Way Beyond Weight
Across the globe, millions of children are struggling with being overweight. It's an epidemic that places the longevity of our future generations in peril. The feature-length documentary Way Beyond Weight examines the factors that have led to this health crisis, and searches for solutions that can free our children from its deadly grip.
The film theorizes that the epidemic likely started in the United States with the proliferation of processed foods after World War II. Today, the scourge of obesity touches every corner of the world. The filmmakers travel to the U.S., Brazil and other regions to speak with a panel of health experts, food industry representatives, researchers and many children who have fallen victim to obesity and all the diseases it encompasses. In each stop along the way, the causes and symptoms of this destructive condition are strikingly similar.
Few are without blame. The parents of these children may be overly permissive or poorly informed, but many of them do not have access to healthy alternatives. On every street, their children are battling the bombardment of fatty foods and sugary drinks. Public parks and school gymnasiums have dwindled, and their absence effectively limits a child's exposure to physical activity. Technology has overtaken a child's desire for play; instead of jumping rope or climbing walls, modern video games encourage children to remain stationary and often isolated from others. Corporations look upon these children as easy prey, and their seductive marketing masks the truth behind the addictive and dangerous products they sell. Portions have grown substantially, and sugar content has risen to historic levels.
The film shows us how the consequences of unhealthy eating and limited physical fitness go far beyond health risks like diabetes and heart disease. It also attacks a child's psychological wellness, and the shame and loneliness induced by obesity often fuels its continued dominance in their lives.
A thoughtful and thorough investigation of the obesity epidemic, Way Beyond Weight arms its viewers with essential information, and empowers them to take control of their child's health.
Directed by: Estela Renner
It is important to note that most things that don't have a NON-GMO label on them ARE GMO. Among other things GMO is internalized insecticide, which for corn, eats out the guts of the corn bore. It is my guess, despite lies by Monsanto to the contrary, that GMO also attacks the guts of humans. If eaten in enough quantity, which it would seem easy to do, a person could develop leaky gut syndrome, which seems to be yet another thing related to diabetes. It would seem wise to avoid GMO foods like the plague, because in a way it is; a slower acting plague.
I recall seeing one or more documentaries that featured some inner city good-natured types making locally grown vegetables available at low cost to combat this very issue. They were grown from a small lot or two with salvaged wood greenhouse and teaching those who wanted to, how to do it themselves on even a smaller scale. Meaning anyone with a window could grow some of their own food.
When I was young, which was a long time ago, junk food was very cheap because people didn't live on it. We even referred to the fast food burgers and shakes as "gut bombs" because that is how it made you feel. And as silly teenagers, we would laugh about it. Potato chips, cookies, tv dinners, all of it was cheap because very few made a habit out of it.
Now, even the super market once known for keeping all prices low on everything it sold (not walmart) must have had a management change. It like most of the other stores has discovered that people are addicted to junk food and has decided to gouge the heck out of those items. Even though that ticks me off in the processed food I probably shouldn't eat, in a way that is a good thing, forcing people to consider more healthy, much cheaper alternatives. For instance, at this store I can buy an organic apple at the same or lower price than other stores sell non-organic apples. Their organic celery is very inexpensive and excellent. Any time a kid is whining about nothing to eat (nothing that they want to eat), like I used to do, break out the organic celery and carrots (organic carrots are available most places at decent prices). If they don't want them then they aren't hungry and say so.
One thing about raising kids that my wonderful folks didn't have to deal with: WEASELS in schools and other govt agencies looking to remove kids from sane non-liberal non-socialist parents. It has been discovered in the UK that the Weasels "social worker/inspector" get kickbacks for such removal and placement into certain "homes", because those "homes" get a dandy sum for taking care of the removed kids. It wouldn't surprise me if something similar occurred in the usa in certain areas.
Like a great many things, the ultimate responsibility rests with the parent or person getting fat. What person doesn't have access to the internet in the usa these days? Be it at school or a library or their friends phone, etc.? The parents could assign their kids to find out what is making them fat and what would make them slim. That way they have some time invested in it themselves instead of having to constantly be harped on and them defiant.
So many kids these days won't drink water because "it has no flavor". So the parents buy them soda. Then the little bundles of joy are over activated on high fructose corn syrup and disrupt classes messing with other students. Then the teacher wants to put the kid on Ritalin claiming the kid has ADHD. The school gets kickbacks for every student they put on Ritalin or used to. Hence an epidemic of over prescribed Ritalin. And the sheeple go for this nonsense because the LAME school teacher, nurse, and/or doc says so.
Why do the teachers feel that is what they must do? A**hole parents who sue if johnny is put in the corner for mouthing off. And who is right there to help them sue the school? A WEASEL attorney.
Who is right there to sue the parents if johnny reacts as a normal kid might to being bullied regularly or singled out by a teacher and crapped on regularly (as a teacher or two did to some unfortunate student in my class and others), a weasel attorney.
Rules and laws are made by and for attorneys. The more laws that are demanded, the more attorneys will reap the rewards. If you want to trace the downfall of nations and the increased power of corporations (and govt), attaining status far beyond their original intent (to facilitate public works projects)... the facilitators of most every wrong thing, be it a congressional act, local ordinance, unnecessary lawsuit, or protecting corporations from the evil they do to the populace and the planet, you can find a person with no moral compass called an attorney facilitating the bad actors. Until I see attorneys regularly suing other attorneys for fraud, as most commit as a regular course, will attorneys regain any honor above snakehood. Judges, typically attorneys also, are worse since they allow it all. Which brings it all back to us, since ultimately we allow them to allow it.
If you want to eliminate personal responsibility, as most liberals or socialists endeavor to do, then nothing will ever get solved and the problems will multiply, as they already have, as a result of this very elimination of personal responsibility.
If you care about your kids (even if you don't) don't let them give your kids any pharmaceuticals like Ritalin. After a couple days tell the teacher you talked to your doctor and we are taking the child off of sodas and sugary snacks (and DO that). The teacher hearing that your doctor is involved (whether they are or not) should have no choice but to acquiesce about putting your kid on Ritalin. If they want some note confirming that, say you'll get that when you drop by the doc's office. Just put them off indefinitely. Tell your kid the choice is theirs, keep still and quiet in class no matter what or how any other kid prods you or get stuck on a med that will make them slow and worse. Throw away the chips and cookies and other carbs and junk and break out the celery and carrots and apples. If they whine, too bad. Those will be much better for you too. And cheaper cheaper.
If you are not factoring in the cost of doctor visits and meds into the cost of food then you are not doing a proper comparison. We are what we eat. If you want someone else to be responsible, move to a country where the flag is a big sow(female pig) with a nipple for every person they want to buy a vote from. Oh hey, that is the usa!
John Krisfalusci is right... correlation isn't causation. Just because you are of low socioeconomic status, depression, genetics, metabolism, etc, don't mean you'll end up being obese. By the way, there is a huge difference between being obese and being just overweight or slightly overweight. For some people being slightly overweight seems to be beneficial for the individual. However, the documentary and Johns' original post are referring to obesity and the complications that rises from being beyond just overweight. Obesity isn't normal for our species, so stop giving justifications for it. This isn't common or limited to a single group of individuals. Being too fat to be able to walk around or being stuck in bed for years is part of peoples' choice and lifestyle. Also, being house bound can be quite expensive. Spending over $1000 a month on just food isn't cheap. I don't even know how some families can support such a fat relative who just lives in the bedroom.
Metabolism and genetics involve a small group of individuals within the human population, so people ought to stop using that an excuse for being obese. It insults and trivializes those who do have disorders and illnesses, such as Cushings' and prevents further study on the matter.
Also, just because you have a predisposition doesn't mean you'll get it. Some of you people ought to stop insulting the intelligence and education of others, if you yourselves don't have any education in the science of the medical field either. I am predisposition for diabetes, heart disease and other health complications, but due to eating right I had avoid such complications that has been in my family for generations. My familys' health has improved, since making the change to live a healthier life. How? Just by avoiding the foods that cause these complications and not stuffing our bodies with food all day. I know people who are predisposition for these disorders and diseases, but they continue to throw caution out of the window (or giving up) and continue to live a life of junk food and unhealthy lifestyle. Yet they complain over their problems? Being an adult is about taking full responsibilities for your action and making a change for the better when *beep* hits the fan. Many obese people act/behave like high school students or worse, because many of them are in denial about the lifestyle choices THEY decided to live with.
In addition, junk food isn't cheaper, but it can be addictive. To use the excuse that people eat a lot of junk food, because it is inexpensive is a weak argument to use. The gross income of my household is under $30,000 and we are a family of four. Based on IRS website you can clearly see I would be consider below the middle class status of the social-economics scale. If my family and I ate BK, McDonalds, KFC, Taco Bell and eating junk food in general I couldn't pay the bills or buy the supplies needed to run a household, much less deal with the medical bills due to poor lifestyle. By making a choice to eat healthier and decrease food intake my familys' health has improved, which decreased the medical bills too, thus avoid other issues with having a low gross annual income. In the long run, eating healthier is more inexpensive than eating poorly nutritional foods. Eating junk foods will be more expensive due to the medical costs from the complications of eating poorly. Anyways, the healthy foods themselves aren't that expensive. I took only $20 with me to a local market. With that I was able to buy rice (20 pounds bag lasts about 2 months within my household), four tomatoes, a bag of onions (yellow and red), kiwis (the fruit, not the bird), strawberries, lettuce, collar greens, 3 bags of mixed veggies, eggs and a gallon of cashew milk. How is this possible? Paying attention to the weekly ads, using coupons and buying from local markets. Also, junk food isn't inexpensive. It cost just about the same as the appropriate healthy food. A bag of Oreos cost about $4. That is two boxes worth of strawberries. Eating a meal at most fast food restaurants cost minimally $8.... are you kidding me? That is expensive, not cheaper, especially if you have to feed a family of four. I don't have $32 to $40 to get food from fast food restaurants everyday.
Conclusion, It is simple logic. You eat highly processed foods your predisposition condition genes will be activated. You eat *beep* you'll become *beep*. Simple as that. Stop giving excuses to poor lifestyle choices.
Good info for those of us that are open to it and willing to do the hard work to change. For the rest, there is nothing that anyone can tell or show them to make them do anything different. They have been successfully marketed to and brainwashed into a herd mentality that will lead them over a cliff. They will die from disease after living a shortened life that was plagued with discomfort, disease and misery. Personally I am tired of wasting my time, knowledge and breath talking to people on how to save themselves, from themselves and not on the subject of food alone.
I have read that this is deliberate for the purpose of population control. Make it taste good and kill or harm while selling for a profit. That is western capitalism.
Healer, Yes, what you have read is sadly True. It's a form of Legal Genocide. I as a Holistic Health Coach understand this to be true and am Pro-Active in educating children and their families, as how to make Real Food choices. Also how to recognize unhealthful Toxic Industrial Fake foods. Also why we should eat Real Healthful foods Vs Toxic Industrial Fake foods. Thus how to feed themselves and their children clean and healthful Real foods and Not Fake foods. Our country alone is sadly now "Beyond an Epidemic of Food and Lifestyle related acute and chronic Diseases. We are as a Nation suffering from a Pandemic! I'm doing my best to help by being apart of the Health Movement. Although we as Holistic Health Coaches, have a long road ahead, but nonetheless we are making many remarkable changes for our now and future generations ahead.
To your health.
Judy Garland, CHHC
If your dumb enough to think soda pop is good for you, then you deserve what you get.And moms who fill their babies bottles with pop should be tried for attempted murder.
You sir are taking for granted that you live in America with some decent education. Keep in mind these people live in Brazil. It's like a tyranny ran by ad companies. I feel very sad for these people that they don't know any better. I'm sure there was a time we liked to believe what we were told by the tv too.
So should the manufacturers and government officials that allow them.
I wonder if some of these kids have prader willi syndrome
The problem is kids sit 8 hours per day in a classroom. This is unnatural in human development. Kids need to be able to spend hours playing and they're not getting it. The biggest travesty in modern day society is that children are not allowed to develop like healthy human-beings. Formal education should begin much later in a child's life, while the first 10 years of life should be filled with tons of active play (which builds many neuro-pathways that open a child up for later learning) and many hands-on field trips. Children learn so much while just having fun and being themselves. There is absolutely no reason to stuff a child away for the majority of all the hours in the day and then wonder why they're fat, can't sit still and bored!
3 minutes in and I can tell the cause of obese children, bad parenting... Some parents are trying to seek the child's approval instead or try to find the quickest way to get them to stop crying. The stricter parents tend to have the healthier looking children because they dictate what is consumed and how the free time is spent. There's a difference between raising a kid and having a kid.
sugar makes u fat
-said everyone
Interesting doco, but doesn't really say much more then what I knew instinctively already (not the exact facts, but the broad brushes). When I think back to my own childhood though in the late 80s, I don't remember my mum being particularly controlling about what I ate. I also wasn't much for the outdoors, preferring to read instead. I also did watch TV and watched many snack ads. And yet somehow I wasn't obese - in fact, I was fairly skinny. Why?
I thought about it, and oddly enough, it came down to money and being reminded that snacks were treats and "not good for you". Growing up, I always knew my parents were strapped for cash. Knowing this, I wouldn't ask for snacks too often so they were treats. I also did not get any money to take to school until I was in high school, and even then it was barely enough to buy a handful of jelly snakes a week. And because I was hungry, I always ate whatever food my parents put in front of me or gave me to take to school.
So what's the lesson in this? I don't have kids yet, but I know it's hard to say no to them. My parents were just really good at saying no back - and instilling some kind of appreciation for worth and value at a young age, as well as education, could help with self-control. To this day, even though I have money to buy snacks (and I do), I still try to control myself and allow only a little at a time.
If someone is wearing a white shirt-subtitles should not be white
very intersting doc. thank you. however, one thing that must be added here is that in order to change the behavior of your child, first you have to change your own behavior. if you want your child eat fruits and vegetables, you must eat them and eat them at the table with your child. remember, a chick follows the hen and the rooster and learns what to pick up from the ground! if you eat junk, your child learns to eat junk and it's worse for him/her because he/she is also under peer pressure and follows other kids at school. the best thing to do is to eat good food on front of your child and with him/her starting from the early age when he/she is just few months old. this way you instill the habit in child's brain.
This is the Best Documentary about Food that I've ever seen! It's a Must SEE! Cheers - Davi
Another popular urban myth is that junk food is cheaper than healthy food. Really??? Here is just one example to prove that statement is totally false: A 10.25 ounce bag of Lays potato chips is $4.25. That means this bag costs $6.63 cents per pound. Additionally, a Digiorno frozen pizza, typically 20 ounces, is around $6.00, which means this costs $4.00 per pound. At McDonald's: A Big & Tasty burger (weighs 6 ounces) is $3.49, which means it costs $6.98 per pound. A large french fry at McDonalds (6 ounces) costs $2.19, which means it is $5.84 per pound. Conversely, the last time I went to my super market (yesterday) I purchased a 10 pound bag of fresh potatoes for $1.49 (which comes out to just under 15 cents per pound); I got a nice clump of broccoli for $1.29 per pound; I purchased oranges for .99 cents per pound; I got a head of cabbage for .49 cents per pound; I got a large head of romaine lettuce for $1.49, not per pound but the whole head. I also bought a pack of fresh chicken hind quarters for $1.19 per pound; finally I got a packet of fresh chuck steaks for $3.69 per pound. So you tell me how junk food is cheaper than eating healthy?
I know what you are trying to get at, but the examples that you use here do nothing to prove your point. Yes, by weight, fruits and vegetables and anything non-processed is cheaper than healthy food. But you are not going to just eat a 'clump' of broccoli or a boiled potato. You need to have a lot of ingredients to make something as simple as a burger! And you need to factor time into the equation too. A lot of families dont have enough time to spend 2 hours per day taking all of those vegetables and turning them into a tasty meal. I think cooking should be a higher priority than it is in most households, but I do admit that having something to eat in under 20 minutes is a lot more convenient than cooking from scratch every night.
Corporate Politics, Corporate Food, Corporate Values ... is literally killing their workers and their families and the population!... this is a death death scenario.
The supposed link between obesity and low income is another urban myth, The truth is that people of all incomes simply choose to eat unhealthy foods and also simply choose to not exercise. The last time I checked it is still free to do 50 jumping jacks after each meal. All of this laconic discussion that diet is the real reason for obesity flies in the face of the fact that anybody can counteract the effects of a high fat, high calorie diet by simply exercising more. And exercising is FREE. Exercising has absolutely nothing to do with income. Anybody can do jumping jacks, situps, pushups in his or her own home or go outside and do the same. Trying to state otherwise is simply subterfuge. So even if somebody supposedly has no place in his or her neighborhood to buy low fat, low calorie food (which is extremely doubtful), then doing more exercises will counteract this, and again exercising is free!
True that anybody can do 50 jumping jacks after a meal. However, in many low-income neighbourhoods, crime rates or perceived crime rates may be sufficiently high to discourage folks from heading out the door for a jog, stroll or bike ride, perhaps especially with their kids; so an argument might be made there for socio-economic restriction on exercise opportunities
Exercise absolutely CANNOT make-up for a poor diet with increased exercise (unless you are willing/able to train like a marathon runner).
Take your example of..."why don't you get up from the table and do 50 jumping jacks?". 50 jumping jacks burns approx the same number of calories as you have in 1 French Fry (5 Calories). Now how many French Fries are in your order of FF? Do the math!! You'll be doing jumping jacks till the cows come home (if you are trying to balance the 2 issues).
Running and Pizza is another great example. A simple piece of Pepperoni Pizza has 285 calories. You would need to go for a 5 Mile Walk (over an hour of walking) to burn off those 285 calories. What's that in jumping jacks??? You would need to do thousands and thousands
Diet is easily 75% - 80% responsible for weight loss (or weight gain).
Where I live in Canada, many low income earners are very overweight, especially the children.
Fresh fruits and veggies have become terribly expensive.
One certainly has to learn how to prepare cheap, healthy meals and try to include all the right food groups for a growing child.
This can be extremely daunting if you are not creative enough, or don't live near a discount supermarket.
Also, children of all income groups are getting porky because they never run around playing outside all day and they are driven everywhere. For the past 15 years I have rarely seen kids just "playing" in our neighborhood unsupervised.
It's really sad.
Wow, who was the id**t in charge of sub-titles. half of the time they are white text on a white background. This had the potential to be good, but it sucked pretty bad for a number of reasons. People need to lose weight, oh my god! Eat a fruit and go for a jog.
You fell for the propaganda of the industry (fruit producers). Fruit - at least all the tasty ones - are full of sugar. It SOME fruit, but if you eat lots of it, and/or drink "healthy" juices (oj...) you'll be in for a surprise a few decades later. Oh, and eat the whole fruit rather than drinking the juice.
This I wholeheartedly agree with. The easiest way to pack on weight, particularly around the waist and on the stomach, is to drink a lot of fruit juice, because like you correctly pointed out it is full of sugar. This is what took me a long time to realize, that most fruits and in particular fruit juice is full of naturally occurring sugar.
It's funny how people think that "sugar" is the real enemy. Sugar/carbohydrates are used as fuel and I doubt that the planet would produce something as the main source of energy to sustain life if it were going to be a contributor to disease. Nature was made perfect contrary to what the human brain believes. And remember kids, diabetes is the #1 cause of death in primates. Too many bananas.......
The following is BS, but...don't let the truth get in the way of a good story sometimes... ;) Kinda' on topic.
I stayed overnight at a mates place one time. We thought we were 'it', as we sat down for dinner. My mate said to his Mum, 'pass the ffing potatoes, b*tch'. She slapped him so hard he went a$$ up backwards, landed and started crying. She turned to me and said in that weird, 'calm' tone, 'docoman, what would you like to eat?'. Silly me spoke my last words of the night saying, 'you can bet your sweet a$$ I don't want any of those ffing potatoes!'.
And on the topic of custody, women are pretty much guaranteed custody of kids upon divorce, regardless of her situation. This needs to stop. I guarantee you that if dads were given custody when a divorce takes place that the obesity rate and rate of kids being drugged would drop dramatically immediately.
It's a pity you couldn't have met my Mum, she'd have 'knocked yr block off' for some of what you've said, then helped you back up and given you a hug for doing right by your kids. Then a ice pack for the lump that was coming up behind your ear.
Then asked you if you still thought women can't discipline... with a tone you'd not mistake. ;)
I'd expect your daughter would benefit from an older female confidant, especially in a few years. It's hard to talk to the opposite sex parent about some things, puberty for one.
If your daughter ever hears you saying things about women like you have here, she'll not understand where you are coming from probably, and take it to heart. She is female too.
I'm not telling you how to raise your kids mate, just offering an opinion.
What do you think your "Mum" would have said about someone like my exwife, who while she had custody of my two kids, convinced them they were mentally ill (ADD / ADHD, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder and depression), just so she could drug them to supposedly have better control of them? I also wonder what your Mum would have said about turning a blind eye to their obesity while at the same time she filled them with junk food.
You're right mate, she wouldn't have held her tongue about her either. She'd have said a few 'choice' things about your ex and being a mother, smacked her one too. :) But also reminded you it's one person you dealt with there, not the whole group. You're right to feel like you do towards your ex, but wrong to project that to all women.
A lot of blokes beat their wives and kids. That doesn't mean you do.
You had a bad apple, that's why she's missing out on a decent man and great kids now. In the long run, she's loosing out on the best thing she'll ever do or have, your kids.
I cannot underestimate the amount of damage which my exwife caused my kids by convincing them they were both mentally ill in order to drug them. You have no idea how hard it has been to convince these kids otherwise, even though I got them both off these drugs. I fear it has damaged them for life in terms of their self esteem. This is what is so effing insidious about this whole ADD / ADHD,, bipolar disorder, depression ridiculousness. At the end of the day what ends up happening is that those who are told this as kids carry it with them for the rest of their lives. I know a guy who is now in his mid 20s whose mom convinced him he was ADHD at around 12 years old. Now, at 25, he is still convinced he is mentally flawed and you have no idea how hard he is struggling as an adult. This drugging of kids is just criminal and I think that any parent who perpetrates drugging his or her kids should be hauled into court and charged with child abuse. The same is true for a parent who turns a blind eye to a child who is obese..
I agree with much of what you say mate.
That's a parent thing though, not just Mums. As you are an example of, it's supposed to be a 2 person deal, although often one doesn't or can't do it well.
Women are most often the primary care giver, I'd expect if that was swapped around all of a sudden to men, that would not fix the medication and eating/exercising trends we see.
Dads will still let kids play computer games rather then get outside and play, the same as Mums. Its the way it's going here.
This last Christmas day, it was a nice day here. I went out for a drive, and was astonished there were almost no kids outside playing with their new toys?? Then it dawned on me, they are, they're inside playing on the new Xbox ect. It doesn't seem long ago to me the streets would've been filled with kids playing, new bikes, footballs, things like that. Not anymore. :(
I am going to have to politely disagree with what you said that it is just a parent thing. I stiil maintain that men, i.e. dads are a lot better at being a parent in a lot of ways. I think they are better at getting kids especially boys motivated to exercise and eat right. And when it comes to being a disciplinarian, dads are just better at it. And you know, isn't that what being a parent is all about? If a parent doesn't have the ability to control his or her own kids, then these kids are screwed for life. They will never amount to anything. Why do you think there are so many teenagers and young adults straggling, shuffling around in U.S. society today looking like overweight unemployed, homeless clowns?
We get it. All parenting should be left to dads. (Mine would have been horrified, but hey, what did he know?)
I just wonder how many dads actually *try* to get custody during divorce proceedings.
Just curious, not prying so don't answer if you don't want--did you ask for custody during your divorce? Or did you let the judge decide?
People who think "feminist" is a bad word forget that one of the things the movement did was open up custody for fathers. There was a time when the woman had to be absolutely demented to lose custody, but from what I understand, either parent can ask for it now and be able to get it. I've known of a variety of arrangements, generally based on the best interests of the kids.
Your statement that, "either parent can ask for it now (custody) and be able to get it.", is very whitewashed. No, a father is always the underdog in the situation of custody, even though the laws have changed, custody almost always goes to the mother unless she is mentally unstable. Or in your words, "absolutely demented".
Not much has changed at all in reality, it has only changed on paper.
I have seen many cases that have been completely unfair. For example, I knew a man that had a great job, sound health, good to his kids, etc.. etc.. The mother and he were legally trying to settle custody of the children, when the mother decided to up and leave the country with her new boyfriend. No one knew where they went. The man asked his lawyer what could be done about this and his lawyer flat out told him, "Not much, actually." In the end, the woman was found, and settlement for custody of the children went to her.
Now... Flip that situation around for a moment so that the father left the country with the kids. What do you think would happen to him? If your answer was anything other than jail time, you need a serious reality check to the world you live.
And as far as the word feminist; it is a horrible word. Yes, some of the things they have accomplished are good, some of it has been horrible. Some of the people involved are great people, some are complete idiots that abuse and exaggerate its ideals. But, the word feminist or feminism is a horrible word considering what it supposedly represents.
The word is the equivalent to a group of white people that start a group that fights for the equality of all the worlds races but calls themselves, "White Power".
And honestly, the name feminism itself is what confuses some to join the cause and completely miss use or misunderstand the point of the movement.
On a final note, I want to point out one thing to any bleeding hearts out there that wish for equality. There is no such thing as equality amongst people. There is an equilibrium that can be found and striven for, but there is no equality. Why? Because people are not born the same, they are born different. We share things in common, but are vastly different and being different is not equal. Therefor we will not find equality amongst us. But, through our differences we can find an equilibrium; a balance of those differences.
One train of thought leads to sick ideas, like eugenics; a Nazi technique to force one race on all the world through the use of biology, causing us all to be the same and thus equal. The other train of thought allows for all the uniqueness found throughout the various cultures, races, religions and philosophies of the world and allows a balance between them, an equilibrium.
Be careful what words you use, because there are people listening whether they know it or not.
Thanks for the lengthy response.
I'm well aware of the power of words. I'm also well-aware of the finer nuances of words. There are times when certain words fit, regardless of the emotional response they may bring. I do use care; I generally read and edit a response multiple times before posting. (Edit for missing word--and I edit as well!)
If women didn't speak up and be noisy, we'd still be second-class citizens with no vote and no right to own property. That's what feminism means to me. If it means something else to you, well *shrug* that's you.
Back to the topic of my post:
My question about dads was how many actually even attempt to get custody.
Your question about how many dads actually even attempt to "try" to get custody sounds extremely pusillanimous to say the least. Why not just come right out and accuse all dads of not loving their kids enough to want custody of them? The truth is that the majority of dads want and attempt to get custody, but as one other poster articulated succinctly, the deck is stacked against dads in the courts from the get go, so much so that most dads go into court totally expecting to lose custody of their kids, regardless of how horrible the mom. This is why we have an epidemic of child obesity, of kids barely getting through school and of kids being drugged. This right here is the pink elephant in the living room that nobody, and I mean nobody, wants to talk about in U.S. culture today, because it is just a little too truthful.
You read a lot into a simple question. I was just wondering if the "assumption" that custody would not be granted affects whether most dads attempt to gain it in the first place.
BTW, I'm not accusing anyone of anything, just wondering out of curiosity.
I'm a firm believer in two-parent child-rearing with plenty of extended family support.
I'm really not sure why you think such a question is "cowardly" or "timid", those don't seem like the right words...
Peter Proctor, the man who is featured in this video, bases his approach to farming and gardening on composting as a means to producing fertilizer for free by simply using any plant life which can be used to compost with in addition to animal waste. The approach is so simple it is brilliant. His website is onemanonecow dot com. For anyone who is interested in gardening and creating a supply of healthy foods this video is extremely compelling.
There is a tremendous video you can watch for free on youtube called One Man One Cow One Planet which explains how farming organically is cheap, easy and will save the planet. This video changed my life. Peter Proctor, the man who is featured in this video, bases his approach to farming and gardening on composting as a means to producing fertilizer for free by simply using any plant life which can be used to compost with in addition to animal waste. The approach is so simple it is brilliant. His website is onemanonecow dot com. For anyone who is interested in gardening and creating a supply of healthy foods this video is extremely compelling.
Ironically Southern Culture on the Skid's "Too Much Pork for Just One Fork" popped up on the playlist.
Its not about eating too much, its about exercising to account for what you eat. I mean you can only eat 1k calories a day, but if you sit on your behind your gonna get fat. Its important to exercise and you never have to worry about getting fat. The problem is laziness not food.
Some truth to what you say but you can also burn off as many calories as you are physically able and never exercise enough to make up for excessive eating. I would argue its easier to control your calorie intake than the calories you burn but in the end it makes more sense to use a balanced attack with exercise and diet.
docoman: "2 meals at 'McChuckers', around $10, is about the same price as a couple of decent cuts of meat are. Then you have to add the veggies, then preparation and clean up costs." This is simply not true! By the time you get each kid his or her own meal at a fast food restaurant you end up spending $10 per kid. This is not even including the gas you just wasted to drive to and from this restaurant. If you shop wisely at any commercial grocery store you can make a healthy meal for one tenth that cost. If you buy lean meats and fresh potatoes, broccoli and make your own steamed rice or beans from dried beans, you can get your costs per person per meal down to $1.00 each. You just have to want to. it is that simple. Sadly, too many people have convinced themselves they cannot do this, or rather lie to themselves that they cannot do this.
So how many kids do you have? Are you their primary caregiver? Do you shop for and prepare family meals in the way you are suggesting for others? Or does 'staff' do this for you?
I have two children who were initially awarded to my former wife upon our divorce. She had them for three years, at which time they got horrible grades in school, were all put on Ritalin and other drugs because she convinced herself they were mentally ill because she could not control them. The kids also became obese. I finally petitioned the court and took custody of the kids. Since that time they both have excellent grades, have all been taken off the meds my wife had them taking, and both now have healthy weights. I buy all the groceries and prepare all of their meals. I shop wisely and make sure the meals are all home cooked. I do not buy expensive pre-prepared food or ever waste money at fast food restaurants. The kids are thriving. As far as my ex wife she is now dating an excon.
Well, good for you! and your kids! I'm glad the courts recognized which parent was the responsible one.
I'm glad you're not cooking for me. ;)
I don't completely disagree with you, I remember my mother talking about her early days, when what we call tough was what they'd call easy. I've lived on 'rations' as well, I know it can be done 'on the cheap', but that is getting harder to do, wouldn't you agree?
Also, the ingredients you mention, apart from getting 'boring', doesn't contain everything a balanced diet requires. No dairy, no fruit. That is not a balanced diet, so doesn't really completely fit the description of 'healthy eating'.
Your ex being 'pea-brained' doesn't equate to all women mate. I've seen some dads doing some silly shopping too.
The foods mentioned were just an example of making a typical dinner for my two kids. We eat very balanced meals. I include them in shopping for groceries and we make a game of doing it affordably. I found a place to buy produce which supplies our local grocery stores and now buy fresh fruits and veggies at 50 percent of what grocery stores charge. My son found a Franz bread store where we get our baked goods at at least half what a typical grocery store charges. It is his job now to get all our baked goods there. He has fun doing it. My daughter found a nice rice cooker at a thrift store and a nice Crock Pot and it is her job to make rice in the cooker (which is dirt cheap to make) and she also has figured out that the Crock Pot is the perfect way to make a huge pot of beans from dried beans for less than a dollar using a bag of dried beans. I also got both kids involved in setting up our own home gym in the garage. We went to a lot of thrift stores and garage sales and bought all our equipment on the cheap. It has become a great way to spend time with my kids working out together in our gym. Other parents in our neighborhood have come over and even taken pictures of it!
You sound like a very good dad. That I deeply respect and admire.
But that's not inline with what you said about getting it done in "any commercial grocery store", you're using your brain and finding better, cheaper sources.
Many people don't have that common sense, or the intelligence to include your children to not only make it a family enterprise, but also teach them.
Edit- If you've got the space, a small food garden is fun for kids too. You can do it in containers hanging on the fence if need be.
My kids and I also have fun saving more money on our grocery bill by making a lot of items ourselves that people normally buy, such as salad dressing. The typical bottle of salad dressing is now at least four dollars. Salad dressing is easy to make and we make our own and it is better for you. We also make our own ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise, as well as our own croutons and granola. We pay a lot of attention also to how much food costs per pound. A good example is the fact that a bag of Lays potato chips (which I never buy) costs about $4.25, and that is for less than a pound of food! Conversely I can get 20 pounds of potatoes at the fruit and produce outlet I shop at for $2.00! You do the math. I am teaching my kids a life lesson in eating well and affordably, instead of getting them hooked on junk food and the belief they cannot afford to eat well. That is a sad myth in the United States, that eating well is expensive and out of the reach of most people. --- My daughter was the one who pointed out that a tiny 4 ounce bag of croutons at the grocery store was $2.00, which means it is $8.00 per pound! Now she makes our own and they are awesome.
I totally agree docman, we have had a garden for the last two summers and we love working in it together. This summer we are adding pots around the deck with herbs and cherry tomatoes...
One of my young nephews loves getting in my garden to help out, and with a little 'prompt' from me doing it, loves things straight 'off the plant' like snow peas, especially berries :) Fun, inexpensive, and healthy.
I spent time growing up on a farm where many of our things were homemade. Bottled fruits, jams, (jellow for the US people) tomato sauce (ketchup), cordials ect. I'm lucky my climate here allows me to grow things pretty much year-round.
I hadn't really thought about it, but much of what you do I've learned to naturally, so I'd probably assumed many/most people know how to.
I guess the saying Common sense isn't that common applies. We're silly allowing ourselves to loose the knowledge of how to be able to feed ourselves in my opinion.
Your kids sound like good, smart kids too. Congrats mate.
Thanks docoman, the kids are great now but let me tell you that after three years with my exwife I had a lot on my plate (no pun intended) in terms of getting their weight down and getting them on an exercise plan and off of all the ADD / ADHD, bipolar and anti-depression drugs she had them on. There were a lot of beet-red faces and tears at first but I stuck to my guns and now they are both fine and their weight is totally normal. I was lucky to have been raised by parents who always had a garden. My dad was mostly responsible for taking care of the garden and my mom's job was the fall canning of mainly tomatoes and pickles. I can still remember how good the whole house smelled when my mom would be canning. That common sense approach to feeding ourselves has gotten lost. Spending money on pre-prepared foods that any normal person can make is its replacement. I credit this to a flawed, egocentric belief that former generations are stupid and need to be replaced. This is a sad turn of events. I really admire my parents and their parents who all had big gardens, knew how to can foods, and even baked their own bread. My parents and grandparents also bought in bulk in order to keep grocery bills at a minimum. I had one grandmother who hated to go to a restaurant (even if she was being treated) because all she could think about during the meal was how much money was being wasted.
What most women aka single moms do is go to the grocery store and buy a whole cart full of pre-prepared food which is mostly fat and sugar. This is because they have convinced themselves this is easier than preparing a healthy home cooked meal. Again, this more female pea-brained rationale. Any dad will go to the same grocery store and buy packets of lean meats, a bag of potatoes, fresh broccoli and go home and make a mountain of healthy food for 1/10 of what an idiotic woman would waste on pre-prepared food. This is what is causing childhood obesity: idiotic single moms who are too dumb and too lazy to make healthy meals for their kids.
Wow, aren't Dads brilliant! Shame that women, also know as Single Mums, are allowed to have anything at all to do with their kids past birthing them. It's no wonder they all end up single, they're pretty much good for nothing other than making kids fat and lazy. To be expected really, seeing as they're all moronic, spineless, pea-brains and lacking in integrity, not to mention stupid, idiotic, weak, dumb and lazy. Now I come to think of it, I'm not sure men should raise kids either, I mean most of them are absent anyway so it wouldn't be hard to knock them out of the picture completely. They're also bullies, cold hard disciplinarians, thick skulled, beer swilling, skirt chasing mysogynists ;)
I think I am speaking for a lot of people when I say I would rather live in a world with men as disciplinarians who are able to control their kids, make sure they eat right and exercise, get them to do their homework and have respect for their elders, than live in a world where we have single moms who depend upon bribing, cajoling and placating them with junk food and toys instead of employing some much needed tough love. I would also rather live in a world where I do not have to witness single moms being party to convincing their own kids that they are mentally ill because they can't control them, and then subsequently making sure they are heavily drugged.
To the contrary, I think it's clear that you're taking your justifiably bitter experiences with one woman's failures and using those as a measure of most all other women, which makes no sense at all. Coming as it does wrapped up with some great ideas otherwise, I gotta tell you the incongruence between them is pretty damned jarring, brah.
Even before I got married, then divorced and subsequently had to petition the court to get custody of my two kids after my wife screwed them up, I have always believed men simply are better at raising kids than women. Men are better at standing their ground, better at maintaining an even keel, better at making sure kids eat right and much better at making sure they do their homework. And it is not just my own experiences. I know of at least a dozen women raising kids after they divorced or split up with the father, and every one is having major problems with controlling those kids, and every single one immediately resorted to running to a doctor and getting these kids on at least three prescriptions each. These kids are all also having problems in school and the vast majority have a weight problem. At least half of these kids who are teenagers have already been in trouble with the law. And frankly all you have to do is look around and see all of the obese, screwed up kids and talk to them and the overwhelming majority will tell you that they are being raised by a single mom. The truth is that the very moment a dad is separated from the kids and just the mom has lack of control of them, the dad has no real validity as far as controlling or disciplining them. The dads end up like any other family relative who is forced to witness these single moms screwing up these over-medicated obese kids. That is the sad state of affairs of this country at this time.
My experiences, or at least my honest perceptions, have been somewhat different, for whatever reasons. I used to hang out a good bit when I could at a little coffee-bar owned and operated by a single mother, who's young daughter would show up there after school, or help out on the weekends, just as prim and proper and well-behaved as you could ever hope for. It so happened they lived very near my wife and I, too, and in the warm weather, everyone in the neighborhood would have their windows open, or the kids would be playing in the field between our homes, and in three years I never once heard any temper tantrums from either of them at their place. Her (skinny) daughter participated in gymnastics classes and was also a pretty fair little chess player for her age. My own sister had to get a divorce a few years ago when it turned out her husband of almost 15 years was found to be having an affair with (I kid you not!) an ex-con... She's recently remarried now, but for the 2 years she wasn't, her three kids (one male teenager and two younger, boy and girl) never got fat, medicated, out of control, or academically challenged, as far as I could tell. And that HAD to be saying a lot for her parenting skills, too (especially with her oldest), when you consider how badly their father screwed them over for a piece of tail, fine specimen that he was.
I could go on with a couple of more examples, but I won't. I could also relate a few parental screw ups of either sex... But I also suspect that when men do seriously mess it up as parents, there may be a much greater risk of severe consequences than you would find with women, except very rarely: Things like sexual abuse, physical abuse, which are without doubt a much greater betrayal than the supposed leniency and weakness of women.
However, I would have to agree (and so would my wife, and very probably my kids) that men generally are better natural disciplinarians, but my experiences tell me that it's not a given. And at the risk of offending gay-marriage advocates, I think there are things in our makeup as we stand now that would generally call for a child to have the differing strengths inherent in both sexes in order to best thrive.
I think Pysmythe spoke for me as well, but I do sympathize with your situation.
Unfortunately, humans are humans. But the problems of drugged and obese children does not lie solely at the hands of inept single moms.
20 or 30 years ago, schools were not full of drugged, overweight kids. What's happened since then?
--Pharmaceutical companies are getting rich from kids being 'diagnosed' and put on drugs. I'm sure there are a very few minority who actually need and benefit from them, but I'm very suspicious of the majority.
I had nephews go through this, and it wasn't their mom that wanted it, it was the school system that pushed the issue and convinced her it was the right thing to do. (Where was the dad--rather, sperm donor? He disappeared as soon as the younger boy was born, claiming his little clone was not his own child! Yea, the state collected child support, but neither boy ever saw their father again.)
--Look again at the schools. Kids are unruly? Recommend drugs.
Forget play time and getting the kids to run around as they should; instead, force them to sit in class and cram them with worthless information so they can pass standardized tests that don't measure their true education levels.
I read an open letter from a retired teacher apologizing to the universities that are now having to deal with kids "educated" under the No Child Left Behind Act for the abysmal education they got, and pointing out that they are probably the next target for standardized testing. Very critical points made by someone sick at heart from the outcome of that experiment. Does not bode well for America, I think.
--Walk through the halls of the schools. You'll find soda, candy and chips machines that weren't there a few decades ago.
--You'll find "fast food alleys" as close to the schools as they are allowed to be. The public schools have been commercialized to a degree that I never thought was possible.
(And not just schools--I was appalled to find a McDonalds *inside* Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia when one of my great-nieces was taken there for an infant heart transplant--it was the only restaurant within several blocks for anxious parents, other than the occasional 'roach coach' pulling up outside. My niece's pregnancy-onset diabetes did not do well during the three months she slept in the waiting room before she could take her daughter home.)
You're doing a great job--probably even better than you know, but there are tremendous outside commercial interests putting pressure on families that neither your parents nor mine had to deal with. My nieces and nephews who are raising their families now are doing their best to cope, but its a daily struggle, as you are more than aware.
Your comments demonstrate clearly that dads and men in general in U.S. society have been demonized. This in and of itself is the real problem in our current society today. You ask what has changed in 20 to 30 years that has caused kids to be drugged and obese? I will tell you it is the absence of dads within the family unit. Even your description of dads as being simply "sperm donors" who walk out on their kids is the perfect example of the urban myth perpetrated by women that men are bad and women are good. The truth is that the absence of a strong disciplinarian is the cause of kids being obese, of kids doing poorly in school and kids being drugged. And on the topic of drugging kids (primarily boys), look at how the chain of events transpires: Little Johnny is squirming in his seat at school and the teacher (97 percent of which are women) goes running down the hall to the principal and tattles on Johnny that he is unruly. This is what sets this drugging scenario in motion. And from my own experience and what I have observed, a lot of women believe this tripe and go along with it, all the while the dads are fuming. This also brings up the issue of custody of children. Women are pretty much guaranteed custody when a divorce takes place, regardless of her situation. I have stated this before but I will say it again, if children were awarded to the custody of their dads upon a divorce there would be an immediate drop in child obesity rates and the drugging of kids.
I wasn't speaking of "dads in general" but of a specific father who in fact considered himself nothing more than a sperm donor and refused to have contact with his children.
I think my reply got lost, so sorry if I'm repeating:
I was not speaking of "dads in general", I was speaking of one specific man who in fact did consider himself a "sperm donor" and refused contact with his own children.
If all you say is true, and not just your biased perception, congratulations on being a great dad. However, your broad brush damnation of half of our society is misogynistic and makes you sound really full of yourself.
I and two sisters were raised by my mother who pushed me hard and kept me on a straight path even through my rebellious years. We lived in poverty with all three children working part time to contribute to the family income. When I was 18 she died of cancer at the age of 40. She knew she had a limited time, but insured that all of her children knew how to look after themselves; cook, clean, do laundry, keep track of finances, etc. All of us went on to be well adjusted strong individuals. Without a father present she raised me to be a man that no one could ever call a momma's boy. Like many single mothers she was much stronger mentally and emotionally than you seem to think possible. I urge you to think carefully about what you are saying about women in general. You are sounding far more foolish than you probably are.
'A lot of people', how many is that? I put 'a lot of mushrooms' in a vege lasagne last night. Maybe not enough to create a army of imaginary supporters for a naff and biased view of an entire gender, but definitely more than one.
I should add that I'm not knocking you for the raising of your children, anyone that does it alone gets brownie points from me, it's a tough job even if it is rewarding ;)
Women are also convinced it is mean to make kids go outside and play and exercise if it looks like they are getting heavy. Women also think it is mean to make kids go to the gym if they look like they are getting heavy. Instead women just give the kids more junk food to make them feel better about being obese. This is how women's minds work. This is why there are obese kids and kids who are heavily medicated because women are stupid and weak as parents. Kids who are obese and being raised by an idiotic single mom should be taken from them and given to their dads who are natural disciplinarians.
What you say is Not True, Its not about women's minds. I think you have something against women. My mom is more of a disciplinarian than my dad. So was my grandma and many women I know who aren't just my relatives. I am an adult and till date I respect my mom and her authority when I know she is right! You cannot generalize women as bad parents. When I was younger, me and my siblings never got away with shit. Be it watching cartoons or junk food or working around the house or playing. Every one had responsibilities. We all wouldn't even dare throw tantrums and not even once in my life have I heard my mother say if you don't obey me I will tell your dad. To top it, my mother was a working woman, an engineer at that but we always got her time. She would spend the evenings with us, helping with homework and arts and crafts. I learnt painting from her. It was My dad who was easy to woo and he would give in to us and take us out if we cajoled him. You must be someone who is super obese and no longer have control on your body and also did not have a positive influence from the women in your life and hence you are so bitter about women and are commenting about their ability to bring up children.
Women are by and large (no pun intended) responsible for the obesity epidemic amongst children in the United States. You moronic women think in your pea brains it is mean to make kids eat right. You placate them with fatty, sugar-laden food instead of doing your jobs as a parent. Being a disciplinarian takes a backbone and integrity, which the majority of single moms simply do not possess. It is sad but true. If kids were given to their dads upon any divorce i guarantee this obesity epidemic would end immediately. This simply needs to be said because it is true.
Childhood obesity is the fault of the parents. This is a no-brainer. If the parents are too weak in character to make their kids eat healthy then the fault rests squarely on the shoulders of the parents. It has nothing to do with marketing or advertising. It has to do with a society where parents are too weak to discipline their own kids. I blame a lot of this on the fact that dads are not in the picture in the lives of so many children, who are being raised by women who by and large are deplorable disciplinarians. More often than not you see obese children waddling alongside their obese parent(s), which is sickening. Childhood obesity should result in the parent(s) being prosecuted for child abuse, because the lives of these children is ruined from the get go. These very same kids are more often than not also heavily medicated thanks to the myth of ADD / ADHD, bi-polar disorder and so-called depression.
Walking around town I rarely see kids outside playing. Play is a serious thing.
There was a really interesting documentary on PBS a while back, called "Good Meat." It followed a year in the life of an Oglala Lakota, Beau LeBeau, who made an effort to control his diabetes with a traditional Plains Indian buffalo diet.
The theory was that his ancestors living in their traditional way were neither obese nor diabetic, and that his body was evolved to eat that way rather than the imposed European American diet.
What the film revealed about the life of Native Americans living on reservations is astonishing, to say the least. And sad.
All this is from memory: He had to get special permission to kill one of the buffalo on the reservation, then pay to have it butchered. He kept it in a freezer, and ate the buffalo and whatever other traditional foods his ancestors ate (corn and something else?) until forced from their nomadic lifestyle onto reservations.
He described the difficulty of working around the government agencies that had conflicting missions--one gave out food stamps that could only be redeemed at the grocery store that was so far away they could only make the trip once every couple of weeks or so.
Or, if they wanted fresh fruits and vegetables, there was a different agency that sent the fresh produce truck once a month--but if he used *their* payment dole for the fresh food, his family lost their food stamps--they couldn't have both agencies giving them payments. Ever try keeping fresh produce for a whole month? It seemed so counter-intuitive to have to choose between fresh foods and preserved foods, since both have their place.
His diabetes and weight came under control--until the year was up, the buffalo was gone, and there was no more money to continue the lifestyle change he attempted.
The revealing parts to me were how hard it was for him to even attempt this diet in the face of his own family's resistance, as well as the governmental agency stumbling blocks.
And this is only one person's obesity story. The odds were really stacked against him.
Edit: I wanted to add that this man had tremendous spirit. He participated in a drumming group that worked to keep his tribe's traditions going. The killing of the buffalo and other milestones along his journey were celebrated by his family and friends, even though none of them seemed to care for the buffalo meat at all. He just couldn't convince them of the benefits of the traditional diet. Also, his program and progress was supervised by his doctor, he wasn't doing it alone.
Fantastic film. It reveals everything we know to be wrong with the "food" industry. I don't think governments or these Harvard MBAs are going to fix their end of the food industry any time soon or in any significant way so it really does come down to parents and the individual to boycott these scum bags and their awful products.
E.g. Tobacco is here to stay so you have to choose not to smoke. Not easy I know. I gave up 5 years ago and find myself having a few ciggies when partying but lately a few more during the day i.e. the habit is creeping up on me, time to take decisive action. I think it's fair to draw parallels with big tobacco except it’s even worse and more insidious because the harm is well disguised in "food" products that aren’t as obviously harmful as tobacco. The industry knows this and is fully aware of all the harm it does.
John Krisfalusci has made a few ill-advised comments and been a bit over simplistic but we do have to take control of what we put in our mouths or suffer the consequences. Self empowerment. I see these "food" corporations as a personal enemy of mine, that helps me stay away from their poison. Like big tobacco, they don’t care if they lose you as a customer i.e. die! These people really are our enemies. Write to your politicians and these corporations but the best thing you can do is boycott theses scum sucking a$$ holes.
In re: tobacco...after fighting for so long to deny that cigarettes were a system for delivering nicotine, a highly-addictive drug, Big 'Baccy has embraced the new nicotine delivery system: e-cigs! Oh, the irony!
It's very simple really... just lay off the junk food. Stop going to Mcdonalds and Burger King and stop shoving cupcakes down your throat every day.
I mean look at me... I'm 5'7 and 130 lbs and I don't drink alcohol, no cigarettes, no drugs, no caffeine, no junk food, no prescription pills, not even Tylenol, barely any sugar, and I'm healthier and skinnier and cuter than ever ^_^.
Just follow that easy steps and you cannot fail.. it's a no brainer really. It is sad how people just get fat in front of your eyes you know? pity...
Well look at you Mr. Perfect!
Thanks so much for your simple no brainer solution to obesity. Why anyone in the world would be overweight after reading this I cannot imagine. Let’s forget about genetic disposition, environment and culture, medication, poor education and other socio-economic factors. But let’s not forget that there is no such thing as free will.
The Crucified One
@AntiTheist666 that's not true because honestly, most are too lazy to cook their own home meals. So the next easiest thing is to go out and step into a fast food joint like Mcdonalds or Burger King and that is just a recipe for obesity and cancer and god knows how many more awful diseases and conditions you get over time. It's right in front of your eyes.
I doubt genetic disposition is a factor because if you would follow my steps, you wouldn't be fat. Plain and simple. And no, I never said I was perfect, I'm just saying just look for simplicity and be humble that's all. Thank you... ^^
"most are too lazy"
You're forgetting that to make ends meet, most homes need two wage-earners, not one.
However, in most households, one of the wage-earners is also a full-time parent and housekeeper.
The other wage-earner will "help out", of course, if asked...which means they have to be supervised, also a full-time responsibility.
Which wage-earner are you?
@Kateye70 What does 'making ends meet' have to do with being fat? LOL... Income class and obesity/ genetic disposition have no correlation to each other, I'm sorry.
As for me, I'm very well off thanks for asking. But that's besides the point. I was just trying to point out the obvious that's all... Thank you ^_^
You missed the point then.
I wasn't asking your income level, but whether you were the wage-earner who was also the full-time parent and housekeeper.
But, you didn't answer my actual question, and I'm not trying to put you on the spot.
Yes, in fact income and class has a lot to do with overweight. Cheap calories are fattening.
It's a fact of life, and has been for decades, that poor people pay more for the same products than rich people do. I read studies on the subject when I was in advertising, and its worse now than it used to be even then.
Poor neighborhoods have fewer, and sometimes no supermarkets; and much less access to high-quality calories, such as fresh fruit and vegetables. If any such products *are* available, they are more expensive than in the equivalent suburban stores.
Food marketing is targeted toward the downwardly-slipping middle/working class, and the products are full of flavor additives designed to stimulate the appetite, not satisfy it.
Healthy choices are being removed from the marketplace and replaced with less healthy ones. Marketing is sophisticated to a level that it is very difficult to resist.
It used to be that a can of 'tuna in water' had the ingredients listed as as "tuna, water, salt." Now, the main brands list them as "tuna, broth, salt, (plus more chemical ingredients I don't remember)". The 'broth' generally contains msg, a known appetite stimulant.
Product placement, from movies and tv, to the shelves in grocery stores, is a highly-researched and tested field. Incomes are going down, not up (most of us are not bankers or stock-market speculators running ponzi schemes).
Lets not forget Coca Cola's and Pepsi's roles in replacing water with sugary sodas. Or that schools are now the fought-over product placement spots from heaven. Teach 'em young that a candy bar with nuts is "good nutrition" and you have a consumer for life.
Our lives are constructed in such a way that it is no longer possible to live within walking distance of your workplace or your shopping. It would be downright dangerous if I tried to bike to work or the supermarket where I live now. And there are certainly no sidewalks, either.
Do I really need to go on? Saying that people are "lazy" is disingenuous at best.
all very true...sadly.
@Kateye70, you couldn't be anymore wrong... really. Income and class has nothing to do with being overweight. It's called 'poor decisions' and just plain 'laziness'. Trust me, our History teacher tells us and I believe him, because your example of socio-economics is just terrible.
If poor people are more susceptible to being fat, then why are most of the homeless skinny? Then by your twisted logic the rich should be overflowing with lardo's. Well guess what? My parents are considered VERY rich and we should all be disgusting fat slobs no? Again, WRONG... Kateye70.
All of those 'tuna in water' or coca cola or 'junk food' can simply be avoided. It's not like they are forcing that stuff down your throat. Again, back to my original comment; making the right decisions and proper choices is the correct way. I don't know how much more I can stress this~
"your example of socio-economics is just terrible."
My "terrible example of socio-economics" is based on a career in advertising, and years of life experience.
I'm aware of the facts because I, oddly enough, studied marketing to poor areas. This was on-the-job education, because I earned my income that way. I *had* to be right or I didn't get a paycheck from my clients.
So, ready for another example? Toilet paper costs more in poor income areas than it does in middle or upper income areas.
Why? Because rich people have the resources (i.e., money) to buy items in bulk. The cost per item in bulk purchases is significantly less than purchasing the same item as a single unit.
Now, spread that example across the broad array of products that wealthy people can buy in bulk, but poor people cannot.
If you really want to test out my "socio-economics", take a field trip.
Go to your local warehouse club and see what it costs to buy toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning supplies, fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, canned goods, rice, pasta, flour, cheese, meat, seafood, and all the other nice things a well-stocked pantry should have.
You'll spend a *lot* of money. But, you'll have saved, too, because your *per-item cost* is lower than if you purchased the same items individually.
Now, go into your local "poor" district. Assuming you can find a grocery store that sells fresh food (a lot of them have replaced by stores selling only canned goods out of the shipping cartons because they save on labor expense that way), try duplicating the purchases from the warehouse store. You'll be way over budget in no time.
Now, to be *very* realistic, make sure your shopping budget is in line with what the people in the poor area actually have to spend.
The Federal minimum wage is $7.25/hr. If you're lucky enough to have a job that allows you to work a full 40-hour week, that's $300.00 a week ($15,600/year). Before taxes, of course. And if your household includes a working dad paying child support from a previous relationship, the court order is satisfied first, up to 65% of take-home pay in my state.
Hmmm no wonder two-incomes are needed. Sure hope the current wife is making more than minimum wage. But this is a "poor" family, so probably not.
Ok, this is getting depressing, so lets use "median household income" which includes the incomes of *all* working adults living in the home.
The median household income is about $45,000/year, which translates to $865/week *before* taxes. After taxes, it's closer to about $600.00/wk take-home pay, or about $3,000 a month.
So deduct rent ($800-$1200 in my area), utilities (another $300-$400), and you have about $400.00 a week to live on. That's clothes, child care, medicine, transportation (we haven't made a car payment yet, or set a gas or bus fare allowance), and of course--food.
Oops, we forgot daddy's court-ordered child support.
Time to make some good decisions, isn't it?
That's game, set, and match, as far as I'm concerned, but I'm sure his age and his (self-professed) privilege will pretty much blind John to these (seemingly more and more even worse) realities for a while longer yet...
Hell, maybe the rest of his life, who knows?
I hope he rises to the challenge and does some real-world research of his own. He can't do it in a wealthy enclave, though.
Where do you live?
Your federal minimum wage is horrifying! In Canada it is usually 10.25.
(and we still need 2 income earners). Most people try to earn at least 20.00 per hour plus benefits.
In 99.999 percent of all so-called poor urban areas I believe there is still something called PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION. So your "logic" does not hold water. In other words, any low-income person can hop on any bus or subway and for under a dollar travel to an area of town which has lower cost groceries. The supposed link between obesity and lower income has no merit in terms of saying this person has no way of purchasing healthy low cost food. This is another urban myth. The truth is that people of all incomes simply choose to eat unhealthy foods and also simply choose to not exercise. The last time I looked it is still free to do 50 jumping jacks after each meal. All of this laconic discussion that diet is the real reason for obesity flies in the face of the fact that anybody can counteract the effects of a high fat, high calorie diet by simply exercising more. And exercising is FREE. Exercising has absolutely nothing to do with income. Anybody can do jumping jacks, situps, pushups in his or own home or go outside and do the same. Trying to state otherwise is simply subterfuge.
Where I live, it costs 2.50 to take a bus, and kids do not travel free. But it costs nothing to walk; except it can be -20 celsius here for days!
But I see your point.
Healthy choices are not being removed from grocery stores as you lament. This is simply not true in the least. This is an urban myth. All of the exact same ingredients to make a low-fat, healthy meal are still available in all grocery stores. If one chooses to purchase expensive, unhealty pre-prepared food because this person is too lazy to actually cook a meal this is why groceries have the appearance (the illusion) of being expensive. It is delusional, deceptive and downright disingenuous to lament and purport that healthy food is not available or too expensive.
Harden up Parents, Don't Blame the Kids They are only Children in this word. Let them cry, Let them weep.
Let them grow up! They don't need to be wrapped up in cotton wool.
Let them live,Don't trick them they are only kids.
From a thirty year old male that has seen enough of the world to know...
You are what you are and you are what you eat
and do what you know to be right. good luck children
A male, of age, who's 5'7 and 130 pounds, and you're bragging about that? Sounds just a little effeminate to me, Big John... (And there are some who would maintain you really ought to do something about that!) Any chance you might have a spread in Sports Illustrated's 'Swimsuit Edition' next year, so we can all feast on your delicate beauty? Or far better yet, some chance you might find some opportunity at some point to sprint your frail hiney down to the nearest vendor that deals in such and purchase your comfortable self a much more pleasant personality? Nearly every post I've ever seen from you has at least in some way to do with how superior you obviously consider yourself to be to everyone else.
@Pysmythe listen... just because I have an opinion doesn't give you a right to be a jerk. I know my own self and I am confident and proud.
All I'm just stating is that obesity can be easily solved and prevented. And we also learned in school that the best way to live a healthy life is to simply look at oneself, and then compare that to others and figure it out... it's called 'perspective'. If you are smart enough to fix your own problems, then it's not hard to solve.
And please, don't try to change the subject... you are not on my level here to argue or debate so enough. Sheesh...
You should stoop low enough for a moment to go eye to eye with a few of the facts you've conveniently overlooked:
1. Socioeconomic status
2. Depression
3. Insomnia
4. Stress
5. Metabolism
6. Necessary medication(s)
These things, for example, can all have a direct bearing on how difficult it may be for some to maintain their ideal weight, John. And I'll grant you, too, that plain natural-born laziness, and ignorance, is the majority cause for a great many overweight people. But to maintain, as you seem to be doing, that that is all that's ever involved with the issue is just naive.
You know what...IIRC, John K. is still in high school...that would explain the total lack of understanding of factors most adults would recognize immediately.
If he is, it sure would. I don't know if anyone has really been able to figure that one out yet, lol. I do know I'M still confused about it... Maybe I was a little too harsh with him earlier, but I guess I feel that if he's been devious enough to be insincere about his age before, he can be man enough to take a slap like that now, whatever the case may be.
Yes, apparently John K. is a 16 year old child in a parochial school. I told him before that I have my eye on him. lol
@Achems_Razor Oh puhleeze... For your information whether or not what age I am or what school I go to is NONE of your business.
Didn't I tell you to go away during the marijuana debate? Seriously, you don't have a chance here... and stop following me around because I can stand my ground and again, you are just not equal and on my level here. So if I were you I wouldn't even be talking you know.... Thank you~! ^_^
Then I'll go ahead and take that as an absolute from now on and cut him a lot of slack, if it ever comes to it again. Since my house is still full of teenagers, my hide can be pretty thick when it comes to them, as long as I know that's what I'm being asked to deal with.
I have to agree with what you say john, fat people annoy me, and for 666 to say education could be a factor made me chuckle, your most likly getting flamed because they are fat and jealous, I find alot of fat people find excuses.
Since when did you being annoyed by fat people have anything to do with the subject matter? Who cares what you think about them. You being annoyed by something that does not affect you negatively is ridiculous. The issue here is people not being able to live a fuller and healthier life because of an infrastructure that has been built around them, not you being inconvenienced by someone else's body mass. Which by the way is impossible. I'm shaking my head at the audacity of your logic.
Education is what it's all about mate. Not all education is from a book either. Can you slaughter a sheep, or a cow, or even a chicken? Could you even catch one?
Do you know how to maintain a patch of ground for years, producing food from it without using artificial fertilizers?
Could you even survive a few days without someone providing your food for you? What's your excuse?
I'm not fat by the way either. I have some friends that are, so what. That's not WHO they are.
I find st*pid people annoying.
Fat people can loose weight, but to quote Ron White, "There ain't no cure for St*pid. St*pid is foreverrr".
Do drunks annoy you? Do tweekers annoy you? Does ignorance annoy you? These are all curable. Why should fat people not annoy you? Fat persons should annoy because it is the same.
lol.
I'll retain my prerogative to decide what does and doesn't annoy me. I agree with Ron White, you don't have to prove it. ;)
This time I was being satirical.
when a parent cannot correct obesity of his or her own child it is called being a totally weak and ineffective parent. This is what is known as having a weak character. When an adult is obese it is also what is known as having a weak character. You can toss all the educational material, cookbooks, pamphlets at someone, as well as attach nutritional labels on foodstuffs, but if that person reading it has a weak character it is all for naught. This is what psychologists have known for decades, that you can give a person all the best information you can find, but if this person has a weak character, and refuses to listen there is little that can be done until this person decides to change his or her own life. It is about making a decision. On a side note, there is no pill that can correct this mindset, for those who erroneously believe in the ridiculousness of brain chemical imbalances causing unwanted behaviors.
Or in other words, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink... or as I heard Letterman say one night, "You can take horticulture, but you can't make her think" ;)
Gee, I hope I am as smart as you when I grow up! Wait! your only a 16 year old kid in Parochial school, I must of had a brain f*rt.
Remember I still have my eye on you!
Proofreading anyone?