obesity (Page 15)

At a time when American military forces are stretched thin overseas and people who wouldn’t ordinarily considered joining up need jobs, a growing number of potential recruits are too fat to enlist. This is a shame, because there are things you can only learn by being a soldier. Subscribers can still listen to this show.

In the past half-century, the number of women of military age who exceed the US Army’s enlistment standards for weight-to-height ratio and body fat percentage has more than tripled. For military-age men, the figure has more than doubled. As of 2007-08, 5.7 million American men and 16.5 million women of military age were ineligible for duty because they were overweight or obese.
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Even though they work for your friends – Lots of us are entangled in a conundrum that’s giving us a fear of food. Ever notice some people seem to eat anything they want and never gain a pound, while others seem to gain weight just by looking at fattening foods? Does the diet that works for a friend not work for you?
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It’s all in the BRAIN! – Why do some people gain weight easily, while others never seem to get supersized, no matter what they eat? And when those of us who gain weight DO get fat, why do men and women pack the fat on in different places on the body?

A protein called SIRT1, which is found in cells throughout the body, must be present in a specific set of brain neurons in order to prevent weight gain after eating high-calorie meals. Also, an enzyme in the brain known as PI3 kinase might control the increased generation of body heat that helps burn off excess calories after eating a high-fat meal. If your brain is deficient in either of these substances, you’ll have to watch what you eat more carefully than the next person.
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And fat can make you stressed – Depressed because you weigh more than you want to? It could be because you’re stressed. Science has long documented the effect of extreme stress, such as war, injury or traumatic grief on humans. Typically, such situations cause victims to decrease their food intake and body weight. Recent studies, however, tend to suggest that social stress, such as public speaking, tests, job and relationship pressures, may have the opposite effect–over-eating and weight gain.
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