Part 1

• The Complex Life of Body Fat: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.

• The Color of Body Fat: White, Brown, and Beige Fat--Their Different Effects on Obesity.

• Location, Location, Location: “Bad” Visceral Fat Vs. “Good” Subcutaneous Fat. Sex Differences. Are Sumo Wrestlers Fat but Healthy and Fit?

• Weight Gain, Allostasis, and Set Points: How and Why Body Fat Fights Hard to Stay on You. Is Being Overweight the New “Normal?”

• Proteins, Carbs, Fats, and Calories: Do Some Macronutrients Produce More Body Fat? Are All Calories the Same?

• The Macronutrient Diet Wars: Low-Fat Vs. Low-Carb Vs. High-Protein Vs. Mediterranean. Which Is Best for Sustained Weight Loss?

• How Multiple Hormones Affect Hunger and Obesity. Why Insulin Is the Major Player.

• How the Body’s Attempt to Maintain Fat Levels and the Power of “Thrifty Genes” Drive the Obesity Epidemic. The Tale of Two Pimas.

• Is Obesity Due to Stone Age Genes Unable to Cope with a Modern Food Environment? What Are the Health Consequences?

• Genes and Obesity: We Are Not All Created Equal. The Power of ob, FTO, and IRS-1 Genes to Create Excess Fat.

• The Many Physiological and Environmental Reasons Why So Many People Are Overweight or Obese. Are Gut Bacteria and Viruses Involved? Some Sex and Gender Differences.

Part 2

• Calories, Calories, Calories: Why Are We Eating More Now Than Just a Couple of Decades Ago?

• How Addiction to Sweet, Salt, and Fat Hijacks the Brain's Reward System and Rewires the Brain for Overeating.

• The Battle of the Bulge: Why Do Most Dieters Lose and Then Regain Weight? How Food Cravings Sabotage Diet Plans.

• Which Diet Plan ls The Most Effective? Comparing the Research on Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Volumetrics, HMR, Biggest Loser, Flexitarian, Raw Food, Slim-Fast, Vegan, Atkins, and Others.

• Some Major Myths of Dieting: Surprising Reasons Why Most Diets Fail in The Long Run.

• Lifestyle Changes and Sustained Weight Loss: Having a Plan, the Mindless Margin, Controlling Food Cravings, and Intermittent Fasting.

• Diagnosing and Treating a Major Cause of Obesity: Emotional Overeating. Mindfulness and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy to Help Weight Loss.

• Binge Eating Disorder: How Binge Eating Differs from Food Cravings.

• Can More Exercise Stop The Obesity Epidemic? Why the Adage “Eat Less and Exercise More To Lose Weight” Is Only Half Right.

• Medications for Weight Loss: How Effective Are They?

• Bariatric Surgery for Weight Loss in Extreme Obesity: The Final Option.

Learning Objectives

1. explain the complex nature of body fat and why both too much and too little are deleterious to health.
2. describe how genes, eating behavior, macronutrients, physiology, microorganisms, and the environment interact to produce obesity.
3. outline how the food industry’s production of hyperpalatable foods fuels sweet, fat, and salt addiction and the obesity epidemic.
4. identify the most effective diets that could produce long-lasting results in weight loss.
5. explain strategies for maintaining successful weight loss, managing food cravings, and treating emotional overeating.
6. identify the relative effectiveness of diet, exercise, medications, and surgery in maintaining weight loss.
7. describe how the information in this course can be utilized to improve patient care and patient outcomes.
8. describe, for this course, the implications for dentistry, mental health, nursing, and other healthcare professions.