[One thing that was not mentioned below was palatibility. In my experience
white rice has a high ability to satiate, while rice with tomato sauce has
a dramatically lower ability to satisfy. Same comments apply to plain
bread, versus the same bread with peanut butter and raspberry jam on
it. My own "genius" brother has been easily losing large amounts of weight
seemingly with no effort at all, apparently by adopting a reduced
palatibility diet, with the same basic foods, but with little or nothing
in the way of sauces, or other toppings on them.

boiled potato + butter pat + ketchup = obese
boiled potato = thin]
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Why Some People Get Fat And Others Don't: Too Much Snacking And Too Little
Moving, Says Cornell Obesity Specialist
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The main reason some people get fat isn't because
of genetics or how much they eat, says a Cornell University obesity
researcher. It's because compared with thinner people they snack
more often during the day and move about a lot less.

The best way to slash the country's skyrocketing medical costs
associated with obesity is not through dieting but by persuading
people to exercise more, says David Levitsky, professor of
nutritional sciences at Cornell. He says that the government should
take a more aggressive role in ensuring that employers offer workers
more opportunities to stretch their legs and exercise and provide
more noncompetitive sports for children as well as after-school
programs in inner-city neighborhoods where children often can't play
outside safely.

"And forget dietin; it just doesn't work," Levitsky says.

The Cornell obesity expert made these points to a meeting of
nutrition professionals at a program on obesity, presented Jan. 21
at the Southern Tier Dietetic Association in Ithaca.

Levitsky's studies with former undergraduate students Lisa Jias and
Amy Lanou have shown that when people are not allowed snacks, they
still eat about as much at mealtime as when they do snack. And people
who skip a meal or don't snack do not compensate at the next meal by
eating more. That means that the less often you eat, the fewer
calories you consume, he explains.

America, he says, needs to slow the trend of adults and children
becoming fatter, and to achieve this he has several messages:

-- "The popular high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets are just
gimmicks," he says. They work temporarily because they are
comprised of fewer calories, but the weight comes right back
because the diets are nearly impossible to stay on indefinitely.
Such diets, on a long-term basis, could be linked to higher risks
of cancer, heart disease and kidney failure, he says.

-- "The ideal weight charts send the wrong message to consumers;
it's not your weight that counts but what goes into your weight."
In other words, what's much more important to health are
indicators such as blood pressure and cholesterol and healthful
lifestyle habits, such as a low-fat diet and plenty of exercise.
"Recent studies show that shorter mortality is more related to
inactivity than to body weight."

-- What you weigh matters to your life, though. Studies show that
obese people experience discrimination in jobs, housing, education,
dating and marriage.

-- The popular set-point theory -- that your body regulates your
appetite and body weight -- seems to be losing ground as new
research fails to support it.

-- Americans are getting fatter because they are consuming about
1,000 calories more each year than the previous year. That is less
than 10 calories a day. To burn off that extra energy, the average
person needs only to walk or clean house about 17 hours more a year,
power walk, bike or dance about eight hours more or engage in
vigorous exercise (walk uphill, play basketball or jump rope) about
three more hours a year.

-- The benefits of exercise include not only more calorie
expenditure, but also lower cholesterol levels, greater muscle mass
(which uses more calories for fuel than fat cells do), smaller fat
(adipose) cells and changes in brain chemistry that induce feelings
of well-being and a greater sense of control over one's life.

-- Levitsky's final advice on the best way to control weight is to
"move your body whenever possible while reducing calories from fat.
Eat only when you have to, which means at meals, and finally,
accept your body size. Be happy even if you think you're not thin.
The major problem with body size is on the outside -- from society
and the media -- not within you. Take back the control about food
and body size."