Obesity epidemic "substantially due to insecurity, stress &s

jodie_t

damn my header got cut off... Rest of:- "& a sense of powerlessness in modern society .."

Recent research from American Journal of Economics and Sociology... an interesting concept!

"The percentage of Americans who are obese has doubled since 1980. Most attempts to explain this “obesity epidemic” have been found inadequate, including the “Big Two” (the increased availability of inexpensive food and the decline of physical exertion). This article explores the possibility that the obesity epidemic is substantially due to growing insecurity, stress, and a sense of powerlessness in modern society where high-sugar and high-fat foods are increasingly omnipresent. Those suffering these conditions may suffer less control over other domains of their lives. Insecurity and stress have been found to increase the desire for high-fat and high-sugar foods. After exploring the evidence of a link between stress and obesity, the increasing pace of capitalism's creative destruction and its generation of greater insecurity and stress are addressed. The article ends with reflections on how epidemic obesity is symptomatic of a social mistake—the seeking of maximum efficiency and economic growth even in societies where the fundamental problem of material security has been solved."

The rest of the article is here if you're interested and not feeling too stressed :happy: : http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1536-7150.2010.00728.x/full

CFAITH_WARD

I want to be a 1950's wife.....My husband expects me to all the stuff they did plus work 14 hours a day out of the house....I am sorry something has to give.

LaurnWhit

Good to read...thanks!

ralevin

post deleted

jodie_t

I want to be a 1950's wife.....My husband expects me to all the stuff they did plus work 14 hours a day out of the house....I am sorry something has to give.

Oh that's a whole subject of its own! I think bringing up kids is almost more important than any other occupation, but no one pays you to do that or gives any credit for it (except those kids who might say thanks 20years on )... *unless* you're looking after someone elses kids then it gets to be an acknowledged job with pay & benefits. Strange world we live in. :ohwell:

That aside, I do think it's often a combination of stress and easy availability of cheap, calorie laden food which results in a lot of obesity in the West. I mean it is *really* stressful if you're living in some war torn 3rd world republic & you probably don't have easy access to cheap food ..but the stress will certainly show itself in other ways, maybe ways that would be frowned upon here in more affluent "civilised" societies.. so instead of letting rip one way or another the way those folks might do, we just eat to stifle the feelings of stress instead? Its an interesting point. I grew up on the breadline, there was very little food and my parents spent my childhood screaming and chucking plates at each other. I would never have dreamt of putting my kids through that, it was terrifying, but luckily I didn't have to bring them up on the poverty line ....hmm... food for thought (calorie free) :bigsmile:

JoyousRen

This is a great article. Thanks.