Aren't you a little tired of the "Obesity Epidemic"?

coreyreichle

Onto the price for food: While garbage food is cheaper, it's cheaper for a reason. It costs less to make. However, one can in fact find inexpensive produce all over, one just needs to look. Example: I buy about 90% of my produce from farmer's markets. And, I buy in season.

Do you have to eat organic to be healthy? Hardly. Do you need to "eat clean" to be healthy? Hardly. Stop looking for magic missles, and just use common sense. People don't fall all over themselves eating organic in Europe, do they? No. Do they fall over themselves "Eating Clean?" Nope.

The difference between other nations and the US largely boils down to one thing: Here, we drive 1/4 of a mile to go to the store and buy a 1/2 gallon of milk. Basically, they move more than we do, and they eat less than we do.

For the most part, I agree with you. From experience, I know I can get away with more nutritional sins when living in Germany than I can here in the rural setting of the Mississippi Delta. The lifestyles are so completely different, but then, so are the community layouts.

Germany: I don't even bother with a car. Even when I lived in a tiny out-of-the-way village, there was a small market with fresh foods (a Bioladen even!) and bakery that I could get to while my coffee brewed! Everything at my fingertips!! I walked everywhere. Fitness was built in. I loved it

Mississippi Delta: Without a car, I am dead in the water. I live in the center of town but the nearest grocery store is almost 4 miles away. I would gladly bike except there is nowhere to lock a bike (and I can promise it would not be there when I came out) AND the milk would begin spoil before I could get it home. Organics are twice as costly as their non-organic counterparts, and "fresh" is a concept I'm not sure folks really get around here. (I refuse to fight fruit flies for food for which I must pay top dollar.) So I arrange my life here to include the activities I need to stay fit. I enjoy the workouts but I resent having to fight for what I see as a basic human right.

ETA: The nearest farmer's market is 54 miles roundtrip from my house... in the next town. We advertise one here just a mile from my house, but every time I've gone, it has been a flea market with no PRODUCE in sight.

I now realize how spoiled I am. :sad:

A 4 mile bike trip would take about 20 minutes each way. Nothing will spoil in 20 minutes (About the same time it would be in a hot car.

Nearest farmer's market is 25 miles away? In Alabama? Color me skeptical on this one. Perhaps not an "official" farmer's markets, but you can hardly throw a stone and not hit a farm stand last time I was in Alabama. Regardless, a 25 mile bike trip should take about 2 hours. Even yet, you can still generally get moderately fresh produce in the grocer stores.

Given the immense distances you're describing, it sounds like fitness is built into your area. 4 hours of cycling built into a grocery trip! Or, 8 miles built into a grocery trip. As for nothing to lock a bike to, again, color me skeptical on this one. No trees? No guard rails anywhere? Not a single pole anywhere?

ElaineRN100

As a health professional I look at this issue from two fronts: First - to my patients. Young obese people may not have health issues now but they will later. Trust me. And usually if the parents are overweight, then the kids will follow. We live in a society of " I want it and I'm going to have it because I deserve it". I'll agree there are certain disease factors that cause obesity but that's not that often. Portion sizes at fast food and restaurants have increased so much that now people eat 2-3 times more each meal than in the past. We live in a sedentary society - jobs where you sit all day, ride to work and back and then go home and watch TV all night.

The 2nd reason - my health. When I have to help an obese person to the bathroom, adjust their position in bed, etc. I put my health at risk - my back mainly. My hospital has had to order larger beds to accommodate the increasing girth of our patients.

I'm not in favor of the Government telling us what we can or cannot eat. We are the most advanced society on the planet but yet so many are on a mentally deficient path to self destruct. People cut their lives short but not controlling what they eat and not getting in enough activity during the day. It's not a financial issue - you can eat healthy, portion control and get activity in on any budget - you just have to have the desire to improve your situation.

Off soap box......

algebravoodoo

I never liked the term, "Obesity epidemic". To me, an epidemic is spread by germs or other infectious agents.

I gained weight by eating too much and not exercising, period.
Not because the weight charts changed, or BMI is different, or I have hypothyroidism and am postmenopausal, I caught the obesity germ and have the fat gene.

I did it to myself. Truth, no excuses.

Maybe I'll catch the fitness epidemic! That's not caused by germs, either. Only by hard work and dedication and choice.
I chose to gain weight and I choose now to get fit.

So much truth in this post.

I alone made a choice to put food in my mouth. Are we surrounded by sugary, high fattening foods? Yes. But who made the choice to buy those and eat it? I did. I alone did it. No one held a gun to my head or made me eat it. I take personal accountability for my weight gain. It's not because society changed or the BMI changed or because charts changed. I gained weight because I ate more than I should have and burned less than I could have.

But not everyone that is overweight made the choice to overeat. Many have been overweight or obese since childhood. Trusted parents and caretakers made that choice for them.

And you are very right there.

The OP for this post was making a personal statement and sadly, too many of us must concur. As for the ones who became obese at a young age at the hands of a caretaker, well, barring given health issues, at some point the individual has to make a choice between continuing the pattern or making the necessary changes.

saxmaniac

If the only reason it's "an epidemic" is because they changed the definition in one year... then why does it grow before that year, and after?



People are getting heavier.

shannashannabobana

If the only reason it's "an epidemic" is because they changed the definition in one year... then why does it grow before that year, and after?



People are getting heavier.

That's a great chart.

BMI is fine for a generalization, but I don't think it should be used too much at an individual level as there are other measures that are more accurate for health on the margins (ie, overweight versus normal for people with a good amount of muscle and waist size, where fat is carried) and I think the children's BMI charts seem to be WAY WAY off, as I have several cousins/nephews who were skinny as a rail at like 6 and hit overweight on the charts. The doctor told my cousin it was just muscle and to ignore it,, but with more and more schools sending home notes to parents on children who any visual test will tell you are no where near even plump I am concerned that could lead to some problems down the line.

algebravoodoo

Onto the price for food: While garbage food is cheaper, it's cheaper for a reason. It costs less to make. However, one can in fact find inexpensive produce all over, one just needs to look. Example: I buy about 90% of my produce from farmer's markets. And, I buy in season.

Do you have to eat organic to be healthy? Hardly. Do you need to "eat clean" to be healthy? Hardly. Stop looking for magic missles, and just use common sense. People don't fall all over themselves eating organic in Europe, do they? No. Do they fall over themselves "Eating Clean?" Nope.

The difference between other nations and the US largely boils down to one thing: Here, we drive 1/4 of a mile to go to the store and buy a 1/2 gallon of milk. Basically, they move more than we do, and they eat less than we do.

For the most part, I agree with you. From experience, I know I can get away with more nutritional sins when living in Germany than I can here in the rural setting of the Mississippi Delta. The lifestyles are so completely different, but then, so are the community layouts.

Germany: I don't even bother with a car. Even when I lived in a tiny out-of-the-way village, there was a small market with fresh foods (a Bioladen even!) and bakery that I could get to while my coffee brewed! Everything at my fingertips!! I walked everywhere. Fitness was built in. I loved it

Mississippi Delta: Without a car, I am dead in the water. I live in the center of town but the nearest grocery store is almost 4 miles away. I would gladly bike except there is nowhere to lock a bike (and I can promise it would not be there when I came out) AND the milk would begin spoil before I could get it home. Organics are twice as costly as their non-organic counterparts, and "fresh" is a concept I'm not sure folks really get around here. (I refuse to fight fruit flies for food for which I must pay top dollar.) So I arrange my life here to include the activities I need to stay fit. I enjoy the workouts but I resent having to fight for what I see as a basic human right.

ETA: The nearest farmer's market is 54 miles roundtrip from my house... in the next town. We advertise one here just a mile from my house, but every time I've gone, it has been a flea market with no PRODUCE in sight.

I now realize how spoiled I am. :sad:

A 4 mile bike trip would take about 20 minutes each way. Nothing will spoil in 20 minutes (About the same time it would be in a hot car.

Nearest farmer's market is 25 miles away? In Alabama? Color me skeptical on this one. Perhaps not an "official" farmer's markets, but you can hardly throw a stone and not hit a farm stand last time I was in Alabama. Regardless, a 25 mile bike trip should take about 2 hours. Even yet, you can still generally get moderately fresh produce in the grocer stores.

Given the immense distances you're describing, it sounds like fitness is built into your area. 4 hours of cycling built into a grocery trip! Or, 8 miles built into a grocery trip. As for nothing to lock a bike to, again, color me skeptical on this one. No trees? No guard rails anywhere? Not a single pole anywhere?

Go back and read. Next TOWN, not state. I am on the other side of the state from Alabama.

Yes, the milk will begin to go off in twenty minutes in 110 degree heat ( including heat factor). Have had it happen.

Yes, the grocery stores we have here in this town do have produce, but fresh is debatable. Maybe I am just too picky or spoiled, but I do not like paying nearly $2 a pound for peppers that have more wrinkles than an elephant's knee!

Nope, no trees or poles, and certainly no bike rack. The one time I tried to lock it to a handrail by the door, a police officer was waiting for me to let me know I could not leave my bike there (fire lane). The prevailing mindset in this town is that if it doesn't use gas, it should not be on the road. I am doing what I can to change that. It has gotten better outside the city limits.

Farm stands have been regulated out of existence in my town. They must get a vendor's license and most farmers around here just don't have that kind of cash. Now, you can go 25 miles east and there are farmer's markets, formal and informal, in every neighborhood! It is called local government.

Why have I not moved? Because we came back to care for ailing parents and bought the house, kids were in school, and retirement is now close at hand. The time is near!!

Now, if you have quite finished, my point was simply to show the contrast between my lifestyle here and there. Nothing more.

shannashannabobana

Yeah, I wondered where they got Alabama when you said Mississippi delta...

Yes, the grocery stores we have here in this town do have produce, but fresh is debatable. Maybe I am just too picky or spoiled, but I do not like paying nearly $2 a pound for peppers that have more wrinkles than an elephant's knee!

I felt the same when I lived in DC, the produce was subpar, but frozen peppers/onions/etc can be a really good alternative.

Farm stands have been regulated out of existence in my town. They must get a vendor's license and most farmers around here just don't have that kind of cash. Now, you can go 25 miles east and there are farmer's market, formal and informal, in every neighborhood! It is called local government.

That's such a shame.

What you need to do is make friends with someone with a garden I used to have a coworker who brought me squash, cucumbers, etc on a regular basis!

bcattoes

I never liked the term, "Obesity epidemic". To me, an epidemic is spread by germs or other infectious agents.

I gained weight by eating too much and not exercising, period.
Not because the weight charts changed, or BMI is different, or I have hypothyroidism and am postmenopausal, I caught the obesity germ and have the fat gene.

I did it to myself. Truth, no excuses.

Maybe I'll catch the fitness epidemic! That's not caused by germs, either. Only by hard work and dedication and choice.
I chose to gain weight and I choose now to get fit.

So much truth in this post.

I alone made a choice to put food in my mouth. Are we surrounded by sugary, high fattening foods? Yes. But who made the choice to buy those and eat it? I did. I alone did it. No one held a gun to my head or made me eat it. I take personal accountability for my weight gain. It's not because society changed or the BMI changed or because charts changed. I gained weight because I ate more than I should have and burned less than I could have.

But not everyone that is overweight made the choice to overeat. Many have been overweight or obese since childhood. Trusted parents and caretakers made that choice for them.

And you are very right there.

The OP for this post was making a personal statement and sadly, too many of us must concur. As for the ones who became obese at a young age at the hands of a caretaker, well, barring given health issues, at some point the individual has to make a choice between continuing the pattern or making the necessary changes.

Yes, of course. Although there is increasing evidence that childhood obesity raises risk of later disease even when the weight is lost and maintained as an adult.

Matt_Wild

^^^
Makes sense because (please correct me if I'm wrong) that fat cells are laid down during adolescence - more fat cells around the body, more fat cells to fill.

myfrogs11

I hope we all know that part of the reason that "Everyone is overweight" is that they changed the standards of the BMI -- I think around 2000 --- so that all these people who were considered average were now overweight. Part of the reason I don't like all this talk is that it doesn't take into consideration the "why" rather than the "how."

I have had very slender coworkers talk about, "How can people get that big? They really need to learn discipline" or even "It's disgusting to be that fat!" (I was never thin so I don't know why they said these things in front of me!) And I keep hearing that, "Oh, yeah, I'm really just concerned about your health," but they know nothing about these people. So how much of it is really that we "We want everyone to be healthy!" and how much of it is, "I don't want to see fat people"? I've even had a (slender) doctor tell me to my face, "I can tell just by looking at you that you have high blood pressure." (He was wrong, it's normal.) So I wonder what kind of assumptions everyone makes -- that you're unhealthy and you need to be told to lose weight?

I've struggled with my weight all my life, but I've found that I eat most when I'm stressed or emotional. I eat as a way to self-soothe and I'm working on doing things differently now that I'm older and hopefully wiser. Why can't we address this if we really want to stop people eating when they're not hungry or teach them new coping skills?

Sorry, just on my mind today.

c.

First, that doctor you went to see is a real jerk-off. Second, I agree completely to an extent. Almost every over-weight person I have met (including myself at one point) was/is a emotional eater. The two common emotions are when people are stressed/depressed and (for me) when people are bored. Healthy eating should really be a focus in our society, but appropriate coping skills should be as well.
With this I'd like to bring up a few other things I have noticed that society and the world loves to do.
1.) Has anyone else noticed that clothing stores are making their clothes smaller???
2.) If obesity is such a epidemic right now, why is organic food, fruits and veggies are expensive but I can buy a box of little debbies for 1.50???

You can also buy a bag of frozen veggies for that price as well. It drives me mad when people say things like this. Yes little debbies might be 1.50, but you can also buy veggies for 1.50!!!

Hexahedra

1.) Has anyone else noticed that clothing stores are making their clothes smaller???
2.) If obesity is such a epidemic right now, why is organic food, fruits and veggies are expensive but I can buy a box of little debbies for 1.50???

1. Clothes are actually getting bigger even as manufacturers retain the same numbering standard. Google "vanity sizing". If you can't fit into the same size anymore, that's because you have expanded faster.
2. Some non-organic food, veggies and fruits can be had for 1.50. There's a whole range of nutritious food between the organic kind and sugar snacks, forgoing little debbies doesn't mean you can get nothing but expensive organic stuff.

belinus

Going back to the original post, the changing of the BMI really has nothing to do with the fact that "everyone is overweight!" because the BMI was never really a valid measure to begin with. It only speaks to averages and says nothing about lean/fat weight. I remember when it first started gaining traction there as an article critical of the BMI because according to it the boxer Evander Holyfield was obese. Just looking at the guy you can tell he was not (this was around 15-20 years ago IIRC).

The problem I have with the label is that it only focuses on the end result problem and not the root sources of the problem which are two fold. I am going to tackle the elephant in the room and call out the first one which is personal responsibility and a lot of obese people lack it. I think we have all dealt with personal responsibility issues so I am going to leave it at that.

The other major problem is the quality of food in this country has gone down dramatically over the years. A Duke study found that branded food nutritional quality has dropped dramatically over the last 20 years. The fads come and go such as the fear of fat a few decades ago lead to the low-fat craze which spiked the level of sugars in food to maintain taste resulting in fat being stored.

Then there is the whole processing of foods. When I was in college my TV used to by my alarm clock and one morning a Susan Powter infomercial happened to be playing on the channel when it came on to wake me up. I was half listening to it when she said the following: "We can trace the rise in heart disease in this nation to the invention of a very long shelf-life. You read the ingredients and it is 'gum blah blah blah', 'yum blah blah blah', 'some blah blah blah', and it's tomato juice. THERE'S NO TOMATO IN THE TOMATO JUICE!" I always quote that when I get into an argument with my mother because she eat Kroger Carbmaster Yogurt while I spend twice as much on Chobani. One day in her kitchen I read the label of hers to her. Then I read a label of mine. Chobani has 20 calories more than twice with the Kroger Carbmaster has but all my ingredients were in English with the exception of the active cultures Chobani lists. Hers were all chemicals and preservatives.

Dovetailing that is the fact that we accept poison in our food. Americans eat things that virtually (if not actually) all of Europe bans along with other nations like Canada and Japan. One example I like to use is Mt Dew and similar drinks because they contain a flame retardant. They process vegetable oil in the same chemical family as the one that is added to your couch material to keep it from burning as quickly. All in the name of keeping citrus oils from separating in the drink. Pepsi phased out BVO in Gatorade this year after a Change.Org petition reached over 200,000 signatures but still keeps in in Mt Dew.

belinus

1. Clothes are actually getting bigger even as manufacturers retain the same numbering standard. Google "vanity sizing". If you can't fit into the same size anymore, that's because you have expanded faster.

And in some cases shifting the location of the manufacturing also changes the size. I have shirts made in Pakistan that fit me fine and some shirts, both of the same brand, made in Bangladesh that fit smaller. Same brand, same numerical size. When I got my last batch I noticed they had moved back to Pakistan.

Hellbent_Heidi

You can also buy a bag of frozen veggies for that price as well. It drives me mad when people say things like this. Yes little debbies might be 1.50, but you can also buy veggies for 1.50!!!

:flowerforyou:

Thank you! I'm so tired of people using this excuse. Regardless of the price...its not news that eating a box of Little Debbies isn't good for you, so its not like you're being 'tricked' into eating that instead. Its simply not cheaper to eat junk food.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/story/2012-05-17/healthy-food-cost-USDA/55018070/1

gfroniewski

I think there is an undeniable problem with obesity in this country. I also think it is fair to call it an epidemic, albeit loosely. While not "an infectious disease", obesity is a problem that we are well aware of and continues to spread as the years go on. We need to take control! It isn't BMI, it isn't food prices...it's us.

LAW_714

Nearest farmer's market is 25 miles away? In Alabama? Color me skeptical on this one. Perhaps not an "official" farmer's markets, but you can hardly throw a stone and not hit a farm stand last time I was in Alabama.

I think she said Mississippi not Alabama.

In Alabama, I would say that the number of famers markets would likely depend on where you are.. even in Alabama. Where I live, I can name 4 farmers markets and 2 organic farms that sell produce every week from May through October. But that's in a city. I doubt that same number of markets occur everywhere in the state.

Dovetailing that is the fact that we accept poison in our food. Americans eat things that virtually (if not actually) all of Europe bans along with other nations like Canada and Japan. One example I like to use is Mt Dew and similar drinks because they contain a flame retardant. They process vegetable oil in the same chemical family as the one that is added to your couch material to keep it from burning as quickly. All in the name of keeping citrus oils from separating in the drink. Pepsi phased out BVO in Gatorade this year after a Change.Org petition reached over 200,000 signatures but still keeps in in Mt Dew.

*shudder*
Yeesh.

On the bright side, at least if you leave your Dew in the car on a bright summer day, it won't burst into flames...

coreyreichle

Going back to the original post, the changing of the BMI really has nothing to do with the fact that "everyone is overweight!" because the BMI was never really a valid measure to begin with. It only speaks to averages and says nothing about lean/fat weight. I remember when it first started gaining traction there as an article critical of the BMI because according to it the boxer Evander Holyfield was obese. Just looking at the guy you can tell he was not (this was around 15-20 years ago IIRC).

The problem of people saying what you are saying here is: The vast majority of people are in fact, just average.

BMI is a pretty good standard for everyone except athletes. And most people are not athletes. Lean/Fat weight has little to do with anything until you are on the cutting edge of physical fitness.

Most people are not in the same condition as Holyfield, Ray Lewis, etc etc.

wolverine66

The title of your post reminded me of a song a few years back.
It was by Lazy Boy and it was called "Underwear Goes Inside The Pants" It is an awesome song with a very powerful message.

"Americans, let's face it: We've been a spoiled country for a long time.
Do you know what the number one health risk in America is? Obesity. They say we're in the middle of an obesity epidemic.
An epidemic like it is polio.

Like we'll be telling our grand kids about it one day.
The Great Obesity Epidemic of 2004.
"How'd you get through it grandpa?"
"Oh, it was horrible Johnny, there was cheesecake and pork chops everywhere."

Nobody knows why were getting fatter? Look at our lifestyle. I'll sit at a drive thru.
I'll sit there behind fifteen other cars instead of getting up to make the eight foot walk to the totally empty counter.
Everything is mega meal, super sized. Want biggie fries, super sized, want to go large.
You want to have thirty burgers for a nickel you fat mother f*cker. There's room in the back. Take it!
Want a 55 gallon drum of Coke with that? It's only three more cents."

http://www.lyricsmania.com/underwear_goes_inside_the_pants_lyrics_lazyboy.html

came here to post Greg Giraldo's "lyrics"... left impressed that someone already had.

nice. :flowerforyou:

belinus

The problem of people saying what you are saying here is: The vast majority of people are in fact, just average.

But if you have to have a litany of exceptions as to why your measure does not work, then you have an invalid measure. Because you are not really measuring what you say you are measuring. It is a composite number than does not take body composition into account. In the case I cited above, and athletes in general, overestimates fat tissue. In the reverse where there is less lean mass it will underestimate fat.

For example at my height if I had 0% body fat according to my last measure (I used hips, waist, neck) I would be overweight and .3 under being considered Obese. And I am not an athlete by any stretch of the imagination.

Iwishyouwell

Nope, I feel exactly the opposite. While I do not believe people should be belittled and discriminated against, I believe the obesity epidemic needs to be even more talked about, confronted, and dealt with.

We are out of control in the US, with many other formerly thin nations creeping up as they adopt our horrendous standards of eating AND dieting. The average person in this country couldn't even fit one leg into the pants of the average American from 40 years ago.

The government's scam nutritional recommendations, coupled with the insane processed, high carb, zero-nutrition foods we eat in massive quantities, have crippled this nation. And now, because we're so large collectively, a culture of enabling and excuses have arisen. Cloth sizing was deregulated about 30 years ago, so many of us don't even know for sure what size we're really wearing, leaving room to delude people in believing they're the same size as they use to be, or their parents were. We've made eating AND losing weight this HUGE emotional ordeal, and when things become overly emotional, they can become overly complicated. Gone is the "just do it" mentality, replaced with the "how do you feel?" approach. There are corporations making billions of dollars off enticing you into obesity, and billions more "helping" you get out of it. It's all a trap.

We are killing ourselves at a record pace. So much of the accepted logic about food and nutrition and exercise is ALL wrong. This epidemic is getting worse by the day, and the repercussions are stunning and tragic.

I hope we get to the point of treating obesity with the exact same seriousness as we do HIV/AIDS and cancer.