I just don't care about the 'obesity epidemic'

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  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    Tax dollars. :grumble:

    This ^^ And higher insurance premiums.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,741 Member
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    Meh yeah, I find it annoying as well. I was obese way before it was on the news 24/7 ;-) 240 lb as a 16 yr old in 1992 was inconvenient and not the best way to go through my teens but I lived. I am 37 now and guess what, I have NO health problems nor have I been hospitalized in my life outside of treatment of a spider bite. Even at my highest weight of 307 I did not have abnormal bloodwork, diabetes mellitus, etc...yes I may be the exception to the norm but I hate it when everyone just assumes ALL obese or morbidly obese individuals are on the edge of death and costing taxpayers a billion dollars per year.
  • TheRealParisLove
    TheRealParisLove Posts: 1,907 Member
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    How does the obesity epidemic effect me?

    1. Not enough fit young people to to serve in war time. The military even has a program to get overweight and obese teens who wish to join into a "pre-boot camp" to see if they can get the weight off.
    2. Not enough fit people to do physically demanding jobs (construction, agricultural work, fishing, forestry, care takers of the sick and elderly, etc)
    3. Obesity leads to chronic illnesses such as heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, hypertension, arthritis, cancer.
    4. Obesity reduces fertility in the population (no babies, no future).
    5. Obese people use more fossil fuel (higher weight = more fuel usage) and increase pollution of green house gasses.


    And that is just off the top of my head. I'm sure there are economic ripple effects that can be cited, such as increased health insurance, increased cost of burial of obese deceased, shortened lifespan due to early onset of disease, decreased productivity due to chronic diseases of obesity.

    I don't know what the underlying cause of obesity is. Really, no one does. We have guesses about what may be causing it, but no single hypothesis has ever been conclusively proven (thin people get the same diseases as obese people, too. These diseases are not strictly an obesity problem.).

    As long as the public focus is on the obesity epidemic, we will keep seeking answers and keep seeking a cure. I'm sorry you don't care about it. Maybe you could reframe your thinking to include all the ways obesity is hobbling our society and that would help you care a bit more about finding a cure.
  • Siansonea
    Siansonea Posts: 917 Member
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    How does the obesity epidemic effect me?

    1. Not enough fit young people to to serve in war time. The military even has a program to get overweight and obese teens who wish to join into a "pre-boot camp" to see if they can get the weight off.
    2. Not enough fit people to do physically demanding jobs (construction, agricultural work, fishing, forestry, care takers of the sick and elderly, etc)
    3. Obesity leads to chronic illnesses such as heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, hypertension, arthritis, cancer.
    4. Obesity reduces fertility in the population (no babies, no future).
    5. Obese people use more fossil fuel (higher weight = more fuel usage) and increase pollution of green house gasses.


    And that is just off the top of my head. I'm sure there are economic ripple effects that can be cited, such as increased health insurance, increased cost of burial of obese deceased, shortened lifespan due to early onset of disease, decreased productivity due to chronic diseases of obesity.

    I don't know what the underlying cause of obesity is. Really, no one does. We have guesses about what may be causing it, but no single hypothesis has ever been conclusively proven (thin people get the same diseases as obese people, too. These diseases are not strictly an obesity problem.).

    As long as the public focus is on the obesity epidemic, we will keep seeking answers and keep seeking a cure. I'm sorry you don't care about it. Maybe you could reframe your thinking to include all the ways obesity is hobbling our society and that would help you care a bit more about finding a cure.

    This is hilarious. Especially the bit about obese people causing a population decline. Tell me more about the precarious endangered status of homo sapiens. :laugh: And we need skinny people to go kill people in other countries for the government! What if we run out of skinny teenagers?! :noway:

    I needed a good belly laugh this morning. :flowerforyou:
  • maddogg82
    maddogg82 Posts: 159 Member
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    My husband told me one of his friends just had a baby and he weighed 11 pounds.. I thought.. wow.. u really shouldnt be prould of that.. that bothers me..other than that im good... do what u want but dont hurt the babies b4 they even have a chance to live.
  • Siansonea
    Siansonea Posts: 917 Member
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    My husband told me one of his friends just had a baby and he weighed 11 pounds.. I thought.. wow.. u really shouldnt be prould of that.. that bothers me..other than that im good... do what u want but dont hurt the babies b4 they even have a chance to live.

    What's wrong with an 11 pound baby? :huh: You don't seriously mean to tell me you think this baby was BORN OBESE? How tall are the parents? Tall parents have large babies, generally speaking.
  • maddogg82
    maddogg82 Posts: 159 Member
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    My husband told me one of his friends just had a baby and he weighed 11 pounds.. I thought.. wow.. u really shouldnt be prould of that.. that bothers me..other than that im good... do what u want but dont hurt the babies b4 they even have a chance to live.

    What's wrong with an 11 pound baby? :huh: You don't seriously mean to tell me you think this baby was BORN OBESE? How tall are the parents? Tall parents have large babies, generally speaking.

    Calm down Killer.. we are talking about a 5'4 woman and 5'7 man.. in not exact on the height but give or take. A new born baby at 11 pounds is BIG.. the point is when ur preganant ur responsible for the well being of the life inside you. Take care of urself more than u normally will because ur intake is that babies intake. Thats all im saying. Fruits and veggies and grains and a balanced diet dont make an 11 pound newborn.
  • DamePiglet
    DamePiglet Posts: 3,730 Member
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    My husband told me one of his friends just had a baby and he weighed 11 pounds.. I thought.. wow.. u really shouldnt be prould of that.. that bothers me..other than that im good... do what u want but dont hurt the babies b4 they even have a chance to live.

    What's wrong with an 11 pound baby? :huh: You don't seriously mean to tell me you think this baby was BORN OBESE? How tall are the parents? Tall parents have large babies, generally speaking.

    An 11 lb baby may or may not be a problem. Could be large genetics. Could be that the baby has other issues.

    And yeah, could be that the baby was born obese. If that's the case, someone had cruddy medical care.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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  • guroprincess
    guroprincess Posts: 140
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    I'm laughing at this entire thread.

    I don't care if people are obese. I also don't care if they're smokers or drinkers. I don't see people complaining about lifelong smokers having higher rates of cancer and "costing us tax dollars", yet people are so willing to harp on the obese for having heart problems etc.

    Live and let live. If it wasn't an "obesity" epidemic it would be something else. Unfortunately, people are HUMAN and everyone has their vices which may or may not cause illnesses and ~tax dollars~. I would contend that there's not one person on this Earth that doesn't have a vice that may be considered dangerous, health-wise.

    Every time I see something like this come up, it's used as an excuse to talk about how fat people are unmotivated, lazy, and gluttonous. Even if that were true 100% of the time, who cares? The faux concern for the health of fat people is just condescending at best.

    By the way: I don't mind paying extra for people who get sick due to "preventable issues." They're sick. They deserve to be treated either way. What would the alternative be? Turning away anyone with conditions that could even be remotely traced back to being "preventable"? I don't think I need to go into why that would be a nightmare for the general population (and a boon for the insurance companies.) And that's not even taking into account that skinny people can be severely out of shape and eat trash and have a higher rate for health problems too...
  • Happymelz
    Happymelz Posts: 536 Member
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    I don't care about other peoples' diets either-- they're adults and it's their choice. The only time it does bother me is when I see obese children, who are pretty obviously being handed a set of unhealthy habits by their parents.
    This. I hate seeing chubby kids because I know it's not their fault necessarily. And they're going to have a tough time losing any weight when all they've known is how to be unhealthy.

    ALL OF THIS!!!

    I don't recall there being a lot of obese kids when I was little. I recall a few chubby kids, and I was a chubby pre-teen.

    It makes me sad to see overweight or obese kids because they can't help it. THEY don't get to decide what is for dinner and they definitely aren't being made to play outside. :(
  • bizco
    bizco Posts: 1,949 Member
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    Obese people cost 40% more a year in health care related expenses than a "normal" weight person. As a rule they do not pay more for health insurance than a "normal" size person, i.e., there is a cost that is spread to people who can push away from the table. Statistically obese people call in "sick" to work more often and file more workers comp claims (not to mention health care workers who are injured taking care of obese patients-happens all the time), so again, money.

    It isn't about aesthetics, it's about money.

    Old people are a real pain the a** too then.
    I agree, it's about money. There's nothing you can do about growing old. You can do something about being fat.
  • lauren3101
    lauren3101 Posts: 1,853 Member
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    My husband told me one of his friends just had a baby and he weighed 11 pounds.. I thought.. wow.. u really shouldnt be prould of that.. that bothers me..other than that im good... do what u want but dont hurt the babies b4 they even have a chance to live.

    Really? My friend is slim, healthy, and ate healthily all through her pregnancy. She gained a baby bump and not much more. She gave birth to a healthy 10lb 2 baby boy last Sunday. A lot of it is down to genetics.
  • ThriceBlessed
    ThriceBlessed Posts: 499 Member
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    Of course people are the same inside whether thin or fat on the outside. However, our health suffers a lot when we are overweight, and finding out the causes and best approaches to fight the "obesity epidemic" is a worthwhile goal. Also, seeing children becoming obese before the age of 10 and knowing that they will probably grow up with serious health issues/disabilities because of it does effect society as a whole.

    So, I don't judge a person for being overweight. I don't dislike a person for being overweight. I am overweight myself. I do however think that I and anyone else who is overweight will be better off if they can achieve a healthier body mass.
  • ThriceBlessed
    ThriceBlessed Posts: 499 Member
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    My husband told me one of his friends just had a baby and he weighed 11 pounds.. I thought.. wow.. u really shouldnt be prould of that.. that bothers me..other than that im good... do what u want but dont hurt the babies b4 they even have a chance to live.

    Really? My friend is slim, healthy, and ate healthily all through her pregnancy. She gained a baby bump and not much more. She gave birth to a healthy 10lb 2 baby boy last Sunday. A lot of it is down to genetics.

    I agree. Babies can be large for other reasons besides obesity. Now, sometimes a baby is BORN overweight because of the mother's diet or because of a medical condition... but just because a baby was large does not mean that is the case. Leave those diagnoses to doctors instead of assuming everyone with a large frame is obese.
  • rosemary98
    rosemary98 Posts: 632
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    I'm laughing at this entire thread.

    I don't care if people are obese. I also don't care if they're smokers or drinkers. I don't see people complaining about lifelong smokers having higher rates of cancer and "costing us tax dollars", yet people are so willing to harp on the obese for having heart problems etc.

    WHAT? the government took a HUGE stance against the tobacco company because it was costing us so much money. have you seen the price of a pack of cigarettes lately?
  • guroprincess
    guroprincess Posts: 140
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    I'm laughing at this entire thread.

    I don't care if people are obese. I also don't care if they're smokers or drinkers. I don't see people complaining about lifelong smokers having higher rates of cancer and "costing us tax dollars", yet people are so willing to harp on the obese for having heart problems etc.

    WHAT? the government took a HUGE stance against the tobacco company because it was costing us so much money. have you seen the price of a pack of cigarettes lately?

    I meant in this thread, sorry. Also I don't know the going rate of cigarettes or how it's changed because I'm not a smoker and have never been :)
  • KANGOOJUMPS
    KANGOOJUMPS Posts: 6,473 Member
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    I CARE
    90 percent of people i see are big fat whoppers.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    My husband told me one of his friends just had a baby and he weighed 11 pounds.. I thought.. wow.. u really shouldnt be prould of that.. that bothers me..other than that im good... do what u want but dont hurt the babies b4 they even have a chance to live.

    What's wrong with an 11 pound baby? :huh: You don't seriously mean to tell me you think this baby was BORN OBESE? How tall are the parents? Tall parents have large babies, generally speaking.

    An 11 lb baby may or may not be a problem. Could be large genetics. Could be that the baby has other issues.

    And yeah, could be that the baby was born obese. If that's the case, someone had cruddy medical care.
    My mother has been obese most of her life, including when she was pregnant with me. I weighed 5. 1/2 pounds and they put me in an incubator thingy because they said I was too small ... (I was quite healthy).

    My friend just had a baby who was nearly 11 pounds. He's 2 months old and looks the same size as his nearly 4-year-old sister, who was a TINY baby. Same parents, same medical care. Both healthy children.

    I know many people who were HUGE babies and are super skinny adults. I was the tallest kid in my class right up through fifth grade. I'm only 5'3" as an adult. I just happened to hit puberty before my classmates.

    What a ridiculous thing to say about a newborn. Eleven pounds is big, but not outside of normal and healthy.
  • rosemary98
    rosemary98 Posts: 632
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    I'm laughing at this entire thread.

    I don't care if people are obese. I also don't care if they're smokers or drinkers. I don't see people complaining about lifelong smokers having higher rates of cancer and "costing us tax dollars", yet people are so willing to harp on the obese for having heart problems etc.

    WHAT? the government took a HUGE stance against the tobacco company because it was costing us so much money. have you seen the price of a pack of cigarettes lately?

    I meant in this thread, sorry. Also I don't know the going rate of cigarettes or how it's changed because I'm not a smoker and have never been :)

    sorry for the misunderstanding. i am not a smoker either.

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