Naturopathic Solutions

This NYT article by Eric Nagourney reports on a study that sought to determine the most effective way to get people to walk.   The actual study report can be found here.  This is an important area of research because walking is a very effective means of exercise which can  reduce obesity and improve overall health, and a relatively simple one at that—no equipment or training is needed, yet people fail to maintain walking programs.  Or as the article puts it:  “Despite numerous studies linking walking to better health, many people cannot seem to bring themselves to do even that.”

The essential thrust of this new study is that the most successful ways to encourage walking tend to use “targeting and tailoring,” gearing mechanisms aimed at improving walking to people’s individual goals.

It helps to remind people to exercise by email or phone messages and to encourage them to form small walking groups.  The use of a pedometer seems also to be a plus in generating motivation to walk.  Programs aimed at individual households rather than broader groups work best, and the most successful programs added as much as 60 minutes of walking a week.  Depending on your body mass index, rate of exertion and so forth that could equate to losing as much as 5 pounds in a year in a fairly painless way.

Other ideas for improving your walking commitment not mentioned in the article:

1.     Before you fall asleep make mental commitments to walk the next day noting specifics as to how you are going to achieve this.

2.    Make it a point to walk your dog daily, if you don’t have one, tag along with a neighbor who walks their dog.

3.    Plan different walking adventures:  take different paths around your house, walk the mall, drive to a nearby park and then walk, drive into the nearest city and then walk the streets.

4.    If you need to, break up your walking plans into smaller segments that are linked to normal objectives.  Parking the car farther away at the supermarket or work fall into this category.

There are many more examples.  Walking is one the most effective ways to easily improve your health profile and lose some weight.  If you can successfully keep a walking program you have taken an important step towards improved physical fitness.

This comprehensive CBC web report chronicles “a study conducted by Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky, director of the neuromuscular and neurometabolic clinic at McMaster University in Hamilton and Simon Melov of the Buck Institute for Age Research in Novato, Calif., wherein they compared tissue samples from 25 healthy older men and women who did six months of weight training and a similar group of 26 younger people.”

“Exercise was linked to a reversal back to levels similar to those of younger adults.”

 “Melov said the researchers were surprised at the extent of the results in humans.

‘The fact that their 'genetic fingerprints' so dramatically reversed course gives credence to the value of exercise, not only as a means of improving health, but of reversing the aging process itself, which is an additional incentive to exercise as you get older.’"

This study shows that it is never too late to start an exercise program.  Check with your doctor if you are starting from scratch.

There is no way to reverse the aging process, but a regular exercise program may be the closest thing there is.

Gina Kolata, experienced and prolific health and medical writer for the New York Times has written a controversial new book:  “Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss--and the Myths and Realities of Dieting.”  You can buy it here. Excerpts from the new best seller can be found in this NYT article.

In the article, Ms. Kolata summarizes an extensive study as follows:  “In other words, being fat was an inherited condition.”    She summarizes another study results by saying that “70 percent of the variation in peoples’ weights may be accounted for by inheritance, a figure that means that weight is more strongly inherited than nearly any other condition…”

You get the point.  Ms. Kolata is almost saying that there is little that you can do about your weight—it’s in your genes.

Many of us feel that that is a vast over simplification and harmful to some extent because it provides a rationale or excuse for people to use to avoid trying to keep a good BMI and to stay in shape.  Obesity is a modern medical disaster which negatively impacts the nation’s health in a variety of sinister ways, including increased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular problems, not to mention quality of life issues.

So, it was interesting to read contrasting arguments to Ms. Kolata’s thesis from the letters section of the NYT which were reacting to her article.  Here are some excerpts.   These are direct quotes from specific letters to the Times. 

1.      Regrettably, Gina Kolata’s article tells only part of the story. No one disputes that genetics a role in obesity but the worldwide rise that has occurred over the past 50 years isn’t due just to genes. Genes haven’t changed in the past 50 years; the environment has. The environment is toxic and that’s what the genes are up against. There are food and labor-saving devices everywhere. The good news is that there are people who lose weight and keep it off. The mean weight loss among more than 5,000 men and women in the National Weight Control Registry is 60 pounds, and the group has maintained that loss for roughly five years. They work hard at it, and no one claims it’s easy, but they do it.

2.      I suspect the solution to obesity is a filling diet based upon sound food selection rather than just throwing in the towel and gorging. The need to stave off intense hunger may be akin to the need to breathe, but I suppose the analogy can go further. We need to breathe decent air, and people struggling with obesity need to eat appropriate food.

3.      After reading “Genes Take Charge,” many people may say: “Well, looks like it’s all in my genes, there’s not much I can do about it.” It’s tempting to take a nihilistic view since it absolves us of any personal responsibility, but it’s not true — our genes are only part of the story.  The human genome changes only one half of one percent every million years. The obesity epidemic is only about 30 years old, so changes in genes do not explain the recent dramatic rise in obesity. While there is a genetic predisposition to obesity and chronic diseases like coronary heart disease and diabetes, it is just a propensity, not a death sentence. In most cases, diet and lifestyle modifications override genetics if you’re willing to make big enough changes. Most of the time, nurture trumps nature, but it’s not always easy.

4.      Now 61 years of age, it has been three years since I lost 133 pounds, more than half my body weight. I battled my weight for all my life, and I lost the weight by myself, by counting calories. There were no pills, no surgery, no meetings. I believe that you can train your body to expect less food, and I am so rarely hungry that it is a notable event. I don’t obsess about food but I know everything I will eat at every meal, have my food planned and even bring food when I travel. When you have spent your life in size 24 and you now get up every morning and put on size 2 pants, it is so worth it.  My advice, if you have a lot to lose: reduce your calories gradually, eat by the clock, choose your calories wisely and buy new clothes.

While Ms. Kolata’s research and findings deserve recognition, the responses above testify to the other side of the story.  Please read the article and letters in full and buy her book.