Fat Chance - What's Wrong With America's Food? Quantity or Quality: A must read on why America (and her children) have never been fatter or sicker

Thank you again to Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution and the life changing work you are doing.

What's Wrong with Our Food? Quantity or Quality? - This article is a must read.

Here's an excerpt:

Everyone thinks it’s about the calories. Overconsumption of total calories drives obesity. Yet we humans have a hormone called leptin, made by our fat cells, which is supposed to tell our brain to stop. But leptin now doesn’t work, which leads to “brain starvation”, and which is why 30% of Britain and 33% of America are obese. But why did leptin stop working? And why do some obese people get metabolic syndrome but others don’t; and why do normal weight people also get metabolic syndrome? Obesity prevalence is increasing worldwide by 1% per year, while diabetes prevalence is increasing by 4% per year. The quantity of calories — obesity — doesn’t explain diabetes. Rather, the quality of those calories determine whether you can suffer from metabolic syndrome — and the leptin disconnect, by the way.

1. Too little fiber
There are two kinds of fiber: soluble, which is what holds jelly together; and insoluble, like the stringy stuff in celery. When you consume both, it forms a gelatinous barrier along the intestinal wall, which delays the intestine’s ability to absorb nutrients — and that’s good. This limits the blood sugar rise, which limits the insulin response, which limits how much energy is stored in fat cells, and which does away with the leptin disconnect. When you consume fiber, you consume less.

To continue the article: What's Wrong With Our Food? Quantity or Quality

p.s. This article really made me reflect on the last time I was in the hospital (to visit a sick family member) and the only individuals that were not borderline obese were the surgeon and the man polishing the floors. Sadly, there were only a few nurses that were not (by most standards) way overweight.