront of a computer does nothig to speed me up! (saving grace: I have muscular fingers?)

A friend of mine from grade school belongs to a family of skinny types, and yet due to a health issue, she has never been thin, but always overweight.

Anyhow food itself? Of course, but it depends on body type, health, metabolism and excercise among some things. If you put all types in a room, each with the same environmental variables, then food intake differentials will eventually show.

Of course, as I recently heard Kirstie Alley say "YOU CAN LOSE WEIGHT EATING FETTUCCINE!"

Sure, it you don't eat a gallon a sitting.

I am with Liar in not seeing the contradiction.

 

[English Lady]

I am with Liar all the way there. food does make you fat.

the issue is what IS fat? (I did a thread on it a while back..I'll dig it out in a minute) and when should you worry about being overweight?

I think you need to do something towards loosing weight when you get to a stage where your health is put at risk.

Also it's not a case of eating less will make you thin, no it's not as simple as that.It's the types of food you eat.

Health is more the issue at the end of the day. Fat or thinif you're not getting adequate nutrition you can be doing yourself a damage.

Healthy eating has to be focused on more, I think so anyway, and healthy eating isn't going on one of those silly faddy commercial diets designed to keep you spending money.

hmm I think i've gone all round the houses there. Ok heres the link to my old thread :




Fat Perceptions.

 

[sweetnpetite]

Eating food puts something into your body. To remain the same weight, one has to dispose if as much as one eats. One way to do this is through metabilosm -- turning food into energy. The other way is to let it pass through and out the natural way. (A bulimic don't even let it pass through, but let's not go there, shall we?) Food that is not turned into enegy or expelled is stored in your body. You gain weight. Eating more food than you burn makes you gain weight. Period.


The way you say it hints of an attitude that someone struggling with their weight should not bother. "Don't diet, because you are supposed to be fat." That's just not true.

#L

That's not what I meant- but it has been well documented that dieting generally has the opposite of the desired effect- especially in the long term.

I don't think we need to 'give up' i think we need to 'get out of the way' usually people do so many things to sabatoge there own health and obsessing about anything is one of them, self hatred is another and dieting nearly always falls into one or both of those groups anyway.

Theoretically, if you allow your body to do it's thing (rather than trying to control it with an iron grasp) you would take in what your body needed and eliminate any access through natural prosesses.

I don't think anyone is supposed to be fat. I think people make themselves bigger than they should be by obsessing over a too small ideal.

Of course you are free to disagree, but I just wanted to clarify a few of my points.

Lastly, just one argumentative point- if it's wrong to apply the behavior of my body (and many others like me) to all humans, why is that wrong- but it's ok to apply "your fat because you eat too much" and "the only solution to weight loss is to eat less" and other things that we are told to the general population, when that is also not true for everyone? (and I believe not true for anyone)

It is proven that stress hormones signal your body to store fat. If you eat the same amount of food when your stressed, it will effect you differently than if you eat it when your calm. How much went into you is not the problem. The problem is what your body does with it.

Think about it this way- you said, eating food puts something into your body. But we don't gain the equal amount as the weight of the food we eat. We gain according to what our body does with that food- does it convert it to energy, muscle, fat, or waste?

A twinky is very lightwight. When your body converts it to fat does the fat wiegh the same as the twinky minus the weight of the amount that was eliminated? no- it doesn't work like that of course. If it did, no one would count calories, they would count ounces.

Callories, fat, sugar ect are used by your body in the way that your body deems most appropriate and useful according to the situation you are in. When you try to tell your body differently by starving it, your body stores and concerves instead of using the energy. The body is smart. My very new age recomendation would not be to give up, but to get in tune with what your body is trying to tell you.

It's your body that makes you fat. Not your food.

If you want to be healthy, you have to become a friend to your body, and not its enemy.

 

[sweetnpetite]

To think about.

Why do starving children have fat bellies?

It's certainly not from eating too much food.

I do however think that *food obsession* can make you fat. Weather you obsess about getting more or getting less. But that's because, once again you are throwing off your bodies natural rythms.

 

[Liar]

The best example of what eating too much does is a japanese sumo wrestler. They are indisputably overwight. But, they are also very strong and in elite physical shape, with mucho excersize and thus high metabolism. The only factor that makes them fat is all the fat food they eat. Food made them big, no doubt about it.

But under more normal circumstances, excersise (a word that I wll never ever learn how to spell) is the best way to get fit. It has the added benefit of increasing strength and stamina. The wrong food and too much of it is one factor that makes many overwirght these days. The other one is that we don't move about as muchas we should. Taking the car for a two mile ride instead of taking a walk. Sitting on an office chair all days instead of ploughing the firelds et al.

But like EL said, as well as SnP in the first post, it's all about what what is right for the individual, not some generic ideal shape or number for everyone.

 

[CharleyH]

Re: To think about.

Why do starving children have fat bellies?

It's certainly not from eating too much food.

I do however think that *food obsession* can make you fat. Weather you obsess about getting more or getting less. But that's because, once again you are throwing off your bodies natural rythms.

Distention. Not to bring the mood down, but when my mother was ill and on IV, her stomach bloated . . . distended? Perhaps gasses? I am not certain, but when she died, the stomach diminshed a bit. But god, was she heavy!

 

[Liar]

Re: To think about.

Why do starving children have fat bellies?

It's certainly not from eating too much food.

Jaysus. They are not fat! Swollen bellies are a symptom of a disease caused by extreme malnourishment.

Sorry hun. It's really hard to take your theories seriously when you blurt out something like that.

 

[Liar]

Lastly, just one argumentative point- if it's wrong to apply the behavior of my body (and many others like me) to all humans, why is that wrong- but it's ok to apply "your fat because you eat too much" and "the only solution to weight loss is to eat less" and other things that we are told to the general population, when that is also not true for everyone?

no, it's not ok to apply "your fat because you eat too much" to anyojne without nowing that that is the case. Never said it was. Some people are fat because they eat more then they should. Some people are fat because they don't work out enough. most that are overweight are that because of a combination of those two. Sure, stress hormonal changes, even depression or whatever can be an underying reason why we don't balance those things better. But the bottom line is still - we don't balance it.

(and I believe not true for anyone)

Well, believe what you want to. When I was a kid, dinking nothing but Coca Cola (sugar is bad, m'kay?) made me overweight. When I switched to carbonated water, I lost weight.

#L

 

[English Lady]

The best example of what eating too much does is a japanese sumo wrestler. They are indisputably overwight. But, they are also very strong and in elite physical shape, with mucho excersize and thus high metabolism. The only factor that makes them fat is all the fat food they eat. Food made them big, no doubt about it.

But under more normal circumstances, excersise (a word that I wll never ever learn how to spell) is the best way to get fit. It has the added benefit of increasing strength and stamina. The wrong food and too much of it is one factor that makes many overwirght these days. The other one is that we don't move about as muchas we should. Taking the car for a two mile ride instead of taking a walk. Sitting on an office chair all days instead of ploughing the firelds et al.

But like EL said, as well as SnP in the first post, it's all about what what is right for the individual, not some generic ideal shape or number for everyone.

In the weight management classes I did one of the first thing we looked at was the balance of health. if you get in more calories than you burn up you put on weight and vice versa.

It makes sense really. I'm not a calorie counter. I don't worry about every single bit of food that goes past my lips (guilt feelings lead to comfort eating and thats not good *L*)but i try to eat more healthy stuff and I've lost weight. nothing drastic, a bit more excercise (I have more energy for it now so it makes it easier to excercise)a bit more attention to the food I eat and I feel so much better.

Anyhow, I eat less crap, more good stuff. it balances out *L*

I'm saying it's all about balance I think.

 

[Guest]

Sweet, it's as simple as this...

Our bodies require a certain amount of calories (energy) per day to sustain us.

That energy comes in the form of food - think of it as fuel for the body.

Too little fuel, we are weak and listless.

Way too little fuel, we would starve to death (those poor starving children you referred to earlier do not have "fat bellies", they have bloated stomachs because of distention (as Charley said) - a build up of gas, because their deprived stomachs need food).

Too much fuel, and the body lays down the excess across various parts of our bodies, in the form of fat. We then become fat.

Way too much food, we become obese.

The exact amount of energy each individual needs to sustain a normal, healthy life varies greatly.

The more sendentry amongst us need less fuel.

The more active amongst us need more fuel.

Those with a low metabolic rate - the speed at which the body converts food into energy - need less fuel.

Those with a high metabolic rate need more fuel.

There are many more variables, of which the above are a few.

Food=calories=fuel=energy.

Too much fuel for our own body's needs=excess=fat.

Lou

 

[English Lady]

It's your body that makes you fat. Not your food.

If you want to be healthy, you have to become a friend to your body, and not its enemy.

If you think like that then any "fat person" is going to hate themselves. because it's their bodies making them fat, not the food they're eating or the excercise they're not getting. (there are hormonal and medicated exceptions, people who can't control their weight but thats a minority of folks )

I agree with your last bit though. you have to be in tune with your body. Eggs and I don't agree, white bread and I don't agree...I like'em both but my body doesn't. I have to respect my body and avoid the two as much as possible.

Diets are a load of crap. People do have to change eating habits to loose weight though to more healthy ones.

 

[R. Richard]

One thing that sweetnpetite has presented is the cause of a lot of weight problems. Dieting (actually yo-yo dieting) is a problem for a person's body. A body has a 'steady state.' The body keeps itself in that state because it is what has worked for the body in the past. The body will not give up its steady state without a struggle. If a person 'diets,' the body will use all kinds of tricks to lose a little weight where the weight can be quickly replenished after the 'stupid diet' is over.

The trick is to maintain a kind of steady state that the individual desires and to regulate exercise and food intake to maintain the pdesired state. If the steady state is a slim, fit body, then the type of food is almost as important as the amount of food.

In a past life, I did very heavy work, often over days at a time and often with little or no sleep. I would regularly eat 10,000 (ten thousand) calories per day. often of the kind of junk food that can be purchased on the go. My body would just throw off the excess calories and fat, because my steady state was not accustomed to that level of intake. However, if I had maintained that kind of schedule over a long time, I would be a blimp!

 

[English Lady]

One thing that sweetnpetite has presented is the cause of a lot of weight problems. Dieting (actually yo-yo dieting) is a problem for a person's body. A body has a 'steady state.' The body keeps itself in that state because it is what has worked for the body in the past. The body will not give up its steady state without a struggle. If a person 'diets,' the body will use all kinds of tricks to lose a little weight where the weight can be quickly replenished after the 'stupid diet' is over.

The trick is to maintain a kind of steady state that the individual desires and to regulate exercise and food intake to maintain the pdesired state. If the steady state is a slim, fit body, then the type of food is almost as important as the amount of food.

In a past life, I did very heavy work, often over days at a time and often with little or no sleep. I would regularly eat 10,000 (ten thousand) calories per day. often of the kind of junk food that can be purchased on the go. My body would just throw off the excess calories and fat, because my steady state was not accustomed to that level of intake. However, if I had maintained that kind of schedule over a long time, I would be a blimp!

Yup balance. like I said *L* not silly diets that starve you.

 

[sweetnpetite]

(sugar is bad, m'kay?) #L

sugar isn't bad. too much sugar *can* be bad.

"But, sugar doesn't affect blood glucose much differently from any other carbohydrate. So in 1994, the American Diabetes Association officially changed its nutritional recommendations to say that sugar could be incorporated into a healthy meal plan for people with diabetes."

http://www.diabetesdigest.com/News61.htm

however, sugar isn't 'food' either.

"The white crystalline substance we know of as sugar is an unnatural substance produced by industrial processes (mostly from sugar cane or sugar beets) by refining it down to pure sucrose, after stripping away all the vitamins, minerals, proteins, enzymes and other beneficial nutrients. What is left is a concentrated unnatural substance.

The biggest reason sugar does more damage than any other poison, drug or narcotic is twofold:

It is considered a "food" and ingested in such massive quantities, and

Practically 95% of people are addicted to it to some degree or other.

http://womencentral.net/sugar-damage.html

 

[Guest]

Eating little and often is usually the best way to maintain that steady state.

The problem with the way some people eat is that they will starve themselves all day, then gorge on a big meal in the evening. They might eat the same amount of calories (or maybe even less) in one day as a person who has four or five small meals, but their metabolism would not be stable.

The best way to build up a faster metabolic rate is to eat little and often. The body then gets used to having small amounts of energy to deal with at regular intervals. When it gets bombarded with a lot in one go, it can't cope with it all in that one hit, and slows down, depositing more as fat.

Also, as Liar, EL, and others have said, exercise is the key. A little regular exercise each day, couple with eating little and often, is one of the best ways to maintain that steady state R Richard referred to.

Lou

 

[English Lady]

Eating little and often is usually the best way to maintain that steady state.

The problem with the way some people eat is that they will starve themselves all day, then gorge on a big meal in the evening. They might eat the same amount of calories (or maybe even less) in one day as a person who has four or five small meals, but their metabolism would not be stable.

The best way to build up a faster metabolic rate is to eat little and often. The body then gets used to having small amounts of energy to deal with at regular intervals. When it gets bombarded with a lot in one go, it can't cope with it all in that one hit, and slows down, depositing more as fat.

Also, as Liar, EL, and others have said, exercise is the key. A little regular exercise each day, couple with eating little and often, is one of the best ways to maintain that steady state R Richard referred to.

Lou

you speak alot of sense there Lou!

 

[sweetnpetite]

If you think like that then any "fat person" is going to hate themselves. because it's their bodies making them fat, not the food they're eating or the excercise they're not getting. (there are hormonal and medicated exceptions, people who can't control their weight but thats a minority of folks )

I agree with your last bit though. you have to be in tune with your body. Eggs and I don't agree, white bread and I don't agree...I like'em both but my body doesn't. I have to respect my body and avoid the two as much as possible.

Diets are a load of crap. People do have to change eating habits to loose weight though to more healthy ones.

Maybe I should have said "Its your body rebelling over your attempts to over control it and your inability to love it that makes you fat" [considerning how many people feed there need for love rather than feeding there bodies]

I think we agree in more ways than we disagree. It's just something about my wording. Food of course has some effect. We do need it for fuel. And we need it for vitamines and other stuff. But still, far more important is your attitudes toward food, toward yourself and toward you life. If we get rid of addictions and then stop trying to force unhealthy ideas onto it, it would tend toward maintaining itself in a healthy way. I agree it's about ballance, but I think our body wants to be ballanced, not out of ballance and works toward that ballance until we start interfearing with these natural processes.

I think that we are just all really locked into the idea that food makes us fat. Fat is bad, therefore food is bad. Or so the logic would lead many to believe. And doctors tell us over and over again about callories and energy. As if it's the whole story. I think it's the smallest part of the story, not the largest part.

I believe that food effects our bodies. (mostly for the positive unless it's spoiled or poison) I beleive that synthetic materials effect our bodies too (mostly negatively though sometimes with some short term positive effects.)

I think so much more about this, but I'm supposed to be working on a porno story instead of procrastinating here!

ps- I only meant for this to be a discusion, so I hope I haven't offended anybody (at least not irreperably).

 

[sweetnpetite]

Is there a way to test someones metabolism? (besides feeding them and observing?)

 

[Lucifer_Carroll]

Metabolism is part of it, dietary habits are part of it, lifestyle is part of it. Its true that there are those with "gifted" metabolism, whose mitochondria are far more efficient at converting food to energy and whatnot. Technically, this has unhealthy side effects but we won't get into it here.

Its also true that the rise in obesity in America especially can be greatly tied to the increasingly sedentary lifestyle. The rising prevalence of back injuries and etc has stemmed from the natural position being walking around a lot to sitting a lot. "Fat asses" also stems from this switch. We need cushioning back there. There is also suspicion that the rise in need for eyeglasses stems from the increased strain we put on them via electronic devices.

And finally its true that what you eat can have a big effect. If you have a low metabolism, you need less food. For instance, I have a metabolism like mollases and because of it, going two days without anything but water isn't that big of a deal, but at the same time, I will gain a crapload of weight if I down a chocolate cake in one sitting even if I have an active lifestyle. Overall it all interacts and the key to a "healthy" body or look is to adjust your lifestyle or food intake to your metabolism and also as snp states, not let yourself be caught in societal standards. I will never look like an Asian. My body structure regardless of metabolism is big and brawny with large shoulders. Similarily its hard for someone like Jet Li to look like Ah-nold. On the female side, a woman with more traditional peasant working girl body structure will not look like Twiggy. And Twiggy will likely never be able to lift an entire cow. So in essence, everyone is right. Now group hug eventually degenerating into mass orgy.

 

[English Lady]

Can we cut straight to the orgy?

 

[Lucifer_Carroll]

Is there a way to test someones metabolism? (besides feeding them and observing?)

To a degree.

 

[Liar]

sugar isn't bad. too much sugar *can* be bad.

Yes. As well as too much of anything can be bad. In my case it was most definitely too much of it.

I just mentioned it because it was that and that more than anything that made me the blob I once was. This at a time when I thought I was living a healthy life. I didn't like any particulaty fat food, and I didn't eat too much of anything. And I did sports and other energetic activities as much as any other kid. But I had a sugar addiction (still have), and it made me overweight.

 

[sweetnpetite]

Can we cut straight to the orgy?

With statements like this:

My body structure regardless of metabolism is big and brawny with large shoulders.

I'd say yes!

Funny, cuz I always pictured Luc as a tall and lanky, geeky-cute kind of guy. maybe it's all that science talk.