Sandy Szwarc has an interesting series at TCS on obesity. In the current article, she points to disturbing, and plausible, data that indicate that it may be caused by dieting.

I have to say that the more "wisdom" I read from professional nutritionists, the more I think that the entire field is rife with ignorance and quackery (though I suppose the former ameliorates the latter to some degree--are you a quack if you don't know that you are?).

Interesting.

In 1974 I decided to lose weight. I considered dieting for about 3 nanoseconds. I just didn't like what it entailed. Instead I took up serious running and swimming. Lost the weight I wanted to lose and kept it off.

The past four years I've put on weight. Some of it is clearly due to stress and unhappiness. Rand, you call yourself a recovering aerospace engineer. I'm a recovering aerospace software engineer. I know my running has been affected.

Americans are more sedentary than they were even 20 years ago. They spend more time at work. I wonder if these things are what's really driving the obesity epidemic. If so, the diet craze is diverting us from the real causes of our weight problems.

Chuck --

Take a look at the other articles in the series. There is some discussion about how we really aren't any more sedentary than 20 years ago, and that physical activity (or lack thereof) may not be a very good predictor of obesity after all.

My overwhelming reaction to this series of articles is.....depression. I'm about 25 pounds overweight, and have done all the diet/exercise rituals, only to gain back. I'm exhibit #1 for the idea that this doesn't work over the long term. Instead, what these articles are telling me is that basically I'm screwed. I'm fat and there's just about nothing I can do about it because my body is pre-wired to do what it does, behavior patterns be damned.

Great. More stress.

It's not quite that bad Michael. Exercise can bring the weight off, and safely, as long as you can maintain a metabolism that's in fat-burning mode with the proper balanced diet. The catch is that it takes a lot, more than most have time or willingness to do (i.e., thousands of calories per day, like our mammoth-hunting ancestors).

I think one of the big things that has contributed to weight gain, particularly in young people, is the Food Pyramid concept they're being taught in school. I put on a lot of weight easting pasta because I had been told it was somehow "healthier" to eat that way. In reality, unless you're a runner or everyday athlete, a high-carbohydrate diet is a prescription for weight gain and possibly a risk factor for diabetes.

Now I keep an eye on my carbs and sugar and try to eat plenty of vegetables. And my weight has stayed stable for several years.

After my heart attack a year ago I've done some research into why all these things seem to be happening to us and my conclusion is simply that we didn't evolve eating this moden diet. So I'm attempting to move to a more paleolithic diet: no grains, no sugars, few starches. Basically meat, vegetables, fruit, berries and nuts. It seems to work for the hunter-gatherers that are still practicing that diet....

I was told recently that work out benches don't do much for weight (you need real cardiovascular exercise for that, running, stepper, brisk walk). Using a soloflex or whatever might create six-pack abs but they might still be hidden beneath the spare tire. Don't know if this is true or not but I thought I'd add it to the dicussion.

Michael, I did go back and read the earlier articles in the series. Interesting.

I do know the whole field of social science research is fraught with problems. Hell, once upon a time I even studied social psychology at the grad school level. Compounding the problems of ignorance are the people with various agendas to push. Puritans are among the leading offenders in that regard.

We have a lot of arguing from anecdote. I lost weight via high mileage running (30-40 miles/week). I do see sedentary people on really strict diets being quite overweight. Fellow runners, on the other hand, are usually quite light.

Part of the problem with this kind of work is the limitations on data. What if, for example, the rise in obesity has been triggered by changes in the past 40 years? Back in the 1950s, when I was growing up, children led much less structured lives. We typically walked to school. There was lots of physical play outdoors -- even for budding intellectuals. Unfortunately we don't have as much hard data about the 50s as we do about the 90s.

Life seems much different than it was when I was growing up. But how much different? Damned if I know. And different in what ways? Likewise, damned if I -- or anyone -- really knows.

I suspect the real long term approach is to not jump on bandwagons, but try out proposed changes for a long time on small groups and then observe what actually happens.

Dear Ms. Szwarc: The spelling of your last name is of great interest to me. My mother-in-law's family immigrated to the US from Vasilisky, now in Belarus, in the early 1900's. The spelling of their name was the same as yours. Most unusual. Is this your maiden or married name? Would you have any background information on your ancestors? We are doing family trees and are always looking for more information and family. Thank you. Libbie B. Kaplan lakaplan@att.net

Dear Ms. Szwarc: The spelling of your last name is of great interest to me. My mother-in-law's family immigrated to the US from Vasilisky, now in Belarus, in the early 1900's. The spelling of their name was the same as yours. Most unusual. Is this your maiden or married name? Would you have any background information on your ancestors? We are doing family trees and are always looking for more information and family. Thank you. Libbie B. Kaplan lakaplan@att.net