
Oklahoma City's War on Obesity - kelukelugames
http://mosaicscience.com/story/fat-city
======
ihsw
TLDR: more exercise, dramatically less junk food consumption (fast food, soda,
snacks, etc), dramatically increased nutritional education

More importantly I find the focus on low-fat fast food menu items highly
suspect -- significantly reducing carbohydrate consumption has been shown,
empirically and anecdotally the world over, to have a greater impact (if not
the greatest impact) on weight and health management.

The low-fat diet craze has hurt more than helped the fight against obesity.

The problem with restricting carbohydrate intake is that _it 's everywhere_
and it hurts the bottom line of pretty much all of the prepared food and drink
industry.

That said, I'm not at all advocating that we all start eating sticks of
butter, but a balance must be maintained -- 30/30/25/10 with 30% protein, 30%
fat, 25% carbohydrates, and 10% dietary fiber.

This is back of the hand math but I think it works out. Most people trade out
protein for carbs (because protein is expensive) and fat for carbs (because
fat is apparently bad for you), which results in weight gain and diabetes
risk.

Generally it can be assumed that the most common form of carbohydrate
substituted is a sugar or grain, which usually have very high-glycemic
indexes. This spikes the blood-sugar and beta-endorphin levels, the latter
encouraging addictive habits (feeling good after eating high-glycemic food,
going into withdrawal when not consuming frequently enough, etc).

~~~
noondip
What you're saying is scientifically untenable. For one, dietary fiber is not
a macronutrient, so including that in your ratio is just incorrect. Secondly,
carbohydrates are the preferred source of energy for your brain and body - the
majority (80%+) of a healthy diet should consist of carbs - whole wheat like
pasta, veggies, fruit, legumes, etc. Finally, even WHO recommends only 5% of
caloric intake from protein. May I ask where you're sourcing your information?
Every respectable medical and nutritional journal I've read recommends a whole
plant-based diet, low in protein and fat, and high in carbohydrates, for
optimal human health.

~~~
CuriouslyC
Just a few nit-picks:

Dietary fiber (at least fermentable poly/oligosaccharides), while technically
a form of carbohydrate, is fermented to short chain fatty acids by the
bacteria in your gut. These short chain fatty acids have some fairly special
physiological effects that you can't get from other macronutrients. For this
reason, from a health perspective it does make sense to treat fermentable
fibers as a separate category of nutrient, and set an intake target for it.

Also, lactate is the preferred fuel for your brain; it has been shown that if
lactate is available glucose uptake by the brain is _greatly_ diminished. In
fact, a major role of astrocytes in the brain is the metabolism of glucose to
lactate for primary neurons.

As for the 5% protein number, for starters that is meaningless without knowing
the number of calories being consumed. If someone was somehow active enough to
burn 10K calories a day 5% protein might be a reasonable amount. For your
typical 2K cal/day diet, however, that number is woefully inadequate.
0.8g/Kg/day is the minimum anyone should reasonably be getting, and even non-
exercising populations will tend to be leaner and feel better around
1.2g/Kg/day, not to mention athletes who will do best around 1.7g/Kg/day.

------
legohead
I moved from OKC to SoCal, and noticed the weight difference immediately. When
I traveled back to OKC a couple years later to visit some friends, I was
actually disgusted by the people I saw there. It's easy to get accustomed to
things...

~~~
jusben1369
I think this is one of the biggest challenges I see in terms of "fat shaming"
It would appear there is a direct correlation between how much additional
weight people carry and the general tolerance level for obesity in that
community. If we remove fat shaming altogether it's likely more people will
become sicker and die faster.

It's worth noting that my cousin also moved to SoCal. She's now in her 40's
and snorts cocaine 2 or 3 times a week in the evening to skip eating to keep
herself slim. Apparently it's a very common practise amongst her and her
friends.

~~~
birdmanjeremy
Your cousin is a coke head, and likely has an eating disorder. This is not the
norm outside of her group of friends.

~~~
jusben1369
Right. Except she's not that different to the Guatemalan lady in the original
story. None of those issues existed until she moved to a new location. That's
why it was so shocking to me.

------
knodi123
What's with all the "stone" measurements? I'm used to seeing that in
historical novels, but not in modern writing.

Is stone a regionally popular unit, or have I just been utterly oblivious to
its modern commonality?

~~~
toupeetape
It is unused outside of the UK and Ireland where it is still the most commonly
used unit for measuring the weight of a person.

~~~
knodi123
Bizarre. They managed to adopt the metric system for weights, except when
measuring humans. At least that mystery is solved, though- thanks!

------
mratzloff
I grew up in Kansas, and my dad now lives in Oklahoma. Living in Seattle, I'm
used to a variety of healthy choices. When I visit my parents, though, I
struggle. If it's difficult to go out to dinner and eat healthy in Kansas,
it's nearly impossible in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma is composed of three things: fast food, buffets, and gas stations.

As an example, on my most recent trip to Oklahoma, we went to a buffet and I
decided to get a salad. At the large "salad" bar there were exactly three
vegetables: iceberg lettuce, radishes, and carrots. Everything else was meat
(mostly fried) or bread. I ordered a side of green beans; they were canned and
fairly unappealing.

No wonder people don't eat healthier when the options are so limited and
unattractive.

------
adventured
> In Guatemala it is rare to see people who are very overweight, but it could
> not be more different here

The woman quoted is correct, however Guatemala is semi-unique in Latin America
for being lower on the obesity scale than most countries there. Obesity is
generally just as big of a problem across Latin America as it is in the US,
with Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, El Salvador, Belize, Panama, Uruguay
- all ranking either fairly high or very high on the obesity scale. I'd be
very curious to know what separates Guatemala from its neighbors Belize /
Mexico / El Salvador, which all have serious obesity problems.

~~~
Avshalom
Every country you listed (even El Salvador by a hair) has a higher HDI than
Guatamala. I'mma just throw out that maybe (hint, no maybe about) "obesity"
got defined when the world was poorer and maybe (this is the actual maybe) at
least some of the rise is fewer malnourished children/adults.

------
tfandango
From Norman, about 20 min south of OKC. The strides here have been huge in
terms of activities. It used to be the case that there was nothing to do
outside, especially in the humid/hot summer months. Now there are tons of
things to do. Food is still the big issue though, if you are on the go there
are no healthy choices, in fact people tend to take pride in their
cheesburgers and fries (local place in Norman advertised a 2K calorie burger).

OKC is a lot more walkable though now. It would be nice to get people from
Norman, Moore, Edmond, etc to the city without their cars.

------
cms07
I'm from Oklahoma, and I always wonder how much of our social behavior is
based on the fact that Oklahoma was, until recently, Indian Territory and land
worked by farmers who came around the time of the land runs. If you're
struggling to provide enough food for your family in 1889, there's no way you
are letting your children not eat all of their food. I'm sure that is self-
perpetuating in some way.

~~~
VanillaCafe
I grew up in Oklahoma. I think the first problem is the gallons of Coke people
drink every day. People forget that you can actually drink water when you're
thirsty.

~~~
Nicholas_C
I never understood people who proclaim they are thirsty and then grab a coke.

------
Kristine1975
>I was offered desert and chose a “roasted pecan ice cream ball... smothered
in chocolate sauce”. The waiter said that was a good choice, then asked if I
wanted it “volleyball, softball or baseball sized”

A volleyball is about 20cm in diameter. Not even as a child could I have eaten
that much ice cream. At least not without doing like the Ancient Romans.

~~~
syntheticnature
...golf ball sized sounds closer to my preference.

~~~
masklinn
Golf ball seems a bit on the small size, but tennis ball is way too big. Maybe
snooker balls? Looks about halfway between one and the other diameter-wise.

~~~
Nicholas_C
Racquetball sized would be perfect.

------
dang
Url changed from [http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/10/how-one-
of...](http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/10/how-one-of-americas-
fattest-cities-lost-a-million-
pounds/410371/?utm_source=SFTwitter&amp;single_page=true), which points to
this.

