The American "Obesity Epidemic?"

[CrayZee]

So people are apparently readjusting their "normal weight" perceptions.

But it seems like there is a growing, perhaps more affluent, segment of people that are uber health nuts, or at least more conscious about their diets (e.g., eating only organics, multigrain breads, soy and nonfat milk, etc., etc.).

Is there such an obesity epidemic? And if so, why? It sounds more like a social problem (meaning that there are many variables, not just blaming, say, HFCS). Marketing has become more "science-esque", cheap processed foods widely available (e.g., corn subsidies and sugar tariffs), increased restaurant meal sizes, etc. I mean, people ate white Wonderbread, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Hostess Twinkies in the 1950's or whatever. (But then again, people smoked cigs a lot more. So maybe that impacts food intake.)

Maybe it's too hard for the populous to fight against what our genes have told us to do...eat and hump as much as reasonably possible. It doesn't help that dumb people, and children, are more susceptible to marketing messages, it seems.

Also, I ain't no doctor, but the body mass index (BMI) seems like a woefully inadequate yardstick for a good individual weight range. People's body types vary and so forth. Is being somewhat fat really that bad for you? In other words, being overweight is not a causal for bad health in and of itself, but rather a correlate of unheathly living.

[SmileyEH]

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.

[thirddan]

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...

and yes, bmi is a crap way to measure health/weight range...

[mattnxtc]

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

[SmileyEH]

Getting berated for eating healthy food is sooo annoying

[nation]

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Getting berated for eating healthy food is sooo annoying

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QFT. The real problem is that kids and adults are so woefully undereducated when it comes to healthy foods and the effects of eating poorly. Many people are brought up to believe that they are just naturally fat and can do nothing about it.

No one tells them that yes, it is natural for some people to have "better"/faster metabolisms but that does not mean that they have to be overweight. It simply means they have to control their diet in a different way, but they CAN look as good as naturally skinny people.

[calmB4storm]

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Getting berated for eating healthy food is sooo annoying

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QFMFT

[zenfurni]

[ QUOTE ]
Getting berated for eating healthy food is sooo annoying

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I definitely know what you mean, having gotten into an argument with my girlfriend who is into the organic, high-quality food. All other things equal, I'd rather have organic veggies than regular, etc. However, she berated me for eating all this "junk" (like tuna from a can, protein shakes, etc.) but I just couldn't explain that eating a planned-out, balanced, healthy diet is WAY better than eating any amount of tasty, farm-grown, organic butter, potato chips, and cake. It's frustrating, and it's another example of ways that people tend to have misconceptions about proper diet/nutrition.

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
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

[/ QUOTE ]

Absolutely. It has become pretty socially acceptable to eat garbage, and pretty acceptable even to feed it to your kids.

[Unoriginalname]

[ QUOTE ]
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

[/ QUOTE ]

*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.