The American "Obesity Epidemic?"

[CrayZee]

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If education/intelligence was a major factor in obesity i'm sure you would find significant correlation between the two. I doubt such a correlation exists

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Income correlates VERY strongly to health/obesity. Id be very surprised if intelligence/level of education didnt as well.

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I'm not sure about the correlation of health vs. income, but I'm pretty sure that intelligence and education vs. income is only weakly correlated. This is easy to see: Not all highly intelligent people are monetarily motivated earning, say, $100k+ per year. Many average performing do very well for themselves depending on the business of their work. E.g., you don't need to be a genius to operate a wrecking yard, but you can make a decent living at it compared to the general earning population. If you want to be Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, then you need to be both smart and lucky.

IQ is overrated when it comes to defining life success and happiness.

[Unoriginalname]

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Something that my girlfriend and I were noticing recently is that is has become socially acceptable to eat [censored] food. When I bring healthy food to work, people always comment about how much of a health nut I must be.

Its just acceptable these days to eat fatty foods

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*sigh* this is so true. I need to vent a little about the place I work at. I've become token "health nut" in my office. It's not even that I'm ridiculously strict, but where I work, the mere sight of anything green on your plate will get you labeled as some sort of a health freak. A lot of people make comments and jokingly tease me because I bring things like salads, grilled chicken, protein shakes, and nuts to work. There are some people that order take out chinese almost every f'ing day. And of course they are fat and bitch about how they need to lose weight. Also, tons of people have candy jars in their cubicle. They think they don't eat a lot and don't understand why they can't lose weight, but I watch them graze on candy all day long.

"Oh, there's UnoriginalName with his vegetables again! Well hello there Mr. Healthy Eater!"

Jesus christ STFU already.

Irony: I work for a health insurance company and I swear I work with some of the most gluttonous and unhealthy fatties around. Or maybe I just work with typical Americans.

[CrayZee]

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Something that my girlfriend and I were noticing recently is that is has become socially acceptable to eat [censored] food. When I bring healthy food to work, people always comment about how much of a health nut I must be.

Its just acceptable these days to eat fatty foods

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*sigh* this is so true. I need to vent a little about the place I work at. I've become token "health nut" in my office. A lot of people make comments and jokingly tease me because I bring things like salads, grilled chicken, protein shakes, and nuts to work. There are some people that order take out chinese almost every f'ing day. And of course they are fat and bitch about how they need to lose weight. Also, tons of people have candy jars in their cubicle. They think they don't eat a lot and don't understand why they can't lose weight, but I watch them graze on candy all day long.

"Oh, there's UnoriginalName with his vegetables again! Well hello there Mr. Healthy Eater!"

Jesus christ STFU already.

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When it comes to this topic...unless they're just joking around, these people are just projecting. Misery loves company. People also have this overwhelming tendency to want to push you to their behavioral level.

It seems like it's rarely to a better level, like making fun of bad habits such as smoking or drinking too much.

[Big Poppa Smurf]

Aggie,

I meant specifically education on proper nutrition and exercise science, or at least the basics. Most people have no idea whatsoever of what a healthy balanced diet looks like.

Edit: which still leaves the lazy component, but if more people understood that being healthy is a lifestyle change and not a quick fix more people would be healthier instead of going through the dieting yo-yo most people do

[aggie]

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Aggie,

I meant specifically education on proper nutrition and exercise science, or at least the basics. Most people have no idea whatsoever of what a healthy balanced diet looks like.

Edit: which still leaves the lazy component, but if more people understood that being healthy is a lifestyle change and not a quick fix more people would be healthier instead of going through the dieting yo-yo most people do

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I'm not saying nutrition education wouldn't help to some degree....I'm not really disagreeing with you. I just think the lazyness component is a much bigger factor.

[JavaNut]

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Here is a specific example of obesity not being a cause of bad health, concerning type II diabetes.

http://www.thincs.org/Malcolm2.htm#oct11-2004
http://www.thincs.org/Malcolm2.htm#oct22-2004


There are 4 parts to the essay but I can't seem to find the last two anymore.

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Too bad you could not find the remaining articles. I would have loved to hear him rant on and on about people not losing their sight, kidneys, livers, feet and hands due to high levels of blood glucose.

Don't care if it is genetic, due to obesity, caused by sun spots or whatever, too high levels of glucose in your blood kills you over time. Saying that there is no such disease as type 2 diabetes does not change that.

[fanmail]

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seems like when people think of obesity it relates only to diet...but like most health issues there is exercise as well as diet...people are sedentary, this makes people get fat...

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Yeah, and then there's the exercise component. Forgot to mention that.

People are more sedentary these days. Kids didn't used have Pac-Men and internets, so they're on their butts more. Phys Ed seems to be put on the back burner, and many food and beverage corporations have "invaded" school cafeterias and hallways re-enforcing bad habits. Some schools even subsidize costs by allowing fast food joints and beverage companies in since voters will often say no to any school taxes.

Anyway, while exercise is very good for overall health, caloric intake is much more important. Is is much easier to down a box of Tastykakes w/ a bottle of Coke than it is to use, or work off, those same calories.

Also, people, esp. in more urban environments, are tending to be office workers since our economy has largely been shifting to more specialized knowledge type jobs.

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QFT

[no geeks]

This is natural selection at its finest. Americans who are too ignorant to learn about basic nutrition and exercise die young and therefore have a smaller chance of reproducing and raising fat children. Can't argue with science.

[JavaNut]

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This is natural selection at its finest. Americans who are too ignorant to learn about basic nutrition and exercise die young and therefore have a smaller chance of reproducing and raising fat children. Can't argue with science.

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Only one thing though, it does not seem to be working, does it? [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[mattnxtc]

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This is natural selection at its finest. Americans who are too ignorant to learn about basic nutrition and exercise die young and therefore have a smaller chance of reproducing and raising fat children. Can't argue with science.

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America is getting fatter, yet living longer...kinda contradicts you..hmmmm