Week of Feb 12, 2001
============= TRAINER'S CORNER ===============
Get Lean

As those of you with a video already know, a goal selection in the members
only area is "Get Lean." Can getting lean be accomplished without weight
training?  No.

Cardiovascular exercise allows you to trim off body fat and improve your
health, but it is weight training that firms and strengthens the muscles.

Females sometimes have a hard time accepting weightlifting is for them.
Just take a look around your gym or health club next time you are there,
and you'll notice the sexiest, most attractive women are those who
participate in a weight training routine.  Also remember this is true at
any age, and the improvements weight training makes on your bone density
becomes even more important as a woman gets older.

============= DOC TALK ====================
Obesity (Part I)

This is the first of a three-part series on obesity.  This is a large and
controversial topic.  These are my own scientific ideas, which may or may
not be shared by everyone.

Why are people overweight?  First let's look at a historical prospective:
if one examines photographs from 100 years ago, very few people in the
pictures are obese.  Why?  Several reasons.  Compared to the year 2001,
food was relatively scarce, or difficult to supply in the quantities that
are available now days.  Also, the current, typical American diet is very
calorie-dense--a whopping amount of calories are contained in a single
meal.  Portion sizes are also much bigger.  Remember when a hamburger and
fries was a little bun and meat, and a small container of fries?  The
calorie content of foods isn't necessarily higher now, but the portions
are grotesque.  Items are 'Biggie' sized--one meal at a fast food
restaurant is likely four times bigger than 30 years ago.  Non-fast food
restaurants also serve obscene sizes--steaks and baked potatoes, that
would have fed a family of three in the past, are stuffed on huge platters
and given to one person.  Studies have shown that when offered larger
portion sizes, a person will eat more.  (i.e. if you eat 50% of your
french fries, regardless of size, you'll mathematically eat more out of a
'Biggie' size).

Furthermore, people are much more sedentary than our pioneer ancestors.
They had to build shelters, manually wash clothes, walk to school or work,
plow fields, etc.  Our technologic innovations have obliterated these
demands.  So you can see, we perform manual work much less and eat much
more.  Therefore, there really is no mystery as to the obesity problem.

Are genetics involved?  Maybe, maybe not.  Genes don't evolve in 50 years,
but our waist sizes have.  If certain people are more prone to excessive
weight gain, they still need the calories to make it happen.  Remember,
from an evolutionary perspective, our bodies are doing exactly what
they've been programmed to do.  5,000 years ago, it may have been days or
weeks between meals.  Early humans learned to seek out high calorie foods
(i.e. fats) that could sustain them during periods of poor food
availability.  If, by chance, extra calories were consumed, these 'bonus'
calories would be stored as fat reserves for a rainy day.

In conclusion, our bodies are doing what they were designed to do, but
evolution can't catch up with the food explosion and the loss of activity
that has developed over the last 50 years.

Next issue: food choices.

============= EXTRA ================
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***********************************************************************************
MrTrainer newsletter is a weekly publication.  http://www.mrtrainer.com
Trainers Corner is written by Matthew Beeners, ACE certified personal
trainer.
Doc Talk is written by William L. Harrison, M.D.
THIS COLUMN IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY—IT IS NOT INTENDED TO
REPLACE THE ADVICE OF YOUR PERSONAL PHYSICIAN.
Copyright (C) 2000 MrTrainer. All Rights Reserved.