THERE’S A LOT OF TALK THESE DAYS OF “OBESITY GENES” OR OTHER HEREDITARY FACTORS THAT MIGHT PROMOTE WEIGHT GAIN. SO IT’S NO WONDER THAT SOME OF US MAY BE THINKING, “I’M JUST DESTINED TO BE FAT.”And sure, genetic factors do predispose some of us to become fatter than others.“But for most Americans, heredity need not be destiny,” asserts Dr. Jay Kenney,
Nutrition Research Specialist at the Pritikin Longevity Center. “The primary reason that growing numbers of Americans are seriously overweight is our Western industrialized environment.”
We drive rather than walk. We choose elevators over stairs. And we wolf down Big Macs instead of fruits, veggies, beans, whole grains, and prudent portions of lean meat.
We live in a society, in short, that promotes excessive calorie intake and body fat accumulation, even in those of us who have only a weak genetic predisposition to put on weight.
To reverse this pound-producing trend, what’s most important is how we live, not how we are wired.Here are the top two strategies for losing weight permanently, taught in our “Biology of Weight Control” class at the Pritikin Longevity Center.
