Fat Chance

My copy of Fat Chance arrived in the mail yesterday, so the final two chapters of The Guide are on hold, although I really need to finish reading it and make a decision about teaching it before the weekend is over.

Fat Chance discusses the biochemistry behind obesity and metabolic disease in an often humorous way.  For the first time, I now know just why I have no energy after giving in to my craving for Skittles!   I don't know yet whether that will help me resist high sugar snacks when I'm stressed or tired, but it does give me something to think about.

One thing that is amazing is the lack of empirical data behind many of the dietary recommendations to which we are encouraged to adhere.   The first dietary guidelines (reduce fat) were written by a reporter with no scientific background who gleaned most of his information from one source.  Yes, trans fats are evil and should be avoided at all costs, but not all fats are equal.  The reduction of fats in manufactured foods after the release of those 1977 guidelines led to the increase of sugar and sodium, and sugar leads to the body's manufacture of small and harmful LDL.  (Big LDL doesn't damage arteries, so high LDL numbers alone don't give us the information we need.)

What appears to be the answer to the obesity problem is not new -- avoid processed foods, increase fiber, eat more veggies -- but the chemistry behind it fascinates me.  (Who would have thought chemistry could ever fascinate me after my track record in high school?  Then again, it's biochemistry and I did enjoy biology classes.)

Dr. Lustig, the author, starts each chapter with a case study of one of his patients.  Many of these patients are brain tumor survivors with metabolic problems resulting from the placement of the tumor or brain damage caused by chemotherapy.     He and other doctors have been able to help these patients with a variety of treatments that give insights into what would help those of us who simply have middle-aged spread!  They have also discovered what doesn't work, which is just as helpful.   Does it help me to see hunger and a lack of energy as a symptom rather than the cause of my weight gain over the past few years?  Maybe.  Does it help to know that my under-active thyroid makes the battle harder for me?  Not really -- I've known that for years and it frustrates me, but I'm hoping for at least a partial solution to that before the end of the book!   Does it help me to see how chronic stress makes my body want to store every calorie it can.  Definitely!  (Did stress make me crave Starburst yesterday -- yes.   I ended up with Skittles, which make me crash even more because there were no Starburst left in the snack machine.)

Overall, this book is thought provoking, especially when I consider the long-term damage that a continued dependence on processed food will cause.  Summer is almost here, and that's when we typically eat healthier meals and, of course, exercise more.  I doubt that we'll get to the stage where all of our meals are home-cooked with fresh veggies, at least not as long as we're both teaching, but knowing that eating better will lead to more energy and less depression, which will in turn will lead to more energy to cook after a day at work, is motivational.   More energy will also lead to more exercise, which leads to less stress, which reduces metabolic syndrome, which leads to less hunger and more energy....  that's worth spending 30 minutes cooking at the end of the day!

Over summer, I am also going to add more of our favorite healthy recipes into the grocery list app we use on our phones.  Just buying the things we need to cook those healthy meals is often more of a road-block than the actual cooking.  Getting out of the grocery store parking lots after 5:00pm is something I avoid at all costs, so planning ahead on weekends has proven to be the best solution to the "what do we eat" problem.

Back to reading -- but first, I'm going to check on the veggie garden and encourage the plants to get busy