7 Reasons Why People Are Getting Fat
There’s no question that obesity is a complex, multi-faceted issue. And the bigger picture is finally coming into focus.
In the next article I want to share with you 7 reasons that makes people get fat these days and what can you do to avoid it.
1. We’re eating too much outside!
Food prepared away from home provides more calories per meal than home-prepared foods and is higher in nutrients we overconsume and lower in those we underconsume.
This makes it easier to overeat while also creating or exacerbating micronutrient deficiencies, which not only impairs general health but general satiety as well, which can lead to further overeating.
The Solution
Prepare as much of your daily food at home as possible. This allows you to control your calorie intake and ensure you get the majority of those calories from nutrient-dense foods.
2. Stop eating too much sugar!
Well, the truth is sugar can’t ruin your health unless you eat like an idiot and refuse to exercise…which, unfortunately, describes a large percentage of the population.
The leaner and more physically active someone is, the better his body deals with simple sugars; and on the other hand, the more overweight and sedentary someone is, the more harmful high levels of sugar intake becomes.
As far as weight gain goes, we have to remember that both weight gain and loss are regulated by the principles of energy balance And as a corollary, simply eating sugar can’t cause you to get fatter.
The real problem with foods that contain added sugars is they make it easier to overeat.
The bottom line is lean, physically active people can regularly eat sugar (in moderation) with absolutely no negative side effects in terms of weight gain and metabolic health.
The Solution
Get the majority of your calories from unprocessed, nutrient-dense foods, but feel free to include a bit of daily sugar in your meal planning if you so desire and you’ll be fine.
3. We’re drinking too many caloric beverages.
The major problem with caloric beverages, ranging from soda to sports and energy drinks to fruit juices, is they don’t trigger satiety like food.
You can drink 1,000 calories and be hungry an hour later, whereas eating 1,000 calories of food, including a good portion of protein and fiber, will probably keep you full for 5 to 6 hours.
People that drink calories are much more likely to overeat than those that don’t.
The Solution
Cut back on or cut out altogether caloric beverages, and you’ll be better for it.
Learn to drink plain water and you’ll not only reap the many health benefits of staying hydrated, your body will burn more calories too.
4. We eat too much fats.
The problem with high-fat dieting, however, is the fact that fats are so damn tasty and energy dense but not filling. A gram of fat contains about 9 calories whereas a gram of protein or carbohydrate contains about 4 calories, but the fat isn’t as satiating as the other two. This is why research shows it’s easier to overeat on a high-fat diet and that obesity is greater among high-fat dieters than low-fat.
The Solution
The Institute of Medicine recommends that adults should get 20 to 35% of their daily calories from dietary fat, and if you exercise regularly, there’s no good reason to eat more than this.
5. We are not having enough sleep.
Your body burns quite a few calories while you sleep.
A 180-lb person burns about 80 calories per hour, and much of it must come from fat stores because your body is in a fasted state, which means there’s no food energy available and insulin is at a baseline level.
Much of your body’s growth hormone is produced while you’re sleeping.
Growth hormone is a powerful lipolytic hormone, meaning it stimulates fat loss, and your body produces a large amount while you sleep. The amount we sleep affects our weight-loss efforts in addition to our overall health.
The Solution
According to the National Sleep Foundation, adults need 7–9 hours of sleep per night to avoid the negative effects of sleep deprivation.
6. We just don’t move enough.
In the early 1960s, almost half of the jobs in the private sector required at least moderate physical activity. Today, only 20% of jobs are equally demanding.
Accordingly, Americans’ average daily energy expenditure has dropped by over 100 calories since the ’60s, and if that doesn’t sound too bad to you, consider this:
Eating 100 calories more than you burn every day, for a year, will add about 10 pounds of fat to your body.
The Solution
Sedentary living is incredibly unhealthy.
A big part of staying lean and healthy is regular physical activity, and the best way to incorporate this is regular exercise, whether in the gym or through physically demanding hobbies.
7. We’re eating more calories than ever.
The amount of calories we eat on a daily basis has dramatically increased over the last several decades, and this alone is enough to explain the equally dramatic rise in obesity rates.
When you look at the previous six points, the picture is abundantly clear: people just eat too damn much and move too damn little, and if they flipped that around–ate less and moved more–they would “magically” lose the excess weight and avoid the ny health risks that come with being overweight.
All the mainstream fear mongering about wheat and grains, carbohydrates in general, sugar, GMOs, and the rest of it obscures this basic truth, and sends people off on unproductive dietary witch hunts.
The key to weight loss and maintenance is, and always will be, balancing energy intake with energy output.
What are your thoughts on why people are fatter than ever?
Have anything else to share?
Let me know in the comments below!
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