|
|
#151
08-15-2007, 04:29 PM
|
|||
|
|||
Re: The American \"Obesity Epidemic?\"
[ QUOTE ]
Sorry, but the "growing segment of people" are the obese/overweight ones. No pun intended... [/ QUOTE ] That was mostly a statement of the fashion sense of the affluent. It's very hip to be organic and to look health conscious. I live in the the NW and observe that the upper middle class+ seem to like to shop regularly at pricier shops like Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, etc. But yeah, people are getting larger. Usually the affluent strongly influence fashion, so you see stuff trickling down the fashion stream (e.g., Wal-Mart carrying organic foods). Hopefully, being more healthy will be hip and stick where McDLT's not so much. [ QUOTE ] No, the populous isn't having trouble battling the genes. [/ QUOTE ] So you disagree that food was once hard to obtain, and still is for much or most of the world's population? We are built to opportunistically eat, crap, sleep, and procreate from an evolutionary standpoint. But we are also suckers for attractive marketing campaigns and no match for today's use of mathematical statisticians, psychologists, etc. analyzing marketing data honing these campaigns. 
|
|
#152
08-15-2007, 04:35 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: The American \"Obesity Epidemic?\"
This is the article I had in mind but couldn't find when I posted those links earlier. It is long, but I think well worth it to read the whole thing:
http://www.michaelpollan.com/article.php?id=87
|
|
#153
08-15-2007, 04:44 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: The American \"Obesity Epidemic?\"
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] America is getting fatter, yet living longer...kinda contradicts you..hmmmm [/ QUOTE ] Wrong! [/ QUOTE ] US life expectancy is at an all time high and increasing. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/lifexpec.htm [/ QUOTE ] I haven't been following this too closely, but it's more than possible that the advances we make in medicine more than offset the increasing health problems caused by obesity. And just because people are living longer doesn't mean that those years are productive, healthy years - just look at how many gross, fat, barely able to walk old people are just sitting around waiting to die because of the poor health they are in.
|
|
#155
08-15-2007, 04:58 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: The American \"Obesity Epidemic?\"
[ QUOTE ]
Quote: America is getting fatter, yet living longer...kinda contradicts you..hmmmm Wrong! [/ QUOTE ] Previous cut and paste error.... - I agree that America is getting fatter. - Also agree that the average life-span of Americans may have increased.
|
|
#157
08-15-2007, 05:33 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: The American \"Obesity Epidemic?\"
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] Quote: America is getting fatter, yet living longer...kinda contradicts you..hmmmm Wrong! [/ QUOTE ] Previous cut and paste error.... - I agree that America is getting fatter. - Also agree that the average life-span of Americans may have increased. [/ QUOTE ] These are totally unrelated.
|
|
#158
08-15-2007, 05:59 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: The American \"Obesity Epidemic?\"
[ QUOTE ]
Most Likely Answer: People in 1st world nations are living longer in general, but some of those nations' life expectancy potential may be dampened by things like lack of less than optimal health care/lack of insurance, bad lifestyle decisions, etc. So basically medical science, technology, and a relatively stable sociopolitical and economic environment, etc., have a greater effect on life expectancy than somewhat less efficient health care distribution systems, poor dietary and activity habits, etc. I read that AP article a few days ago on the Wii and looked to see the absolute year difference. The differential between the number one nation (Andorra, 83.5 years) and the U.S. (77.9 years) is 5.6 years. A significant difference but not super gigantic like Swaziland (life expectancy of 34.1 years; 43.8 year difference), the lowest nation surveyed. [/ QUOTE ] To me it's significant because I'm thinking some portion of your life at the end -- let's pick an arbitrary number, maybe 10% -- you're probably going to be in poor repair and maybe feeling bad. That's a lot of what kills you in the first place, going through a decline where more and more things fail in your system. So if in the US dying at 77 and losing 10% means you have good years till about 69, and in Switzerland or wherever you like you get to live to to 83 and lose 10% to get 75 good years, you have almost as many good years if you lived in Switzerland as you have in total if you lived in the U.S. Those extra good years that late in the game strike me as providing a whole lot of overall value to your life. All the more so since you'll likely spend most or all of them in retirement, where you can really enjoy them, rather than wasting away at work. So, I think that smallish difference is effectively much more life-enhancing than it might appear at first glance.
|
|
#159
08-15-2007, 07:53 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: The American \"Obesity Epidemic?\"
Blarg,
actually, your numbers are a little off since staying healthy will likely lead to a higher percentage of "good" years. And that's actually a big motivation for me to stay in decent shape. I've known people on both sides of the coin. I know 50 year olds practically out of the game already, and I know healthy retirees spending their time RVing all across the country, enjoying the hell out of themselves.
|
|
#160
08-16-2007, 08:37 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: The American \"Obesity Epidemic?\"
[ QUOTE ]
To me it's significant because I'm thinking some portion of your life at the end -- let's pick an arbitrary number, maybe 10% -- you're probably going to be in poor repair and maybe feeling bad. That's a lot of what kills you in the first place, going through a decline where more and more things fail in your system. So if in the US dying at 77 and losing 10% means you have good years till about 69, and in Switzerland or wherever you like you get to live to to 83 and lose 10% to get 75 good years, you have almost as many good years if you lived in Switzerland as you have in total if you lived in the U.S. Those extra good years that late in the game strike me as providing a whole lot of overall value to your life. All the more so since you'll likely spend most or all of them in retirement, where you can really enjoy them, rather than wasting away at work. So, I think that smallish difference is effectively much more life-enhancing than it might appear at first glance. [/ QUOTE ] Adding another 5.6 years or whatever to your life is significant and I was completely ignoring the "enjoying your later years comfortably" part looking at the numbers alone. I guess my point was that we are generally better off in our environment than one in a 3rd world nation somewhere in Africa (where food is harder to obtain and the environment unstable). So, in a way, this is a "good problem." At least we have somewhat of a choice to live healthy in our society as opposed to other people. So living in a world where obesity is a problem is better than one living where hunger is. But yeah, living a little bit healthier has a causal effect on the number in the first place unless you are of a strong genetic background like George Burns, smoking and drinking daily, or something.
|
 |
|
|
Linear Mode
