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Being
Overweight Isn't Just in Our Genes
In Boston, members of the National Association to Advance
Fat Acceptance once held a demonstration they called the
Every Body Good Body Festival. They called it that proudly
because, they said, there's nothing wrong with being fat,
and there's not much they can do about it.
They say some people are thin, while they are fat, because
being fat is their genetic destiny. Some obese belly dancers
said they went to the demonstration to explain to the public
that they cannot lose weight.
"Everyone knows the facts, that we're metabolically
different, and the serious research hasn't really been done
to figure out why," says one dancer.
Their size is not their fault, they say, so people should
just accept them, the way they are.
Addicted to Food
Celebrities tell us that overeating is an addiction. Oprah
Winfrey has said, "It's like a crack addict going to
crack."
Today Show weatherman Al Roker has the willpower to get
up at 4:30 in the morning and freeze in the cold, but to
lose weight he had to get his stomach stapled so it's the
size of an egg, because, he says, he's addicted to food.
"People will look at this and say, 'Oh, what a crock,
but it's true," Roker says.
Jeffrey Schaler, author of Addiction Is a Choice, disagrees:
"These people are playing or pretending to be helpless.
If they want real help, they need to confront the fact that
they're lying when they say they can't do something that
they can do."
Schaler says we're stronger than we think, and that overeating,
smoking and other so-called addictions are all things we
can choose to control. Our genes are not in charge, he says,
we are.
Schaler says people may process food differently because
of their genes. But, he says, "The activity of eating
is not controlled by a gene."
Winfrey has demonstrated that she recently lost 33 pounds.
"It's a myth that we have no control over our body
weight," says JoAnn Manson, an obesity expert and chief
of preventive medicine at Boston's Brigham & Women's
Hospital. She says genes do partly determine body shape,
but not mostly. "Maybe a third is genetic and the remainder
is lifestyle-based," Manson says.
The Tale of the Twins
Well, a recent study done at California's Lawrence Berkeley
National Lab found that people with exactly the same genes
— identical twins — could have big differences
in their weight. The researchers studied 35 pairs of identical
twins to try to learn if certain traits, like obesity, are
mostly hereditary. Their conclusion — fat is not.
Researcher Paul Williams says he was surprised by the study's
findings. Even though identical twins "have the same
genes, they do have the freedom of choice. … They can
decide how much they want to exercise, how lean they want
to be," Williams says.
Take John Sovocool and his twin brother, Wayne. Despite
having the exact same genes, John is 50 pounds lighter than
his brother.
This goes against what I've been hearing, which is that
your body type, basically, determines how, how big you are.
John Sovocool says he doesn't buy that argument. "People
are overweight," he says, because number one, they
eat too much, and because they don't exercise enough. Period."
John runs nearly every day. Wayne lifts weights, but he
doesn't exercise nearly as much as John. And, Wayne eats
more than John.
We took the twins to a buffet so we could spy on their
eating habits. Sure enough, John made a beeline for the
fruit salad. Wayne went for the chow fun and the octopus,
dumplings, deep-fried seafood, barbecue pork, prime rib,
and baked, cheese-stuffed oysters.
For dessert, Wayne had coconut pie, melon custard and three
pieces of cheesecake.
Wayne isn't uptight about his food choices. When pointed
out that he had five desserts, he says, "Why deprive
myself of what I enjoy?"
OK, that's a philosophy, but guess what? It makes you fatter.
John weighed in at 159 pounds, while Wayne weighed 205
pounds.
The California study found that height and cholesterol
levels correlated almost exactly among identical twins,
but the twins' body mass index, based on their weights,
were very different.
Eating More and Moving Less
It shouldn't have surprised us that genes turn out not
to be the main reason so many people are overweight. After
all, 40 years ago, only 13 percent of people in Canada and
the U.S. were obese. Now it's more than 30 percent. Our
genes didn't change. What has changed is that we eat more,
and move less.
Obesity specialists point out that we used to move more.
A Mayo Clinic Study of energy expenditure found that simply
going to drive-thrus, using remote controls for the TV or
the garage door — even buying pre-sliced vegetables
instead of chopping your own — makes a difference.
Over a year, 20 such activities make a difference in weight
of 30 pounds.
And gaining even less than 30 pounds is dangerous, says
Manson.
"Even a moderate weight gain, 15, 20, 25 pounds of
weight gained during adulthood, will increase the risk of
Type II diabetes, high blood pressure, and even heart disease,"
she says.
Wayne says he wasn't entirely aware of these health risks.
"Maybe John will serve as an inspiration. Maybe I'll
do some more running," he says.
Article Source: ABCNews.com
Article Author: John Stossel
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