As we say good-bye to 2006 and welcome in the New Year, many people turn their attention to the tradition of making resolutions. New Year’s resolutions appear to date back to the Babylonians, who apparently were more likely to resolve to return farm equipment borrowed from others than to worry about eating, drinking, or smoking.
Our family jumped the gun on New Year’s by joining Jenny Craig about 2 months ago. Daughter Karen resolved to lose her “thrower’s weight” now that her track and field career is over, and Mom and Dad, noticing a number of middle-aged pounds that had accumulated, decided to join her. Collectively, we have now lost over 75 pounds. What I like most about the Jenny Craig system is that no decisions have to be made. You just eat the food they give you. I prefer to use my time, energy, and neural activity on my work and hobbies, not thinking about food.
As an aside, one marvels at the contrasts we find in our culture between an epidemic of obesity on one hand, and anorexia nervosa on the other.
I have always been under the impression that maintaining weight was a simple matter of physics–calories in must equal calories out. Apparently, this is an overly simplistic view. Researchers have now reported that a person’s individual population of intestinal beasties vary with that person’s weight and eating habits. Ruth Ley and her colleagues found that one type of bacteria, Firmicutes, accounted for 90% of the gut microbes found in their obese volunteers, and another type, Bacteroidetes, made up only 3%. In volunteers with healthy weight, Bacteroidetes made up about 30% of the microbe population. After a year of either low-fat or low-carbohydrate dieting, Ley’s obese participants not only lost weight, but their Firmicutes population dropped to 73% and their Bacteroidetes increased to 15%.
So the million dollar question is, which came first? Obesity or gut population? Peter Turnbaugh seems to believe that the gut beasties might actually be a causal factor in obesity. When gut microbes from obese mice were transplanted into typical mice, the typical mice gained 47% body fat in 2 weeks. That’s some holiday binge.
Researchers continue to debate the causes of our world-wide obesity epidemic. Obviously, when one looks at the fast-food and portion sizes considered “normal” in our culture, along with our sedentary lifestyles, it is easy to see how people gain weight. However, the more we understand about the nuances of weight maintenance, the better our treatment and prevention plans are likely to be. For now, we’ll continue with our friends at Jenny.
We wish you and yours the Happiest of New Years! A special thank-you and positive thoughts go to our troops serving overseas.
5 Comments
mamorale · January 17, 2007 at 10:54 pm
Losing weight is one of the biggest new years resolutions by far, but losing weight needs a lot of will power. As Americans we are use to everything being easy, instant, and effortless. This is a country in where people drive to their mailboxes to get their mail, so it is not suprising that there is an obesity problem. It is our enviornment and society that makes it easy to gain weight and difficult to lose weight.
aforney · February 16, 2007 at 11:35 am
I think my New Years resolution has been to lose weight now for 8 years. This year I’m actually going to do it! Diet and weight loss has become so complicated. You hear one thing is bad for you and another you shouldn’t go a day without! I think with a proper diet and regular exercise weight loss shouldn’t be too difficult for most of us. But then it becomes a big deal about what’s a proper diet? What should you eat more of and less of? What kind of exercise is beneficial for your body type? I’m glad to see research about the intestinal beasties. Many people may have trouble losing weight because of some underlying medical condition or cause.
huggydrea · March 7, 2007 at 1:07 am
Although I appreciate studies like these I must play devils advocate. Think about all the girls that are anorexic…and now think about what could be done if they came up with oral medication to help with these beasties. Many girls that didn’t need it would figure out ways to get it, and that would probably have serious health problems. The only reason I am so sensative to this subject is becuase I heard in a recent study that Cal Poly has the highest rate of anorexia out of any college! I wonder why that is??
Roger’s View of the World, Love and Seafood Gumbo! » Happy New Year! — Fight On for Ol’ SC! · December 31, 2006 at 9:50 pm
[…] 2006 has been an exciting year on many levels and as we all prepare to make resolutions for 2007… it is fun to see what my family is thniking: Laura Talks about New Year Resolutions dating back to the ancient Babylonians…. Karen has a smewhat different take… […]
Laura’s Psychology Blog » Chocolate cravings from bacteria? · October 15, 2007 at 9:47 pm
[…] The researchers only observed their participants over 5 days, during which time they either ate chocolate or a placebo (and what would that be????). Seems to me that 5 days isn’t very long in the world of readjusting your bacteria. Dieters need about a year before their bacterial populations approach the distributions of people with healthy weight. […]
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