Snack and Die Early

Snacks on a airline are nothing more than a distraction from the misery you are in while on board.

"Never eat while standing up." One quick tip for keeping the weight off! I don't care about the 'organic' part - don't think it make a big difference. The big mess seems to be that there is the sugar & corn syrup & seed oil added to everything! Watch the carbs, they say, and NOT as they go into your mouth. In recent years the big thing - and I don't think it is just a fad- is intermittent fasting. Restrict your eating time within an 8 hour time frame. Don't snack. Don't eat after 7PM (or what ever time works for you) so you can fast for at least 14-16 hours between dinner & breakfast.

The Md knows little to nothing about the dietary habits of his fellow passengers but immediately jumps to the conclusion that it is the result of snacking/diet? There are many contributing variables involved. I have known many people with the same drinking, smoking, eating, exercise habits. Some lived and are living long lives and a few died young. His preaching is comparable to climate change alarmists blaming CO2 and ignoring other factors.

The interesting thing is that Americans still live into their '80s

Took the family on a jaunt down to Oceans of Fun in KC a few weeks ago. Now, I could stand to lose a few pounds, but the obesity on parade was appalling. I would bet that 75% of the people I saw were at least 50-100 lbs. overweight. All the adults in our party commented on it. It was beyond disturbing; it was alarming.

Mentioning obese passengers, many years ago I lived in Puerto Rico before jets. When you wanted to fly, they weighed you and your luggage on the scale at the check-in counter. If you and your stuff weighed more than a certain amount, you were charged an excess baggage fee. It seems the fair thing to do. I weigh 140 and if my luggage weighs 62 lbs then I will pay an excess baggage fee on 12 pounds. Now, the total weight of flying me is 212 pounds. Now, someone who has 50 pound luggage but weighs 240 pounds pays no excess weight fees. That stinks!!. We need to go back to the pre-jet process and have these obese people pick up their fair share. Also, if we ever need to abandon ship, these very heavy people can't let anyone by and it is dangerous.

There's something to be said about the absence of overweight Americans in photos of crowded street scenes from the forties, fifties, and sixties. It's not because everyone was poor and couldn't afford to eat.

Airports and airplanes are great places to observe obese people, many of whom need to get dressed. In my opinion, obesity in most cases shows lack of self-discipline.

If someone eats well most of the time the little snack pack will do nothing. Natural organic life made material contains thousands of substances we could never name in combinations we could never imagine. Plants are experts at chemical warfare. So are insects. Weight control: Calories input < or = calories expended. Snacking adds calories but if you are on your feet all day it may be net zero. If you sit all day you better not have a jar of M&Ms and Reese's on your desk and a bag of Doritos in front of the TV. Aerobic exercise at any level. Anything that increases heart rate and breathing. Dancing is the funnest, IMO. Core exercise every day. These are so simple! Try to push the door frame apart, push down on the chair arms, planks, lay on your back and hold your feet up, however long you can. Squeeze your hands on the steering wheel apart or together at stop lights. Balance on one foot, or just the toes. These things can be done all the time. It's really a mindset thing.

Once upon a time, you'd have a sugar bowl on the table to add sweetener to your cereal, whatever. No more. Sugar is in everything. As the doctor tells us, read the ingredients. If the list of ingredients is too long, don't buy it. The ingredients at the top of the list are those that have biggest percentage in the product. And have you ever seen a skinny person drink a can of diet soda? Skip it. It does not make anyone skinny. Read the ingredients.

So funny that he should notice. We recently flew (Southwest) and noticed that the Two Biggest people at our gate getting on the Plane (who happened to be Black) shoved their way down the Aisle with their Huge, overstuffed carryon shoulder bags, PLUS a carryon Suitcase, plus each of them had a full meal in carryout Bags from one of the hugely expensive Restaurants in the Southwest wing of the Airport. It was almost funny to watch them. They settled in the 3 seats across from us, and left the middle Seat empty. Several times the Flight Attendant announced this was a "sold out flight" so make empty seats available to those looking to be seated. Their Middle Seat Was never used. Would you want to sit between Two 300 Plus pound Adults who had their meals plus their "Shoulder Bags" that were supposed to go under the seat in front of them? It would have been comical if it were not so sad that they could have cared less about anyone else on that Plane! When the plane landed, they were first to stand in the Aisle (we were about 5 seats from the front of the plane) and then held up everyone while they searched for their Stuff on the seats, under the seats and in the overhead Bins! Meanwhile, everyone waited!! Including us!!! Really honked me off!

I grew up in the 50s and 60s. We ate three meals a day and always had dessert. But cola was a once a week treat, snacks were limited and fast food when it appeared was in a small portion. When you got old, you got stout and there were a couple of people I knew who were fat but most everyone else was average sized. Also, I never knew anyone with type 2 diabetes and never met anyone with a peanut allergy.

Now worries! The WHO is all over this. They will eradicate the crisis of obesity by 2030.

There's also the element that wants to glorify the morbidly obese - singer (?) and model (?) Lizzo. I do not find her rolls of morbidly obese fat spilling out of a thong bikini the least attractive.

Certainly that list of ingredients in the infant formula is very off-putting. Almost all of what he says is right and sensible. But the differences between his "organic" and normal farm foods is almost entirely marketing BS, IMO. Yes, I have figured out that butter instead of the various margarine things is healthier, even for someone who had a cardiac arterial blockage almost 20 years ago. Any of the oils that have been chemically modified to be solid at room temp are likely to be bad for you. That is usually "hydrogenated", which they were proud of 50 years ago when the anti-butter fraud was still in full voice. I changed my diet a bit, adding a good bit of fish and fish oil with my vitamins and exercise more,and take a small dose of a statin and for decades my blood lipids have been excellent, and no more issues with my heart. Biking about 40-60 miles a week helps a good bit. My 40 year old cardiologist told me that he'd like to "swap blood lipid tests" with me. And vitamins are critical, too. Especially higher vitamin D3, which requires a proper accompanying amount of Vitamin K2-7 to keeps the calcium liberated by the D3 going to your bones and teeth rather than to inappropriate places like arteries. I'm convinced that low D3 levels due to lack of skin exposure to sunshine, and living too far from the equator, and indoors so much, is one of the most widespread root causes of poor health in modern societies. It is a major big deal. Since I got my Vitamin D3 levels up, I haven't had any colds or flu in the last 30+ years. Never missed a day of work over that period, either. And no mRNA shots, and no Wuhan virus in myself, or my wife. She's been cooking lowered fat, lower salt, healthy foods since the 1980s, and as we learn more about better diet, that is added. When I had my minor heart problem in the early 2000s, I spent about an hour going over my diet with a dietician who specialized in cardiac patients, with my wife present. This was done with two different dieticians, due to different doctors being involved, ordering redundant work At the end of an hour long Q&A session with each, the summary was "Well, you won't have to change your diet significantly." We had already been eating properly for decades, although in the early years, our understanding of Vitamin D3 was lacking, that research was only available in the 2000s and onward, mostly. I think you can save a lot of money doing basically what he says, with some of the IMO over-the-top ultra organic stuff dialed down a bit. But, the only harm of "organic" is to your pocketbook and your choices of items. Organic healthy, but I doubt in most cases it is significant. Yes, avoid the animal hormones. Eating no-hormone beef rather than "grass fed all organic"....IMO, the differences are irrelevant. This is a minor fine point on what I think is a good article, just a bit pedantic on the organic stuff. He's right, most people really eat a lot of horrible junk, and WAY too much of it. Too little exercise, and shortages of critical vitamins add up to poor health for a lot of people.

DVC, statins are evil. It will do a lot of damage to your body. Just cutting out one thing -- sugar (including artificial sugar) -- will do wonders.

Re #2, nothing is more delicious than a cold slice of apple pie eaten over the sink before the family gets up...

People are fat because they eat more calories than they use. Either reduce calories or engage in more physical activity or both. Quite simple really.

#9 & #18 hit right on the nose - take in less calories than what you burn and exercise, damn it! Start slow by walking, no need to spend any money on exercise equipment. I was 205 pounds and had a mild heart attack, after a stint to take care of a blockage, I vowed to get fit. When I first got to cardiac rehab after my stint I couldn't walk on a treadmill for 5 minutes without getting winded. Now I'm 155 lbs and bike and/or spin class 240 miles a month. Anybody can do it you got to want to.

Do you want to lose weight? Get a prescription for semaglutide or Tirezepatide. You can easily lose 15-30% of your body weight over the course of 6 months to a year. The drugs are not stimulants so they’re same for older people and people with heart conditions. They make you feel fuller for longer.

Re #16, yes many say that about statins. IME, a small dose of statins has helped my lipids very noticeably and caused no side effects at all. I found it impossible to get my HDL above about 32, well below the recommended 40, despite much exercise, which increases HDL. Low dose statin got my HDL now consistently to 42 level, and LDLs down to 50s, total cholesterol in the 90-110 range for years. Many have muscle issues with statins, I know this. Perhaps my high levels of vitamins, or my high doses of fish oil helps, but I'm sticking with the low dose statins, in use for nearly 20 years now. If they cause problems for you, stop it. They help me and I'll continue. And "all things in moderation" is a good idea. As to the obesity....when I started traveling in the former soviet states in the early 2000s, I noticed a great difference in the number of obese people, most dramatically the 20-40 year old females. In Ukraine, Russia, Armenia and Georgia a fat girl in that age range was very rare. In the USA, I'd bet at least 50% in that age range are 30-50 lbs overweight. It was across all age brackets, too, but most glaring in that younger women.

My ex MIL was a skinny little bird of a woman. Very nice lady but she had high cholesterol. My then hubs and I would tell her to throw that margarine in the trash and use real butter but she never believed us. She died of lung cancer and she was a heavy smoker. Unfiltered Pall Malls with a tip. She was something.

You know those little boxes they use at the gate to see if your roller-bag will fit in the overhead? They need to have those to see if you’ll fit in your seat. If you don’t fit in the box, you should be required to buy two adjacent seats. Same if you need a seatbelt extender. There’s not much more annoying or uncomfortable than enduring a flight where the person next to you is taking up half of your seat.

The doctor/author JUST noticed that a large % of the population is fat to obese. I am just wondering where he spends his time ? I see them whenever I go ANYPLACE, be it a store, a restaurant, a medical office, etc.

I admit in my early 20s being somewhat of a food slut. My commute to the oil patch location was 80 miles so my truck's dashboard was littered with Slim Jims, nacho flavored Doritos, Hostess cupcakes, Vienna sausages, and whatever caught my eye at the gas station counter. A guy who worked on my tower enjoyed crackers smeared with peanut butter and mustard. We didn't claim to be chefs. I'll throw this out there for the "watch your diet" crowd. How many skinny nurses have you encountered? Why is there a designated smoking area filled with hospital staff? As Jim Morrison said. "Nobody leaves this place alive." I miss those jars of pickled sausages, darn it!

I was stationed in Germany for five years 86-91. The one thing I noticed immediately the Germans are a nation of walkers. This keeps their weight down for the most part and even heavy people walk a lot over there. Came back to the US on leave and noticed at the airport just how many Americans are overweight and out of shape. This weight problem we have is a self inflicted wound that can be corrected by walking for 30--40 minutes a day like Germans do.

Thank you, Doc, for your observations. Now here is mine...we need food control. Yes, obesity kills more people prematurely than firearms, and there is no 2A to protect the people from government controlling their food, both contents and intake. Think of all the public money that could be saved on Medicaid and Medicare if government controlled our food. How marvelous. I'm sure those who are sooo upset about American obesity will write their congressman and senators in full support of dietary regulations based on the USDA food pyramid and calorie recommendations. Then run that gas up to $20/gallon to encourage biking or walking. Add a tax to finance dietary and physical education in every school's curriculum. Oh, and let's also ban video games and smartphones, two more inhibitors of physical activity...and stop industries from employing robots or other labor-saving devices. Maybe deliver school lessons at standing desks, or at least sitting on pilates balls. Skim milk and gluten free, low carb, no sugar-added school lunches...etc. Ban the Potato Chip!! #6 - Exactly how are YOU being cheated if a heavier passenger with maximum "free" luggage boards a plane to fly to the same destination? The charges are known upfront. You're example (62 pounds) exceeds the individual max piece weight, which exposes the luggage handlers to greater risk of injury. Don't like the luggage rules, take another airline. Southwest gives passengers two bags free. One could also argue the policy you propose would discriminate against males, who tend to be heavier than women by about 20 pounds according to the latest figures. So each gets 20 pounds less luggage allowance?

Sure are a lot of comments about overweight people by those who assume they have all the answers. You don't. But us fatties do appreciate the input. We rarely go a day without hearing it.

Obese folks cannot fit into a stadium seat. If they do try and squeeze into one, it's a real problem for their neighbors when they try and stand back up. The beer goes everywhere. Their tickets have to be exchanged for the handicapped areas which have portable, folding chairs.

#14 - Lizzo is a roll model.

I think it is a result of all sweeteners being HFCs (corn syrup) and SOY in EVERYTHING. I mean take a look at your average grocery store flyer and you will almost ALWAYS see 3 12-paks of Coca Cola (or any other soda, ALL of which are basically corn syrup and carbonated water) for sale every week and twice that much for holiday weekends, and then no matter WHAT package you pick up, SOY is used in everything. Yes, I know people have the right to drink as much cola and eat as much prepackaged foods as they like, but when the grocery stores make those items the singular things that people can "save money on" it is NOT outside reason to see the psychological manipulation. This is why so many diets these days consist of people prepping their own food where they can control what goes into it. Its not always the amount eaten, it is the quality and the mass produced stuff that people always look at as a bargain ends up undermining any real effort to control our weight. Im not saying the HFCs and soy are the only factors, just that it doesnt take much to take note of what is actually on our grocery shelves and offered as 'bargains" in the flyers to understand its a problem more pervasive than just people overeating. We've been made addicts of these things...