back to article The ONE WEIRD TRICK which could END OBESITY

Research by a crack team from the Department of the Bleedin' Obvious indicates that the UK's growing fat crisis could be tackled by people stuffing less grub into their faces. In fairness to the University of Cambridge nosh squad responsible for this shock conclusion, the actual finding is that "reducing the portion sizes …

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  1. Voland's right hand Silver badge

    It is not portion size which matters

    It is what's innit and what do you do besides stuffin' your face.

    I can stuff myself with triple Balkan (Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian - they are all about the same) grill portions up to twice a day (that is a plate size pork chop each) and still keep my weight close to its healthy numbers. This is despite not overdoing the exercise and having a job which requires me to spend most of my day staring at code on the monitor in front of me.

    Junk food (as depicted), however, in the days when I was still eating it meant 10kg+ on top of it before I bat an eye lid. My personal suspicion is the bread. The bread today has nothing to do with what we ate as kids - it is full of "interesting" additives including some really nasty brominated sh*t which allow it to stay nice and rubbery for a week instead of becoming hard in 2 days as bread should.

    So it is not the calories, calories in that range can be burned off and are burned off. In fact, you can burn off significantly more surplus calories without noticing them. It is something else.

    1. wiggers
      Boffin

      Re: It is not portion size which matters

      You're on the right track and bread is a key factor. You can go further and say carbohydrates in general contribute to obesity, diabetes, and a host of other conditions known collectively as metabolic syndrome. This has been shown in numerous high quality studies and meta-analyses. The biochemistry of this is very simple. The body considers carbs as a rarity because for most of the past million years we haven't had supermarkets with aisles full of cereals, crisps, sugary drinks, bread, baked goods, biscuits, jam, sweets, etc. So when you consume carbs the mechanism that makes you feel full is turned off so that you can carb-load and build up fat reserves quickly. That's fine if it's for a short season before winter, but not every day all year round. Eating food high in natural fats will make you feel full properly and it's difficult to over-consume.

      Smaller portion sizes will make no difference now that people are accustomed to snacking (and adverts tell them it's good and healthy so to do). They'll still have the mid-morning and mid-afternoon crash in blood-glucose levels and feel 'hungry' so reach for more sugar. Expect sales of snacks and sugary drinks to increase if this is implemented.

      Low carb, high fat is what we always used to eat.

      http://www.dietdoctor.com/

      1. Infernoz Bronze badge
        Boffin

        Re: It is not portion size which matters

        We also didn't eat toxic junk like heat extracted vegetable oils, which can be even worse than excessive blood sugar from carbs for rotting the body, because they are not only rancid but also contain TFAs (Trans Fatty Acids), including Olive Oil and even Extra Virgin Olive Oil which is not fresh! The worst thing you can do with vegetable fats is fry with them, because that will make the oil rancid and convert more to TFAs, some like Extra Virgin Avocado and Coconut are more resistant to this.

        Any fats you eat should be saturated, in whole food or a more stable cold extracted oil like Avocado kept in a dark container; cold extraction and darkness is also critical for marine oils too, because unsaturated oils can easily become toxic from heat and light.

        1. wowfood

          Re: It is not portion size which matters

          There's also the issue of flour quality.

          The wheat nowadays has been grown for quantity but not quality, there's more kernels of wheat (i think that's the right term) but the mineral profile is far lower. This is in part due to the cross breeding of different strains to optimise the quantity, and also partly due to overfarming depleting the minerals in the soil which the wheat would have historically passed on to us (this is also the reason that cattle have to be supplemented with b-vitamins)

          If you want bread which is actually good for you, you have to make it yourself, but even then you can't use normal bread flour because it's still terrible quality. You're better off buying a home grain mill (or making your own) and milling your own flour straight from the grain. This way it's fresher and healthier as you know exactly what's gone in.

          http://www.breadexperience.com/home-milling/

          But then you still have the issue that a fair bit of the grains mineral makeup are actuallly various minerals that stop the absorption of other minerals, so a lot of the benifits can go straight through you, how to solve this? Sprout the grain first.

          http://nourishedkitchen.com/how-to-make-sprouted-grain-flour/

          You can buy sprouted grain flour, but considering the process of sprouting the grain and grinding it up, I'd be wary of the freshness.

          Also, sprouted grain breads taste... different. Just an FYI

    2. fajensen

      Re: It is not portion size which matters

      Eat when hungry, stop eating when not hungry. Lost 6 kilos already like that and didn't give up anything!

      If one allows oneself to become hungry before every meal, one gets to know that feeling full means something else than "stuffed" or "engorged". This, in my experience anyway, means that one does not really feel like eating much beyond the "the hunger has gone away" point.

      And inside ones head, one learns that food is available, should hunger arise, not something that should be hoarded in case it never shows up again. And that hunger can be endured for a while, it is not a crisis.

      I have some fatty friends who gets what I would call panic symptoms if they are placed in an environment where Food is not immediately obvious or available - they are basically driven by their food-anxiety to McDonalds in the middle of Barcelona because they recognise it amongst thousands of Tapas-places. It's like a junky always scouting for the next fix.

      1. Vic

        Re: It is not portion size which matters

        Eat when hungry, stop eating when not hungry

        And eat slowly.

        There is a lag between becoming full and becoming aware of being full. During that time, scoff is still free-falling down your neck.

        Eating more slowly minimises the over-eating without compromising the satiety.

        Vic.

    3. Mephistro

      Re: It is not portion size which matters (@ Voland's right hand)

      Totally true.

      I'd also like to point at carbonated beverages, which are the closest thing to injecting sugar directly into our veins, and in particular caffeinated drinks, e.g. most colas, that are both diuretic -forcing you to drink more- and addictive (because of the sugar and caffeine 'high'). What could possibly go wrong?

      And yet another factor:

      When I had all my hair (not that long ago :-) children would go to a confectionery shop and buy a few candies/threats/whatever and do this only very occasionally. Then the shops began to proliferate, and suddenly wherever you went, you would see children, sometimes almost toddlers, stuffing their faces from transparent plastic bags containing 'things' made with lots of the best juice from the North Sea, unsaturated fats, flavour enhancers that could make a hole through an engine block, and probably radioactive dust, from the way some of these confections glow.

      Here, I think parents deserve a good bollocking or two.

    4. Stevie

      Re: It is not portion size which matters

      Heh. Back in the 80s I used to take delight in taking visiting English pals for a sandwich in a New York diner.

      First giggle was the sticker shock. Seven bucks? For a shrimp salad sandwich?

      I would of course say "My treat" (well worth the cost for the ents value alone).

      Next giggle was he look on their face when the sandwich arrived, it being about three times the size the guest was expecting.

      Next giggle was watching them tryy and pack away the whole thing before they left, before ending the misery by saying "You know, you are allowed, nay expected to take some of that home with you. I'll ask for a take-out box, shall I?"

      Because the real problem here is the culture that says somehow you only own the food while it is in the restaurant, and must eat it or leave it. The same ethic when applied to, say, software, would cause immediate uproar but food must be eaten or tossed out in the garbage in the UK restaurant culture.

      Bloody silly. That sandwich was two meals.

      1. Steven Roper

        Re: It is not portion size which matters

        "food must be eaten or tossed out in the garbage in the UK restaurant culture."

        There's a similar thing here in Australia too. It's because there's some stupid bloody 'elf 'n' safety law that allows the eatery to be fined for letting people take away food meant for dine-in.

        Most restaurants, however, will disregard this law - but not all. So it doesn't hurt to ask; there's a good chance the restaurant will tell you they're not supposed to let you take the food but will give you a container and look the other way regardless.

        Few will actively refuse to let you take the food. The main exception is buffets and smorgies - mainly because they don't want people loading up a week's groceries from the salad bar and walking out the door.

        1. Martin Budden Silver badge

          Re: It is not portion size which matters

          In the last few months I've been making my own sourdough bread. Not because of any healthy reasons, just because firstly it tastes so much better than supermarket Chorleywood crap, and secondly because I actually enjoy baking. The gf loves it (and she quite likes the sourdough too).

          Baking is surprisingly easy, if you aren't doing it I recommend you try it.

      2. Sooty

        Re: It is not portion size which matters

        "Back in the 80s I used to take delight in taking visiting English pals for a sandwich in a New York diner... Next giggle was he look on their face when the sandwich arrived, it being about three times the size the guest was expecting... Next giggle was watching them tryy and pack away the whole thing"

        This is part of the UK post war culture, that may go away in the current/next generations. When our parents and grandparents were younger, food was really scarce, you even had rationing. Food was never, ever, to go to waste. If you put it out to eat, you ate it.

        Most of us, even now, still grow up with this mindset drilled into us, as a child you aren't allowed to leave the table until you've cleared your plate.

        I believe in the US, you don't have this as much, and so find nothing too unusual in only eating part of a meal portion. For people in the UK, actually training yourself to be able to leave part of a meal and just bin it if you're full is difficult, but can be a big help.

        I know someone who's diet is just to use a smaller plate, so she eats what everyone else does, and starts with a full plate and eats all of it, but has a lot less. She's lost a lot of weight with this so this might work, however it depends what's in the supermarket meal portions. I got some small portion "low fat" meals from the supermarket and whatever was in them, made me far hungrier after I'd finished it than when I started, I assume they pumped it full of something to replace the fat.

        1. Danny 14

          Re: It is not portion size which matters

          just balance out the takeaways by eating at a dodgy indian every now and again. Your body will automatically flush both ends as necessary.

        2. Mat

          Re: It is not portion size which matters

          "I got some small portion "low fat" meals from the supermarket and whatever was in them, made me far hungrier after I'd finished it than when I started, I assume they pumped it full of something to replace the fat."

          That'll be the sugar in it to replace the fat... Sugar switches off Leptin (the satiety hormone) production

          Try over eating pork chops.. Pretty damn hard - then try overeating pasta / rice / any sugar really..

        3. Stevie

          Re: Food was never, ever, to go to waste

          And if you carry out your leftovers in a box when you are finished eating, it doesn't go to waste. It gets re-heated (if that's appropriate) and eaten the next day.

          I was born in '55 in the UK, two years after rationing ended. I know all about the rationing mindset, but it isn't just a European thing. I've met people who grew up hungry in the States too. I maintain that a real issue for Britain is the "you don't own your food" restaurant culture, which should be a thing of the dim distant past.

          This doesn't fix food wastage though, as there are many reasons why perfectly good food is tossed away in rich cultures. From sell-by dates to ugly fruit, spurious-logic food wastage is a boil on the cultural backside of all wealthy western countries. The irony is that this often goes hand-in-glove with a subculture of people too poor to afford to eat, even in those enlightened countries that offer a proper social safety net.

        4. Alistair

          Re: It is not portion size which matters

          @sooty

          They did replace the fat.

          With sugar, and salt.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Obesity is a reflection of societies illhealth

    Until society in general becomes "healthier" then this problem is not going away.

    I would suggest that the real root cause is far deeper in the mind than just the end of the fork.

    Contemporary society as a whole has become greedy. It no longer remembers how to constrain itself. The media's leitmotiv is eternally based upon consumption in the largest possible portion and in all domains. Be the fastest, strongest, richest, etc

    Obesity is the manifestation of only one of a multitude of modern cancers.

    That was my happy thought for today...

    1. Voland's right hand Silver badge

      Re: Obesity is a reflection of societies illhealth

      That and the culture of snacking.

      Even as recent as 40 years ago people did not stuff their gob all the time when they are not asleep. You had breakfast, lunch and dinner. You actually had to take a break to eat.

      Compared to that today you have breakfast, chips, sweets, chips, sweets, lunch, chips, sweets, chips, sweets, dinner. Eating on the job, eating at the desk, eating at every opportunity.

      So, even if you do not consume that many calories overall, your metabolism is constantly in "food came, I should store some of it aside for future perusal" mode. With the obvious results.

      1. dogged

        Re: Obesity is a reflection of societies illhealth

        > Eating on the job

        I can't see that being popular unless it's an extreme manifestation of "casual sex".

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Obesity is a reflection of societies illhealth

          I seem to remember an episode of Absolutely Fabulous set in Morocco where licking yogurt off nubile young bodies was mentioned.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Obesity is a reflection of societies illhealth

          > Eating on the job

          I can't see that being popular unless it's an extreme manifestation of "casual sex".

          I can attest that eating pizza on the job is not advisable. Spicy meatballs becomes a side effect rather than a topping.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Obesity is a reflection of societies illhealth

      Society has not only become greedy, it has also become acceptable to be fat. I'm not saying that we should be "fat shaming" anyone that doesn't "fit"...

      I'd always been a fat kid, and then a fat adult. It took me a long time to realise that I wasn't "big boned", this wasn't my "normal size"; I ate too much and did too little exercise. You can be whatever shape you want to be, and telling people that being obese is fine and acceptable does not encourage people to aim for a healthy weight.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Obesity is a reflection of societies illhealth

        "Society has not only become greedy, it has also become acceptable to be fat. I'm not saying that we should be "fat shaming" anyone that doesn't "fit"...

        I'd always been a fat kid, and then a fat adult. It took me a long time to realise that I wasn't "big boned", this wasn't my "normal size"; I ate too much and did too little exercise. You can be whatever shape you want to be, and telling people that being obese is fine and acceptable does not encourage people to aim for a healthy weight."

        It is very refreshing to actually hear someone being honest for once.. again something else that society has now forgotten, how to be honest. it has become more important to be Politically Correct that it is to actually be "correct".

        1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
          Windows

          Re: Obesity is a reflection of societies illhealth

          "it has become more important to be Politically Correct that it is to actually be "correct"."

          Yes, but I would say that is second only to "blame someone else"

          It's also worth bearing in mind that what a doctor means by obese and what your average person means by obese are not necessarily the same thing.

      2. dogged

        Re: Obesity is a reflection of societies illhealth

        @AC-who-used-to-be-fat

        There's a lardass around here who doesn't like what you say, AC. Personally, I applaud your honesty as long as you're not going to mention BMI at any point.

        (I am 6'4" and lift weights for a hobby. By BMI standards, I probably died five years ago).

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Obesity is a reflection of societies illhealth

          Lardy AC here - BMI is a useful indicator if you aren't any of short/tall/incredibly muscle-bound. For me, it was bloody accurate, but then I'm the standard 5ft 11in white man they based it all on...

          The problem with BMI is people using it as a tickbox, if your BMI is "normal" or even slightly "overweight" (identical outcomes), then you are fine. If it's "obese", it's time to look at the next thing, not go "Oh you are obese, you need to lose weight" - you then need to look at body fat, or waist to height proportions, or one of the many other indicators (like opening your eyes and looking at the person and not the numbers).

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Obesity is a reflection of societies illhealth

            I thought the problem with BMI was a failure to distinguish fat from muscle mass and utter ignorance of the square-cube law, but YMMV.

          2. Mat

            Re: Obesity is a reflection of societies illhealth

            Look at a graph of longevity vs BMI...

            Those in the overweight category live longer than those in the healthy category..

            "Excess deaths associated with underweight, overweight and obesity." That certainly suggests that overweight is bad for you. However, if you look more closely at the paper in Jama, we can find these words: "Overweight was not associated with excess mortality." (My italics). Perhaps more extraordinarily, what the researchers actually found was that those who were overweight lived the longest; they lived longer than those of "normal" weight."

            (http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=200731)

            1. Tom 38

              Re: Obesity is a reflection of societies illhealth

              Read the comment section of the same report:

              We did not examine other health problems caused by obesity. A recent population-based study has found that overweight and obesity have a strong and deleterious impact on important components of health status, including morbidity, disability, and quality of life, and this impact is disproportionately borne by younger adults.

              Even if being overweight doesn't increase your mortality rates, your life would be a lot better if you were not. Mortality is whether you are alive or not, morbidity is whether you are healthy or not. Why not aim to be healthy?

              1. This post has been deleted by its author

              2. Kiwi

                Re: Obesity is a reflection of societies illhealth

                Even if being overweight doesn't increase your mortality rates, your life would be a lot better if you were not. Mortality is whether you are alive or not, morbidity is whether you are healthy or not. Why not aim to be healthy?

                I'm in my early 40s. Not to many years back I considered climbing mountains a "brief walk in the park", and indeed did a lot of walking and biking and so on. I also did a lot of work requiring heavy lifting, happily cut and transported my own firewood and so on.

                Then I got lazy and fat. I know people who are in their late 70's who can power up a hill carrying weights I cannot even lift now. 5 years ago I could lift in the region of 100kgs (not easily, but I could lift it), these days 30kgs is a struggle. I could think nothing of walking several k's, largely up hill. Now the corner store - which should be a 5 minute walk - is something I need powered transport for.

                Keep your health and your strength. It may not seem like much, but you will regret it when it's gone. When you have it, it's easy to keep. When you develop bad habits and start to lose your strength and your health, it's hard to get it back. 10 minutes exercise a day might've kept your health, but when you lose it you need 15 or 20 - or more. And you don't feel like doing it. One of the sad things with these conditions is the fitter you are, the more you desire to remain fit.

                Oh, and to link this back to what Tom was saying - I may easily outlive my family averages (46 or 47 for female, 49-50 for male), may outlive my grandmother who was an aerobics instructor at 83, but where I cannot enjoy the things I used to do what value is there in a longer life? Sadly, a walk it the park is no longer a walk in the park. Hell, even cutting my own toenails is difficult! And so far I've said nothing about the effects excess fat have had on my brain.

                tl;dr You may not die from being over weight, but you are far less likely to enjoy life.

    3. disgruntled yank

      Re: Obesity is a reflection of societies illhealth

      Or maybe we should say that modern society is rich enough that greed is practical across a broad range of incomes.

    4. Guus Leeuw

      Re: Obesity is a reflection of societies illhealth

      Dear AC,

      define "healthier".

      How does one do that, when:

      1) Natural fatty have been successfully replaced by low-fat products. Take fat out of any food, and you get a taste problem. Sugar makes that go away... So you have tons of low-fat products that have some form of sugar. You do know that sugar is addictive, right?

      2) The general assumption is that eating meat three times a day is actually acceptable. Looking at where we're coming from as a race, eating crops is by far easier than eating meat. Also, growing meat as is done today on an industrial level is not helpful at all for sustainable agriculture. Growing meat costs a lot of water; much more than growing crops....

      Regards,

      Guus

  3. PleebSmash
    Pint

    craft it smaller

    "Well, our own professional research shows that the average size of a pint has varied exactly 0 per cent since 1993, and there's no way we're going into the boozer and asking for a half."

    Ask for the snifter:

    http://dishwashers.reviewed.com/features/youre-drinking-it-wrong-introduction-to-beer-glassware

    Got cider in a 4 oz (0.25 pint) serving the other day.

    1. AMBxx Silver badge
      Pint

      Re: craft it smaller

      4 oz to a quarter pint? Feel sorry for you American's being short-changed. Over here in blighty, we get a proper pint of 20 fl oz. (568ml rather than 473ml).

      That said, your craft beers are looking pretty good these days.

      1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

        Re: craft it smaller

        I agree on some of the craft beers. some brewers in the US need to learn to let the beer settle and clear naturally before serving it. I've had to send more than one pint (16floz version) back because it was full of yeasty mess. The brewer prouldy claimed that was the way it was supposed to be drunk. Didn't go back there again (this was in Durango, Co)

        1. Vic

          Re: craft it smaller

          The brewer prouldy claimed that was the way it was supposed to be drunk.

          And he's probably right.

          Unfined beers taste much better, IMO. But they look mucky.

          Disclosure: My first brew went on sale on Saturday. It's proving quite popular. And it is decidedly hazy :-)

          Vic.

      2. Vic

        Re: craft it smaller

        That said, your craft beers are looking pretty good these days.

        I had an interesting discussion with a commercial brewer last night.

        Apparently, we Brits always get second shout at the American[1] hops - we get the stuff they can't sell domestically.

        This is going to be a huge problem next year, as the last harvest was quite poor, so British breweries are unlikely to get much in the way of American hops.

        Vic.

        [1] American hops are very popular at the moment - they taste much cleaner, without the brambly, earthy taste of a British hop.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: craft it smaller

          Australian hops are similar to US hops, presumably other parts of the world too, so we might see some recipes change, although apparently there's a massive lag before production can be increased due to having to grow new hop-trees ( or bushes or whatever they are ).

          1. kiwimuso
            Pint

            Re: craft it smaller

            @ disgustedoftunbridgewells

            It's a vine, actually.

            And you from Kent!! You should be AshamedofTunbridgeWells. Mind you they don't grow quite so many in Kent these days, which is a shame, so if you're a young feller you may not have known that.

            But have a pint on me, anyway!

    2. Tom Wood

      Re: craft it smaller

      In the UK that would be illegal. The smallest quantity for selling draught beer and cider is a third of a pint. You are also allowed to sell two-third pint measures, and any (integer) multiple of half pint measures, but that's it. https://www.gov.uk/weights-measures-and-packaging-the-law/specified-quantities

    3. drand
      Pint

      Re: craft it smaller

      Real men/women drink halves. In a pint glass if you like, but you get to sample more different beers and you feel less inclined to finish half a litre of what you don't want or like just because it's there. Macho necking pints culture is the enemy of good beer.

      1. Lester Haines (Written by Reg staff) Gold badge

        Re: Re: craft it smaller

        Well, we drink halves too. It's just that there's two of 'em in a pint glass simultaneously.

        1. Dazed and Confused

          Re: craft it smaller

          > Well, we drink halves too. It's just that there's two of 'em in a pint glass simultaneously.

          I remember a particularly drunken rugby club bar staff tour (look the players go on tour at Easter why shouldn't the bar staff OK) to Holland where we horrified to find beer being sold in 25cl glasses. But it was OK, I quickly worked out how to hold and 2 in each hand and be able to drink out of either of them, so it was all right.

          1. Nigel 11

            Re: craft it smaller

            When in Holland, do as the Dutch. ISTR that the beer comes in very small glasses, but the gin (genever) comes in very large ones filled right up to the rim. Apparently the tax is based on the volume of beverage and takes no account of its strength!

            Then there are those Belgian beers which start around 8% alcohol and work upwards from there ....

            1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge
              Pint

              Re: craft it smaller

              Then there are those Belgian beers which start around 8% alcohol and work upwards from there ....

              I've never understood the attraction, they're so sweet and cloying. Give me a pint of a decent 4% ale any time.

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: craft it smaller

                There's a correlation with how much hair you have on your chest. One begets the other.

                1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge
                  Pint

                  Re: craft it smaller

                  There's a correlation with how much hair you have on your chest. One begets the other.

                  I'm fine in the chest hair department. On the other hand, if they could do something for my head...

              2. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: craft it smaller

                I've never understood the attraction, they're so sweet and cloying. Give me a pint of a decent 4% ale any time.

                Oh boy, you have some samplin' to do :). Belgium hosts in excess of 1000 different varieties of beer, and I dare say you may have tasted maybe a cherry variety which is indeed on the sweet side. I'm not a beer expert myself (and only partial to the occasional "Kriekske"), but I'm certain it's possible to find more than a few that your palate will appreciate. If not, keep sampling and it soon won't matter anyway :).

                For those in a hurry to get absolutely paralytic (I personally don't see the fun in that, but who am I to judge), try Kwak pils. If served in the proper glass it takes a seasoned alcoholic to imbibe more than 2, and I suspect you'll be really sorry you tried the next day :)

                1. Ben Bonsall

                  Re: craft it smaller

                  Proper Kriek is sour as hell, you add your own sugar later if you like.

                2. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

                  Re: craft it smaller

                  Oh boy, you have some samplin' to do :).

                  No, I don't think so :) I live within driving distance of Belgium, and I've done enough. There are some palatable beers, and it's interesting to taste Brugse Zot or Straffe Hendrik at the brewery, but it's not a style I like. Too "thick", too strong (Brugse Zot Dubbel is 7.5 %). I'll stick to an English cask ale or bitter, or maybe a nice dry German or Czech Pilsner on a hot day.

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