Obesity Rates Keep Rising, Troubling Health Officials

[depakid]

Source: NY Times

Americans are continuing to get fatter and fatter, with obesity rates reaching 30 percent or more in nine states last year, as opposed to only three states in 2007, health officials reported on Tuesday. The increases mean that 2.4 million more people became obese from 2007 to 2009, bringing the total to 72.5 million, or 26.7 percent of the population. The numbers are part of a continuing and ominous trend.

But the rates are probably underestimates because they are based on a phone survey in which 400,000 participants were asked their weight and height instead of having it measured by someone else, and people have a notorious tendency to describe themselves as taller and lighter than they really are. “Over the past several decades, obesity has increased faster than anyone could have imagined it would,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which issued a report on the prevalence of obesity.

Obesity rates have doubled in adults and tripled in children in recent decades, Dr. Frieden said. If the numbers keep going up, he added, “more people will get sick and die from the complications of obesity, such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer.” The report estimates the medical costs of obesity to be as high as $147 billion a year, and notes that “past efforts and investments to prevent and control obesity have not been adequate.”

Researchers blame the usual suspects: too little exercise and too much of the wrong kind of food, which means not enough fruits and vegetables and too many high-calorie meals full of sugar and fat, like French fries, soda and other sweet drinks. Children do not get enough exercise during the school day; Dr. Frieden noted that even in gym classes, students are active for only about a third of the time.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/health/nutrition/04fat.html

[JI7]

1. it's so easy to get food that is cheap and tastes good but so unhealthy

[SocialistLez]

3. +1

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[smalll]

18. Sorry, I'll always support cheap food (guess I'm just not that much of an over-paid latte liberal)

who understands, personally, that on a month-by-month basis, your average person's 2nd biggest expense (beyond rent or a mortgage) is food.

Sorry, we can't all afford locally-sourced, sustainable arugula right now. Sorry! :eyes:

The big problem is the sedentary life that most of us lead -- without choice -- tied down to our automobiles, and too-long-work-hours, and the whole cubicle culture.

But cheap food? I will NEVER resent it --

NEWSFLASH!!! -- even our over-paid, Mac-using, upper-middle-class, crypto-diabetic contingent could ACTUALLY SUVIVE HEALHTILY, AND NOT FAT --

heck, I suvive on eggs, 7-pound chickens, and casseroles heavily based on ground beef (and yes, I look good) -- because I actually GET SOME FUCKING EXERCISE now and then!!!

Yeah, I don't sit at home playing with my iPod5 (can't affor it) or the latest xBox (can't afford it) or watching the God Almighty HBO (again, can't afford it.)

Get off your duff, fatties!

[Nihil]

31. Apart from your last line, I agree pretty much with what you say.

> Sorry, I'll always support cheap food ...
> who understands, personally, that on a month-by-month basis, your average
> person's 2nd biggest expense (beyond rent or a mortgage) is food.

> The big problem is the sedentary life that most of us lead -- without choice --
> tied down to our automobiles, and too-long-work-hours, and the whole cubicle
> culture.

> But cheap food? I will NEVER resent it --

Two points: One is that you are correct w.r.t. exercise being necessary but
the other is that regardless of the price (i.e., cheap food, expensive food,
somewhere in between) you still need MODERATION in the quantity you consume.

Yes, some people DO have genuine health issues (e.g., dysfunctional thyroid)
but far more just have "eat too much of everything" issues and "couldn't be
arsed to walk anywhere" issues.

[Dappleganger]

47. You have a good point too...

we pay little attention to just how much we eat at once. The quantities which are served to us are usually enough for two adults, but we quite often pay little attention to how much is going into our mouths. I'd wager that if we just walked everywhere and monitor those quantities, we could still pretty much eat whatever we wanted to. The reason I say that is back in VA where we lived there was a huge Mennonite community who could cook up a storm and they ate plenty of foods which were high in fat content, but 1) they walked and worked pretty much all day and 2) they watched their portions. Taking too much food was seen as shameful (self-indulging) and they always thought about what could be saved for the next meal.

[Demit]

36. You should cut down on your stereotypes.

[Javaman]

41. So according to you, the issue is not that they eat bad food but that they are lazy.

How very right wing of you.

If you have ever been poor you also know that staying one step ahead of creditors, bill collectors, etc is a full time job and is the polar opposite of being lazy.

You will also know that ones food options are very limited because food chains rarely open stores in impoverished areas, giving rise to the term "food desert".

You like to label people just they same way this article does. Both are very inaccurate.

Once you understand that cheap food and a lack of a living wage is what is killing this nation, then you will also understand that cheap food, the majority of which contains HFCS, is what is at the heart of the rise in both obesity and diabetes.

It's always been about a lack of nutritional value regarding the foods that are available to the poor and uninformed.

A living wage would go a long way to solving many of our problems regarding obesity and poverty. Which go, generally, hand in hand.

So, continue to spout off with your poorly informed self, it's sadly amusing.

[Igel]

61. "without choice"

I believe the poster said "without choice" for the sedentary lifestyle. It's sort of a default, not a sin, venal or mortal.

I've spent time in countries where the people weren't wealthy. Every block or two there was a small, privately owned store that specialized in vegetables and high-frequency kitchen needs: Salt, pepper, oil. But mostly vegetables and fruits. You'd go by at 8 a.m. and there'd be boxes of carrots and onions, peppers and tomatoes, celeriac and cucumbers, apples and pears and potatoes, all set out. You'd fill your shopping bag (they were too poor to be able to easily afford disposable plastic or paper bags) and have them weighed.

They'd tried to convert to Twinkies and Pop-tarts, or the local equivalent, but the people wanted their vegetables. Their competition wasn't from junk food dealers but from lower-priced and glitzier supermarkets. Since people couldn't afford large fridges, the competition was limited: You'd go to the supermarket once every week or two for stuff only sold there--more often if you had a car and liked being trendy. Otherwise you went local and on foot.

Junk food dealers aren't in business to deal in junk food. They're in business to make money. If they find no customers for Twinkies and Snickers, churros and corn dogs, but the pepole ask for onions and cabbage and kale and buy them when stocked, then they'll consistently offer onions and cabbage and kale and no longer be junk food dealers.

[Javaman]

68. I have no idea what point you are trying to make. nt

[burnsei sensei]

88. +1

Fine reply, Javaman.

[tpsbmam]

53. Agree with cutting down on your stereotypes and also want to share my morbidly obese story with you

I'm disabled.....wheelchair kind of disabled. And I have multiple sclerosis, which means a tremendous amount of overwhelming fatigue. One of the universal recommendations by docs, physical therapists, occupational therapists, etc for people with MS is energy conservation. To give you an example of the degree to which this has been recommended to me, my physical therapist told me not to wear clogs (which I wear 80% of the time....Birkenstocks, etc) because they require more energy to walk (when I can I also use a walker). I also have chronic renal failure (caused by MS bladder issues), which also adds to the fatigue.

All of that said, I had gotten overweight much to my chagrin. I was clinically considered obese or morbidly obese. I managed to lose 50 pounds (working on the last 20, which have been harder to lose) despite my necessarily sedentary lifestyle. And, BTW, I'm FAR from lazy.....before all of this, I walked at a fast clip 4 miles to work every morning, ran up and down stairs to a 5th-floor walkup a few times a day, worked out and took dance classes and more. I was regularly too thin to normal weight over the years. And after all of this, I push myself as much as I can, sometimes going too far which is a big no-no for me. And for 2 decades I worked more than full-time despite the fatigue and other problems with my MS, some of those in grad school full-time and working half-time. So you can see how, in my case, your lazy stereotype is far from true. And it's far from true for MANY people who are obese or morbidly obese. To give you one example, ever been into a store and been served by an obese/morbidly obese worker who is on his/her feet all day? Many of those people go home to families they have to feed etc. Hardly lazy. There are many more examples out there and thousands of people who are obese/MO who are hardly lazy. Yes, there are also many who are lazy, but you seriously need to lose that stereotype.

How did I lose the weight? I typically ate a very low fat diet and an almost vegetarian diet for decades (I occasionally ate poultry and fish so it wasn't completely vegetarian). For some reason, I broke that and started eating meat and higher fat foods and my portion control was seriously compromised. So to lose it, I went back to my low fat diet and a semi-vegetarian diet and regulated my portion control. But I love sweets, so I do buy (e.g.) whole cheesecakes. I cut them into slices and freeze them. I defrost in the fridge one slice at a time. And when I want a treat after dinner I eat appx 1/3 of a slice. It's delicious and it satisfies my sweet tooth. And I suck on sugarless candy. And, since I was forced to stop working due to my disabilities, I don't have a high income at all. My food budget is relatively low. No, I don't regularly buy the high priced organic stuff, but I do manage to buy healthy food on a small budget. And yep, I do eat fast food.....about once every 2 months. It satisfies my occasional craving for meat & high fat junk food.

So please, lose the stereotypes. There are millions of stories out there and if you bothered to hear them, you'd understand that there are hundreds of reasons people are obese/MO.

[Ratty]

54. Applause!

Thank you! Well said.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

112. "Latte liberal"? Now where did I hear THAT phraseology before? -nt

[geckosfeet]

2. Thats what happens when you actually eat according to the old 'food pyramid'.

[givemebackmycountry]

4. I swear, this is by design...

Fatten us up, and drain us dry in every way possible.
We are lined up 10 or 20 deep in every fast food drive-thru in the nation.

Something is going on.
If I didn't know any better, I would say it was something that people would think I was crazy to even consider.

[mwb970]

26. It's people!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Sp-VFBbjpE

[Javaman]

42. I have thought that for a long time...

the lack of a living wage combined with poor nutrition equals a more docile population with fewer choices, less energy to protest and lack of will to even bother to attempt change of any sort.

[KurtNYC]

64. if a product is absolutely, harmful to health we only put a warning on the label

health hazards are a way of life in the USA

[aquart]

5. This planet and likely this nation are heading into food shortages.

We're going to have to live off that fat.

[shanti]

70. that's no reason to stay that way though

:eyes:

[defendandprotect]

6. Hormones and chemicals to fatten animals also fatten humans ...it's in our water . ..

the crap is everywhere !!

Fructose is still being defended I noticed on TV -- and I don't watch TV or commercials!!!

So the crap must be being advertised every minute of the day!

[Lorien]

8. Bingo. They don't call them "obesogens" for nothing

at this point I've lost track of how many friends of mine have hypothyroid disease (which is misdiagnosed by the faulty TSH test all the time). Their doctors treat them with crap synthroid drugs which pile on the pounds. Meanwhile, everything in our food supply is designed to screw up thyroid and hormone function. It's insane.

[Missy Vixen]

12. I am hypothyroid

I have a dead thyroid, as a matter of fact. I have to take thyroid hormone daily for the rest of my life.

Here's the deal with treating thyroid disease. Doctors treat to LAB VALUES, and not to symptoms. In other words, you will still have the host (there's a doctor in Canada that advances the idea there are over 200,) of symptoms associated with thyroid disease. In other words, if you are not on the optimal meds that get your metabolism moving somewhat faster than a sloth's, you're in trouble. Most doctors will not treat till your symptoms are gone; they're in love with lab values. That lack of thyroid hormone suppresses weight loss.

Please read that again, people who believe all weight loss is nothing more than calories in, calories out.

Thyroid disease has some fairly nasty symptoms. There are thirteen million people in the USA with diagnosed thyroid disease, and another thirteen million plus who've never been diagnosed, and aren't even on the medication. If you can find a doctor that will prescribe natural dessicated thyroid (Armour,) your life is a bit better. You MIGHT have some energy. If you can't, you're taking medication that just went through clinical trials less than five years ago, despite being prescribed for thyroid disease for the past fifty years.

Oprah has thyroid disease. She thinks if she ignores it, it will go away. No, it won't. It's hard for me to believe that the chemical and hormonal stew we're taking in these days isn't exacerbating the existing problem as well.

[Igel]

63. It's still calories-in/calories-out, even when hypothyroid.

The problem is that with a slower basal metabolism you have to restrict the calories-in portion far below where our leptin and ghrelin hormone levels are comfortable and do lots of stuff to increase the calories-out portion of the equation.

Weight control's still possible, it's just a lot harder.

Doctors due monitor lab values far too much, I agree. I make sure that my prescription covers my needs and monitor my own symptoms, usually self-dosing based on my observations. The doctor hates it, but my thyroid levels have been consistently on the high side of good (where I feel best) when I self dose, whether methimazole or levothyroxine; every time I've shown up and had obvious symptoms in the last 2 1/2 years my levels have been off while I was following the doctor's orders.

My doctor's clueless with the bedside manner of an especially rude toad. She's also clinical faculty and sometimes teaching faculty at a large school of medicine.

[Missy Vixen]

67. With all due respect

How are you "self-dosing" thyroid medication? I was diagnosed in 1995. I have never MET a doctor that will allow a thyroid patient to self-dose, let alone write a prescription allowing it.

You're a man. Men lose weight much more quickly and easily than women do. The facts are these: Those with sub-clinical hypothyroidism,or whose meds are not optimized, will gain weight no matter how stringently they diet. Period.

[DebbieCDC]

78. Kudos Missy Vixen

I am hypothyroid and have a "dead thyroid" also and have been this way since about 1990. It's a constant struggle to maintain a healthy weight while arguing with doctors about metabolic rates.

[dkf]

7. According to my calorie counting iPhone app I'm supposed to be losing weight but I'm not.

It is very frustrating.

[Lorien]

9. ....

http://misslizzy.me/blog/2010/5/11/can-i-have-low-tsh-and-still-be-hypothyroid-yes.html

[JDPriestly]

19. We don't all burn calories at the same rate. There's this thing called metabolism.

It makes a big difference.

[CTyankee]

45. While I agree with you, I think something else is at work here.

Metabolisms have always been different in different human beings. But we haven't always had such a large percentage of obese people. When I look at old family photos I notice there are no obese people (some of the older folks look a little heavier around the middle but none are obese). My husband's family in particular are English/German stock, not the tiniest people on the planet, and many of them big beer drinkers. But they are not obese in these photos. Similarly, my family photos...the older women are thicker in the waist but nobody is obese and these are English/Scottish, Welsh stock.

Gotta be another factor, IMHO...

[Igel]

66. Lots of things.

Diet and a lot more calories than have been consistently available to most people. It's hard to feel full after eating an appropriate number of calories if you eat high calorie-density.

A fast-paced lifestyle, even if it's a self-imposed haste. After all, we have to rush because we need to go visit friends or watch our tv shows--no personal choice there. But if you wolf down your food it's hard to stop when you've reached the right number of calories, unless your diet is mostly leaves and roots (tubers and cormels aren't roots, thank you).

A far more sedentary lifestyle. It doesn't help that we tend to think of mental effort as work even though it requires much fewer calories than manual labor. The upshot is that after hard mental work we eat as though we schlepped rebar. After that stressful session of killing monsters by twitching our thumbs we feel like we've burned off at least 1500 calories. Uh-huh.

Some ethnic differences that may or may not be entirely cultural. Nobody likes to suggest that humans have evolved after leaving Africa, even if they have to disbelieve their eyes. ("Oh, well, *that* evolved, but this over here? Not a chance.")

Possible effects of contaminants in our environment. Estrogen mimics, for example.

One such contaminant is prolonged stress.

Differential basal metabolism rates, which derive from all of the above plus simple genetic effects.

Confounding all of those are possible epigenetic effects of hunger and poor nutrition (or, conversely, too rich diet) that are either set in infancy or even passed along to offspring. If schizophrenia in adults can be tied to epigenetic effects resulting from stress as an infant, if basal metabolism in offspring can be shown to be effected by whether the father went through a period of sustained food deprivation, let's not even say it's unlikely.

My wife's quasi-gone through fad diets. Low fat, for a long time. They all make hay, so to speak, by trying to identify some factor (important or not) that is solely responsible for obesity. Currently she's on a "get all the n-3 fatty acids you can and eat as little of the n-6 fatty acids as possible" diet, one that is claimed to reduce obesity and fight disease resulting from chronic infection. (For years I've pulled up purslane when it grew in the flowerbeds. Now I have a row of it growing in the garden. How weird is that?)

My wife is abetted by human nature: If she's told she bears any responsibility for her weight she thinks of it as criticism and she feels bad. Then she eats more. The response is to blame outsiders, deny all personal responsibility and think of herself as a virtuous victim. This requires denying complexity.

[JDPriestly]

71. People who did hard physical labor could burn the calories in what

was then considered a normal diet.

The problem is that we still eat the diet that people who burned a lot of calories loved. We can't eat that diet anymore. But we haven't found a healthy diet with which to replace it.

[defendandprotect]

74. Animals were herbivores then . . . our capitalistic masters have changed them into cannibals ....

this idea was tossed aside the last time it was tried hundreds of years ago --

but American capitalists re-taught it -- ergo Mad Cow disease --

but a much fattier animal!

Also -- much of our foods are now laden with synthetic chemicals --

from sherbert to salad dressings -- on and on!

They say Domino's Pizza doesn't have one real ingredient in it!!

[JDPriestly]

96. My salad dressing recipe: balsamic vinegar, a bit of tap water (filtered)

and olive oil.

I checked my cupboards once. I did not have one food with corn syrup in it. But I eat meat in small quantities including some processed meat. I also love cheese and yoghurt. I'm not strictly vegetarian, but I eat a lot of vegetables and fruits.

[MsLizzy]

113. Weight Loss is nearly impossible with Hypothyroidism

Being hypothyroid my whole life, I couldn't lose weight no matter how much I dieted and exercised. It was super frustrating, and other people didn't understand. They thought I was lazy. Even doctors told me I just needed to eat less and exercise more. No one looked at the fact that my body temp was 95.5, which is totally abnormal for a healthy functioning person.

When I finally found the right thyroid medicine and treatment for related adrenal fatigue, my body started to work the way I always knew it should. First I had to find a good doctor who listened to me. He said: "you have an instinct of your body's health, you need to listen to your instinct." And so began the journey. This is my story, totally true, I am a real person:

http://misslizzy.me/hypothyroid/

Good luck!
xxoo
Lizzy

[undergroundpanther]

10. If diets worked

There would be no fat people. I agree it seems designed.For what purpose is up for speculation.Obesity is more complex of an issue than simplistic calories in-calories out theories.Diets fail and to keep doing and recommending the same things that fail 95% of people over and over(dieting) as if it works does not help fat people get healthier.But it gives the fitness puritans an ego trip to scapegoat and blame a fat person for being fat.Nobody starts out life thinking I wanna get to be 450 pounds.Being fat in a fat phobic country is a terrible emotional torment.

[NJCher]

11. It's called The Capitalism Diet

With capitalism, businesses have an incentive to offer whatever foods prepared in whatever ways people crave them.

It's no secret that fats and sugars are addictive. Do a search on Amazon for books about sugar or fat craving.

People start indulging in these foods and soon they become habits...actually, addictions.

When told they are unhealthy, people find ways to rationalize or deny their addiction, just like cigarette smokers do.

It's our system. It's an unhealthy system. And it all starts with capitalism. Or should I say "unregulated capitalism."

Try to imagine a fast food place that offered raw apples, oranges, etc. They could be classified as the ultimate fast food as there is no prep at all. Just wash and eat. Think that will ever happen?
:eyes:

Add to this that we might be prewired for laziness so that we don't burn calories:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/7918752/Better-busy-than-doing-nothing-scientist-proves.html


Cher

[LostinVA]

22. Healthy eating and exercise do work

It is as simple as calories in/calories out for the huge, HUGE majority of people. Mnay people don't want to deal with that, though, they want a "miracle diet" or something. I like "The Biggest LOser: for that reason: they tell the folks it isn't easy and it isn't fast.

[eridani]

28. Work to do what?

Make people who are fat into healthier fat people who weigh less than they did? Sure.
Make everyone ideal weight? Nonsense.

[LostinVA]

32. When did I mention anything about a so-called "ideal weight"?

Healthy eating and proper exercise make make unhealthy fat people into healthier or healthy people who weigh less. It certainly doesn't make them "healthier fat people who weigh less than they did." That doesn't even make any sense.

[eridani]

83. The two statments you made are logically equivalent,

Both make obesity into a non-problem. Why not focus on healthy habits instead of weight loss?

[Nihil]

33. Don't you think that is a hell of a good start?

> Work to do what?
> Make people who are fat into healthier fat people who weigh less than
> they did? Sure.

Damn right it will work to do that.
Damn right it is a desirable goal.


> Make everyone ideal weight? Nonsense.

Who needs a strawman today? There seems to be one going spare ...

[eridani]

82. Sure it's good start. And a perfectly acceptable end point as well

There is no straw man here. People keep insisting that obesity is a problem. But if you exercise and eat better and lose some weight, you are still obese. WTF is with the math-challenged people here anyway? 300# - 50# = 250# = STILL FAT!!! Capeesh?

[LostinVA]

86. To point is to get yourself "unobese" -- that's what we are saying

It can definitely be done by "normal" people. Read "Half Assed," or her blog.

[Scout]

92. and who died and made "you" king shit?

it's none of "your" fucking business if i am obese or not.

don't want to pay for my illnesses? (none of which i have yet BTW at age 50) tough shit, i don't want to pay for your kids' illnesses, and your cancers, and your knee replacements because you jogged to stay "unobese."

all you people who are so "concerned" about the health of the fat, and so "concerned" about the costs for care of the fat ... should just STFU because we all know you aren't concerned about those things ... deep down you are just fucking fat bigots. and if you were formerly fat, then you're a self-hating fat bigot.

[eridani]

93. Only if you are willing to not have a life

It is a worthless goal if it leaves room for nothing else. And spare me the bullshit about how if one person did it then everybody can. That rests on the idiotic assumption that everybody's bodies all work exactly the same.

And who the bloody hell do you think you are to tell people that their improvements in health are unacceptable unless "unobesity" is also the end result?

[Missy Vixen]

65. Did you see the YouTube of Jillian Michaels' outtakes?

It's offensive by any standard, and it looks like it's been removed from YouTube. Verbal abuse and shunning isn't a way to change anyone's behavior. Ms. Michaels seems to think so, though. While I was digging around for the YouTube of her offensive comments, I found the following.

http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2010/06/01/does-jillian-michaels-know-what-fat-is-all-about/

>Considering that participation in The Biggest Loser is extremely risky, I fail to see how anything Jillian Michaels has to say about fat or weight loss is the least bit relevant. This woman is not really concerned, despite the fact that her inner-fat-child may be copiously weeping. She makes her living exploiting the self-loathing that many fat people negotiate the world with due to constant shaming.<

It's a good thing there's fat people. After all, how would Ms. Michaels make her living if there wasn't? :eyes:

[flyarm]

13. hey health officials, been to the grocery store lately? Checked out the prices lately?

we have 14 million + out of work ..no jobs no good groceries!

I watch people with food stamps all they can afford to get it what some woud call junk food..cheap boxed food..processed stuff,.because the fruits and veggies cost alot..as well does meat.

WTF do they expect?

Mom's are doing the best they can to keep food on the table for their families with very little.And the prices keep going through the roof for good quality food and produce.

Some people can't pick food out of their gardens with $900.00 Christian Louboutin Boots on ..they have to work long hours and hope they can get by with their food stamps! That is ..IF..they still have a job!

[depakid]

14. While that's a problem, it doesn't help explain the anomaly researchers noted in Washington, DC

Dr. Dietz said the relatively low prevalence of obesity in Washington was harder to explain, particularly because the area has a large black population.

He said one explanation may be that many residents ride the subway; studies have shown that compared with people who drive, those who use public transportation tend to be thinner because it involves more walking. In addition, Dr. Dietz said, there is evidence of above-average fruit and vegetable consumption, and higher rates of breast-feeding, both of which are linked to lower rates of obesity.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[JDPriestly]

21. saigon68, these photos are unbelievable. Are they photoshopped?

Tell me these photos are not real, please.

[saigon68]

76. They are (were) real

I guess a little too funny for the morality censors however

Too bad the URL was deleted too.

[Demeter]

24. I Do Hope You Realize That Publishing People's Images

without permission a no-no.

And that publishing their photos without permission to embarrass, shame or otherwise inflict upon them is ethically reprehensible.

[Nihil]

38. I Do Hope You Realize That Censoring People's Images Does Not Make The Problem Go Away.

And that pretending to defend unknown strangers whilst getting your
high-horse opinion across is also "ethically reprehensible".

I saw his post before it was deleted. It was not pleasant but neither had
the photos been photoshopped - they were of real people and the photos
are still out there. Such reaction is somewhat reminiscent of the infamous
"why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?" ...

[LostinVA]

39. The photos apparently broke DU rules

I would like to know what the photos were of.

[Nihil]

43. Without wishing to wind up the mods ...

... if you were to type in "Walmart fat" to google images,
you would probably see some of them ...

I didn't think he broke any DU rules but I'm not going
to argue the point with the moderator team as they have a
hard job trying to draw a fair line between good & bad.
:shrug:

[LostinVA]

44. ah -- gotcha

I didn't see them, so I can't give my opinion.

[JDPriestly]

72. Very overweight people, some of whom were wearing skimpy clothing.

I'm sorry I commented on the pictures. But they were very unpleasant.

[JDPriestly]

20. depakid, you hit the nail on the head. Walking regularly is the secret.

Walk stairs, walk up and down hills. Walk, walk, walk.

If you are working at a sedentary job, take a walk for lunch.

[eridani]

27. Bullshit. I've been precinct walking and doing census work since March

No effect on my weight at all. (But my a1c values are down from 7.3 to 6.9.)

[depakid]

77. You might find that it's affected your lean body mass ratio

and also had a positive effect on cardiopulmonary fitness.

[eridani]

80. Yes, this is very true. I'm sure my body composition has changed

Note that this is especially true for women. We are much less likely to actually lose weight despite body composition changes, which makes the obsession with weight loss as the be-all and end-all especially pernicious for us.

[LostinVA]

23. The thing is, cheap health IS healthy food

Beans and rice, oatmeal, many frozen vegs. I don't spend alot on food, I can't, but it's all healthy.

[Arkansas Granny]

46. The biggest problem with cheap, healthy food seems to be that most of it requires cooking.

I can't tell you how many people I know who can't or don't cook so they eat a steady diet of fast food and junk food. There are kids out there that rarely, if ever, see a vegetable besides potatoes and those are mostly french fries. Contrary to what food manufacturers would have you believe, a pop tart and a juice drink really don't make a good breakfast any more than a happy meal makes a balanced meal.

I raised 4 kids on cheap, healthy food. It requires more planning and a little more effort, but you can make some great tasting, nutritious meals without breaking the budget using grocery items that are easily obtainable by most people.

Improving nutrition and increased exercise may not cause weight loss for everyone, but it would certainly promote a healthier lifestyle overall whether a person was overweight or not.

[LostinVA]

55. "I raised 4 kids on cheap, healthy food"

My mom raised two of us like that (and my Dad!). Not alot of money, but good, healthy, and TASTY food. I do it now. Places like Trader Joe's and farmer's markets make it easier, but it can be done without them.

[CTyankee]

73. I heard somebody saying that on NPR. If people cooked their meals more

it's a surefire way to lose weight, he said. Well, I don't know. I know lots of overweight, good cooks...

[snooper2]

106. Processed food costs more than buying from scratch..

10 lb bag of potatoes, - $3.00 at Aldi

1 lb bag of Zesty Frys (pre-made/processed) - $1.99


All you need is a knife, and low and behold you can make your own french frys....without the added crap

[Anakin Skywalker]

17. And McDonald's Keep Popping Up Every Few City Blocks.....

Coincidence?

[Lightning Count]

51. Portion size is a huge problem (forgive the unintended pun)

The current happy meal is the adult portion size that was served in the 50's.

[snooper2]

107. Yep, people are too lazy to cook is a big part of it...

So end up spending more money on crap food...

McDonalds Angus Mushroom and Swiss burger by it'self is like $4.50...

Or- you could go to Aldi and get this ...hmm, which would I rather have for lunch/dinner...tough decision there


Cattlemen's Ranch Boneless
Beef Loin Top Sirloin
was $4.69
$ 3. 99 per lb. *

[Marthe48]

25. Always wondered if there's a link to hopeful future

Maybe if people are hopeful about the future, they take better care of themselves. And if the future looks gloomy, they say the heck with it and eat donuts and hot dogs. (Along with lack of exercise, bad food choices, and less money for food) I know I eat bad food when I am stressed and worried--gained a lot of weight the last 10 years.

[Nihil]

37. That's always a possibility ...

> Always wondered if there's a link to hopeful future
> Maybe if people are hopeful about the future, they take better care
> of themselves. And if the future looks gloomy, they say the heck with it
> and eat donuts and hot dogs.

It takes a certain discipline to continue doing the right thing even when
the future looks as black as a coal cellar. (I haven't got it and, from
discussion & observation, not that many have.) It also helps if you are
a bit younger when this is going on as your body will be more resilient
and so easier to recover when things start to brighten again.


> I know I eat bad food when I am stressed and worried--gained a lot of
> weight the last 10 years.

You & me both (though at least I seem to have stabilised again now)!

:hi:

[Marthe48]

85. and if we can't do it for ourselves, try to think of loved ones!

Good luck on stabilising--I have been losing, but we do have a young grandson to chase, best exercise in the world!

[Nihil]

101. That's true enough!

> we do have a young grandson to chase, best exercise in the world!

Thinking back to it, I *was* comparatively slim when our children were young
so that (and the other "let's go for another walk!" activities) probably helped.

Exercise that you enjoy - rather than "have to" do - is good as you'll almost
always end up doing more of it ... a bit like the way that eating healthy food
that is tasty & appealing (in my case, fresh salad stuff) does far more good
than eating some dry cardboard imitation of a "diet snack".

Good luck to yourself too!
:hi:

[eridani]

29. There are no complications of obesity unless you are too fat to move

There are complications of poor nutrition and lack of exercise, which may or may not make any individual obese. Obesity is only one marker for poor nutrition and lack of exercise.

[LostinVA]

34. I would like to see a link to that, because I don't believe it for one second

Stress on systems, diabetes, heart problems, cholesterol, high blood pressure, etc. There's a reason why so many people come onto "The Biggest Loser" taking a handful of meds a day, and six months later are taking much less or even nothing.

[eridani]

81. Stress on systems is good for you. Otherwise why bother with weight training?

Or intense cardiovasscular workouts? An active fat person is by definition a "weight lifter."

The basic problem is what the correlation between obesity and other problems really means. Does it mean A or B?

A. Poor nutrition and exercise habits ----> obesity ----> high blood pressure, blood sugars, cholesterol etc.

B. 1. Poor nutrition and exercise habits ----> obesity and also
2. Poor nutrition and exercise habits ----> high blood pressure, blood sugars, cholesterol etc.


There is zero evidence for A, and plenty of evidence for B.

[LostinVA]

89. WTF are you talking about???

Comparing bodybuilding and ultrarunning to being OBESE?

[eridani]

94. If you are fat and move regularly, you are a "weightlifter"

Saves on the expense of getting hand or ankle weights. So is stress on systems good in some cases and bad in others?

[Scout]

100. exactly right. i had my bone density scan at 50 years old....

except for the arthritis at L3-L5 (where i've had problems since i was a teen, and was not fat), i have VERY dense bones ... and not just for a "woman my age" but for a woman of any age.

i've been some degree of fat/overweight/obese most of my adult life. no diabetes, no high blood pressure, all my blood work comes back excellent.

i lost 50 pounds over the course of about a year and a half ... and guess what! i'm still fat.

[eridani]

111. I'll add a big ditto to that

At 63 I have the bone density of a healthy 26 year old. I weigh less when I am more active, but have never been thin.

[Imajika]

30. And yet our life expectancy continues to rise...

...this is just a bogus issue. It is not a crisis, we do not need to dedicate huge amounts of government resources to it, we do not need to waste a whole lot of time fretting over what people are eating. All this manufactured concern is just setting the stage for sugar taxes, fat taxes, etc.

For the vast majority of people, if you want to lose weight then you eat less and exercise. And if you are poor, you can even lose weight on a cheap food (including fast food) diet.

I have been involved with various gyms and physical fitness in general off and on all my life. There is pretty much no one I have ever met who couldn't meet their health goals in terms of losing weight if they ate less and exercised more. To the extent one doesn't wish to diet, just exercise more. Wake up an hour early and hit the gym or go jogging, after work or at the end of the night just rinse and repeat. You may not be able to achieve perfect abs, or a beach movie caliber hardbody, but if you exercise enough you can pretty much each fast food anytime you want within reason and avoid obesity.

People are fat because they don't get enough exercise. That is pretty much it in a nutshell.

This is not a crisis. We have much more important things to be worrying about.

And just for the record, I am all in favor of posting nutritional information on food, menus, etc. I think having the government require these things is a good idea, but I draw the line there. I do not want the government trying to tax foods they happen to think are unhealthy at the moment.

[eridani]

84. Not if the goals are stupid

It is realistic to expect to weigh less with more exercise. It is not realistic to expect everyone to be "ideal" weight.

[Imajika]

91. I don't disagree with that...

I don't really believe that the "ideal weights" are even correct much of the time. Everyone is different and won't fit neatly into a BMI chart.

Still, exercise often and pretty much everyone will lose weight. It just isn't that complicated. The more junk and fun food one eats, the more they will need to exercise. Simple as that. We do not need the government sticking its nose in telling us how to manage our diets.

[eridani]

95. Please don't confuse losing some weight with becoming "unobese"

I know you aren't, but plenty on DU are.

[tabasco]

35. Why are red states so overweight?

My guess: lots of lazy and stupid people.

[Javaman]

40. Perhaps if there were a study showing what the rise in poverty is in relation to the rate of obesity

It's always been about nutrition. One can eat themselves into gigantic proportions and still starve from malnutrition.

Also google food deserts.

Most food options available for the working poor in this nation are horrible. No access to fruits or vegetables.

When one can by a prepackaged burrito that is closer to cardboard in it's nutritional value than it's original components for under a buck, something needs to drastically change.

Is there any wonder why the amount of people with diabetes and obesity are sky rocketing when just about every food "product" has HFCS in it?

When it's easier and cheaper to go to mcdonalds instead of making a meal from scratch, then there is something wrong.

What is the overarching problem?

The lack of a living wage. Living wages give people freedom to make choices based on income, not based on desperation because of lack of income.

Poverty in this nation will be our ultimate undoing.

You pay people a living wage, they have more time for themselves, are able to make better choices, buy healthier foods, demand supermarkets be built in their area, nutritional level goes up, diabetes goes down, obesity rates drop.

But alas, this is nothing new. It's all be documented to within an inch of it's life yet, it always seems like this info drops out of the blue.

This is why a living wage would go a long way to helping the poor in this nation.

But since we live in the republican age of stupidity, I feel that I'm just writing into thin air.

[roscoeroscoe]

110. i think there's a lot of wisdom in your comments (anger too :)

your comments reminded me of good ol' maslow's heirarchy of needs... the basic levels being, if i remember correctly, physical needs like food and safety. way up the chart, after a person has been able to secure those items, are esteem and self-actualization.

a person or family struggling to make it from day to day may not raise their thoughts further up the chart. they might just keep cramming the same old food in.

so in social justice terms, the effect of unequal distribution of wealth and 'worker insecurity' is to keep the populace focused on survival and competition amongst themselves, unable to spare the time and interest to organize or improve their lives.

it's clear why the 60's happened: the high point in living standards for middle class americans, the greatest point of social mobility we've had. you could even get a work study job to organize or teach job skills.

all this effects how people live and of course, eat. and there's a widely proven inverse relationship: the grocery items with the lowest food values are the most profitable.

thanks!

[BadgerKid]

48. No mention of corn subsidies or HFCS.

I wonder if some money could be shifted from corn to other crops like fruits and vegetables.

[The Straight Story]

49. If we ban food in bars, and inside restaurants, and then tax the hell out of food

we will all be better for it. What you eat is costing me money!

We need to tax people per lb they are overweight, that will teach them to not live like I think they should.

Control the money, get people all afraid, tell them they will save money if we just limit or punish choices, and they will lap it up like hungry dogs.

[superconnected]

56. I don't think making food more expensive is going to help anyone.

Actually it will hurt quite a few people.

It's the people supporting the "cheap" food - potato chips(salt and fat), cookies(sugar and fat) etc, and the corporations spending millions in advertising pushing it on them that is the problem.

I'm 44 and already seen many people go through heart disease - 3 and 5 way by passes, etc. who were only in their 50's. They must be so proud of themselves. Oh wait, many are dead so can't keep spewing their "love red meat" shit that killed them. Sure there are some exceptions but I've seen so many idiots just kill themselves by eating what their doctors told them was killing them. And if they live the shit that they're encouraging kills the next person they helped spew it to.

If we could advertise awareness instead of junk food thinking and show people that the idiot toting the red meat really is an idiot - heck post reasons for death in the obituary section - ie. "after a long and expensive and completely avoidable bout with heart disease..."; and pull the advertising that works on these fat, sugar, and salt lovers, from the TV - that they never leave, I believe we could get somewhere. But right now the advertising for the crap foods runs the place. And the advertising for the good things - wheat instead of white, etc., only shows up in articles in health magazines. It's corporations fault though for tailoring the crap foods to be ultra addictive - working on survival - collect fat instinct. Overcome it or it kills you. Most won't overcome it.

[The Straight Story]

58. I was being sarcastic :)

Same argument is used for smoking, so it should work for food too.... :rofl:

[superconnected]

60. I didn't even think of that as applying to cigarettes which it totally is written for.

that IS funny!

[Lightning Count]

50. More activity is the key. Does anyone remember the old 50's diet????

Taking your date out for hamburgers, malteds, and a big plate of chili cheese fries, but people stayed rail thin because every free moment was spent outside. There were no xbox's, or online communities. You went outside and hit a ball, played catch with your dad, or got an impromptu football game.

[RaRa]

69. But

I guarantee you that the portion size of those meals was much, much smaller than today and those same folks weren't snacking in between meals too. I remember that from "way" back in the 70s.

[Lightning Count]

79. Exactly right.

I said in another post that the happy meal portion size of today was the adult portion size of the 50's.

[woo me with science]

52. ....

[Jennicut]

90. Wall-E's world is our future. Kind of creepy, isn't it?

I am a type 1 diabetic...I always wonder if the food I ate helped to trigger it because I didn't get diagnosed until I was 29. Still, while I didn't always eat majorly healthy every day I didn't consume tons of crap everyday either. Now, I am on a 1400 calorie diet per day. I have to count every single stinkin calorie every day. It sucks.

[woo me with science]

97. The only difference is

the fat people in Wall-e seemed pretty well taken care of apart from the crappy food. Not one of them seemed to worry about affording diabetes test strips, housing, or medical care.

[Xenotime]

57. It's time to enact an obisity fee. It will at least help pay for costs they inflict on the public.

[Missy Vixen]

62. How about a stupidity fee?

I'd be in favor of that.

I'd also like a bigotry fee.

[zzapatista]

59. Christ what an asshole.

[alp227]

75. Look, you can't attack people in food deserts for being lazy.

You know who's really lazy? the greedy corporations who resist living wages and expansions to poorer communities. Whichever lobby's still kissing HFCS subsidy cash. Sigh.

[LostinVA]

87. We aren't n/t

[Odin2005]

98. I've recently learned from my doc that my weight problem is from a deficiency in a metabolite...

...called Carnitine, which is involved in the metabolism of the fatty "marbling" in one's muscles. This leads to lethargy, low nergy, and overeating. I'll be starting to take a prescription Carnitine supplement here shortly and for people with the deficiency the weight just melted off after they started taking the supplement.

[Scout]

99. how did you and your doctor discover the carnitine deficiency? if i may ask. n/t

[Odin2005]

109. My dietician noted that I fit the symptoms exactly and then told my GP to...

...get my Carnitine levels checked.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

104. is this over the counter

I'll have to try some

[Odin2005]

108. No, prescription.

[pampango]

102. Our culture accepts obesity as a natural part of aging as losing your teeth and smoking were

accepted as "natural" in past generations.

In the Third World fatness is often valued as a superficial sign that you are not poor and malnourished. Some of that sentiment is probably at work here too, although most of us view obesity as linked to poverty not to prosperity.

We now know that losing your teeth isn't natural. It's a product of bad eating and dental hygiene. Many more older people now have their own teeth doing what they are supposed to do. A much smaller percentage of people smoke now, because the culture recognizes that it is "bad" and not "natural".

Obesity will one day, soon I hope, be viewed in the same way.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

103. fast foods should have the number of calories in big numbers on the front

at least 1/2 inch font!

every fattening food in grocery stores should also have the number of calories right across the front and carry a red warning label.

[dugaresa]

105. There are many factors but the sedentary lives of people in the US is a big factor

hell even preparing food takes less calories then it used to. Does anyone remember life before the microwave? I do. It took effort to reheat food. You had to get pots and pans out and then you had to clean up afterwords. Now you can just put stuff on a plate and in 2 minutes you are eating.

I am a rather active person but that is my nature, but a lot of my friends have patterned their lives around TV and they don't get out much. Electronic gadgetry has a lot of people doing less.

I even think air conditioning is a factor. I can't live without it but I think we eat more in the summer than we used to because generally when you are uncomfortably hot, are you going to eat a big meal? The summertime used to be a time where we naturally shed pounds because we weren't keen on eating big meals and were drinking more fluids and we were outside more because being inside was uncomfortable.

I bet if we really looked at the changes in technology, etc that we would see how much it has really affected us even more than fast food.

[krabigirl]

116. Yep.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

114. Four words

HFCS

:shrug:

[SLCLiberal]

115. ...

There is a strange psychology associated with diet in this country. Try telling some of your friends that you are limiting your sugar/fats and they first thing they'll ask you is "Why?"

[MoonGlow]

117. The 1950's diet was much healthier

Obesity was rare then