Big Bellies and Dementia

When I see fat people – and there are so many these days it’s hard not to see them – I often wonder what it would take to motivate them to lose weight. Does that sound condescending? Well, I’m a fitness advocate. It’s my job to wonder about these things.

I know that fat people really don’t want to be fat. I don’t think anybody does. But if personal pride in their appearance doesn’t motivate them, what does? I’m not a psychologist, but I know that fear can be a powerful motivator. Watch somebody trim down after surviving a life threatening event like a heart attack. They fear another one.

How about fear of dementia? People I talk to dread that condition about as much as any dark thought they can imagine. But the threat is real, and it doesn’t always happen to the “other guy.” Researchers at Kaiser Permanente suggest that big bellies increase the risk of dementia. And you don't have to be terribly overweight. The culprit is an accumulation of belly fat.

Add that to heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers, and maybe those super-sized meals aren’t so attractive after all. Okay, I admit I’m in a blunt mood today. If you’re overweight, do something about it. It’s not like we haven’t been warned.

Read about big bellies and dementia risk here.

Too Much Good Cookin'?

Maybe the most effective weight loss program is to move out of the Southern United States. But the thing is the southern states are the nation’s fastest growing region.

I don't mean to pick on Southerners. Still, the fact is there’s a serious obesity problem down South, where more than 30 percent of adults in Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee are considered obese.

This amounts to more than just a problem of esthetics. The South has had high death rates from heart disease, stroke and other diseases that have been linked to obesity.

Experts say at least part of the blame is on Southern eating habits. They say poverty is also a factor, and some demographic groups have higher obesity rates than others.

Colorado, by the way, is the least obese state, with about 19 percent of its citizens fitting that category, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nineteen percent! And that's the lowest? Well, that may be the lowest, but it's still not much to brag about when about one out of every five residents is obese.

Get the full story here.

Are the French Serious?

Gray Iron read this twice just to be certain it is real. The French parliament, it is reported, adopted a bill that would make it illegal for anyone to publicly incite extreme thinness. The bill soon goes to the senate. Overweight French people must be laughing.

Of course body weight extremes at either end of the scale are serious matters — but a government passing laws making it illegal to “incite" extreme thinness? Talk about Big Brother! Read the report and make comment if you wish.

Report: France may outlaw inciting thinness.

Battling Belly Fat

The evidence keeps piling up and growing stronger: Women who carry excess fat around their waists are at greater risk of dying early from cancer or heart disease than are women with smaller waistlines -- even if they are of normal weight. That's the conclusion of researchers from Harvard and the National Institutes of Health.

Previous studies have shown that the tendency to deposit fat around the waist increases the risk for health problems. The current study is to date the largest and most comprehensive of its kind and shows that accumulation of abdominal fat can increase the risk of death.

As Gray Iron Fitness readers know, the solution to excess body fat is sensible portion control eating -- not crash diets -- and regular, consistent exercise that includes both cardiovascular and resistance movement such as weight training.

Go here to read the full report from the National Institutes of Health.