Obesity vs. smoking: What's worse?

[AlexM]

[ QUOTE ]
just curious, what are the upsides to being a smoker??

[/ QUOTE ]

You know it's a drug, right? Drugs give you "good" feelings. That's why people use them. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[mjkidd]

It depends. A very thin, chain-smoking vegan with cholesterol of 120 will never get heart disease or diabetes, which are two of the major killers of americans, particularly obese Americans. The vegan smoker could be expected to live quite a bit longer than the fat ass. But if you're talking about a smoker who's an average American (fat but not obese, eating a crappy american diet full of meat and dairy) versus a nonsmoking obese guy on roughly the same diet, the obese guy probably has a less bad health expectation than the slightly thinner smoker.

[Troy McClure]

Hi I'm actor Troy McClure. You might remember me from the film "Smoke Yourself Thin".

[mbillie1]

[ QUOTE ]
Hi I'm actor Troy McClure. You might remember me from the film "Smoke Yourself Thin".

[/ QUOTE ]

Another hidden bonus to smoking: you can smoke and be thin. You can't be fat and be thin.

[nath]

also, having been both overweight and a smoker, and at points both, i can say i felt better and enjoyed life much more as a smoker of normal weight than a non-smoking fat person.

[Triumph36]

[ QUOTE ]
also, having been both overweight and a smoker, and at points both, i can say i felt better and enjoyed life much more as a smoker of normal weight than a non-smoking fat person.

[/ QUOTE ]

i suspect these two positions would reverse in 25 or so years. then again, fat people and smokers both experience chronic shortness of breath, so who knows.

the problem is that obesity has a much wider range than smoking - someone can be mildly obese, but it's rare that people smoke ~5 cigarettes a day.

also, obese people can usually feed their addictions almost anywhere they are - smokers can't light up anywhere anymore.

[Yobz]

[ QUOTE ]
It depends. A very thin, chain-smoking vegan with cholesterol of 120 will never get heart disease or diabetes, which are two of the major killers of americans, particularly obese Americans. The vegan smoker could be expected to live quite a bit longer than the fat ass. But if you're talking about a smoker who's an average American (fat but not obese, eating a crappy american diet full of meat and dairy) versus a nonsmoking obese guy on roughly the same diet, the obese guy probably has a less bad health expectation than the slightly thinner smoker.

[/ QUOTE ]

Since when is meat/dairy bad for people and being a vegan healthy? You can overeat as a vegan just as much as you can overeat meat. It's the portions that matter...

[daryn]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
just curious, what are the upsides to being a smoker??

[/ QUOTE ]

You know it's a drug, right? Drugs give you "good" feelings. That's why people use them. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

ok but then you can argue there are upsides to doing whatever it takes to become obese, if we're not looking at the negative effects

[daryn]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It depends. A very thin, chain-smoking vegan with cholesterol of 120 will never get heart disease or diabetes, which are two of the major killers of americans, particularly obese Americans. The vegan smoker could be expected to live quite a bit longer than the fat ass. But if you're talking about a smoker who's an average American (fat but not obese, eating a crappy american diet full of meat and dairy) versus a nonsmoking obese guy on roughly the same diet, the obese guy probably has a less bad health expectation than the slightly thinner smoker.

[/ QUOTE ]

Since when is meat/dairy bad for people and being a vegan healthy? You can overeat as a vegan just as much as you can overeat meat. It's the portions that matter...

[/ QUOTE ]

also, how does chain-smoking not increase chances of getting heart disease???

[SimonBarSinister]

I have four very good doctors in my family,yes I'm the [censored] of the group, also I am fat and smoke (yeah death) and I was told multiple times that the fat will kill me way before smoking ever would. Of course every case is unique but generally speaking they claim that obesity is waaay worse and certainly more of a risk of sudden death.