There is an interesting study out on obesity in America. The study of American Journal of Preventive Medicine appears to confirm one stereotype: police officers and donuts. Almost half of police (as well as firefighters and security guards) were found to be obese. The second most obese? Clergy (as well as social workers and counsellors) at 35.6 percent. If appears that, even you cannot avoid crime or sin, you may at least be able to out run the immediate consequences.
In third place were home health aides and massage therapists are third at 34.8 per cent.
The least obese? Economists, Scientists, and psychologists (14.2 percent). Also, at the bottom of the heavy weights are actors/artists (20.1 percent); and physicians/dentists/nurses (22 percent). Perhaps the most surprising? Cooks, bartenders, and food servers were on the low end at 23.1 percent.
While we have recently seen higher estimate due to errors in reporting, the study found that one out of three Americans are obese.
Source: Daily Mail
Everyone in general is much more obese in conservative working class and middle-class parts of this country. My theory behind clergy being more obese: what do they really do all day long? Visit the flock, eat. Pray some, eat. Write a sermon, eat. Watch porn, eat lots more. Watch too much porn, can’t sleep, eat a little more. As for cops who are obese: fire them. They are a hazard to themselves, to the other cops and to those whom they need to protect. I am tired of obese people. They take up too much space. Snark.
Paul C. Schulte,
“Prairie Rose – I think our officers are more fit because the bike officers are on year round and you never have to shovel sun.”
Yep, that’d do it! 🙂 In my part of the world there are hardly any bike paths and tons of hills, and, yes, plenty of snow in the winter.
In my conservative township the older cops are fat. A few of the younger ones aren’t.
Now, south of me, in pleasantly Liberal Ann Arbor, Michigan, the cops are a little leaner. Some of them still walk beats, ride them on bikes or Segways.
The study’s results are accurate. If all you do is sit a desk or behind the steering wheel, you get fat. No idea why Priests get fat. Maybe the study offers a hypothesis. But I’m too lazy to read it.
Darren,
“Drinking fruit juice is like drinking sugar.” Absolutely! Dr. Robert Lustig of UC-Berkley has a great presentation about fructose and sugar that talks about that very thing.
All those veggies sound delicious! Your diet looks a bit like Michael Pollan’s suggestion: Eat real food. Mostly plants. Not too much. 🙂
Darren,
“The NE and SE tend to have bigger officers and the NW and West coast tend to be more fit.”
That is very interesting. I wonder why that is.
Prairie Rose – I think our officers are more fit because the bike officers are on year round and you never have to shovel sun. 🙂
Inga,
Very interesting article. It seemed to indicate that it was the promoter for the IRX3 gene, which then affects the FTO gene, that induces obesity. If it is the promoter, then that means there is an epigenetic element, right? If there is an epigenetic element, could the expression of the IRX3 gene be turned off?
Could problems with the mitochondria be affecting the promoters? This article focuses on mitochondria and epigenetics, but I was curious whether you thought this could cross over into the issue of genetics and obesity?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22419065
The diet that works for me is as follows:
Avoid drinking beverages other than water. Drink water often. Drinking fruit juice is like drinking sugar.
Refrain from bread.
Refrain from potatoes
Low carb is important
Do not add salt or sugar to the food
Eat as many vegetables as you want, but if cooked bake them or as little as possible cook on stovetop in olive oil. One way to reduce the veggies sticking in the oven is to take a piece of aluminum foil, crumple it up, and then unravel it before baking. This creates lower surface area against the food and sticking is reduced significantly without using oil or spray Vegetables should be the main course.
Eat fruit at least twice daily but avoid bananas.
For meat, only eat fish and other seafood. Wild caught and American sourced definitely preferable. Bake or broil
Stay out of restaurants if you can
Avoid processed, corporate “food”. If this comes in a box for the most part avoid it. Never eat processed meats
Avoid candy and pop
Dairy products very sparingly (preferably none)
Fresh vegetables and fruit or frozen. Do not use canned food
One egg yolk per week
Avoid mayonnaise, margarine and butter.
Absolutely no trans-fat. (again this is avoided by not eating corporate “food”
GMO free and Organic. Home grown or locally sourced is preferable.
Occasional rolled oat oatmeal
Use olive oil sparingly on salads
Nothing from China.
Don’t be a glutton
Regular exercise and activity through out the day.
Much is dependent upon where the police live. The NE and SE tend to have bigger officers and the NW and West coast tend to be more fit.
One of the problems is patrol can be a lot of sedentary work as well as investigations and administration. Some departments have weight standards that must be maintained and this helps. Being obese in this profession is very hazardous to the health as well as an occupational safety issue.
Nick,
I was curious about your friend and how she approached the paleo diet. I’m glad you have lost weight by changing how you eat and exercise. You are right, it is a lifestyle change. I’m glad that what you are doing is working for you. 🙂 Your friend’s experience intrigues me.
While I advocate a Paleo diet, I understand that there is no one way to eat for all people. My understanding of Paleo is to eat real, unprocessed food, and avoid foods that can cause inflammation or hurt your GI tract. My family still eats brown, red, or black rice. Is that Paleo? No. But I don’t feel horrible when I eat it. After I took gluten and dairy out of my diet, I felt better, so now I don’t eat it.
There is a great deal of medical history in Good Calories, Bad Calories (mostly from the 1800s on), so as a history buff, you might enjoy those sections in particular.
Steg,
I would agree that Why We Get Fat by Taubes is much easier since it is less academic and less dense than Good Calories, Bad Calories. Keep plugging away–it is well worth it! I have not yet read Nina Planck. You might also enjoy The Paleo Approach by Dr. Sarah Ballantyne; it is geared towards people with autoimmune issues, but the content could be helpful to anyone with chronic health struggles.
I, too, pay the price if I eat things with gluten or cow dairy (GI stuff and arthritis in my foot, and a headache even if I eat GF oatmeal), so I stay pretty Paleo.
We love cocoa, too. For ours, we enjoy coconut oil or coconut butter melted with cocoa powder, a bit of honey or maple syrup, perhaps some vanilla or peppermint oil, and a bit of hempmilk as our hot cocoa. Yum!
Prairie Rose, Eat less, exercise more, was the advice my Harvard educated doc gave me ~8 years ago. She is the real deal. I have GRADUALLY lost 55 lbs. I have not rebounded more than 4 lbs. I have plateaued @ times over those years. But, through exercising more[I now walk 8-10 miles a day], I have used this simple, COMMON SENSE, science based LIFESTYLE change to change my life. I NEVER deprive myself so my body does not go into starvation mode. But the not depriving also is important psychologically.
Nick,
“I know a woman who preached the paleo diet. She lost a few pounds and then rebounded BIG TIME. Eat less, exercise more.”
Not sure why she’d rebound, unless she wasn’t eating enough or hadn’t gotten rid of some bad gut dysbiosis that caused carb cravings.
Eat less, exercise more will make you hungrier, and, then when eating less your body will think it is in starvation mode if it cannot correctly access its fat stores due to metabolic dysregulation, which happens when you are overweight.
How was she conducting her paleo diet?
Thanks, Inga!
Kudos to Charlie, he nailed it leading off.
I don’t understand why JT is curious about cooks, bartenders and servers being thinner. I have done all 3 jobs. You’re on your feet constantly and moving almost constantly.
I know a woman who preached the paleo diet. She lost a few pounds and then rebounded BIG TIME. Eat less, exercise more. It’s not very complicated. I see some cops that have no business being in uniform. They are a risk to their fellow officers, incapable of helping an officer in need.
http://www.uchospitals.edu/news/2014/20140312-obesity-gene.html
Here one link it’s the FTO gene.