Obesity, increased stress, or lack of exercise: which came first?

One suggestion for the swell in weight gain in this country has been stress. Belly fat may be the body’s way of coping with stress.

A report published in the medical journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity looked at the link between stress and the urge to eat comfort foods. It was found that there might be a physiological reason people would rather eat fatty and sugar-filled foods when stressed out.

Store-bought comfort foods also tend to be filled with high-fructose corn syrup. It has been found that the body digests, absorbs, and metabolizes fructose differently from sugar. This may encourage weight gain. It was also found that high-fructose corn syrup alters the body’s ability to sense that it is full.

“When I am stressed, I will over eat,” admitted senior Angelea Wistrom.

In a series of studies at the University of California-San Francisco, researchers fed rat chow and sugar water to two groups of rats. One group of rats led a pretty laid back and normal life, while the other group was subjected to the stressful experience of being locked in a confined space for short periods of time during the day. The levels of stress hormones were much higher in the imprisoned rats, and the rats began to consume less healthy chow and gulp down more sugar water.

After consuming the more fattening and more delicious “comfort” water, the stressed out rats began to accumulate more abdominal fat and their stress hormones decreased. The more belly fat they accumulated, the lower the rats’ stress hormones were. This suggests excess abdominal fat may be the body’s means for making a person less stressed. There is another theory that in times of stress the brain’s reward center may be triggered and as a result certain foods may taste better, making a person eat more.

“I simply do not deal with stress; I am really bad about it. All I do is bottle it up,” said junior David King.

A recommended method to not only lose weight, but to combat stress hormones is, not surprisingly, exercise. Whenever people physically exert themselves, their bodies release a chemical substance called endorphins, which are very much like opiates in nature. Unlike opiates, a body’s chemicals have no harmful side effects, improve mood, reduce stress, and elevate self esteem.

Exercising also reduces the abdominal fat that is built up during times of stress. Abdominal fat has been found to be a predictor of weight-related problems such as the narrowing and hardening of arteries, sleep apnea (when a person stops breathing while sleeping), stroke, heart attack, diabetes, and hormonal cancers (for example: breast cancer).

“To stay it shape during the summer I work at a fun, fitness and sports camp. During the school year I always make sure to take at least one P.E. class and I occasionally help my dad work,” said King.

If a person just does not have time for the treadmill, school sports, or laps around the track; the exercise of stretching, by itself, has been shown to excite receptors in the nervous system and lessen the release of stress hormones.

Researchers at the University of Chicago studied 23 obese women who agreed to follow a low-fat diet, a low-carbohydrate diet, or a daily aerobic exercise routine with no diet restrictions. After 12 weeks, the exercisers lost more weight and more fat than the other two groups.

“For my exercise, I play this game called Dance Dance Revolution for as long as my parents are not using the television,” said sophomore Kaydee Rowe.

Exercise provides other benefits besides losing weight. It has been shown to improve blood sugar and lower insulin resistance. Exercising also reduces the risk of heart disease. Moderate activity reduces the risk of heart disease and death by 23 percent compared to those who were less active.

“I do overeat when stressed, but I will usually go to the fridge and look for salads or fruits. It is only when we do not have any that I go for the junk food,” said Rowe.

Speaking of which came first, lack of exercise or weight gain: regular exercise has also been shown to help people adhere to their diet plan. It not only makes a person feel better about himself, but it also encourages him to not let all that hard work go to waste. It also gives binge eaters and those who eat out of boredom less time to eat.

To lose weight people must burn more calories than they consume. Carbohydrates and proteins only contain half the calories of comfort foods, which are high in fat. While doctors and dieticians disagree about how much carbohydrates and proteins a person should consume, no one disagrees about fat intake. Less than 30 percent of a person’s calories should come from fat for a healthy body.

One pound of muscle burns 50 calories per day. Exercise increases the basal metabolic rate, or the number of calories a person burns while resting. In other words, muscle helps one to lose weight while doing nothing.