EATING OURSELVES TO DEATH: the obesity crisis
Currently, over 72% of Americans are overweight, with 40% being obese. More disturbingly, 19% of children are obese, who will almost certainly stay obese into adulthood. Life expectancy is going down in the United States, and 600,000 people die a year of obesity related causes. The causes of this are complicated - poor education, sedentary lifesyles, wide availability of fast food, sugar and corn syrup being added into processed food. It only seems to be getting worse and worse.
How the heck do we fix this?
ditch the caaar. you want to go to the grocery store? hop on the fookin bike. time for class? hop on the fookin bike. you don't have a fookin bike? buy one
Why don't poor people just exercise at the equinox instead of eating JACK IN THE BOX like smh at least get a peloton bike or something there is no excuse to be lazy af
They could at least buy organic
roight m8, exactly correct. you wanna know what else you should do? eat bananas. nothing but bananas. loike this bloke:
This is a meme. The reality is it's very easy to eat healthily and cheaply. Lentils, etc.
Plenty of ways to stay in shape too that don't involve a gym membership. Go outside and run. I know Equinox is people's favorite place to hate on, but hey, you can hate or you can be the ones that the peanut gallery hates. I'd rather be the latter.
Because bringing up the obesity problem is considered hate speech.
talks about obesity probably being a result of the instant reward from a heightened food environment that our bodies have not evolved enough, so far, to cope with.
Like it doesn't matter if you eat sugar or a lot of highly caloric food as long as you adhere to energy in energy out. Otherwise, you're just storing it as fat, unless you have a genetic makeup that does not tend towards storing a lot of fat, thus it's burned off throughout the day from increased energy output.
Coupled with a highly stimulating and rewarding food environment, we're just biologically made up to eat more as a case for survival.
The problem with calories in calories out is that not all calories are the same, at least in terms of nutritional value. You can eat an entire bag of M&Ms or a steak and potatoes and have the same caloric intake. One is going to give you 30 min of energy the other is going to give you all day energy.
Yeah but the point is the sugar isn’t making you fat, it’s your poor discipline, decsionmaking, and caloric intake budgeting.
I was out last fall/winter heart-related issues that turned out to be completely psychosomatic. I came back into this year, woke up one morning and noticed a little pouch of fat that hung over my trousers; I was absolutely disgusted with myself. I had let gluttony and hedonistic tendencies creep in. Furious with myself, I worked back to running at least 20 miles a week, gym sessions 3 - 4x /week and clamped down on diet.
For a time, you get used to those comforts to make you feel good, but you forget that working out and a clean diet feels as good + better. I crave a run after work again. I crave clean meals and snacks again.
People have respect for people who have respect for themselves. With the exception of serious medical conditions, you have control of your weight. Hold yourself to a higher standard and respect the only fleshy vehicle you'll have on this planet.
Poe's Law in action.
Start fat shaming again.
Underrated comment
Lloyd I simple CANNOT take you seriously because you didn't CAPITALIZE certain words like you normally do.
I will PUMP you harder than LOBBYISTS pumped the food supply full of HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP.
Great for us that are jacked, easier to stand out.
With most issues, I think it has a lot of layers. What I think are the most pressing:
food portions- I think in the US we have an unrealistic idea what a food portion is/should be. A good example is Chipotle, though most of the food there is pretty basic, the sizes are huge. Someone could eat their for lunch everyday and think it's a normal size, but then wonder why they gain weight. Same when you go out for steaks, pasta or pizza; or the size of bagels today vs years ago.
eating "healthy"/"clean"- This is hard because it's not a clearly defined thing, but I think some people get ideas in their head about eating healthy, when they actually don't. I think this occurs a lot with certain granola bars or smoothie drinks, just a lot of carbs.
alcohol/drinking calories- A lot of people overlook this. I'm not talking about a daily drink (bc that's almost actually self control), I mean binge drinking. I'm all about having a good time, but there are a lot of people who guzzle the stuff. Crazy coffee drinks don't help as well.
ppl love food- in a way we should all love food. Most people would rather die early indulging themselves than living longer not. Problem is, most over indulge.
Makes me think, I always say it's funny when you look at shows from the 1950s like Leave it to Beaver, and see what there interpretations are of fat people. I feel the main difference is what people are eating. Food is more of a celebration now than before; the types of food we eat as exploded in popularity (ie meat can be eaten all day) and many are eating out than ever before.
I'll add to point 2 that in American food is not as large of a cultural component compared to countries like Italy, France or Spain. What does this have to do with healthy eating? If food is integral to your national culture, you learn to love the process too i.e. cooking. It's fair that to many people healthy foods are bland but if you learn to love it by cooking it in delicious ways, it's much much easier to eat it.
The culture piece is probably true. American cuisine is regional, not national. New York pizza or delis, Texas barbecue, Philly cheesesteaks, California wine, etc. None of which are probably healthy for you. The "Modern American" restaurant format may have some healthy options, but like you said, not exactly something we take huge pride in either, whereas Italy or France does take huge pride in their culinary tradition.
Honestly though Americans in the early 1900s or even 1800s probably ate better. Farm fresh vegetables and meats.
Spot on with #2. Nutrition should be a part of grade school curriculum. People really don't know what's healthy or not. Pepsi markets its Naked juice line as healthy, when it's about as healthy as soda. Marketing unhealthy foods/beverages as healthy is the new wave for food/drink manufacturers.
I think a good example is chipole, people think it's healthy, but it's actually a lot of calories.
The last time we put nutrition into the classroom, we came up with this abomination.
Not saying we should educate youth about nutrition - just that the farm lobby makes it exponentially harder.
Even Larry Mandelo ate apples.
It’s all in moderation. I can eat 3 bowls or 3 burritos at Chipotle and still just feel 90% full.
It depends how much the person is moving around and shit.
last night at CFA / just a snack
that cookies and cream milkshake is the bomb
Eat a plant based low fat diet. Problem solved.
Exactly - 100% solved. Throw in Intermittent Fasting in the beginning.
You do know vegans end up dying early right?
The no. 1 disease that kills humans is heart disease. A plant based low fat diet significantly reduces your chances of getting heart disease.
Of course you are right. It is mind boggling to me that somehow eating a plant based, low fat diet could turn into a controversial topic. Almost by definition, eating a plant based diet is the equivalent of eating a low "bad fat" diet. Yes, there are plant based foods that high in fat, but this fat is good fat. If you eat a food like almonds, it is very high in fat but very little of it is saturated fat.
Just go for a walk people, lose some damn weight.
Regardless of anyone's proposed solutions, it's going to be hard to propose anything in an environment when criticizing a unhealthy behavior can be considered "fat shaming".
MFSGA
How serious though is the "anti-fat shaming" movement? Like when you see magazines put fatties on their cover, does that actually change anyone's mind?
Being overweight is a rampant issue, whereas being anorexic is about 0.1%. So have at it with the fat shaming; it's not like we're making fun of people or anything.
I don't know if it's about changing people's minds.
The problem seems to be is that there is real cultural push-back against official or objective statements about the dangers of obesity writ large.
Last year, one of the U.K.'s offices for Health (not sure which one) that put out a statement on twitter about the higher risk of cancer associated with obesity. Some fat-activist got all pissy and got her followers to cause a raucous.
This may have a chilling effect on other statements related to obesity regarding things like cardiovascular health and/or depression. The latter of which will cause a shit-storm as you can imagine the arguments of fat-activist and circular reasoning the activists will pursue in regard to the statement.
Poor education: true. We send people to school from age 6 to 18 and they still aren't ready for the work force
Sedentary lifestyles: that's a choice
Wide availability of junk food: that's a choice. Stop eating it and it will go away. Get this De Blasio/Bloomberg infantilization out of here.
Sugar and corn syrup: yes it's a problem, but also a choice. Stop eating it and they'll stop adding it
All of this comes down to personal responsibility. Get out of your Upper East Side bubble or whatever your sociology professor taught you (who doesn't even know what gender they is) and realize it isn't a black and white choice between McDonalds and organic food from Whole Foods. Every country on the planet is able to eat well without being upper income class except the US. The problem isn't the availability of food. It's personal responsibility. Go get some dried beans from the grocery store for protein. Get some cheap vegetables at a Hispanic or Asian food store. If you can't eat well on a budget, you are wrong.
And guys, no matter how bad your cold streak is, and no matter how drunk you are, DO NOT BANG FAT GIRLS. It's the same reason why we don't negotiate with terrorists. It just encourages more fatness.
Man I hate fat people
This statement isn't rooted in reality. People aren't rational actors, it's 2019 and people STILL smoke cigarettes with all the known side effects. Legislation is needed, ONLY because a society of unhealthy people is expensive.
What do you suggest? Serious question. Putting limits on soda bottle sizes in NYC doesn't seem to do it. Other countries like in Western Europe don't have such laws, yet you don't see obesity there.
Why does a society of unhealthy expensive need to be expensive? I know that obesity drives up health care costs, because as it is, we have to treat everyone no matter what. Is that right though? Obesity isn't the only problem. You have vagrant drug addicts who have no interest in rehabilitation and use the emergency room as their primary care, for example. And we're the schmucks footing the bill. Sounds more like we're enabling problems.
Edit: thinking about it some more, what I WOULD be amicable to is 1950s style PE classes in grade school through high school. Look up some old YouTube videos on them. It was like Crossfit before Crossfit. Back then it was in case we needed to draft a large scale Army during the Cold War. Now, if nothing else it would be a forcing function. If you know you had to do a 5 mile run, you know eating a Big Mac beforehand is going to make you feel like crap, so you won't do it.
It is rooted in reality. Cigarette consumption has been in decline since the mid-90s. Some of this is because legislation was passed barring tobacco companies from marketing to kids, some of it is growing awareness, and some of it is the massive number of tax hikes - approximately 300% from 1995 to 2009 (federal and state combined). And while there hasn't been any appetite for another increase since Obama's suggestion got shot down, at the state level there have been dozens of additional increases. There is no question that increasing cigarette pricing is driving down consumption. It's not the only factor, but it's working.
That's just not true.
HFCS was added as a means of preserving food, making it more palatable and addictive, and as a filler so as to keep food prices steady.
HFCS wasn't added because consumers demanded it. No consumer stood up and said "I want a highly unhealthy quasi-food smelly goop added to all of my food please."
It was added to bolster food company profits, and it's been working.
Food companies won't stop adding HFCS due to consumer objection, because there's virtually no items that are HFCS-free anymore, in the US.
How is a consumer supposed to vote with their dollars if literally every item on the shelf has HFCS in it?
Because they aren't in every item on the shelf
Whole vegetables Meats - doesn't even have to be organic. Literally just a slab of meat Plant-based proteins like lentils Nuts Fish Brown rice, pasta, potatoes Spices for flavor, like garlic, chili powder, black pepper
At no point in time, even before there was a Whole Foods in every neighborhood, did any of those ingredients above have high fructose corn syrup and I just named everything you need to eat like a king. Some of you guys just need to learn how to cook. Quit eating processed crap. Real sugar soda isn't an upgrade either, be gone hipster thot.
I read an interesting study last year that basically said, in general:
Germans eat more fatty meat and drink more beer than Americans
Italians eat more carbs than Americans
Americans are still more obese due to a much higher consumption of high fructose corn syrup. The reason being that there are more regulations preventing HFC in Europe.
Our bodies are smart, and when they don't know how to digest something (HFC), it does the only thing it knows how to do, which is turn it into fat and store it.
Indeed interesting. Very hard to find foods in US groceries that don't have HFCS.
It's in everything.
Generally speaking, obesity is on the rise in all OECD countries. It's definitely diet based. We (America) have the highest health care cost per capita among OECD nations. If Washington doesn't start getting serious about preventative healthcare legislation that targets diets, we're f*cked, fiscally speaking.
Obesity is a problem wherever you go but probably more clear in the US. Real food comsumption pales in front of McDonalds, Burger King etc...
Tax that behavior. Bloomberg had the right idea but wrong concept with his soda ban a few years back. Tax the shit out of low-nutritional food and drinks and watch the market correct itself.
We have a precedent. There are a ton of medical conditions, and enormous costs, to obesity, costs that the American tax payer is currently covering. Tax all of this shit and allocate the proceeds to covering medical expenses. We already do it with cigarettes. Smoking is a choice, and one that imposes real costs on the public. So is eating at McDonalds, or only drinking soft drinks. 20 years ago you could make a case that those were the only places to eat in some of the many food deserts in the country, but now even McDonalds and those places have health(ier) options.
Cigarettes (and nicotine) are quite literally addictive in a chemical sense, and we've seen a massive reduction in smoking due to more awareness of the side effects, and higher associated costs. We're starting to have the awareness on obesity now, all we need to do is increase the costs.
Or in a more moral sense, don't tax anything extra and then also don't subsidize healthcare costs. But you are right in that if society subsidizes healthcare then it should have a say in the individual. Which is the moral reason to not have subsidized healthcare.
Society has a responsibility to care for its sick and wounded. Why not just fully private care in general? Little girl gets shot by a gang member... let her die if he parents can't make it in time, ya know? She should have made better choices.
And if that's not a scenario that appeals to you, stop carping on subsidized healthcare. The whole point of single payer or any sort of government run/managed healthcare system is to bring down costs by subsidizing preventative care, because we already know that emergency care is by far the most expensive individual part of the system.
Why have taxes at all? Privatize the armed forces, privatize infrastructure and education... who gives a shit what happens to the poors? They can't pay, they can't play. If you aren't all for that, then you need to shut up and move over, because your hypocrisy is standing in the way of an intelligent debate
America gorges on simple empty carbohydrates with no nutritional value and sugar. Human beings aren't meant to eat refined flour, GMO corn, soy, processed sugar, etc... Carbs and sugar end up being converted by the body to fat if they are not burned off through vigorous exercise. Americans sedentary lifestyle combined with this diet create obesity.
I don't mean to be a troll, the thing that's off about obesity is that you could be that super swole guy at the gym competing in body building competitions (or the turd teenager taking steroids) and be considered obese. Granted that's a small amount but their seems to be more to it than just that stat. Gotta look at the heart attacks/disease, Cancer and the Diabetes..
I think we're all understanding that the technical definition of obesity, and people who are unhealthy & obese, are not perfectly overlapping Venn diagrams (though... it's probably close). Obesity is a problem of more than just cancer or diabetes. It's joint replacements and arthritis treatment, liver diseases, resulting depression and mental disorders which "require" treatment.
In 2008, obesity cost the medical system $150bn. If you could cut that by a third you'd be making a meaningful dent in the the deficit. And the vast majority of these people are fat by choice. I don't choose to have Parkinsons. I choose to not be fat. Just like I choose to smoke or drink. And guess what? I get taxed on those fully voluntary, obviously unhealthy activities. I'm fine with that. That is defraying the costs my choices have to society. So it's obviously annoying that you walk around a goddamn Walmart and see the people who decided that being unhealthy was not just a choice but a right, and that it's on me to pay for their eventual care needs. Tax unhealthy foods and you'll see a (relatively) quick decrease in obesity rates
In the military I was active to a point where diet didn't really matter. What I didn't respect was how much diet plays a role in our physical being. I recently cut sugar out of my diet after visiting the VA and being disgusted with my A1C. Removing sugar took away my heartburn and i don't snore anymore from weight loss. Removing Sodas, Carbs, and Sweets made the weight fall off without really working out. I look back and realize i didn't have to run 7 miles to stay fit I could have eaten the right foods and been fine. We have so many industries built around the bad foods that we won't reverse it. Killing ourselves!
https://www.stateofobesity.org/adult-obesity/
Comparing the rankings above to election results makes me think we shouldn’t do anything about the obesity crisis.
Holy shit that map is alarming Lloyds right we are eating ourselves to death
Controversial answer, but: society needs to stop with the HAES, the "every body is beautiful", the "you are beautiful no matter what you look like" crap. Everyone should watch My 600 Pound Life and be educated about how much healthcare is going to cost when you can't even roll off your bed to take a shit.
Seriously. When I see women who are 400 lbs walking around talking about how they're "fat shamed" by their PCPs and anyone who doesn't love their fat doesn't deserve them.... idk, that makes my blood boil.
Carry on.
This isn't controversial, it's factual. Who gives a shit that snowflakes don't condone fat shaming. Here's a view I agree with It's fucked up to call some one ugly because that's how god made you and you cant change that. It's not fucked up to call someone fat because they can hop on a treadmill and fix that. Humans were never intended to be obese the way they are now. There is nothing natural about that.
If talking about childhood obesity, the key point is parents. Many of them buy unhealthy food so often that children become addicted and can't stop eating thousands of calories. Parents should be a role model for their kids and eat healthy, play sports, visit doctors and so on.
Recognize it as a problem. Lots of "movements" out there about acceptance and obesity being the new normal.
I didn't read every comment in detail, but as a guy who grew up in a fairly rural community I always like to raise a hand for them. I grew up in rural VA and will sometimes drive to my hometown from NYC as opposed to train / fly. It is quite stunning to see the difference in the average body from NYC (particularly Manhattan) to any of the random local communities I'll pop off the highway in PA to fill up the tank.
Most of it has already been said, but one issue is simply lack of food options. In many of these communities you may not have a true grocery store but instead a Dollar General or even a gas station serving as the food hub. I had a close family member who owned two gas stations / convenience stores in my local county that served as the main grocery options for the two West Virginia counties immediately across the state line. If you are lucky enough to have a grocery store, good luck having anything "fresh." Given the average incomes are drastically low in these communities, non-perishables (i.e. processed) are about all you can sell as a business owner because there is no way you're going to turn fresh veggies & meats (unless you're say a local butcher, but those are increasingly rare).
Beyond the lack of food options, the sedentary lifestyle has been stated and cannot be overlooked. With cheap cell phones and internet, it has only gotten worse. In these communities you drive everywhere (if you end up going anywhere at all), and you aren't walking more than 10 minutes once you're out of the vehicle.
I remember when I was ~24 I was home for Thanksgiving and I showed up for the Turkey Trot 5k. I took 2nd place in my category (something like 21-28yr old males), and, again, I am generally fit but not a fitness junky. Pretty sure I ran around 23-24 minutes so somewhere around an 8 minute mile. Granted this wasn't a huge event, but there were still ~400-500 people there and plenty of guys to fall in my bucket. It's just one datapoint, but I think it's a good example... I was in banking sitting on my ass all day and maybe hitting the gym 3 times a week on a great week.
I don't have any solutions to offer, but I think the sedentary lifestyle has many options that have been mentioned (I think a lot can be done at the schools), but the diet / food availability is a really tough one.
I agree with a lot of what you said. Dollar General thrives in a lot of these places because it's cheap, and getting actual produce and foods is more expensive.
The only counter I have is that obesity is that it's more about intake of food and choices people make about their diet. For example, if your only option to have food is McDonald's, it doesn't, you could keep your diet close to in-check. Not the top level, best it can be, but in check. One big mac isn't the best, but people go out and eat 2-3, with large fries, and a giant coke. Instead of each meal being a couple hundred calories, every meal now becomes 1000+.
To an extend too its about advertising and marketing of products. At one point everyone survived on 3 meals a day. Now you need snacks, and appertizers and drinks, all that adds up. At the same time, Kellogg's, General Mills and every other brand want to sell you these, that's where the marketing comes in.
I do generally agree with this. If you are conscious of limiting you in-take, you are also more likely to exercise so at a minimum you recognize the issue and are trying to take meaningful steps to address it. So I agree it is possible.
Putting aside the marketing aspect first, these foods in themselves are engineered to trigger as many reward centers in the human brain so the mind over matter can be very difficult. I saw a lot of discussion on added sugars and such above hitting on this idea. Couple this with social media, which is also engineered to fire off the crack receptors, with targeted advertising it is awful.
As a social media addict myself (aware of the time I waste on it), I think we're setting ourselves up for only worsening crises. I look around now at friends and family with young kids and they're already hooked on an iPad by the age of 2 sometimes. It's very scary. I'm so happy I had the luxury of running around outside with friends instead.
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