TOUGH TALK ABOUT FAT!
HOW TO REACH AND MAINTAIN YOUR IDEAL WEIGHT
William B. Parsons Jr. MD
New from Lilac Press: your guide to a slim-trim future.
TOUGH TALK doesn't scold you for being fat.
It teaches you to GET TOUGH with that fat and get rid of it---ALL OF IT!
whether you need to lose 10 pounds, 100 pounds, or even more.
Who needs this book? Almost everybody. With 2/3 of the US public now in the overweight or obese groups, not only individuals but whole families may be fat. [Find your height and weight on the BMI (Body Mass index) table on pages 14-15 to see where you fit.]
Tough Talk tells you WHY to lose excessive weight. Some think it's just a look better/feel better issue, but it's not that simple. The book lists numerous health problems associated with obesity, but the big three are heart attack, diabetes, and wearing out your weight-bearing joints.
Being obese in adult life, on average, subtracts three years from one's life. Being fat at 40 has the same risk of heart attack as smoking (doubles the risk). To quickly assess your doubled heart attack risk: waistline more than 35 inches in women, more than 40 inches in men.
One-third of persons die of the first heart attack. The others must live as survivors of heart attack and/or heart surgery rather than as one who has never had a heart attack. There is a world of difference!
Diabetes spoils the quality of life, plus adding the risk of damage to eyes and to kidneys, further increasing heart attack risk, and causing loss of limbs from impaired circulation.
Obesity results in rapidly wearing out weight-bearing joints causing crippling pain and often requiring joint replacement.
Obese parents raise obese children. Most parents do not realize that, by letting their children become overweight and obese, they are killing them, as well as themselves.
The Epidemic of Obesity that has engulfed our adult population has extended to school children and teens. This has caused an appalling epidemic of diabetes in teenagers (the type we formerly called adult-onset diabetes).
Tough Talk teaches measures designed to prevent and manage juvenile obesity, recommended by national agencies as well as the author.
Tough Talk tells you what not to do:
Don't make New Year's resolutions . They never work. Any day of the year is a good day to take charge of your life--and stay in charge!
Don't " go on a diet. " That sounds like a prison sentence, something with an end as well as a beginning. You must get tough, take charge and stay in charge --for the rest of your life.
If the word carbs is in your vocabulary, throw it away . Turn your back on anything that uses it. The ad people are messing with your mind.
Get away from the idea that exercise will play a major role in your weight reduction program . It plays a role, but if you think it is nearly as important as control of calories, this can ruin your program. More of this later.
Do not join the corner fitness center . The only exercise an adult needs is a 30-minute walk 6 or 7 days a week, at a comfortably brisk pace. Exercise is important for fitness, cardiovascular benefit , and leg strength , as we grow older. Exercise can enhance weight loss but does not play a major role in weight reduction.
Don't spend money on anything related to weight control, once you own Tough Talk About Fat and the excellent calorie guide, compiled by Allan Borushek. Dr. Parsons calls it "the best, most complete, easiest to use calorie guide I have found." (For more information, see CalorieKing.com .)
The " weight loss industry " in the US has been called a $58 billion industry-- with a 98% failure rate. " Remember, for every two persons showing off their better bodies in ads, there were 98 who did not succeed.
What, then, is important for weight reduction and control?
CALORIE CONTROL IS EVERYTHING, AND IT WORKS LIKE YOUR BANK BALANCE. If you consistently put in less than you take out, it will steadily fall.
To show how the author wants your mind to work, Tough Talk contains two easy-to-read tables, titled How to Get Rid of the Calories You'll Never Miss and Calorie-Saving Suggestions. Each says, "Instead of this, eat that, and you'll save this many calories." By learning the approximate caloric content of foods you have been eating and finding lower-calorie substitutes for high-calorie foods, you can reduce your intake by hundreds of calories every day.
If you save an average of 500 calories a day, you will lose a pound every 7 days, since a net deficit of 3,500 calories results in loss of one pound. If you reduce your average intake by 700 calories a day (not difficult if you have been a dessert eater, a snacker, have one or two beers a day, or whatever), you will lose a pound in 5 days. That''s 53 to 73 pounds in a year, which will bring most people to an ideal weight. If not, there's next year.
TOUGH TALK ABOUT FAT! TEACHES YOU :
10 tips on how to design your own program (Here are a few.)
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Don't skip breakfast. This almost always dooms a program to failure. |
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Include protein (eggs, lean meat) in all meals, especially breakfast. |
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Unless allergic, drink milk. Keep fat calories low with 1% milk, rather than 2% or 4% ("homogenized") milk. |
16 strategies for your weight reduction program before thinking of calorie numbers (Here are a few)
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Buy small and cook smaller amounts of food. |
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Use smaller plates and serve at the stove, 2/3 of what you formerly ate. No serving dishes on table to invite second helpings. |
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Take smaller bites and put your silverware down between bites, rather than preparing the next bite. |
10 ways to reduce your intake of fats (which contain 9 calories per gram, compared to 4 calories in each gram for carbohydrates and protein).
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No butter, margarine, bacon, sausage, processed lunch meats. |
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Don't fry or deep-fry. Broil meats, bake potatoes. "Do you want fries with that?"--No! |
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Avoid nuts (loaded with fatty oils) and watch salad dressings. Use the lowest-calorie salad dressing you can find. Vinegar has no calories. |
Measures to prevent or manage obesity in children and teens
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Families should eat dinner together, talk with one another, learn caloric contents together, and discuss strategies to reduce calories and weight. |
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Remove TV and computers from bedrooms of children and teens. Limit times of TV, computer, video games. (Studies show that this also reduces violent behavior, substance abuse, and altered body image.) |
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Take children to the grocery with you from time to time, to help choose favorite fruits and vegetables, plus deciding to try new fruits and vegetables and perhaps discover new favorites. Eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day. |
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Prevail on schools to remove high-calorie drink and snack machines, also to eliminate fast foods from cafeterias. |
An eventual goal: a federal law that requires display of a number (caloric content) wherever food is advertised or sold (excepting only grocery ads).
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TV ads (Big Mac 590, Double Whopper with Cheese 1,020) |
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Fast food places (on outside and inside menus) and real restaurants (on menus) |
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TV cooking shows and cooking segments (calories in one serving) |
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Recipe columns |
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Bars and taverns |
Another lesson about exercise, by the author.
If I walk on the treadmill at my tennis place for 30 minutes at 3.5 miles per hour (a pretty brisk pace) and 2% grade, the digital display tells me that I use only 104 calories! (That's a slice of bread or a pat of butter.) If I ride the exercise bike, it's display tells me that riding 5 miles uses just 74 calories!.
Here's the good news, from a late chapter in the book titled Oh, All Right--Let's Talk About Exercise! The reason I burn only 104 calories in 30 minutes of walking is that i weigh 155 pounds, which I tell the digital computer. If I fool the digital computer by punching in 200 pounds, it tells me that in 30 minutes I would burn 223 calories. So the daily 30-minute walk I advise will use more calories for heavier persons. This, however, does not give them permission to go home and eat an extra 223 calories.
You will benefit from walking 30 minutes 6 or 7 days each week, in terms of general fitness, cardiovascular health, and leg strength. But you must do it! Most people find a time that is best for them: getting up 30 minutes earlier to walk in the morning , walking 30 minutes during the lunch hour, or walking after work. Do what works for you.
We have already seen how calorie control alone (without any exercise at all) can result in losing a pound every 5 to 7 days. If that 200-pounder walks 30 minutes a day, at 223 calories each time, this will enhance weight loss a little (1589 calories in 7 days of walking, 1338 calories in 6 days). So it would take between 2 and 3 weeks to reach a net deficit of 3,500 calories (one pound). That's' why we walk for fitness but control calories for weight loss.
How to help friends and relatives who need to loss weight.
Give each of them a copy of Tough Talk, and the Allan Borushek calorie guide. Are you hesitating because you don't want to seem to say, "You're fat. Here's a book."---well, are you? We thought of that when publishing the book, so we include a special bookmark with each copy. Click on "Bookmark" in this website to see its message, which begins: "Presented with loving concern, knowing that weight control can prevent heart attack and diabetes, while sparing your weight-bearing joints." You may save lives!
Tough Talk About Fat! tells the truth about weight reduction, as Cholesterol Control Without Diet! did about cholesterol: