The Weight of the Nation: Consequences
The first film in The Weight of the Nation series examines the scope of the obesity epidemic and explores the serious health consequences of being overweight or obese.
The obesity epidemic is a problem that's emerged over the last 30 years. It threatens our nation's social, economic and physical health. But, unlike a natural disaster, obesity is often preventable. Although overall obesity prevalence rates appear to be leveling off, there are still far too many Americans who are overweight or obese and who continue to develop health problems as a result. In order to end the epidemic, everyone must be part of the solution.
At the level of our DNA, we're programmed to eat as much as we can to survive and store the extra as fat for future energy use. In a world where calorie-dense, sugar-laden and fatty foods are available around every corner, that's a problem. The good news is that, even if the propensity to gain weight is written into our genes, we're not fated to a lifetime of fat.
The advice I give to people is... if you can't pronounce and read it, don't consume it. It is most likely an experimental poison and you're not a guinea pig. ^_^ Stick to whole foods cooked and prepared at home, or as much of it as possible, and you'll be okay. Peace be to all.
They get comfort, they get fervor, they get a feeling of wellbeing, and they get fat!!! Presently I do think our nourishments cause disease and other medical problems, and we should settle that issue. In any case, I don't figure changing the menu will enable the corpulence to issue that much, these individuals will eat rice cakes by the case in the event that they need to, and afterward sit on their a55 until the point when that influences them to fat too.
I certainly hope this series gets better. I'm not surprised that the physicians in the Bogalusa portion of the program told the study clients to go "see your doctor' and "get some medications" as that has always and will always be the consensus for western trained physicians. What is missing in this part (which I hope will be in the following parts of the series) is what the kids are eating and how much education time is spent engaging kids in physical education verses studying for tests and loading kids with homework and how much use of technology is taken up in these kids lives which is all sedentary time. I'm curious to know if chemicals in food will be discussed (as well as chemicals in plastics which people eat out of and on) and how genetically modified foods and high carb/low fat diets are addressed in this series. My guess is very little. We'll see. So far, I am not impressed.
A little drastic, but I think a good start would be to straight-up ban sugary soft drinks from North America
Eat less and take a table spoon of cod liver oil (from North Atlantic cod) pr. day.
If you eat more than you "burn", you'll gain weight - simple as that.
The history of the North American continent will go like this.
Once it was a pristine landscape populated by the native population of people known as the american indians, who believed in mother earth, and lived in perfect balance with nature. Along came vast numbers of dregs from europe, whos culture immediately began to cultivate greed and violence.
As the years went on, this new american country U.S.A. became more and more greedy and more and more violent to the point that they have been at war at one time or another in all parts of the world and have become the largest consumer of the world's resources, at the expense of everyone else on the planet.
As the crisis got more and more out of control the people themselves began to consume more and more food until virtually all of the people were grossly obese. When the supplies of food and water worldwide began to diminish, the U.S.A. became violent to the point that the only recourse the rest of the world had, was to nuke the LARGE pile of obese people and end their consumption forever, finally freeing the rest of the world from it's sickly presence.
In a country where 'CONSUME' is the word of the day, every day, it comes as no surprise that a country like the U.S.A. has an obesity epidemic.
My older brother gave up soda pop for Lent (40 days) and lost 25lbs. Just by going off soda pop.
As long as people are making money from our disease. It will get worse.
Sorry for my messages/spam.
I do never got why the government should care about us dying. It saves them quite a lot of money right? So why should they care. They love to live from our hard work and do nothing more then ruin our country.
I agree, people need to care about themselves, they know what they have to do, they are just stopping themselves, and they will get any pity from me.
Seriously, around 5 minutes, gigantic food sizes. We barely get 1/10th of that in my country and we pay 10 times more. (The Netherlands). And still were almost being as fat as America. Very worrying.
One of the reasons were also so fat is because were are being made lazy.
We got cars/trucks/busses/trains. As transportation where you barely move.
We must work behind a desk to get some money. And barely move.
We got the tv/pc/mobile phone/game consoles and so on. And barely moves.
And it goes on and on. Nowadays, children are born with lazyness and overweight instead of getting there themselves.
The world will soon come to an end. And nothing will stop that. So stop talking about obesety. We will die, no matter what. So why not enjoy food/freedom while it still can:S
Not a good attitude. Don't be a defeatist. Act now positively to bring our species to the next evolutionary change.
We all are fat because were getting bullied by everyone. And the only way to satisfy ourselves, to get the sadness out of uss, is to eat. Because that's the best distraction there is. It's cheap, it is neceserry and best of all, you can do it alone without anyone looking at you. As long as there are those people who talk and talk about us, the fat people, we only will get fatter, because they are seriously damaging our self esteem. And when we feel bad we eat.
The future is bleak and nothing will change until is starts to affect the wealthy through regulation, tax expenditure on obesity etc. Very sad.
Don't allow them do it to you people, you don't need their junk. As more and more folk struggle to even tie their own shoelaces, the rich are buying new boats and houses and cars from the profits of addictive, unhealthy food. If not for your own sake, boycott them out of disgust and contempt for their anti-social business practices.
I think that this has a lot to do with high fructose corn syrup, and the fact that sugar is in everything now, including lunch meat. We also eat way to much bread and cereals rather than fruits and veggies. High fructose corn syrup was introduced in our diet in the 1960's but wasn't widely used yet. In the 80's the food industries started putting in most drinks and packaged foods.
Not only that, but manufacturers spend millions of dollars researching what additives keep you eating.
Ever wonder why soft drinks never quench your thirst? They're formulated to keep you thirsty and drinking. Why do Coke and Pepsi have so much sodium, for instance?
Look at all the chemicals in any processed food. They're not *all* there to preserve it. (And how long a shelf life should food really have, anyway?)
It used to be the ingredients in "tuna in water" were tuna, water, and a little salt. Now, the water is 'broth.' I've only found one brand that still has the ingredients "tuna, olive oil." Every other brand on the grocery shelves have multiple ingredients, even the supposedly healthy ones.
Also, the amount of salt, sugar and other 'taste enhancers' per serving is significantly higher than it used to be even 30 or 40 years ago.
We struggle to eat healthy, but the market is against us.
...and Im sorry if I offented somebody whos obese, I know its addiction. Those companies make that food and drinks like u get hooked on them. Thats why u need to take it very seriosly. And they use for example aspartam for sweetene diet drinks wich can be poisonius for u!
But Im looking ur country outside and I think theres no greater enemy to Americans than this obesity. No terrorists or wars or anything is more deadly and destroying than this.
This is so sad... In the 80´s and maybe 90´s still people from other countries were looking up to Americans and their culture. Now in Europe people are laughing to Americans, lot of it what George W. Bush did by politics and what McDonalds, Coca Cola and the fast food culture has done to the people. It has turned them like whales walking on the earth (sorry, but its true, they look like whales).
I know that in America, you have the very strong capitalism and the state shouldnt have any reculations for the corporations. It seems to me that the big corporations rule there and people have no saying in that. McDonalds, Coca Cola, KFC, Pepsi, Burger King... they are the same scum. They dont care peoples health, they want u hooked and they want ur money.
Loosing weight and staying healthy, theres very simple way (and the only one) eating good and healthy food and beeing active, doing some sports. Diets are just stupid, u have to live ur all life healthy. If u stop going those McDonalds and buying coke etc, and start do ur own cooking u lose weight for sure. I think those companies are big part of the problem and wouldnt care if they would go out of business!
everyone is to blame for people being fat, everyone except them being bad with theyr choice , I have mcdonalds all ower my town and i have eaten there twice in my life , and im doing some sport activity 2-3 times a week = problem solved
turn tv off turn brain on!!!!
noone will fix your life if you will just stand by waiting for miracle
There's a lot of truth in that although I would say the food industry knows their products are harder some people than others to "resist" which means they are profiteering from other peoples misery, hence my personal boycott of all these multinational corporations.
This is even more reason to take charge and fix your own life for yourself because the food industry, the government and even the health care industry is unlikely to ever find a miracle for those that are having issues with food.
The future is bleak and nothing will change until is starts to affect the wealthy through regulation, tax expenditure on obesity etc. Very sad.
Word Aba, im noticing amazing results after removing starch, grain, sugar and milk. Its all a part of the gaps diet, which is based on other proven diets that got forgotten. About 2 months ago I was depressed and lethargic and now im feeling more alive then I have in a long time. People assume saturated fats are the culprit for people getting obese but its quite the opposite. Gluten Lactose Starch and Sugar are bad!!! Although once my stomach is healed I can eat moderate amounts of Lactose and Starch, the other two can GTFO. Also its a shame people have forgotten the benefits of fermented vegetables.
Low Carb, High Fat (LCHF) is the new paradigm - pretty much turns everything we've been told for decades on it's head. Sugar blocks our ability to use body fat as fuel and it's in just about everything. We were never designed to consume starches, wheat, bread, pasta and refined sugar - high fructose corn syrup is in everything and you can practically chart the increase in obesity with the introduction of this poison into the food source. Sugar is the nicotine of our times, there is nothing 'natural' about it.
This is a result of a Fast Food Culture. I have never been to the US, but many who have been have told me that the food over there is just fundamentally different to other countries in the western world. Ingredients are different, manufacturing is different, availability is abundant, prices are cheap. Outlets on every corner it seems. The US is the mother of fast food and when cheap, fast and tasty is so deeply ingrained in society rather than the importance of nutrition, you have a whole different ball game and attitude when it comes to food itself. Lack of education, lack of exercise and poverty are also big factors. Even though I am a vegan, I believe that if I lived over there, I would probably weigh a bit more than I do too, merely due to the availability of food, all kinds of it.
It's true. The food here and the food- government connection is mercilessly fake, boxed, synthetic, and over processed. The plastics we use cause massive amounts of hormonal problems (like the one I currently have), many which they scientists have been epigenetically inherited. Poverty is indeed a huge factor as is lack of education. I work as a teacher in a very poor area and I see parents giving their BABIES AND TODDLERS cans of Coke and Sprite almost every day on the bus. It's so sad.
Heres the truth. Processing food ruins it. They remove nutrients and denature food, making it unrecognizable and unusable by our bodies. This is why synthetic vitamin supplements don't work. Instead the food we eat ends up providing an overgrowth of bad bacteria in our system which eventually kills all the good bacteria and then wreaks havoc on our entire bodies. It doesn't just make you fat, it gives you problems like allergies, excma, depression, Autism, Schizophrenia etc.
Its very hard to break this cycle and repair your system, I cant afford GE free vegies, or organic free range meat, I have to eat the stuff laced with pesticides and anti biotics (which do more damage to my gut). If you want more answers Google "GAPS diet", im about to start it and its a big undertaking to heal my gut and hopefully salvage something of my life. But if you just keep believing what your told from the mainstream you or maybe your kids will pay the price.
it has taken me a few days to build up the courage to write this as I know I will get a lot of haters!
It makes me sad to see the lack of compassion out there. No-one wants that sort of life, to be isolated, to be judged. It is unfortunate the obese people carry their pain, addiction, habits (call it what ever you would like) on the outside on public view. Maybe it would be a different story if we could all see your lungs, livers, kidneys and brain cells, then you wouldn't be able to kid yourselves that you only drink and smoke "sometimes" "no really it isn't a problem for me" as we could all see the truth behind your empty words.
Now I hear you yelling at me what would I do.....
How about we invest some money into mental health! Instead of treating the symptom, how about we treat the cause. All the good and bad diets out there are useless without a healthy mind.
In other words, don't expect the government or the business world to help solve the obesity problem. They are both too busy feeding from the fatty trough of the financial system that creates that environment.
Not only do people have to stop being debt slaves but they have to stop being food slaves for the marketers.
A good place to start is to turn off your network Tv and turn on internet TV. Fewer food ads. It's amazing how much that simple change can make.
But in the end, this documentary was not much more than hand wringing and complaining. There was no true indepth study into the real reasons obesity has sky rocketed. Probably because HBO is a corporate entity that relies on the very same people who market an unhealthy life style image.
I agree, check out Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead for a truly informative, and proven way to change lifestyle, I literally have a dozen people in my local area that are bringing me fresh produce from their gardens daily, just unable to thank me enough for helping them get back down to the 200 mark, it's really quite amazing, I have never seen a film that put it so bluntly and truthfully, check it out, you will not be disappointed : )
i eat like a garbage can. very little in the way of veggies, tons of meat (if beef, as rare as i can convince folks to cook it), enough sugar to put a diabetic in the next block into a sympathetic coma, carbs of any and all varieties in large quantities. i was a fat kid until about 11, then bang! rail thin to this day (6 ft, 160ish). my exwife used to have to bake pecan pie in pairs, one for me, one for everybody else (im a FIEND for pecan pie). i drink soda in moderation these days, though if in the mood ill still nurse my way through a 2 liter solo, i used to go through dairy (milk, ice cream, yogurt, etc) like a plague of locusts until a few months ago (just kind of lost the taste for it lately). chocolate and hard candies are in my case a "basic food group", as is salt. my family was agog when i gave blood around a decade ago and the collectors reported my cholesterol at mid-ideal levels (my mother and sister have battled to keep theirs lower than "OMG, you must be dead" levels for a couple of decades). i lived on fast food for the most part for a few years. basically, i consume all that is bad, unhealthy, or potentially fatal in abundance, yet im healthy as can be. i smoke tobacco like a factory chimney in the 19th century, in high school i had the nickname "locomotive breath" hung on me because i was NEVER seen without a cigarette hanging from my gob (well over 3 decades ago). i dont drink much alky, though if the mood strikes i enjoy my lager. i drink coffee by the gallon, but never really was a fan of tea. i honestly think each individual is a separate case, there is no universal right or wrong diet. some folks are hard wired to get fat no matter what, others exactly the opposite,and some sit midpoint twixt the 2 extremes. eat what you enjoy, as you see fit, because i guarantee you that one day you will die anyway, no matter what you choose to munch on
Never go on the lemon, maple syrup, cayenne cleanse...you may dissapear.
az
honestly if offered such an option, i would disappear post haste, lol... that sounds horrible to the extreme. i do enjoy all 3 (i have long held the belief that maple syrup and poutine are the surest indicator of the truly civilized nature of canada), but some things are decidedly not ideal combinations
You haven't tried a lobster guédille yet. A guédille is basically a sandwich made in a hot dog bun without the dog, a French canadian twist.
There is a restaurant called Au Pied De Cochon, the chef Martin Picard has taken the poutine to a higher level covering it with foie gras. No matter how thin you are, something like this would certainly make you burb.
I suppose all food talk is on Topic.
az
You may be a genetic freak, who knows, but that kind of mentality is EXACTLY what got us into this mess.
ahhhh, i see, my life experience being at variance with your theory of dietary imperative MUST mean im some sort of mutant, as opposed to you possibly not being correct in all cases.... hmmmmmmm what is that smell?
85% of Americans are overweight, you can be a smart-ass if you wish, but I understand how the human body evolved, you obviously don't. I'm not saying it will happen, but who knows where you will be in 10 years, my Uncle Eddie was the same way, ate whatever he wanted, and at 48 had colon cancer, and now has packed on over 200 lbs and is growing like crazy. I'm just saying, every food expert in the world agrees that processed food is unhealthy, if you want to deny that for the vast majority of people (Who by the way, do not always share your metabolism) then go ahead, but I guarantee you are wrong in the end.
Not to mention, harry, nice straw man argument, did you not notice that your argument is stating the exact opposite of mine, how is that any different? lmao
oh man, I wish I could eat even half that much ;-)
actually it can be a real pain at times. i tend to get ravenously hungry after a few hours, most "portions" as defined by authorities dont even come close to stoking my boiler. a local pizzeria loved me when i lived in nyc because i probably paid 25% of their monthly overhead. ive had food servers give me the stink eye as i ordered my 3rd breakfast in a single sitting. those lb bags of m&m's quake in fear as i walk down a supermarket candy aisle. any rice based dish is basically an exercise in futility for me, as im starving again in 1/2 an hour or so. a box of cold cereal is gone in 20 minutes. a local restaurant has a 6 lb enchilada that im dying to try (free if you finish it within 45 minutes, otherwise 40 bucks, lol) a lb of spaghetti often just disappears in my presence, and ill be looking for a snack within a couple of hours. it's almost like having a second full time job
The reason you are so hungry all the time is that you are depriving your body of micro nutrients that it most likely is lacking, dude, do yourself a favor and go get blood work done before it get's bad for you.
Jeremy, i NEVER said you had no leg to stand on. i said there is no blanket single diet that will work for everybody, in every situation. my dietary habits may well one day foreshorten my lifespan, but im at 50 years already, still going, still healthy. i have no illusion of or desire of living forever. if i adopted the "paleo diet" you champion so loudly, id be miserable. i ENJOY my unhealthy diet. i eat what i eat because it's the food i enjoy to eat. it seems to have no adverse effect on me, so why do you feel I have to change it? why the deep seated need to try to "scare me straight"? i will one day die, no matter what, or how much i eat. if it works for you, and you are satisfied with it, more power to you. id be miserably lusting a blood rare burger with a fried egg on top everytime i drank one of those "rabbit food" shakes. im not looking to jam a pizza down your maw, why cant you give me the same courtesy? i admit im an extreme case, metabolism wise. but, "i yam what i yam" and i do so enjoy my ability to eat whatever i enjoy without having to worry about it. i dont tell the obese "hey it works for me, so it'll work for you too". i leave dietary absolutism to others, just like most other forms of absolutism. find what works for you, and run with it, thats what i did/do...
same with me,no care in the world about health related consumption!
all that counter-steered was that i was in self-perpetual motion,everyday(walking or riding multiple kilometres)!that kept me in balance until i was knocked over by a grand ol' lady & her ford which left me renderless for a while & et voila.....chubbiness a la
10 kilos more(from 70 k to 80k,with a height of 1,78 m),but nothing i can't lose with a little determination!
motion is the only way to conquer obesity,imo!
exactly, only put in the boiler as much fuel as you burn. now there are lots of variables that figure into that, metabolism, psychology, type of food being consumed, exercise level, phases of the moon, divine will, who won the indy 500, ad infinitum. im blessed (cursed) with a humminbird like metabolism, and engage in very strenuous calorie intensive work. im not a desk jockey. i know people who couldnt eat in a week what i do in a day. the office manager at my job (she runs marathons, btw) sips water and eats tiny portions of fluffy nothingness. my mother might have a couple ounces of fish, half a small potato, and some veggies for dinner. i work with fat guys who couldnt gobble half of what i do if they tried. i honestly dont "exercise" in any way shape or form, i wouldnt run if you chased me with a car, lol. but, for the time im at "bob's house of fab and finish horror" im in constant motion, usually under moderate load. i dont carry around giant heavy things (we have forklifts and kids for that), i dont "doubletime" my way through the day, but i keep up a reasonably strenuous pace.
Once again, personal responsibility would go a long way to solving this crisis. Well done doc, this fat crisis will cost more and kill more lives than the entire history of tobacco.
And JohnK, your comment "...think marijuana should be medical right?" makes me think you're the one who needs educated; marijuana should be legal and used in medicine - do some research before making so many generalized statements - there are docs dealing with the proven benefits of marijuana here on SeeUat Videos. Also, you should look into the many studies showing the health benefits of alcohol when consumed minimally. Maybe keep an eye on that ego of yours, not everyone believes your lifestyle is the answer to healthy living. Something tells me your **** smells just like everyone else...
why are there 4 ****? Me think the guessing game is cheated.
I agree Marijuana should be used in medicine but not for hunger...nothing makes you more hungry than smoking pot. lol
az
yeah I agree about personal responsibility, that's a huge part of it but not 100% of the problem imho. What about corporate responsibility? I really think the only way to reverse this trend is with a systems approach. It will take each person to make better choices but I really think it will take some state intervention (sadly) as happened with tabacco products.
well,you're right with the water immitate!more & more bottled water
(here in germany) has less minerals than tap-water!but at least the tap-water has high quallity here,so no loss yet!?!very frightening!
.....And , and, it's going to really explode/get worse now, (Well, the last 10 to 15 years we've used computers, but not as much time use as say, in the last 6 or 7 years) how many hours do you spend sitting in front of your computer every day?! We have the highly addictive computer now, fat people won't be doing any exercise to shed weight, because they spend just as much time in front of computers as normal body weight people. Now and in the future, we're really in big trouble!
Yeah, I have very little faith in the efforts to get us all healthier, I really can't see it working because the fat cats won't allow it. They earn when we eat to the point of getting sick and they earn again when we buy the health care their products made us need. As Jonny Rotten said "Ever feel like you've been had"?
They hate being told what to do (regulation) by ELECTED officials and make out it's the thin end of the wedge of tyranny. ALL LIES. I will be boycotting their "substances" from now on. Ahhhhh, I feel much freer already.
....I think if there were a war between the USA and some Asian country for example, the US casualties would much higher, because they would be an easier target to shoot.
A huge and growing amount of money has been made by the rich through the food industry, increasingly at the expense of the consumer. In the years to come, will the rich be willing to help out with societies rising medical bills through increasing taxation? Of course not, they want it both ways. They'll just say "we don't force feed you, we only make it near impossible to resist this junk. As we get rich, you get sick but you're on your own fatty (or nicotine addict or alcoholic). By the way, can I interest you in any of our health plans? It's against the law not to have insurance so cough up some dollar. I'm afraid there's an extra premium for those folks that "enjoy" our wide range of “delicious” non-foods with a little too much enthusiasm (or should I say, compulsion?)".
The political right have always manipulated the poor with the guilt trip of being "responsible" for ones actions and "owning" ones behaviour. OK, I have no problem with these basic ideas, but what about the responsibility of these rich investors and corporations that get "fat" off getting fat? What about directing that question where it matters most? What about their role in this epidemic? Ever noticed there's a huge and damaging hypocrisy in this and other areas of life? It should but doesn't work both ways because they are in charge of the value system and it's dissemination as well as the purse and puppet strings. In fact, it's hard to tell puppet from master these days.
When I stopped smoking 4 years ago it was for more than just health and financial reasons; it was a political gesture against the evil f@king tobacco companies. I'm now going to apply the same standard to the food and drink industries and boycott their “substances”. I'd rather not consume the junk that will only make me need more of their junk in the form of “remedies” further down the line. I aint falling for it, I'm moving "off grid" as much as I can.
btw, I'm not saying medicine is junk, I just DON'T wanna pay the elites twice if I can help it.
im not fat. im 5'6 and 135 and happy ^_^. no meat, no sugar, no caffeine, no alcohol, no cigarettes, not even any tylenol and im healthy as ever. I am a vegetarian and always cook my own fresh food!
good man! Two things, caffeine has many health benefits as does alcohol in moderation. A couple of coffees or cups of tea eveyday and a small glass of red wine with your freshly cooked food will be even better. No need to thank me ;-)
A COUPLE of coffees everyday? I dont think so. red wine, beer, ANY alcohol is NOT good for u. TRUST me
Really? I've not heard that, in fact I've only heard the opposite? Got any links?
What planet are you living on? Alcohol causes premature death, increased violence/ crime and physical addiction. If you think this stuff is good for you, ur delusional. Seriously Dean, you wouldn't know right from wrong. I bet you also think marijuana should be medical right? LOL Go back to school and get educated.
ooooh look who's got his panties in a twist lol. I asked you for links, you provided none; very telling. I'm thinking you have no credible backup. And instead of replying with evidence you sling petty, pointless slights. Again very illuminating. What a guy! What a mind!
Small amounts of booze is ok as is coffee/tea. Deal with it Mr Kellogg. From what you've been saying, you've entered into the wacky of world puritanical health neurosis.
And what you on about, right from wrong? Explain yourself lol.
I'm happy to still be in school; as are we all right?
Silly bugga JK.
Calm down Mr kellogg, sounds like you need a drink. Go away and come back with some links to good info like I asked or be quiet. And what's this right and wrong sh!t? Makes no sense.
@John Krisfalusci
I'm not fat either but I eat sugar, meat, pizza, drink coffee and use alcohol, don't smoke tough.
Moderate amoun of any food and at least 3 hours spent outdoor (driving a car or sitting on a bench doesn't count).
We're hardwired to eat a lot and store fat. Every mammal is working that way. We lived with "food scarcity" over the last 200,000 years. The life was basically fight for food (as it is with all the animals). So whenever we got a chance to eat meat or honey, we ATE A LOT, and store for later, since in the next 2 weeks we've might not get food at all. So how the ancient man didn't get fat? He was eating high calorie food once a week and he was exercising a lot (miles and miles daily running).
The first component is that the modern man is genetically predisposed to eat a lot and store it for later, because of the above. With the invention of agriculture and animal domestication, food scarcity "disappeared". Our genes are still the same (more less) , but we have a lot of food on the table.
The second component is the individual metabolism. Not everyone is the same with gaining an losing weight.
The third component is the exercise. Our body is built for running (experimentally proven), but today we rarely use it that way.
So if you're psychologically ready to fight your genes, your metabolism and occasionally exercise, you might not get fat. For some this is very easy, it seems natural, for some it is very difficult.
I agree with all you said but I think you left a modern day component of weight control out, psychology. Most of the over weight people I know over eat for psychological reasons, they formed some kind of unhealthy attraction to food when younger. These are the people that readily admit they eat because they are bored, like eating was something to do instead of a way to gain substinance. In America we are taught from the time we are born by example that food and eating together means family, unity, good times, special occasions, holidays, etc. Many kids that are left alone after school because mother and daddy both have to work to make ends meet find comfort and solace in eating. We are rewardded as children often with a certain food or treat, and so we associate it with pleasure, positive recognition from our parents and authority in general, etc. And of course we are bombarded constantly with all the commercial images of food and what it is suppose to mean to us, and you can imagine how they portray it.
Ultimately I think we all have to take personal responsibility for what we put in our mouths, no matter what influences we have been subjected to. But there is no doubt that our culture here in the west plays into this problem. And all things you listed are part of it too, it really is more complicated than i gave it credit for below now that i really think about it.
@wald0,
I agree, modern day psychological reasons an influence have significant input into the equation.
do you really think that ones metabolism even applies in the context of clinical obesity. I'll grant the concession that it will mean that a guide weight for height/age = X may be unrealistic, but we are talking about people with serious weight problems so far beyond the point where their metabolism could even be considered to be part of the equation in the sense that the amount of food you'd have to eat would challenge even the most efficient metabolism. anyways perhaps it just a personal biased of having never being myself or known anyone who has had a weight problem it seems unimaginable.
Instead of the PHONY and UNTRUE "carbon tax" should have in place, an HONEST TAX, and that-would-be..........a tax on FAT. FATTNESS, OBESITY. If you cannot STOP "bending your elbow," thereby raising the cost of EVERYTHING, YOU, my FAT FRIEND, should have to PAY FOR IT! In the old days, WOMEN would say, "Oh, I have a bad-thyroid." I am 62 years old. I eat whatever I want to eat or can afford to eat. And ANYTIME I want to eat it. I am STILL wearing the SAME-SIZE PANTS I wore in high school. BECAUSE I don't, as we use to call it, PIG-OUT. STOP OVEREATING, and there won't be any "osesity" anymore. All I hear from FAT PEOPLE is "excuses, excuses, excuses ABOUT WHY THEY'RE FAT. THEY ARE FAT, because THEY WON'T, (NOT CAN'T), STOP pigging-out! And STOP making EXCUSES and BLAMING someone else for your own WEAKNESSES!
It has much more to do with modern food being engineered than you realize. The rabbit hole is deep with this one.
In a nutshell... The human body evolved to live off of fruits, vegetables, nuts, meats, and water. It DID NOT evolve to survive on candy, top ramen, mac n cheese, nitrite injected meat, or soda.
The worst part is many of the chemicals they put into the fake foods are more addictive than the good food stuffs we would usually eat. Which is why a fatty gets excited the SECOND they see a McDonalds, that is the result of neurons firing in the brain telling the fatty that their "fix" is coming soon. Literally the same process a drug junkie goes through right before getting high. Quite sad.
If you want to lose the weight, get healthy, get off meds, etc, check out "Fat Sick and Nearly Dead" BEST DOC for people that are clueless to the truth about food. Get it, burn it, share it. I have people in my family that are already down 60 pounds in just a few months and are getting off of 20+ year pharma binges just by eating the right food. It's so simple, literally after you see the film, you may be tapping your foot going "Well, I guess I really did abandon common sense..." Or my personal favorite, something almost EVERYONE I have shown it to me said right after "Damn, it's so weird, my Mama used to tell me this I should have listened to her!"
* As a side note, 10 years ago I was a size 46 waist, weighed almost 300 even, and was taking prescription drugs just to help my ass walk around at work. I was depressed, tired ALL the time, and probably 10 years from death, I learned of the Paleo-lithic diet way before the film "Fat Sick and Nearly Dead" came out, but for those that don't know, it LITERALLY is a no bull shyt, straight up, proven by dieticians, best healthiest diet known to man kind. It is not some crazy meat only diet, it does not involve coffee enemas, and it certainly does not make you buy extra gadgetry or supplements. Just eat the RIGHT FOOD, it's that simple. WATCH IT, I have helped numerous bowling ball friends out with this lifestyle change, and all it took was them seeing me healthy and swimming and biking to get them interested. DO IT! Save your family, make sure your parents get to SEE your grandkids. It was the best decision per health that I ever made.
Then why do people like myself stay thin so easily when we eat the same things as everyone else? Why is that I notice people eating when they can't be hungry? Its not the food we eat, its how much of it they eat. Its because somewhere in their minds they get more from the food and eating it than just substinance. They get comfort, they get excitment, they get a sense of safety, and they get fat!!! Now I do think our foods cause cancer and other health issues, and we should fix that problem. But I don't think changing the menu will help the obesity issue that much, these people will eat rice cakes by the box if they have to, and then sit on their a55 until that makes them fat as well.
You can literally eat food like a mad man on the Paleo diet and stay thin, trust me, I've been on it nearly a decade and I go to bed stuffed every night! : ) Just watch Fat, Sick, Nearly Dead, it explains it better than I can.
Whether you can stay thin or not doesn't matter, it isn't mentally healthy to stuff yourself. Once you get full stop eating, otherwise you are still using food for something other then what it is- substinance. Its that metality that allows my countrymen to waste so much when people are starving. I am ot saying you are gulty of this necessarily, I don't know if you are or not, but it is happening. We feed our cattle enough to end starvation globally simply so we can eat steaks and fillet of baby cow. Ever heard of a fat called foi gras? “Foie Gras” is French for “fat liver” and is obtained by force feeding a duck or goose by hand, and I mean force feeding it to the point of pure torture, and tieing it down so it can't move- then they kill the poor thing and yank out its liver throwing the rest of it away- all so gourmet loving rich people can enjoy what they call a delicacy. This food thing is getting out of hand, in my opinion.
Dude, you're like going into left field now. Look, there is 100% scientific evidence that you are wrong, and that the TYPE of food is 1000% more important that the quantity. My mother, used to live by the "eat only until you're 75% full" mantra, guess what? She was overweight, her knees hurt, and she really didn't eat much. She got on the Paleo diet, grows HER OWN vegetables, saves money, and has lost 50 lbs in 3 months.
I do not understand, how you can argue against biology, physiology, and millions of years of evolution. If you honestly believe that processed food is harmless, I must request you get an MRI. IT IS the root of obesity, it is the root of bad health. IF you can find me ONE person that is a vegan, follows a paleo lifestyle, and is FAT (if they just started the paleo diet, it doesn't count), I will PAY YOU MONEY. Because you won't find it. Take for example, the Seventh Day Adventist religion. They are currently ranked as the HEALTHIEST HUMAN BEINGS IN THE UNITED STATES, their diet? Paleo-lithic minus meat, as in they eat ZERO meat. I do eat meat, small portions, but my point is that we spent millions of years evolving to have a certain diet, and a few spazoid rich jerk-offs decided they could produce Custom, cheaper food for the masses, without ever realizing it would not work in the long run.
That is my point. (As a side note, the guy from "super-size me" proved all of this years ago, he is a paleo eater and went on a fast food diet ((Fast food and processed food is the same boat btw)) and nearly killed his liver in 30 days, please, please, tell me again it has nothing to do with diet, if it's poison, it doesn't matter HOW much you eat, ur still not getting anything useful for your body and it will decay fast.)
Seriously, this makes me just tremor @ thoughts of the future, I can see in the future someone inventing some drink, that is meant to replace water, and advertised as such. And it might seem like water, even taste like it, but don't be surprised when we go through the same realization process then.
The secret to healthy living is this -
Eat like a cave man, veggies, fruits, nuts, small amounts of dairy and meat, and LOTS of water. (wheat, rye, barley etc (gluten) is still relatively new to human consumption, keep it @ low intake as well) GM food I do not trust, I prefer to hit up road-side food vendors and or local groweries (there are Mininite settlements in almost every town, they sell ALL natural produce and fruit usually cheaper than @ the store)
Get yourself tested for food allergens (via a doctor, or via a short diet where you remove food groups, then add them back in, and observe your bodies reaction to them) This step is important, many people actually have allergens ranging from soy, to broccoli and spinach.
This diet literally MAKES you more active, because you will not be lethargic after eating. AS IN you will want to go to the lake, and swim, afterwards, YOU WILL BE BURSTING WITH ENERGY!
Talk to any health freak that is truly educated, they will confirm this.
Are you being intentionally thick and insulting or are you just too d*mb to be able to read what I so plainly wrote. I very clearly said that the foods we eat cause cancer and all kinds of problems and we needed to fix this. As far as arguing against science, nice try but I am a scientist genuis- I work as a research chemist. I stated below that this was much more compllicated than i gave it credit for and I also recognized evolutions roll specifically in the problem when I agreed with Vlatko.
That said I do think (you know have my own opinion if that is o.k.) people like yourself simply don't want to admit that over weight people eat too much, for whatever the reason. You guys want a diet they can eat too much of and remain slim, thats fine but don't act as if over eating isn't the current problem. If the foods were the central problem we would all be overweight, after all I eat the same thing as the rest of the U.S. does and I am not over weight and neither are my associates who also eat the same things. The only difference is that we do not eat more than what our bodies can metabolize without storing a bunch of fat cells.
In the end you can blame metabolism, processed foods, lack of physical excercise in our modern culture, etc., etc. but blaming things will not make you slim will it? The food we have is what we have right now, our culture is what it is, and if people want to remain thin within that reality they must eat less. Sure they can try to change it, fight for better standards, change culture and be more active, but in the mean time if they continue to eat KFC by the bucket they are going to be fatties. I have seen these people eat, they don't hide the fact they eat more than the rest of us- if I ate that much I would get sick. Knowing one or even fifty people that have ligitimate metabolism issues doesn't change this at all, something you would know if you prized science half as highly as you pretend. Science has found issues with our foods, they are too packed with sugars and cheap nutritional vlaue that will easily lead to obesity, but it never said obesity was inevitable if you eat the stuff- which is the obviouse case when you look around and see so many thin people eating the same things as everyone else. Saying the foods are over packed with cheape nutrition and sugars means one thing, you must eat less of them unless you want to get fat- its just that simple. Blaming food for fat people is like blaming guns for murder, someone had to pull the trigger and someone had to eat too much of the food.
You are really just a dick. Not only did you bypass my previous posts, where I pretty much said the same thing you did, and completely blasted your hypothesis that "eating less shit food" will somehow curb the problem out of the water.
You literally have no understanding of nutrition, I can tell by the fact that you consider macronutrient food sources to be a main food source. Chemist or not, you've not been a dietary student, it's quite clear.
I've heard about that diet. I saw something about Paleo exercise too, apparently its a very efficient way of getting fit cuz it's designed to be similar to the kind of activity our ancestors evolved into, if you know what I mean.
@mr.god(who loves capitals)
"And STOP making EXCUSES and BLAMING someone else for your own WEAKNESSES!"
very well spoken for someone who doesn't practice what they preach !maybe,NEO,you should have taken the blue pill as the red
one doesn't seem to help you?!(lolly!)
Our REAL "problem" isn't obesity," it is the DISHONESTY of the "people-in-power." That means, THE COPORATIONS like McDonalds, Wendy's, the Congress, the Senate, the White House, the FDA, the CIA, the FBI, the NSA, the ESTABLISH-MINT, etc, etc, etc......IF TPTB "cared" about "we the people," rather than "the botton-line," there'd be no "obesity" in this country, or any othercountry for that matter. People with BILLIONS of dollars, like Rocefeller, Bush, Clinton, Gates, Jobs, ROTHSCHILD, I can go on and on. The list is long and GREEDY. THAT IS "our problem." GREED. If I had a million dollars, I'd take AT LEAST HALF, and go feed some kids. Yet MILLIONAIRES would never do that. When you give a million TAX-FREE-Dollars, to some charity, it "sounds-like" a lot of money. HOWEVER, when you HAVE a BILLION dollars, it is CHUMP-CHANGE. And THAT is who's running the world, CHUMPS LIKE ROTHSCHILD, the QUEEN of ENGLAND, the Congress and Senate, the list would go on and on. GREED.......is our "problem."
Now wait a minute, I agree we have a corporate greed issue but how has that made us all so fat? Most poeple don't even eat enough McDonalds or KFC to blame it on them, they eat what they buy at the grocery stores and they do so by the bucket full. No one makes them do this, not the government, Tyson foods, nor McDonalds. So if we are going to blame someone lets blame the people eating too much food, no one else. These people should be held responsible for something in their life, if not what they put in their mouths then what? No one can blame someone else for being too fat unless someone held them at gun point and made them eat the stuff that made them that way.
(edit)
Well, I see at the bottom of your long list of blame for everything from Wendy's to the Rothchild family you tell people to stop blaming others. You are a trip man.
By the year 2100 people will evolve into Walruses. >:D
like in the movie Wall-E o,o