Tag: health

Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It by Gary Taubes

Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About ItWhy We Get Fat: And What to Do About It by Gary Taubes

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

We all have read about books about dieting and exercising. We all have tried most or some of the methods as provided, but the bottom lines are all the same: that eating less, exercising more is the sine qua non of getting thin and staying healthy. Does this res ipsa loquitur (a thing that speaks for itself) model really work wonders to all? Then why doesn’t everyone following this principle get the uniformed result?

Gary Taubes does not believe so. In fact, he subverts all such received ideas of what we have so far known as norms of dieting rules and regulations because they are scientifically fallacious and commercially expedient based upon his years of punctilious research on this subject matter. In this book, Taubes goes back to the primordial question of what makes us fat despite our efforts and offers head-turning advice which “stands the the received ideas of dieting and exercising on its head”.

He criticizes such faulty knowledge on calorie intake/outtake as a result of insufficiently conducted experiments of nutritional science of the 20th century. (He calls it the product of “bad” nutritional science”) This belief of less “calorie take-in” and more “calorie-out” contradicts the science of physiology – i.e., how it works as regards to how our body digests food, where it is stored,  and how it influences our body.

Furthermore, he looks into a role of genetics playing in metabolism. Which one is more influencing in making us thin? Exercising or your genetic composition? Besides, does meat really make us fat? Should we become vegetarians to lose weight and stay gracefully thin? Taubes answers these questions in detail and enlightens us from the mass hypnotic mantras of the calorie intake/outtake that have been permeated in our society for more than a century. If you are on the verge of abandoning your will to lose weight, or tired of listening to the fad dieting, or want to try something new and really effectual just as I did, this book will make a breakthrough guidance book for your healthy life.

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Eating makes a difference.

Balancing out calories is not a smart option unless you balance out hormones too. Especially when trying to get rid of stubborn inner thigh fat.

Source: Get rid of inner thigh fat with these foods

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I have been trying hard to keep myself in shape both by dieting and exercising for almost 10 years. Dieting is in fact a way of life, not a fad eating habit according to the etymology of the word derived from the Greek word diata. My diet is to forego dinner and be a lacto-ovo vegetarian. Having been in the military also helps me to incorporate in my dietary regime working out at gym at least 5 days a week in the morning before going to work. Thanks much to my religious efforts, I still fit into size 2 clothing and maintain a slim physique. However, like most of my women comrades all over the world, I am concerned about possibilities of having a loose skin, especially in the lower body part as time goes by.

It is said that the key to a having thin lower body – i.e., thin thighs with a thigh gap and shapely toned legs – results not only from squats and lunges and running but also from what we eat due to our feminine hormones. Women have more percentage of fat receptive cells in the lower body than our better halves who have more fat dissolving cells therein. That is why we see many men with skinny legs. (Well, some of them have legs like chickens’…) So what’s the solution of making your thighs and legs gracefully thin or as thin as you expect them to be? In my case, it’s the food that does wonders.

Healthy-EatingIt’s the carbs. Carbs are the worst enemy for me to put some of those unwanted, pesky, subcutaneous residual of fat on the inner and outer thighs. Of course, fats also play a pivotal role in cooperating the corpulent procedure. However, in my case carbs are/were the main villain because despite the rigorous exercises at the gym, the villain would not be killed without being forever barred from entering my body. Accordingly, I made a conscious research on the subject, and I found the above link which was a great help. The kinds of food that I have abnegated since are as follows:

  • Sugar (Yeah, that’s right. Being a sweet tooth, it was hard to give up eating gummy worms and gummy fruit snacks.) Any refined sugar, that is any “manufactured” sugar is harmful.
  • Cereals, Cereal bars (Surprised? These include Kellogg’s K series, as well.)
  • Wheat (Bread, Pasta, Biscuits, and Pastry)
  • Crisps
  • Chocolate and Confectionery (All kinds of candy!); and
  • Juices

In fact, all of the above are not new to those of us women who try to slim down or maintain our already thin physique. But it is always better safe than sorry to avoid all these kinds of food to ensure our disciplinary action on keeping in shape. For example, after 1 week of getting rid of Haribo fruit gummies and Welch’s fruit snacks that claim to have No Fat on the packages, plus low-fat chips and biscuits, my thighs began to be small. In addition to the denunciation of the junk food, I incorporated in my dieting intermittent fasting and calisthenic lower body workouts, such as squats, lunges, and modified push-ups combined with 30 minutes of running on a treadmill and 10 minutes of stair master that boosted up the effects.

aplessI am marveled at the effects of abnegating all the aforesaid food in a relatively short period of time. So, it was the food, the carbs that resisted going away from my thighs. Now I eat only fruits, mainly apples (my favorite is Gala, but if there is none, I go for Red Delicious.), cubes of watermelon, peaches, or plums. But it’s not that I COMPLETELY forbid any kind of carb because being an Asian I eat a bowl of steamed white rice once in a week when I am off from work. Nevertheless, having sworn of the above-listed junk food was a tour de force of losing more weight and thus slimming down my lower body.

Therefore, my dear Reader, if you are a kindred spirit, you are kindly directed to click on the above link to read more in-depth article about the topic. Remember, what you eat contributes more to what your body looks like than how much you exercise at gym. Do you know what Ralph Waldo Emerson once said?  “A man is what he thinks about all day long.” Likewise, be mindful of what you put into your body because you are what you eat and because what’s more, “you are worth it!”

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