Blaming individuals for obesity may be altogether wrong...

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  • blytheandbonnie
    blytheandbonnie Posts: 3,275 Member
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    See! I knew it wasn't my fault! All kidding aside, the article gives us a lot to think about. It seems that even if we are prone to be fat, our only option is still to watch what we consume and move our butts more. As imperfect as it all is, it's the best we have. We'll just have to keep swimming against the tide. That said, I think I'll order some blackout curtains for my bedroom. Thanks for the read.
  • Big_Bad
    Big_Bad Posts: 57
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    I might not get to reading the full article for a bit but there's a lot to prove that blaming individuals is both pointless and incorrect. Social factors, environmental factors, physiological factors... obesity is incredibly complex! And if "eat less, exercise more" really worked, then obesity rates wouldn't be increasing, as the CDC has been telling people that for decades!

    I'm very curious about some of the new points though. Looking into factors for obesity is one of my interests. I took a physiology course on obesity that opened my mind soooo much! Endlessly fascinating, although from a public health perspective, extremely depressing.
  • InvisibleOne_
    InvisibleOne_ Posts: 10
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    Okay... a warning for that picture at the top would have been nice.
  • _noob_
    _noob_ Posts: 3,306 Member
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    Okay... a warning for that picture at the top would have been nice.

    that's a baker kneading dough...chill.
  • Big_Bad
    Big_Bad Posts: 57
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    Okay... a warning for that picture at the top would have been nice.

    You can't tell what body part it is. It's simply stored adipose tissue or fat.

    Only socially determined views and fat phobia make you consider it gross or worth needing a warning.
  • iAMsmiling
    iAMsmiling Posts: 2,394 Member
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    Damn society for buying that tub of ice cream and putting it in my freezer!

    Sabotage!
  • Hexahedra
    Hexahedra Posts: 894 Member
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    I might not get to reading the full article for a bit but there's a lot to prove that blaming individuals is both pointless and incorrect. Social factors, environmental factors, physiological factors... obesity is incredibly complex! And if "eat less, exercise more" really worked, then obesity rates wouldn't be increasing, as the CDC has been telling people that for decades!

    I'm very curious about some of the new points though. Looking into factors for obesity is one of my interests. I took a physiology course on obesity that opened my mind soooo much! Endlessly fascinating, although from a public health perspective, extremely depressing.
    Eating less and exercising more ALWAYS work, most people just don't want to do them. To people genetically predisposed to accumulate fat, eating less is tougher than it is for others. Still, it's far from impossible.

    We're also born with different levels of intelligence, but with the exception for few people with mental disabilities, we are all expected to go to school and attain a certain level of knowledge. Maybe there's a small minority of people who just can't help being fat, but for the rest of us being overweight is simply due to a lack of effort.
  • fannyfrost
    fannyfrost Posts: 756 Member
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    I have seen a lot of studies that say the chemicals in our food is a big reason that people are getting fatter.

    I still think a lot of it has to do with the fact that we move a lot less than in the past and portion sizes are a lot larger. Years ago to make yourself breakfast, you had to go get the eggs, churn the butter, baked the biscuits. Now you can get all those things.

    Fried Mozzarella, most fried foods actually, were eaten by poor people because they had one peice of cheese and needed it to feed a family of 4 and keep them full. So by frying fat was added, filling them up. But this was the entire meal. Now we have Fried Mozzarella appetizers, followed by fried chicken with mashed potatoes and lastly desert. And we don't have to make that food or if we do, often not from scratch. So that accounts for a lot.

    Other research has shown how much more sugar is in our diets. Sugar used to be special treat. it was expensive and therefore used a lot less. With Corn Syrup and sugar being a lot less expensive, it has creeped into so many of the things we eat.

    Then add the chemicals like the article says. When you drink water in this country there are traces of most modern day medicines aside from the chemicals that are just in the environment. They sight BPA, but reality there are chemicals in our water supply, our food supply, etc. Even foods categorized as Organic probably have traces of chemicals. There are even categories of Organic because if you use a plot that wasn't organic last year, well the chemicals are there.

    So while I think are are many factors contributing to people growing larger, there is only person to blame if it has gotten obese. Being 30 lbs or so overweight, yes that could be the environment etc. Being 100 or more overweight, well I am thinking environment wasn't the only factor.

    I also genetics has something to do with it as well. Not everyone can be a stick. My brother and I were raised in the same house, both of us are adopted. I love food, I love to eat. He on the other hand, eats till full and moves on. Both my parents loved food, would finish our food as well, but my brother he never was a foodies. Genetics is part of it for sure.
  • InvisibleOne_
    InvisibleOne_ Posts: 10
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    Okay... a warning for that picture at the top would have been nice.

    You can't tell what body part it is. It's simply stored adipose tissue or fat.

    Only socially determined views and fat phobia make you consider it gross or worth needing a warning.

    I can tell what it is. It's a fat naked woman laying on her side.
  • InvisibleOne_
    InvisibleOne_ Posts: 10
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    Only socially determined views and fat phobia make you consider it gross or worth needing a warning.

    Or the fact that it's NSFW...derp.
  • danasings
    danasings Posts: 8,218 Member
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    Interesting article, but I agree that past a certain point we are personally responsible for our weight. Few people have the genetic propensity to be 100+ pounds overweight.
  • etoiles_argentees
    etoiles_argentees Posts: 2,827 Member
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    saving for later :)
  • mustang289
    mustang289 Posts: 299 Member
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    Anybody got a pig that needs a bath? Because that article is bunch of HOGWASH!

    Almost every paragraph I read had a false assumption or conclusion. For example, when it talked about 'eating as few as 30 calories more per day would cause you to be fat" and then dispelling it as unreasonable to assume it were true because if it was everyone would be fat. What the article fails to point out is we are not just eating 30 extra calories a day to get fat, we are eating an extra 500 - 1000 - 2000 calories per day to get fat.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    Societal and economic factors can shift the pressure on an individual, but cannot absolve him or her of personal responsibility.

    I was fat, and it wasn't anyone's fault but mine.
  • iAMsmiling
    iAMsmiling Posts: 2,394 Member
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    Okay... a warning for that picture at the top would have been nice.

    You can't tell what body part it is. It's simply stored adipose tissue or fat.

    Only socially determined views and fat phobia make you consider it gross or worth needing a warning.

    So, you're saying that gross or obscene is subjective and society influences our perceptions?

    *Mind--Blown*
  • tjthegreatone
    tjthegreatone Posts: 324
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    I'm tending to see morbid obesity as a symptom of an eating disorder +/- manifestation of self-hatred. Shame people thus afflicted get virtually no support or even sympathy.

    Now I'm a medic, and some patients on long-term steroids become grossly obese and experience other horrific side effects. People are oh-so-sympathetic when they find out...why should if be any different because someone chose to manifest his/her self-loathing (which, by the way worsens as the pounds pile on) by eating into an early grave?

    The role of the obesogenic environments we live in in the West cannot be ignored. I packed on about 20 pounds simply by moving to a developing country to the UK. Did I suddenly lose self-control or stop caring about myself? Pretty much everyone else I know who emigrated to a Western country has had a similar experience, and we've all hard to work hard to lose the excess weight and keep it off.
  • servilia
    servilia Posts: 3,452 Member
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    I might not get to reading the full article for a bit but there's a lot to prove that blaming individuals is both pointless and incorrect. Social factors, environmental factors, physiological factors... obesity is incredibly complex! And if "eat less, exercise more" really worked, then obesity rates wouldn't be increasing, as the CDC has been telling people that for decades!

    ? Um actually yes, eating less and moving more DOES work. Most people are just too lazy to do it.
  • cmeiron
    cmeiron Posts: 1,599 Member
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    Societal and economic factors can shift the pressure on an individual, but cannot absolve him or her of personal responsibility.

    I was fat, and it wasn't anyone's fault but mine.

    QFT
  • Big_Bad
    Big_Bad Posts: 57
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    I might not get to reading the full article for a bit but there's a lot to prove that blaming individuals is both pointless and incorrect. Social factors, environmental factors, physiological factors... obesity is incredibly complex! And if "eat less, exercise more" really worked, then obesity rates wouldn't be increasing, as the CDC has been telling people that for decades!

    ? Um actually yes, eating less and moving more DOES work. Most people are just too lazy to do it.

    For you.

    In the short-term.

    So did everyone just become lazy in 1980? Please tell me more! You alone can solve the problem of obesity curing people of their laziness!!! O_O
  • servilia
    servilia Posts: 3,452 Member
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    I might not get to reading the full article for a bit but there's a lot to prove that blaming individuals is both pointless and incorrect. Social factors, environmental factors, physiological factors... obesity is incredibly complex! And if "eat less, exercise more" really worked, then obesity rates wouldn't be increasing, as the CDC has been telling people that for decades!

    ? Um actually yes, eating less and moving more DOES work. Most people are just too lazy to do it.

    For you.

    In the short-term.

    So did everyone just become lazy in 1980? Please tell me more! You alone can solve the problem of obesity curing people of their laziness!!! O_O

    Sorry, people have to want to cure themselves.

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