CDC study shows that being somewhat "overweight" has at least one positive effect.

I'm not a scientist or a medical professional (so this should not be considered medical advice) but I like to try to find medical studies that back up claims published here and there. The chart below is based on data drawn from a meta-analysis conducted by the CDC, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (2013 Jan 2), and posted on nih.gov.

Ninety-seven studies were used for analysis, providing a combined sample size of more than 2.88 million individuals and more than 270,000 deaths. The results showed that those who were somewhat "overweight" according to the standard BMI numbers actually had a lower mortality rate -- by 6% -- than those whose BMI would fall into the "healthy" range. There was even a slight advantage for those in the slightly obese range.

Click the image to see it larger.

For those who prefer their data in a paragraph to a chart, here it is. The study looked at mortality rates for four groups of people: those with a BMI of 18.5 to 20 (called "normal weight"), with a BMI of 20-25 ("overweight"), BMI of 25-30 ("obese grade 1"), and BMI over 30 ("obese grade 2"). The data showed a lower mortality rate for the the overweight and grade 1 obese groups, by 4-5%. Grade 2 obesity, however, showed a markedly worse mortality rate: +29%.

How does that shake out in height and pounds? Here are the numbers for some average height women (U.S.):

BMI if you are 5'2"

- "healthy": 110-130 lbs.

- "overweight": 140-160 lbs.

BMI if you are 5'4" 

- "healthy": 110-140 lbs.

- "overweight": 150-170 lbs.

BMI if you are 5'6" 

- "healthy": 120-150 lbs.

- "overweight": 160-180 lbs.

The study didn't look at quality of life issues, so if you were to mine the same data looking for incidence of diabetes, etc. the picture might look very different. But I just thought it was interesting that even up to a BMI (body mass index) of 35, being somewhat overweight actually has a positive effect on mortality over the course of the study.

Let us always remember, however, that the mortality rate over all time for everyone is 100%!  [insert ironic smiley face here]

Source of human images used in BMI graph: http://ygraph.com/bmi

Source of numbers used for average height BMIs: http://www.youngmomsconnect.org/downloads/bmi_chart.pdf

Graph created by Jana Snyder.

Appetite suppressing foods -- NOT pills!

Natural strategies for appetite suppression

This is a summary of an article by Mike Adams, the Editor of Natural News, suggesting several natural appetite suppressants. A few of his suggestions involve protein powder or other man-made chemicals, but since I'm avoiding anything "food-like" substances man has invented in the last several decades, I've winnowed his suggestions down to the whole foods choices (and one non-food, non-chemical choice):

• Water + wait 10 minutes. (My bonus advice: Do something interesting while you wait. This will eliminate thirst and/or boredom disguised as hunger pangs.)
• Vegetable or chicken broth. (You could try my simple "Get Well Soon" Soup.)
• Green leafy vegetables -- but not if they're slathered in sweet or "low fat" salad dressing. I have seven easy salad dressing recipes.
• Sugar-free, dye-free pickles.
• Raw apples.
• Also: Exercise - "...the very act of exercising releases stored body fat and converts it back into blood sugar, which raises your blood sugar level and suppresses your appetite cravings." Interesting! I wonder if just a little exercise will kick that off, or if it takes a certain level of effort or minutes. Anyone know?

I also thought that he makes a very important point: enduring some feelings of hunger is just part-and-parcel of losing weight:

There are many strategies that help reduce hunger: avoiding refined carbohydrates, getting plenty of natural sunlight on your skin, drinking large amounts of water on a regular basis, and getting plenty of fiber in your diet. But there is nothing that absolutely eliminates hunger. The bottom line is that if you are going to lose weight, you are going to experience hunger at one time or another....
The key in all this is realizing there's nothing wrong with experiencing hunger from time to time. It's a normal human response to a decrease in your consumption of calories. The problem that most people,,, feel it's some sort of emergency. It feels like they are dying or wasting away when, in fact, the body is just signaling that it doesn't have enough calories to add new fat to the fat stores it's already carrying around. The first feelings of hunger are really more of a false alarm than anything to be concerned about.

The original article, here.