Smart Snacking to Combat Obesity

Statistics

You're right. Your weight is probably not figured into those statistics because you didn't sign any type of waiver. I'm taking a statistics course right now, so I can tell you they probably selected (at least) 1500 people in a simple random sample and from this sample statisticians can draw conclusions WITH VERY LOW DEVIANCE about the entire population. The larger the sample size gets, the more accurate at representing the entire population of the US. I weigh 140 pounds and am 5'3". According to my BMI, I'm still barely overweight. I wear size 10 pants and run around 10 miles per week!

But you don't need any study to figure out Americans are getting fatter. Take your own simple random sample. Look around your grocery store, your movie theater ticket line, your church. I bet 2 out of every 3 adults you see are either overweight or obese.

One more thing: Why do you care about how the numbers were crunched? This is not FOX news with their disclaimer on EVERY POLL that these statistics are not scientific or unbiased. This study was released in a scientific, peer-reviewed journal! On one hand, bravo for questioning the source. On the other, common sense tells us when we look around that children AND adults are MUCH FATTER than they used to be. If you looked up the statistics on rate of diabetes diagnosis per year for the last 10 years, those numbers would tell you the same thing. Crappy food and sedentary lifestyles have caused an epidemic in this country.

Choose an overall healthy lifestyle

If I remember correctly, the latest obesity stats from the CDC were gathered from phone calls to randomly picked subjects who were asked to state their height and weight. Since we usually overestimate how tall we are and underestimate our weight, the obesity stats are probably even larger than we think. In order to send our obesity rates in the opposite direction, we need to promote overall healthy, active lifestyles that include balanced nutrition, exercise, healthy sleep and stress management. If anyone is interested in more information, please see my book, "How To Eat Fried Chicken and Be Thin Too," which can be found on Amazon or at Strategic Book Publishing.

Deborah Kotz responds

Actually, the best thing to eat from a hunger satiation point of view is a combination of carbs, protein and fat. This helps keep your blood sugar levels from spiking and then dropping quickly. Good options: cottage cheese with sliced fruit and a handful of nuts; salad mixed with skinless chicken breast and avocado slices. a glass of skim milk along with grilled salmon.

A low-carber flinches...

"air-popped popcorn", "protein bar", "peanut butter and raspberry jam on a rice cake"...

Ugh, you call these things healthy? I don't any more. Eat real food. Better snacks are real cheese, nuts, a hard-boiled egg, jerky. Better yet, if you eat low-carb at your meals, you won't be hungry and need to snack in the first place.

How are statistics gathered?

I don't have any reason to dispute the obesity statistics I see, but how are they gathered for adults? I don't recall ever being notified that data from a doctor visit was going into some kind of database, and lots of adults rarely if ever visit a doctor. If some group samples representative populations, how are they identified and persuaded to cooperate?