In Obesity Epidemic, What’s One Cookie?

[SallyMander]

Interesting NYT article about the biology of obesity, including a nice explanation about the "calories in/calories out" issue that tends to blow up here every so often.

The basic formula for gaining and losing weight is well known: a pound of fat equals 3,500 calories.

That simple equation has fueled the widely accepted notion that weight loss does not require daunting lifestyle changes but “small changes that add up,” as the first lady, Michelle Obama, put it last month in announcing a national plan to counter childhood obesity.

In this view, cutting out or burning just 100 extra calories a day — by replacing soda with water, say, or walking to school — can lead to significant weight loss over time: a pound every 35 days, or more than 10 pounds a year.

While it’s certainly a hopeful message, it’s also misleading. Numerous scientific studies show that small caloric changes have almost no long-term effect on weight. When we skip a cookie or exercise a little more, the body’s biological and behavioral adaptations kick in, significantly reducing the caloric benefits of our effort.

But can small changes in diet and exercise at least keep children from gaining weight? While some obesity experts think so, mathematical models suggest otherwise.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/in-obesity-epidemic-whats-one-cookie/?src=twt&twt=nytimesscience

[aquart]

1. I don't care. I want a cupcake!

<>

[MUAD_DIB]

2. So did this poor soul...

Look at him now...

[liberal N proud]

4. That looks like beer and bacon

Is that a syringe in his arm?

[MUAD_DIB]

7. Cupcakes were his gateway drug. After that he went on to the harder stuff.

[virgogal]

5. God,that looks good and all I have in the house is Oreos. Oh well.

[upi402]

3. Taste bud removal surgery

That's what I'm sayin' here.

[aquart]

6. Don't be silly. Just use the Zicam you put away after the warning.

[geckosfeet]

8. Having the government change the food pyramid so that it does not suggest

that eating 300g of carbohydrates a day is good thing would be a good start. The only thing carbs are good for is putting on weight. Your body does not need them.

[Trillo]

9. Anyone got a recipe for these cookies?

High Energy Biscuits (HEBs)

What are they?
Wheat-based biscuits which provide 450kcal with a minimum of 10 grams and max of 15 grams of protein per 100 grams, fortified in vitamin and mineral.
When and where used?
In the first days of emergency when cooking facilities are scarce. Easy to distribute and provide a quick solution to improve the level of nutrition.
Ingredients:
Wheat flour, Hydrogenate Vegetable Shortening, Sugar, Soy flour, Invert Syrup, High fructose, Corn Syrup, Skimmed milk powder, Sodium and Ammonium, Bicarbonates, Salt, Minerals and vitamins as : Calcium, Magnesium, Iron, Iodine, Folic Acid, Pantothenic Acid, Vitamin B1, B2,B6,B12b C,D,E, Niacine, Vitamin A-retinol.
Nutritional value per 100g:
Energy 450Kcal
Protein 10 to 15g
Fat 15 g
Price $0.12 per 100g packet

http://www.wfp.org/nutrition/special-nutritional-products

Not sure that I like all those particular ingredients, but for 12 cents each? It seems like the order of the ingredients is about right for a cookie.

Edited to add, soy flour isn't typically used in a cookie, but with wheat that's a grain and a legume, so that may make it a complete protein.

Producing biscuits
* Use a simple, cheap recipe, e.g.: 80% wheat flour, 9% sugar, 9% fat or oil plus iodized salt and baking powder (nutritional value 425 kcal/100g of which 10% is protein).

* Include a micronutrient premix containing at least vitamin A, vitamin B complex, iron and folate as soon as possible: 1 kg of premix is needed for 1 ton of biscuits (=800 kg flour); cost: about US$ 20/kg in 2001.

From PDF: http://www.unicef.org/emerg/files/WFP_manual.pdf

Well, those two ingredient lists don't quite add up, but the % gets the main ingredients. I presume the "80% wheat flour" is broken down into some ratio of wheat and soy flour.

Never really thought of crumbling up some vitamin pills into cookies biscuits.

[geckosfeet]

10. That is a recipe for obesity and diabetes. Vitamin pills wouldn't taste very good.