How many hours do you spend in the gym? According to a new study, while exercise is important to keep oneself healthy, it's not the key to battling obesity.
In an editorial that can now be read in British Journal of Sports Medicine, if a person truly wants to lose the unwanted weight, eliminate obesity, and live a far healthier life, he needs to change his diet-that is, say bye-bye to food that is rich in carbohydrates and sugars, which only spike calories.
In another stunning revelation, a bad diet can destroy a person's health worse than the combined effects of smoking and alcohol.
The editorial has sparked an intense debate even among health experts since it's been taught that obesity is a by-product of lack of exercise and other types of physical activity. However, the same article suggests that almost 50% of those who have maintained or have reached their ideal BMI (body mass index) can actually suffer from different metabolic syndromes such as type 2 diabetes. Eating 150 calories more from food that is filled with sugar every day can already increase your risk of diabetes by as much as 11 times. This is worse than eating calories that are derived from fat.
The editorial also hits on bad marketing tactics that seem to deviate the blame of obesity on the lack of exercise than on the types of food that are being eaten, even going as far as comparing that the strategy is similar to what the tobacco industry did to prove that smoking doesn't cause lung cancer.
The writers are trying to convince the many health clubs and gyms to begin the change by removing those drinks that are high in sugar, including sports drinks.
They also downplay the benefits of calorie counting, saying that it's now how much calories you eat every day that matters but where they are coming from.
Like sugar, carbohydrates can also increase the risk of metabolic syndrome associated to obesity, and cutting them back can reverse the effects.
