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HEALTH CARE BLOG: Overweight and Obesity

HEALTH CARE BLOG: Overweight and Obesity

Sunday, July 15, 2007
Overweight and Obesity

The number of overweight and obese children in the United States is growing at a phenomenal rate. On the whole, kids are spending less time exercising and more time in front of the TV, computer, or video game console. And today's busy families have fewer free moments to prepare wholesome, home-cooked meals, day in and day out. From fast food to electronics, quick and easy seems to be the mindset of many people, young and old, in the new millennium.

Since the 1960s, the number of overweight kids and adolescents in the United States has nearly doubled. Today, 10% of 2- to 5-year-olds and more than 15% of children between the ages of 6 and 19 are overweight. And a whopping 31% of adults are also obese. Studies indicate that overweight and obese adolescents have up to an 80% chance of becoming overweight and obese adults, especially if one or more parent has the same condition.

Overcoming overweight and obesity in your own children means adapting the way you and your family eat and exercise and the way you spend time together. Ensuring that your children lead a healthy lifestyle begins with you, the parent, and leading by example.

Blah blah blah. Obesity crisis. Diabetes. Kids are fat. Why? Too much fat in fast food! Oh, not enough exercise in gym class! Kids use food for emotional support! And genetics too! Too much TV! Video games! Parents teach bad eating habits! Not enough time for sit down dinners!

Okay, but WHY now? Yeah, the kids want what at McDonalds? Fries, coke, hamburger, dessert. You really mean to tell me if you got rid of the beef patty and let the kids eat the rest of it, that would be a balanced meal?

Interestingly enough, cats are having and obesity and diabetes crisis. So are horses. Isn't that strange? Too much TV, or emotional eating? Or how about this from a newsletter on keeping horses in good shape as they age....

Keep old horses healthy

"I'm here to stamp out grain," Loving stated simply. "Horses don't normally consume grains in the wild. All the research shows that there is an increased risk of colic from feeding grain. You might think your horse needs more calories so you offer him grain, but it's processed in the small intestine rather than in the large hindgut, and this creates a potpourri of alterations to digestive health. In any case you can eliminate grain, do so because it can really create problems, such as gastric ulcers, obesity, obesity-associated laminitis, insulin resistance, colic, etc.

I'm sure grain doesn't cause insulin resistance and obesity in humans! We eat it all the time, and we're all as healthy as, ... well, never mind.

"Instead, if he needs extra calories, use beet pulp, rice bran, vegetable oil, alfalfa pellets, or complete feed pellets," she recommended. "Mashes are easier to eat, and it's more palatable if it's easier to eat. Any kind of oil you can find is okay, as horses are very well adapted to using fat as a caloric source."

Old and overweight "The leading cause of obesity is improper nutrition, not endocrine (hormone) disturbance," Loving stated. "I feel that obesity is a form of malnutritional abuse. Overfeeding is often done with the best of intentions, but these horses can founder and experience significant pain.

"Fat becomes an endocrine (hormone-secreting) organ at any age--it increases cortisol (often called stress hormone)," she said. "This can result in insulin resistance and glucose intolerance. (For more information on the metabolic effects of body fat, see "Adipobiology: The Study of Fat", www.TheHorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=9897.)

"For fat horses, cut their food down to about 70% of their needs--don't crash diet them," she recommended. "Weigh their feed--you can't just eyeball it. Soaking hay in a tub of water is said to remove some of the NSC (nonstructural carbohydrates, or starches) that causes some of the weight problem. Exercise the horse if he has no musculoskeletal problem. Plus horses do just fine with a grazing muzzle to limit feed intake so you can turn them out to exercise on pasture."

Grains, bread, sugar, trans fats. Yeah, don't worry about any of that. We were never evolved to eat that stuff, but just worry about the animal fats. Never mind that we've been eating animal fats for millions of years. All of a sudden, it's bad for you. These poor kids under assault from their peers and parents for being overweight, and being given cereal, and sub sandwiches, and snackwell's low fat crackers and pop.

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