An Easy Way to Lose Weight in 2007

Author of Male Menopause and The Irritable Male Syndrome.  Personal questions or comments?  Drop me a note at Jed@MenAlive.com or visit my websites at www.MenAlive.com or www.TheIrritableMale.com

As we approach the New Year many of us are planning to lose weight.  We’re feeling the effects of our over-indulgence between Thanksgiving and New Years and the way the pounds seem to slip on so much easier than they slip off as we get older.  There are times we just want to forget about our weight and eat whatever we want.  “Hey, I’ve lived this long carrying a few extra pounds, why not enjoy my life.”  On the other hand, we don’t like the feeling we have as our waist lines expand and we can’t ignore the health warnings we hear about weighing too much.

So how much is too much?  Well, recent research indicates that although being overweight can be a problem for our health, the real danger is putting on weight around the middle.  It makes sense when you think about it.  Packing in some extra fat around the hips and thighs doesn’t affect any vital organs, but putting that same fat around the middle messes with our liver and spleen, as well as our hearts. 

There’s an easy way to tell if your waist line is entering the danger zone.  Just take out your tape measure, wrap it around yourself at belly-button level, and read the measurement.  The healthiest waist size is less than 34 inches and health risk increases with each increased notch of the belt.

A study published in the March 2005 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, based on data collected from 27,270 subjects tracked over 13 years who participated in the Harvard Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, found that risk of diabetes and other health problems increases as the waist size expands:

     1.  34-36 inch waist = 200% increase in risk for diabetes and other health problems 
     2.  36-38 inch waist = 300% increase in risk for diabetes and other health problems
     3.  38-40 inch waist = 500% increase in risk for diabetes and other health problems
     4.  40-62 inch waist = 1200% increase in risk for diabetes and other health problems.

Given the reality that two-thirds of us are overweight, most of us are looking for a way to lose.  Every year there’s a new diet sensation that promises to help us “lose weight fast, and keep it off forever.”  Every year we try the latest approach that everyone is raving about.  Every year we lose a few pounds and every year we put it back on again.

Is there an approach that really works?  I’ve found one worth considering.  Like many of you, I found I was gaining pounds with every birthday and trying to lose weight only to become discouraged when I put it back on again.  Four years ago I found an approach that worked for me.  The basis is a vegetarian diet.

Now I need to tell you that going veggie was a huge change.  I grew up eating meat, literally, three times a day.  But over the years I found that I didn’t like the way I felt and I didn’t like the pounds I kept stashing around my belt-line.  I learned that those who eat a vegetarian diet, stay healthy and live longer. 

Nutrition scientists with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) have reviewed scientific studies published in 2006 and found six studies linking vegetarian diets with healthy body weight, improved heart health, increased insulin sensitivity, and other benefits.

In one study, Oxford University professor Timothy Key and his colleagues found that men who switch to a meat-free diet are less subject to the yearly weight gain that causes ever-expanding waistlines and clogged arteries in middle-aged omnivores. Another study published this year found that vegetarian women in Taiwan have slimmer waists and greater insulin sensitivity than omnivores. Five studies in 2005 presented results similar to the six from 2006, as have numerous other studies published in previous years.

When individuals adhere to a low-calorie, low-fat vegetarian diet, they lose more weight and achieve greater decreases in blood cholesterol and blood glucose levels than if they follow a low-calorie and low-fat diet that includes meat.

“People who switch to a vegetarian diet typically lose about 10 percent of their body weight,” says PCRM nutrition scientist Amy Joy Lanou, Ph.D., an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. “Countless studies published in the scientific literature show that resolving to go meat-free in 2007 is the best way slim down and get healthy.”

To learn about the latest scientific studies on nutrition and health you can’t do better than visiting the website of the Physicians Committee on Responsible Medicine at www.pcrm.org

Have you tried to lose weight?  What has worked?  What hasn’t?  Have you ever tried a vegetarian diet?  What did you like?  What didn’t you like?  Let’s share our experiences and commit to have a healthy and joyful, 2007.