Counter Intuitive

In just one week, The New York Times published three articles about obesity and exercise. The titles of these articles may cause you to “SAY WHAT?”.

The headlines all seem to be counterintuitive. But those of us who know anything about exercise and fitness, read most of this and say DUH?! (and that’s not meant to insult or ridicule anyone.)

Just the same, it is interesting reading:

In ‘Obesity Paradox,’ Thinner May Mean Sicker

By Harriet Brown

Eating for Health, Not Weight

Opinion By Dean Ornish

For Weight Loss, Less Exercise May Be More

By Gretchen Reynolds

Jay’s “you should knows” (Two quotes from each of the above reference articles.):

• studies conducted by Steven Blair at the Cooper Institute in Dallas (those who’ve read my previous blogs should know this is the institute founded by Dr. Ken Cooper. Dr Cooper is the man who introduced the concept of aerobics), - shows that being fat and fit is better, healthwise, than being thin and unfit.

More often that not, cardiovascular fitness is a far more important predictor of mortality risk than just knowing what you weigh,” said Glenn Gaesser, author of “Big Fat Lies” and director of the Healthy Lifestyles Research Center at Arizona State University.

• "Yet being thin and being healthy are not at all the same thing.”
• It’s not low carb or low fat. An optimal diet is low in unhealthful carbs (both sugar and other refined carbohydrates) and low in fat (especially saturated fats and trans fats) as well as in red meat and processed foods. 

WHAT you eat is as important as what you exclude — your diet needs to be high in healthful carbs like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, soy products in natural, unrefined forms and some fish, like salmon.

• The overall message, he says, is that the shorter exercise sessions seem to have allowed the men “to burn calories without wanting to replace them so much.” The hourlong sessions were more draining and prompted a stronger and largely unconscious desire to replenish the lost energy stores.
• Still, if the relationship between working out and losing weight remains complicated and tangled, one point is unequivocal. The men who were sedentary “lost no weight at all,” Mr. Rosenkilde says, so if you hope to shed pounds, “any amount of exercise is better than none.” 

Jay’s Bottom Line:
 If the elephant can find BALANCE in her life SO CAN YOU!!