I agree the photo was a very poor choice. However, I do not feel that weight loss research is a waste of resources. Weight loss is often dismissed as being simple, and yet the success rate is so low, there's a lot more that may go into weight loss and maintenance than not "eating too much of the wrong things." Besides which, what are the wrong things? Without the research, I never would have found out what the "wrong things" for me were. I would have never considered low carb eating for me, because I'd heard how bad and dangerous it was, and there was some research to back that up. Newer research is showing that low carb dieting may not be right for some folks, and might be perfect for others (again which wouldn't be found without researchers finally considering that maybe all fat folks aren't fat for the same reason, and might need different approaches to lose weight). For folks of any weight, low carb (or at least low grain) may be the "right" diet for folks with autoimmune disease. The research is still out, and more is needed (but that my autoimmune disease slowed into a possible remission on a low carb diet, and some of the symptoms returned after carb binging around the holidays, certainly makes me wonder). Research also has suggested that folks (like me) with insulin resistance and/or fibromyalgia also feel better on low carb or low GI diets.
I never would have tried low carb dieting without my doctor's recommendation, and the research that backed him up, because low carb dieting does not have the reputation of being healthy for anyone. Without the research, I wouldn't have thought to try low carb dieting. My doctor recommended it for my insulin resistance, and I soon noticed that it definitely affected my fibromyalgia symptoms, so I wasn't surprised when I read that anectdotal and research evidence that fibromyalgia patients experience worse flares on high carb diets.
The research does make a difference. The fewer weight loss attempts a person has, probably the better - since there is research that suggests that each weight loss attempt might further lower metabolism. Also, statistically we know the more overweight a person is, the harder it is for them to get the weight off, and the less chance they have of keeping it off. It makes sense to nip weight gain in the bud early and prevent folks from getting on the obesity rollercoaster at all.
Some of the research may be silly, but we're still in obesity dark ages, compared to other research. We know more about drug addiction, pharmaceuticals and cancer than we do about obesity.
Last edited by kaplods; 01-26-2009 at 06:29 PM.
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