Entries by Chet Zelasko

You’re the Expert

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After last week’s messages on sarcopenic obesity, a question came to mind: how would you prevent obesity? I’d like you to send me your answer by Friday at noon.

First, some rules. No theories you’ve read about in books, heard on the Internet, or any other expert’s opinion, including me for you long-time readers. What would you do and how would you do it given what you know?

Second, there are no good foods or bad foods. I don’t care about refined, organic, sugar, artificial this or that. You can use anything you find . . .

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Sarcopenic Obesity

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There is a lot that happens as we age. Especially in today’s society in the U.S. and Canada, one of the things that happens is we lose muscle mass. Why? We don’t use it. We tend to slow down as we age and don’t stress the muscles as much as we did when we were younger, and we usually don’t have as much to do—no job, no kids to run after, and so on. As a result, we lose muscle mass. That’s the sarco part of sarcopenic in the title of today’s . . .

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Pinch an Inch

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Have you ever hugged someone who looks to be normal weight but seems soft? You can tell that there isn’t much muscle under their clothes. These are the people who make up that additional 5% in the obesity statistics. They fall through the cracks in the BMI scale because their BMI is normal. There’s one more thing—in general, they’re 50 years and older. The largest group in that class is the baby boomers.

How can you have a normal BMI and be obese? The CT scan slices of human thighs give you an idea (no, those . . .

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Are We Fatter Than We Think?

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The number of people in the U.S. who are overweight and obese are about 70% according to the numbers reported by the Center for Disease Control. I hate to be the one to tell you, but that’s probably an underestimate. It’s probably closer to 75%. I can’t be more precise because of the way obesity is measured in large studies.

The Body Mass Index (BMI) is used to measure large groups of people. All you need is two measures: height and weight. Those are the basis for the statistics on overweight and obesity. From now on . . .

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Fruits, Vegetables, Weight Loss, and Independence Day

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This is a very long holiday weekend so I decided on a very long title for this week’s only message—three topics in one message. Let’s get to it. Research Review: Fruits, Vegetables, and Weight Loss The headlines have read “Eating Your Veggies Worthless for Weight Loss” and “Fruits and Veggies Won’t Lead to Weight Loss” […]

Forks Over Knives

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I like writing the Saturday messages because it allows me to review scientific articles or controversies in health in a little more depth. Today I’m going to give you my thoughts on the movie Forks Over Knives, written and directed by Lee Fulker. The movie was exactly what I thought it would be, and at […]