Does This TV Make My Butt Look Big?

Obesity, TV and Hunger

English: A child watching TV. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There are several reasons I don't watch TV while I workout.  One, is that I need the time to read and the other is something I heard a long time ago and which, apparently, is still under dispute (see quote from an abstract, below); when you watch television your metabolic rate falls.  In other words you burn fewer calories sitting watching TV than you do just sitting.  

Pediatrics. 1993 Feb;91(2):281-6.
Effects of television on metabolic rate: potential implications for childhood obesity.
Klesges RC, Shelton ML, Klesges LM.The effects of television viewing on resting energy expenditure (metabolic rate) in obese and normal-weight children were studied in a laboratory setting. Subjects were 15 obese children and 16 normal-weight children whose ages ranged from 8 to 12 years. All subjects had two measured of resting energy expenditure obtained while at rest and one measurement of energy expenditure taken while viewing television. Results indicated that metabolic rate during television viewing was significantly lower (mean decrease of 211 kcal extrapolated to a day) than during rest. Obese children tended to have a larger decrease, although this difference was not statistically significant (262 kcal/d vs 167 kcal/d, respectively). It was concluded that television viewing has a fairly profound lowering effect of metabolic rate and may be a mechanism for the relationship between obesity and amount of television viewing.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8424001

Maine has one of the the highest childhood obesity rates in the country. We also have one of the highest rates of children and families suffering from hunger and food insecurity (20 to 25%). This is, of course, appalling.  It seems strange, on the surface, that hunger and food insecurity seem to correlate with obesity. 

I have thought that industrialized or post-industrial nations like the United States are the only places where poverty correlates with obesity.  But is you have a parent working two jobs and needing food that is quick to prepare, and you are not educated about healthful eating it is likely that you will gravitate towards inexpensive, fast and easy to prepare foods like macaroni and cheese, fattier cuts of meat.  Add to this a harder time supervising kids because you are at work and the TV as babysitter and you will have obese children. In rural areas, even without work, TV is probably the only thing that gets you through the long winter. 

Family watching television, c. 1958 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

An education level and awareness of healthy food is also correlated.  I can only note this through personal observation.  I learned about food values several times in school, in health class and home economics, which has been cut from most school curricula.

In home economics we learned how to create healthy and balanced meals. But learning about food has been something I have had to do my whole life for medical reasons.

There seem to be several ways TV Time can lead to obesity.  The first lowering the base metabolism.  Secondly if you are watching TV is is likely you are sitting or lying down and not physically active. And, third, in this culture at least, there is a propensity towards mindless eating while watching TV. 

The scientific jury is out on the base metabolism issue. To me it makes sense. But then, maybe reading does the same thing.

I may read while I eat, especially when dining alone, but I don't tend to snack without mindfulness as I did when I was younger reading or watching TV.  It is really easy to do. Do you snack while you read or eat?

Then, of course, screen time of any kind (TV Shows, Computer and Video games is mostly inactive).  Is it general screen time or just entertainment that is correlated?  But, one thing is clear: Kids who watch more TV have higher rates of obesity.

Related articles

• Study Suggests Obesity Is Due To Increased Food Consumption, Not Decreased Energy Expenditure
• How to Fight Childhood Obesity
• Infographic: Untangling The Web Of Poverty, Obesity, And Food

Allopathy, Acupncture and Me

Image by NYCTCM via Flickr

In a desperate attempt to avoid sinus surgery, or major "remodeling" as the surgeon calls it, I listened to friends and went to this Taiwanese trained acupuncturist to see if she can help me. I had been to a few people who had taken courses at massage school or in another aspect of training. I had never found it successful so I have been wary and wanted to go to someone who trained in Asia and was very credentialed. 

Conventional, allopathic medical authorities seem split about it. " There is general agreement that acupuncture is safe when administered by well-trained practitioners using sterile needles, but not on its efficacy as a medical procedure." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture seems like a well researched Wiki.)  In other words it probably won't kill you. 

Whether acupuncture and the other practices that go along with it like herbal medicines, allergy testing, moxabustion are efficacious is harder to determine due to difficulty in designing tests that would a But with Acupuncture, I believe that a practice this old and so institutionalized must do some good. And heaven knows, conventional medicine isn't necessarily efficacious or entirely safe either (read the warnings on the drug advertisements).

This past summer I had major allergy testing both on my skin and blood tests. Not only were the tests negative, they showed absolutely NO sensitivity to anything. This was a welcome surprise because while the milk allergy I was diagnosed with as a baby abated I was never quite sure. And, I was gleeful to be told cats were not an issue. 

So, I expected pulse diagnosis but what I got was my practitioner thrusting a vial of some liquid wrapped in a plastic bag into my left hand and repeatedly pulling on the fingers of my right.  She said it was cat and I was allergic to them. She wasn't interested in the fact that the only time my sinuses don't bother me is when I wake up and have been sleeping in with my cats on the bed too. In fact sometimes I wake up stuffy in houses where there are no cats or other animals. 

Since she used the medical term "allergy" I can only assume she is referring to "allergy" as we understand it—conventionally.

Image via Wikipedia

As she told me that all the medical tests for allergy were hooey and inaccurate, I found myself thinking well why is this accurate then? I am not even touching the allergen, and indeed you would be careful that there were none of the allergen on the package in case someone has=d a severe allergy.  I also learned my tongue is "square" and that means I have allergies and my body is toxic and I must clear it. 

Now I have searched for that online and while I have found several alternative medicine sites that talk about the use of the tongue in diagnosis, none mentions square; they talk about cracking and coating and bite marks, even flabbiness, but not one thing said "square."

I believe that an elimiation diet can tell you food that troubles you, even without allergy or sensitivity in the way most westerners see allergies. And, the idea that there are channels of energy running through the body makes perfect sense to me. But allergy testing by finger strength determined pulling is no more accurate than any other test. It's much like saying there is a cat down the hall and if your fingers weaken you are allergic to it. It was a vial of clear liquid in a ziplock bag. 

I was trained in scientific method. One thing I know is that if you have  multiple methods of testing showing the same result then there is higher confidence that that it is as the test shows. While traditional acupuncture has stayed the same for centuries, allopathic or conventional medical science has improved its methodology significantly. Testing improves because scientists are trying to disprove theories to advance understanding.

The allergy testing done this summer is much more accurate than the one I had eight years ago. And when I was diagnosed with celiac disease the test didn't work if you had been gluten free for some period. A week ago my new gastroenterologist told me that is no longer the case; now they can tell even without the antigen.

This kind of practice is the kind of hocus pocus which makes medical science doubt the efficacy of alternative or traditional medical practices.

I certainly don't think conventional Western Medicine is the definitive and entire answer to the science of health, and I think that billions of people and around the world have shown there s some efficacy in acupucture, and I must say that I am breathing better tonight on my 25 hours without dairy but, I believe the conventional tests because they were exactly in concert and have undergone years of testing in the lab and the field. They were also conducted independently and the results were not subjective.  Medical tests are not perfect, that is why you have to confirm the results with a second test. That is science.

If this doesn't help, My PCP wants me to see a naturopath.  Then it's onto the snake charmer...