Can't Put My Finger On It
I don't know quite what it is, but the new food guidelines really annoy me. "Tonight eat only half the dessert," Mr. Thompson said. "And then go out and walk around the block. And if you are going to watch television get down and do 10 push-ups and 5 sit-ups." It's not a bad idea, it just seems so punitive and condescending somehow.
Also, an hour to ninety minutes of exercise a day, every day? That seems excessive and unrealistic. At least for people who have to work for a living.
Also, an hour to ninety minutes of exercise a day, every day? That seems excessive and unrealistic. At least for people who have to work for a living.
12 Comments:
Nine servings of produce per day? Nine? Plus three of dairy? I think that there are a lot of days where I don't even make it to twelve servings of *food* per day (though plenty where I do!)
I guess my biggest soncern with these new guidelines isthat they do seem so unrealistic for most people, so lots of people may not even bother trying... If you tell someone who eats 2 servings of fruits & veggies per day that they should get 5, it seems like a reasonable shift... tell them to get nine and it may seem so extreme that they're likely to give up before trying. Same thing with exercise, too.
9 servings of veggies is easy to get in, so 5 should be even simpler. If you're eating a little bit at breakfast, or a large serving each with lunch and dinner, you're set. Remember, a serving is only 1/2c.
And oh yeah, I have 4 jobs and I still work out 90 minutes most days. So stop making excuses, people.
Woah, Zorbs. Settle, petal.
I think the point is that if you are trying to start the weight loss journey, this sort of information is probably a step too far.
You should know yourself that this is achieved by small, constant change. Almost anyone who tries to radically change their diet and exercise all in one go will fall by the wayside.
Baby steps, small changes to your lifestyle gets you to goal and helps you STAY there. For someone who is living a very sedentary life and not eating good food, this is a big ask right up front.
Good for you that you can do 4 jobs and work out 90 minutes a day. You are clearly Superwoman. I, however, like to have a life AND weight loss. I've lost 27.5 kg (60lbs) in 11 months by managing to try and do about an hour most days. Some days I only get half. Some days I get none at all. But I try to get as much as I can and I'm succeeding. Clearly, we don't all need to live like you to do that.
"I don't think many people read them or understand them," Dr. Brownell said, "because the government puts very little muscle into marketing them. If you ask 10 people on the street do they know about this or previous guidelines no one will know anything, but if you ask them what candy melts in your mouth not in your hand, 9 out of 10 will know."This is the problem with these, and any guidelines that the government has put out. I mean, I just read them (which is more than most people will have done), and I don't really understand how to use them. What's a serving of veggies? What counts as whole grains? How do I know if trans-fats are in my food? I ask rhetorically. They seem well-intentioned, but I haven't had a nutrition class since elementary school, and then it was about the four food groups. I think most Americans will have no idea what to do with this information.
About the reccommended exercise, it does seem excessive. When I was a college student and had a super-flexible schedule, I could exercise at the (free) gym for 90 minutes a few times a week, but certainly not every damn day. I agree with the previous poster that these expections can set people up for failure.
right, but the guildlines are supposed to be "what your body needs", not "what we think each one of you personally is likely to do".
I'd actually argue that the way it was before... saying that 30 minutes of exercise was enough, even though they knew it wasn't really, just to avoid "scaring" people off is far more condescending.
Personally, I'd rather just know the facts and choose for myself how much I can do... not have someone else decide for me how much truth I can handle.
I'm not convinced that the 90-minute requirement is "the truth" though. Most studies that I've read emphasize 30 minutes a day, and my personal trainer seems to think that an hour of exercise five days per week is as much as anyone should do. So what's the basis for saying an hour and a half a day, every day? What kind of exercise are they talking about?
I would also love some life organization tips from the 4 jobs/90 minutes a day person. Because... how??
Was wondering how people would react to the new guidlines. Personally, i think this new set is much closer to the unvarnished truth of what we all need to do in order to develop and keep healthy bodies. But in order to understand how to implement the guidlines, you must read the whole publication. (For free here . Yes, it's a pdf and you need Adobe Acrobat to download and read it.)
Btw, from a WaPo article yesterday on the guidlines:
The guidelines say that to reduce the risk of chronic disease, adults need to engage in "at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity," above what they do at work or home, on most days of the week.
To lose weight or avoid the added pounds that creep on every year for most adults takes even more work -- about 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity activity on most days of the week, the guidelines conclude. Those trying to sustain weight loss will probably need at least 60 to 90 minutes of moderate activity daily, the document adds.Excuse me. 60 minutes or so of moderate activity most days of the week???? Like 4 days out of 7? And, no, it doesn't have to be all at once. 30 minutes at a time is fine. This is doable.
As for the veggies recommendations, well, onions are a vegetable. So is celery. So are all kinds of lettuce - iceberg, boston, green leaf, red leaf, whathaveyou. Guacamole. Salsa. Tomato sauce. Garlic. Mushrooms. Green, yellow and red peppers. It doesn't have to be fresh organic broccoli every day!!! Most of us already get the "five a day" or close to it without thinking much about it. Nine is doable, especially if you skip the french fries and lower the hu-uge portions of meat and drink water instead of the highly sweetened soft drinks.
This isn't hard. It isn't complicated. If you've been living on junk food and food so highly processed that you can't tell what it is, then you will have to start paying attention to what you are putting in your mouth. That isn't hard either. Certainly not compared to living with diabetes, heart disease(s), cancer(s), all varieties of arthritis, chronic depression, and a whole slew of other diseases and conditions for which obesity is a contributing factor.
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I think the 60-90 minutes of exercise a day is based on data gleaned from the national weight loss registry showing that that is what people who are successful at losing weight and keeping it off do. (The guidlines recommend a minumum of 30 minutes a day for people who aren't trying to lose weight or maintain weight loss).
I can see how that's asking a lot of people, especially if you lead a lifestyle that doesn't involve a lot of activity integrated into your day. But on the other hand, the data show that this is what works, and that if you do less than this, you are probably not going to be able to lose a significant amount of weight or maintain that loss and I don't think you'd be doing people a favor by sugarcoating it.
However, I do think the government perhaps ought to stress that these are only recommendations. Most of us do things that are not recommended for our health, whether it's smoking or drinking too much or sometimes driving carelessly or keeping guns in the house.
-La Wade
I think La Wade makes a good point. If 60-90 minutes a day is what people who are 'successful' at maintaining weight loss are doing, then it's just information for others who are considering trying to drastically alter their bodies. It'd be misleading to say doing 30 minutes a day is enough to maintain significant weight loss if that's not the case; you'd just be setting people up for failure.
That said, I have a full-time job and a life, and I generally get 60-90 minutes of moderate intensity activity a day, because I've learned that's what I have to do to keep my excess weight from returning. So, in terms of my own personal experience, it seems pretty apt, though maddening and sucky.
And you do wonder if these sorts of recommendations encourage anorexia athletica...
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I think the gov't. needs to spend less time having people read the dietary guidelines and more time looking at sites like www.smallstep.gov, where they emphasize the dietary guidelines with a more sensible approach.
Just my $0.02.
--Treva
90 minutes a day unrealistic for people that work for a living? Hardly.
Look, I work 25-30 hours a week, as well as go to school full time with five classes. I have no days off, yet I get in 2 hours at least a day of working out at the gym between times. The only day I don't go to the gym is Saturday, since I use that one day as downtime for my muscles. I eat virtually whatever I want all days of the week as a result, and I still keep the weight off while losing! It isn't a question of whether or not you have the time - everyone does somewhere. It just depends on how long you want to keep living like you are without motivation and determination to better yourself. Zorbs seems to understand this.. it's so worth it to be able to eat like a teenager while still looking good to society. Small sacrifice in the end, really. Call our society demented and freakish for the obsession with thinness, it won't do much in the era you are alive. In the romantic period oversized women thrived, but open your eyes and realize that isn't the case anymore. Be out with the majority and complain while everyone overlooks this, or go with the flow and be accepted until the trend changes. Maybe then we'll all be forgetting exercise and loading up on those chocolate cakes in order to look good.
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