The American "Obesity Epidemic?"

[JavaNut]

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Ironyaments.

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Stating the obvious can hardly be called irony, Shrimp.

[calmB4storm]

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calm,

[Some sarcasm]... Clearly I am proven ignorant and misinformed because... [more sarcasm]...

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FYP

[Blarg]

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I dont understand why we still see stories about body image issues. The problems of bulemea/anorexia PALE in comparison to the continent of fatties we've got going on.

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i don't know about that... bulimia and anorexia receive a lot of exposure in the media because they're manifestations of society's fixation on thinness and what not, but the incidence of eating disorders is about 1% in the general population and no more than 5% in most colleges. has the media made girls more weight-conscious than in the past? sure. but i think that, in terms of endangering the health of the general population, obesity is much more problematic and the need to address it is much more pressing.

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This is why the idea of society having a "fixation on thinness" is a crock. We have a fixation on talking about it, but in real life, we have been rapidly moving in the opposite direction for years. What we do is completely disconnected from what we say, as a culture.

I think our expanding waistlines are the reason we are so sold on the idea of talking incessantly about things like anorexia when they are such uncommon problems. It goes with all this talk about "fat acceptance" and even the organizations springing up to promote it and legislate about it. As we grow fatter, we naturally like to talk about it as more and more normal and healthy instead of calling it what it is -- unhealthy and unattractive. And with that goes focusing to an exaggerated extent on how being thin can go wrong. By and large, when America talks about how terrible it is to be thin and tries to play up some kind of crisis of people starving themselves and how bad being skinny looks, we're really talking about how fat we are and how bad we feel about how bad we feel it makes us look.

[mattnxtc]

I think part of the reason we talk about skinny people having eating disorders is that it makes the individual feel better.

heck the average weight of women is increasing and by assuming all the skinny people have eating disorders, they can trick themselves into thinking that they are normal and it is the skinny people who are in the wrong.

[Rootabager]

Here is one thing I could never understand. They say how kids today are unhealthy and out of shape from playing video games, diet, etc.

But physical fitness test have been conducted for along time and there have not been any changes in the athletic ability of children. They can still run and jump and do the same number of pullups etc.

I dont know how this can be if people are really that much more out of shape and unhealthy.

[Thremp]

calm and Java,

I'll let this rest. Clearly I live in a higher world of medical care than your kind. I'm sorry your still suffer from problems that were fixed many years ago in my world.

[Blarg]

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Here is one thing I could never understand. They say how kids today are unhealthy and out of shape from playing video games, diet, etc.

But physical fitness test have been conducted for along time and there have not been any changes in the athletic ability of children. They can still run and jump and do the same number of pullups etc.

I dont know how this can be if people are really that much more out of shape and unhealthy.

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I remember reading that physical fitness tests for grade school kids started to decline since at least the 50's. I'm curious as to how and why what you read contradicts this.

For my part, anecdotally, I grew up doing a lot of running around outdoors, and so did most people I knew. And I got to almost all of those places on foot or on my bike -- a ride from mom was rare. I find it hard to believe that kids who often get driven everywhere and have the option of video games and unsupervised t.v. watching would get out anywhere near as much. There are only so many hours in the day.

[kidcolin]

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Here is one thing I could never understand. They say how kids today are unhealthy and out of shape from playing video games, diet, etc.

But physical fitness test have been conducted for along time and there have not been any changes in the athletic ability of children. They can still run and jump and do the same number of pullups etc.

I dont know how this can be if people are really that much more out of shape and unhealthy.

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I'd like to see some of that research. What sorts of age groups? I could see it being the case for say, 6-8 year olds, but not so with 10-12 year olds.

Maybe we're all just biased because we know the country is getting fatter, but I think I see a lot more fat kids nowadays than when I was growing up, or even when I was 16. I also see less kids outside playing in my parents neighborhood (could just be less kids), and I definitely see more kids in strollers. Like, 4 and 5 year olds being carted around and not walking. That never happened when I was little.

[JavaNut]

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calm and Java,

I'll let this rest. Clearly I live in a higher world of medical care than your kind. I'm sorry your still suffer from problems that were fixed many years ago in my world.

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If only your world were real. But you are most welcome to live in the world you choose to live in. I guess that it is easier than to take real responsibility for your own life.

[Thremp]

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I guess that it is easier than to take real responsibility for your own life.

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WTF kind of retarded dig is this? My health is fine. Aside from very high levels of stress at my work, and a higher than optimal consumption of animal fats I can't see anything that is really going to cause any longterm harm to my "own life". I have not developed any horrible disease. I am able to afford first rate medical care.

I'm just completely stunned and baffled at this.

Here is a chart to help you understand:
http://www.medscape.com/content/2002...26899.fig1.gif

Here is another article backing my claim of most amputations being due to lack of care. You can extrapolate out the amount of people who pick up Betes' 2 from their own lack of personal self control:
http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/1031002670.html

Oops. One more. Call me a googletard. Its just so easy:
http://www.goodshepherdrehab.org/amp...amputation.asp