O/T - The Obesity Crisis

[dece870717]

I sometimes like to read the news articles in the Health section of major newspapers but it seems rather depressing to do so as the majority of the articles are something along the lines of "Obesity still rising" "This generation will be the first in history to not outlive the last generation" " X amount of children now have type 2 diabetes" " X amount of children are now super obese".

This kind of stuff makes me think about the future and makes me wonder how much worse will it get? How can we or can we even fix this problem? I'm sort of wondering what is everybody else s thoughts on this big problem we have in America? Or what about how much this is going to affect the universal health care system that's going to be implemented in this country.

What do you think is more of a contributor to the obesity problem; our food selection or our food portions?

Where would you put most of the blame for the obesity problem; self, parents, and/or food companies for purposely making food so fattening and addictive.

 

[sinfulimages]

I put it on the parents for not teaching kids how to eat and making them eat big portions. As a kid how often did you hear "Eat everything on your plate" Or "There are kids in other countries starving"

I also put it on us for be lazy. Americans want it fast and simple. No one wants to cook anymore. No one wants to do the grocery store anymore. Its way easier faster and cheaper to drive through mcdonalds then it is to get home make sure the kids do their home work while you cook and feed the kids before putting them to bed. Then clean up and get ready for bed yourself.

I am not saying any of this is right. I disagree with it. People want to have kids and still have a life. Go out party and not be a good parent. That is the problem.

 

[shredded08]

It's really because of all the factors you mentioned:

As food becomes more and more refined, our epidemic is only going to become worse
Our government will not do anything to change that. There's too much money to be made!
People have become lazy. Why try to eat more fruits and vegetables and the right types of meat (ex. grassfed beef) when Jillian Michaels has her new weight loss line that EVERYONE should take or when you use the Shakeweight and lose all the fat on your arm lmao

hardwork and dedication in all aspects of life are needed and unfortunately most people aren't willing to do that

 

[Huge_C2]

This is a very sad thing indeed.. The worst part about it is that i believe a lot of it is due to the way the economy is at the moment.. The food that people can afford to give their families in some cases are the worst ones you can buy.. Many times you can buy A LOT for the same price as one meal of something healthy.. Thus making it more convienient for the person in charge of buying food.. Also it becoming more popular to mass produce things.. With mass production corners are cut to save money. High fructose corn syrup substituted for real sugar, partially hydrogenated fats, and ingriedients that come in a barrel instead of from the ground... Its sad but the world is becoming so money hungry it really doesnt suprise me that companies are marketing and manufacturing at their consumers expense.

 

[orangejuice07]

i blame alot of it on things like myspace, facebook, computers in general, cell phones, and tv. kids in this generation spend way more time on the computer or watching tv then people in past generations have. when I was younger we use to spend most of our time riding bikes or building tree houses but now I see 9 to 10 year old kids walking around txting and they would rather sit at home for hours on end talkin to their friends on facebook than getting out and actually doing something.

 

[ericraven2003]

Its the parents and lack of exercise. When I was growing up, I ate alot of crap but we played constantly. We played sports or just plain riding our bikes. On top of that, I had PE every day at school, not 2 days a week.

My daugther gained some weight last year, so this summer she is doing volley ball camp 6 hours a week, basketball camp 6 hours a week, and cross fit traiing for kids at a gym 3 days a week for 30 mins(this shit is hard as fuck). After one month, she has lost most of her weight.

The point is that kids need to stay busy for there physical and mental health. Don't be there friend and let them decide(we did that with our first child, and although she has no weight issues she is a problem child), make them get the exercise.

We cleaned out the house of bad food 2 years ago when I lost my weight. We also make my daughter now take her lunch to school 4 days a week so we can monitor what she eats. Its up to the parents if our kids will be fat.

 

[morepain]

we have created a society of lazy, fat, slobs that spend more time trying to figure out how NOT to do something than they do just doing it. Its simply disgusting and no it won't stop. Society is full of sheep just following the herd to a certain miserable fat death just be glad you are not one of them.

 

[richiec]

Dad, please explain further your disagreement with the addiction things you don't agree with. I couldn't disagree with you more. I'm a recovering alcoholic and addict, in other words, I'm addicted to alcohol and any substance that alters my mood/mindset. I do agree that people throw a label on things too fast. My mother in law is an alcoholic, hoarder, compulsive shopper, but father in law says she's ADD, figure that out.

The problem starts at home. Parents don't teach their kids how to eat healthy or the right proportions. Many times, the parents themselves do not know how to eat properly. Competitive sports have been dumbed down so that the fat ass can play. I remember a baseball practice when I was 9, every error we made, we ran a lap... around the mens league softball field. We totalled 32 laps that day Here's the thing though, we won the league championship every yr I was on this team (4yrs). Nowadays, the coach would be in a courtroom for child abuse. "It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game" Take that liberal garbage and stick it, there are winners and losers, that's how it is. We are not all equal on the athletic field, in the gym, in the classroom, but that's what everyone wants people to think.

Parents shelter their kids, don't let them go out and play and run around til the sun goes down. They put their fat asses in front of a TV, computer, or video games so it is easier to "control" them. They don't want to be parents, too many times kids are looked at as accessories

And people want it NOW!!! Anything has to be NOW!!! We are the "Instant Gratification Generation". If you're fat, lipo! Want to get big, steroids (what most people think)! Hungry, why wait grab a snickers! or McDonalds! Don't cook your food, let someone else do it for you!!!

 

[SecondAct]

So many causes. Refined sugar and refined carbohydrates, lack of exercise, service economy jobs over industrial jobs, natural selection progression of fat couples having children, prevalence of fast food, video games and 200 tv channels vs. the 3 channels the older of us had growing up, pe classes that stress having fun and getting along vs. actual athletic activities, the pc of not calling a fat kid fat and shame the little bastard into actually getting off the couch........

 

[hikitiki]

"Oh it was horrible Johnny, there was cheese cake and porkchops everywhere!"

Pretty much sums it up, the entire thing is awesome. But set it to 2:12 if you wanna get right to the point

YouTube - Lazyboy- Underwear Goes Outside The Pants Video

 

[Stewie Griffon]

I don't buy the medical addiction model as applied to things like sex, food, shopping, gambling, etc etc.

Why the obesity problem?
Sedentary lifestyle (sitting on your ass and not moving in some way), and bad diet (as in too much saturated fat and high-glycemic carbs).

And yes, I think marketing - supersizing, big gulps, etc - have contributed to this.

Just my 2 cents...

agree 100%

for the food part don't forget the fact that the US is corn-ified. did you know that the midwest is the largest fertile region on earth? and thats is PERFECTLY suited for growing corn. in fact so much corn is grown the entire population of the earth could fed with cord alone. since the 60's they have found 1001 uses for corn.

introducing corn syrup and polymerized corn syrup (high fructose corn syrup) - its in EVERYTHING. seriously go to any grcoery store. its in hamburger buns, hot dogs, catsup, EVERY soda. its actually quite difficult to find food that does not have high fructose corn syrup.

so whats the big deal with high fructose corn syrup? well your body cant do anything with it other than turn it into body fat. thats it. its worse than saturated fat in that regard. also injestion of high fructose corn syrup will immediately inhibit production of ATP, by up to 60%. well as we all know that is our source of energy - so eating it will make you feel lethargic. also when your body decides to use bodyfat for energy, ATP is what is produced from the fat eventually. inhibiting ATP production will stop your body from using stored body fat.

eating high fructose corn syrup, besides turning to fat and slowing ATP production, will cause elevated uric acid levels. high uric acid is known to cause gout, Lesch-Nyhan syndrome, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and metabolic syndrome. recently high uric acid has been shown to cause high blood pressure.

high fructose corn syrup may be the most dangerous food additive ever conceieved

 

[Steve123]

This is a very sad thing indeed.. The worst part about it is that i believe a lot of it is due to the way the economy is at the moment.. The food that people can afford to give their families in some cases are the worst ones you can buy.. Many times you can buy A LOT for the same price as one meal of something healthy.. Thus making it more convienient for the person in charge of buying food.. Also it becoming more popular to mass produce things.. With mass production corners are cut to save money. High fructose corn syrup substituted for real sugar, partially hydrogenated fats, and ingriedients that come in a barrel instead of from the ground... Its sad but the world is becoming so money hungry it really doesnt suprise me that companies are marketing and manufacturing at their consumers expense.

This is a great point. Lower food budgets combined with a lack of knowledge, or willingness, around food preparation is a probablem. You can certainly purchase a couple of packs of Hot Dogs and a bag of Buns for about $6; however, for that same money you could get a family sized pack of Chicken Thighs; skinned and grilled they are fantastic. This along with about $1 worth of brown rice and a bag of frozen veggies and you're in business. About 100% more healthy at around the same outlay.

Dry beans - Kidney, Pinto etc. can be had for less than a dollar. Combined with a couple of packs of ground turkey you have another decent meal.

It amazes me, as someone who is struggling a bit financially at the moment, when I hear people complaining about not being able to eat healthy and then I see bags of chips, Bottles of Soda, hot dogs and a bunch of other processed junk.

A little effort goes along way..

 

[dece870717]

I have to strongly disagree with the lazy/low activity part to an extent. I don't think its as big contributor to obesity as most people think. For example, I have an extremely active younger cousin that is real chunky and it would baffle me to how he can still be so chunky considering how much he runs around and all the physical things he does and then I saw what he eats. It was really easy to see why as his diet is very high in sugars; candies, sodas, and etc.

Just think about how much activity/time it actually takes to burn x amount of calories vs. how easy and fast you can eat an excess of calories i.e. eating a Big Mac MEAL vs. how much exercise you have to do to burn it off. Diet is I think a WAY bigger contributor to the point that low activity to me plays an insignificant role in the obesity problem. Its sort of why I didn't even mention low activity/exercise in my first post.

 

[shredded08]

I have to strongly disagree with the lazy/low activity part to an extent. I don't think its as big contributor to obesity as most people think. For example, I have an extremely active younger cousin that is real chunky and it would baffle me to how he can still be so chunky considering how much he runs around and all the physical things he does and then I saw what he eats. It was really easy to see why as his diet is very high in sugars; candies, sodas, and etc.

Just think about how much activity/time it actually takes to burn x amount of calories vs. how easy and fast you can eat an excess of calories i.e. eating a Big Mac MEAL vs. how much exercise you have to do to burn it off. Diet is I think a WAY bigger contributor to the point that low activity to me plays an insignificant role in the obesity problem. Its sort of why I didn't even mention low activity/exercise in my first post.

part of being lazy though is not wanting to prepare their own food instead of relying on fast food/candy/etc...i get what you're saying but being lazy involves more than just being active outside the home

 

[dece870717]

part of being lazy though is not wanting to prepare their own food instead of relying on fast food/candy/etc...i get what you're saying but being lazy involves more than just being active outside the home

I see what you mean. That got me thinking about how people would used to eat mostly home cooked meals; soups, sandwiches, home made desserts that have like half the sugar in them than store bought/fast food has. Now its all fast food and TV dinners you microwave in a minute and you get a nice fattening 1000 calorie nutrient deficient meal instead of eating a bowl of healthy home made chicken soup that probably doesn't even have 300 calories in it.

 

[dece870717]

I found something interesting when it comes to cultural differences in the way food is made/prepared. Like for example I come from an all Polish family and I found it interesting with the differences in sweetness in Polish cakes/pastries vs. American ones. American desserts or even basic foods are almost always sweeter no matter what it is. When ever my mom would make an American style dessert, whatever amount of sugar they say to put in the recipe, she always puts half or less than half.

I found it very funny how most Polish people say American cakes and etc are too sweet and then I remember my American co-worker that complained that Polish cakes/desserts are not sweet enough. It seems as though in this country most people are so desensitized to sugar/sweetness that everything is made purposely with much more sugar than there really needs to be to taste good, and I think you could apply this to the salt/fat content of everything made in this country too.

 

[Mega Squat]

My biggest fear is if a national healthcare plan is implemented, and then we will really be affected by the obese due to their rising cost of health care.

 

[Stewie Griffon]

My biggest fear is if a national healthcare plan is implemented, and then we will really be affected by the obese due to their rising cost of health care.

we all already are affected by obese people when it comes to the cost of health care. little things most people don't even think about

example: gurneys that tranport patients in ambulances and hospitals have to have a minimum weight rating. of course normal people don't weigh 500lb but that thats the standard rating. why? so the hostpital cant get sued by some obese 400 lb slob who breaks the bed. who do you think ultimately pays the bill for the manufacture of that gurney - we do, people who pay for monthly health care through insurance companies.

the ramp in ambulances for the gurney has to be rated at 1000lbs, metal isn't free, we flip the bill for fatties

according to forbes magazine, obese people cost 4 billion per year because they get sick more often and call in more
What Fat Costs America - Forbes.com

anyone who understand basic physics will agree, moving more mass takes more fuel - cars, busses, airlines, etc. fat people cost EVERYONE more

there are countless examples

 

[mindstar]

I think that it's been the rise of quick and sugar/fat laden alternatives coupled with a complete lack of education on nutrition. When I look back on previous generations, it's less that they made healthier choices but rather that they had fewer poor options. I believe that it makes sense for our bodies to crave calorie dense foods, given that we are evolved for life on a plain which often included times of both feast and famine. Unfortunately, in the modern context, it is all feast, with foods designed to trigger our cravings. One thing I've noticed since cutting sugar almost completely from my diet is that a) regular. Foods are too sweet now and b) he second I have some refined carbs, I I stantly crave more, no matter if I'm full or not.

The above isn't anattempt to absolve people of their personal responsibility but rather point out what got us into this mess. Hopefuly obesity will become the new smoking and people will begin to take the myriad health risks associated with it seriously.

 

[robot]

People have always been lazy, indifferent slobs. The explosion of obesity is far more related to the contamination of our food supplies. Corn fed animals, HFCS, massive food processing industry.

It is damn tough to get fat on fresh veg and grass fed meat.