Knowing Your Metabolism

Seeing Mitchell’s food choices at lunchtime, Janine is shocked seeing Mitchell had small quantities of his food, which was all healthy. Mitchell is trying a new diet, but that does not make any sense since he is already skinny; all he needs to do is tone his muscles. Janine finds out that it is the Atkins diet, and gives it the pen name “Fadkins” diet because she believes it is fake. According to the statements made in the case study, it is clear that Mitchell is misguided in his knowledge about diets and nutrition.

Anyway, I’m getting hungry, let’s grab something to eat,” Charonda suggested. “There is a place next door we can get something quick. Let’s have a light lunch so that we can pig out at Duane’s party tonight. I just love the Caribbean food he serves!” Elizabeth replied. “I’ll order. What do you want?” Charonda asked. “I love cheeseburgers! I gotta watch my weight and my cholesterol level now. Looks like the pounds came on over winter. What are you having? I’ll follow your example, skinny girl,” Elizabeth observed. “Two slices of cheese pizza, a large garden salad, and an iced tea,” Charonda replied. “A diet ice tea, I bet,” remarked Elizabeth. “Nah, artificial sweeteners taste awful,” Charonda replied. “Yeah, nothing like the real stuff. I’ll have the same, but I like spicy. Two slices of pepperoni pizza, a taco salad, and a grape soda for me. I love ranch dressing, but don’t bring any for me … too many calories,” Elizabeth requested. As they sat down to eat, Elizabeth looked around at the other diners and observed. “Crowded huh; salads seem to be popular today.” “Yeah, that time of the year. Doesn’t hurt to lose the few pounds gained over winter—swimsuit season coming up,” Charonda opined. “Looks like I have to do that too. You know, I tried several times to lose weight but it is so hard,” confessed Elizabeth. “Yeah, I know it’s tough,” agreed Charonda. “Look at that lady with the two kids in the corner table. Her plate is loaded with fried chicken and fries and

Weight is a part of every human beings life. Every one weights something. In society, it is commonly found that people mistakenly judge their health based on their weight. America has thousands of health experts and nutritionist who claim themselves as protectors of health, “helping a nation stricken with heart disease, diabetes, and cancer” (Maxville 443). They believe that eating is simply for fueling the body and you should eat mostly plants, but not too much. Maxville uses the vast theory of health experts to tie in the point that, “each of these maladies is tied to our diet and essentially our weight. As a culture we no longer discuss healthy eating without also discussing unhealthy weights” (Maxville 444). While Maxville believes that the bigger issue is not weight, but linking nutrition and body type. While, Pollan warns readers of eating too much, he never mentions that it is equally as fatal to eat too little. Pollan states in his essay that overeating is the “greatest threat” to our survival. Maxville uses Pollan’s statements on the topic of weight to prove that being unhealthy should not be tied solely to being overweight, because being under weight is equally unhealthy. To further discredit the claims Pollan makes linking weight to health, Maxville states, “A growing group of academics who

When it comes to the topic of obesity, most will readily agree that it is a growing dilemma. This argument has many writers bringing different responses. Two explanations are debated in What You Eat is Your Business by Radley Balko and Don’t Blame the Eater by David Zinczenko. Both pieces create a good stance on the topic of obesity. Balko’s piece, however, has a better all around flow, organization and consistency.

Janine snorts in laughter. “Train your body to burn fat?! Like it doesn’t know how already? Come on! If you’re gaining weight, it’s because you’re taking in more calories than you’re burning up. Everyone knows that. A calorie is a calorie. It’s just a measure of energy in your food. If you want to lose weight, what you have to do is either cut back on the calories you take in or exercise to burn up calories—or both. But why

Elizabeth nodded in agreement and then shifted the conversation to news about mutual friends during the rest of the meal. All the talk about diet and calories was making her feel depressed. “That was good,” Charonda observed as they got up to leave. Elizabeth complained. “Yeah. You know, I wish I had as high a metabolic rate as you. Then I could enjoy food like you do. We eat about the same amount but I’m so much bigger than you. I always feel guilty after I’ve eaten something that I really love.”

More than one third of U.S. adults are obese along with nearly a fourth of the children. As someone raised in the United States, I was surrounded by the harsh fact of obesity; those within my own family have been drastically affected by it. I have seen them struggle with it and I know how hard losing weight can be and even how easy gaining it can be. Many times I witnessed the battle and how many are unable to overcome it, but I have also seen people through hard work, exercise, and dieting, lose the weight and keep it off. Many people I know speak of causes for their obesity. Their excuses range from their genes to even the chemicals in their environment. In “The Obesity Era,” David Berreby persuasively supports his claim that an outside factor is the cause of obesity; however, Berreby loses his audience when he neglects to acknowledge the prior successes that show that weight loss comes from hard work, diet, and exercise

One thing that gets everyone’s attention is the ability to lose weight. Everyone around the world decide one point in their lives to start a diet. People worry about their weight all the time, and believe going on a diet can and will help them lose weight; but that’s not the case at all.

Your metabolic rate, or how fast or slow your metabolism works, is influenced by a number of factors:

The inactive lifestyle of many Americans is a key reason for the recent increase in obesity. The reason our bodies need calories is so that we have the energy needed it get through the day and all of its normal daily activities. When these daily activities are taken away, such as taking the bus home instead of walking home, it leaves our body with excessive amounts of calories which our body store. If the stored calories are not burned, the calories will turn into fat, which results in added weight and too much weight will eventually cause one to become obese. The National Institutes of Health published an article that supports the claim that those who are more inactive have a higher chance of becoming obese. Being inactive increases the chance of becoming obese, conversely, being active by doing exercise, no matter the amount, decreases the chance of becoming

Why do people become overweight? The mechanics of weight gain is simple: too many calories consumed, not burning enough off. In other words eating too much unhealthy food and not exercising. So why would we rather eat ice cream than carrots? And why do we often find ourselves snacking on chips when we just ate an hour ago? Hunger is controlled by two different mechanisms inside the body. The

Obesity has been around for several thousands of years but hasn’t always been a serious epidemic. A higher amount of fat or stored energy used to mean a greater chance at surviving a famine, but those times are long gone in the industrialized world. As time has progressed, we’ve see an exponential growth in obesity rates despite our best efforts to slow it down. In order to contain and eventually decrease obesity rates, we would first need to know what fuels this powerful monster of the western culture. Has our problem been generated from an increase in inactivity, sugar consumption, fat consumption, other factors or a combination of them? A collection of studies have been observed to discover what the real main factor to obesity in

In this book Gay illustrates the true issues of obesity focused on today through research among media stories, medical journals, and shared experiences from others. Gay goes deep within society to formulate the question “What is Obesity?” With more than 100 books in her name she addresses juvenile readers by showing the negatives of weight gain throughout all stages of their lifetime, including the negative effects of dieting.

A person’s genetic makeup also plays a part in their weight, or a change in it. Commonly referred to as one’s metabolism, research under the NIH suggests that “[...] human obesity may be influenced by behaviors that are themselves genetically regulated” (para. 1). For example, someone may burn calories quicker than another as a result of genetic makeup, resulting in a lower weight. The inverse may also occur. Despite its influence, genetics do not give an excuse for an unhealthy weight in many cases; according to the Harvard School of Public Health, “Rather than being obesity’s sole cause, genes seem to increase the risk of weight gain and interact with other risk factors in the environment, such as unhealthy diets and inactive lifestyles” (para. 4).

You are Getting Older: People gain weight per year from age 25 to 60. By the time we hit 50, we could be carrying extra 30 pounds along with our commitments.