Marriage Makes You Fat...

[ddeclue]

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Posted by: Cathy Arnst on June 12

While you and your spouse look lovingly at each other across the dinner table tonight, take a moment and look at what’s actually on that table. Chances are you are sharing one unhealthy meal. According to a study in Nature, both married men and women are twice as likely to become obese as the general population. And the longer they live together, the greater the risk.

By the way, women should not think they’ll escape this fat trip if they forget the marriage license and live in sin with the one they love. Women co-habitating with a romantic partner have a 64% greater risk of obesity. However, men co-habitating with a romantic partner have no increased risk at all—proving once again that life is damn unfair.

The researchers, from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, aren’t sure why marriage might make you fat. They do note that the marital state confers other health benefits, including decreased smoking and longer life. “But we also see greater weight gain than in others of the same age, and greater risk of obesity,” said Penny Gordon-Larsen, an associate professor of nutrition at UNC and co-author of the study.

According to Gordon-Larsen, when people are living together – married or not – they tend to share behaviors and activity patterns. They may chose to eat meals together, possibly cooking bigger meals or eating out more often than they did when they were single, and may watch TV together instead of going to the gym or playing a sport. Gordon-Larsen said that in subsequent interviews with both romantic partners, they found that couples who lived together for more than two years (especially those who were married) were most likely to display similar weight/obesity patterns and physical activity behaviors...

more at: http://www.businessweek.com/careers/workingparents/blog/archives/2009/06/marriage_makes.html

[applegrove]

1. I'm not married and I gained weight.

[Land Shark]

2. Per yesterday's post by kpete, frogs inflate themselves to avoid sex. This would seem to explain it

...in my reply yesterday to the frog post I asked "where's the followup post on fattest states in the Union?" This pretty much suffices.

I was also asking yesterday if "inflating" ourselves would protect us from insurance mandates.

Thanks for posting the answer to my first question.