It’s not necessarily fat or fit
The media and most doctors are doing the public a disservice by focusing on thinness as the solution to America’s health problems, says Glenn Gaesser, a University of Virginia exercise physiology professor and author.
It’s better to be fit and fat, than a skinny couch potato, Gaesser asserted, proving his point with dozens of scientific studies and data charts during a fast-paced 90-minute lecture at Community Regional Medical Center. The May 2 evening presentation was the first of three Gaesser is making at Community hospitals about diet and exercise and their effects on overall health.
Gaesser addressed topics from his most recent book, “Big Fat Lies: The Truth About Your Weight and Your Health.” His other books include, “The Spark: The Revolutionary New Plan to Get Fit and Lose Weight” and “It’s the Calories, Not the Carbs.”
If you ask physicians why they encourage their patients to lose weight, they’ll list benefits such as lowered blood pressure, lower cholesterol, better cardio-vascular health and lower risk of Type 2 diabetes. But Gaesser argued, with 40 years of research to back it up, that it is exercise not weight loss that yields those results.
And, he said, dieting doesn’t stick with most people, causing yo-yo weight gains and losses. Such fluctuations in body fat have been shown to be more detrimental to the heart than remaining overweight, Gaesser said. Weight cycling in humans and in animal studies has resulted in higher cardio-vascular deaths, DNA damage to breast tissue and increased risk of certain cancers. “But you don’t see major media coverage of this,” Gaesser pointed out.
“It’s easier to move more, than to eat less,” Gaesser said, citing research that found twice as many people met physical activity goals compared to weight loss goals. “Dieting makes you hungry; that’s a biological urge that’s really hard to ignore or overcome.”
A recent National Institutes of Health examination of older Americans found that overweight fit men – those with low blood pressure and cholesterol – had half the mortality risk as thin unfit men. Gaesser pulled up several charts to show the benefits of just moderate aerobic exercise three to four times a week: lowered blood pressure, lowered LDL or bad cholesterol, increased HDL or good cholesterol levels, and increased glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity.
People shouldn’t be made to feel unhealthy if they have trouble losing weight, Gaesser said. He jokingly warned the audience that they could leave before he presented discouraging slides showing that about half of women actually gained weight in exercise studies, even though they become more fit.
Gaesser doesn’t just focus on exercise benefits. His newest research, which will be presented at a conference in June, shows there is immediate improvement in vascular dilation – a sign of cardiovascular health – from eating a high-fiber, high-carbohydrate meal versus eating an Atkins diet meal that’s high in protein and fats, but low in carbs and fiber.
When pressed by people in the audience, Gaesser said if people really want to lose weight they’ll have to do more high intensity exercise and eat much more fiber and less fat. But to really make significant differences in public health and lower the cost of health care takes far less effort.
“If every person in America who was able just did 30 minutes of brisk walking four times a week and upped their intake of fruits and vegetables and whole grains, a whole lot of health problems we have today…would largely disappear,” Gaesser told the group of mostly Community employees.
This story was reported by Erin Kennedy. She can be reached at ekennedy@communitymedical.org.