Troubling: Church goers and obesity
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BobbyDaniel
Posts: 1,460 Member
As a pastor who is trying to live a new healthy lifestyle...this really is troubling to me, and I can honestly say correct based on what I see from the pulpit.
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/24/frequent-church-goers-frequently-fatter/
Frequent churchgoers frequently fatter
Young, religiously active people are more likely than their non-religious counterparts to become obese in middle age, according to new research. In fact, frequent religious involvement appears to almost double the risk of obesity compared with little or no involvement.
What is unclear from the new research is why religion might be associated with overeating.
"Churches pay more attention to obvious vices like smoking or drinking," said Matthew Feinstein, lead author of the research and fourth-year medical student at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "Our best guess about why is that...more frequent participation in church is associated with good works and people may be rewarding themselves with large meals that are more caloric in nature than we would like."
The new research, presented at an American Heart Association conference dedicated to physical activity, metabolism and cardiovascular disease, involved 2,433 people enrolled in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study. The group was tested - at first between 20 and 32 years old - for various cardiovascular disease risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, and smoking. Those same tests were repeated in the same group over the next 25 years.
The results were mixed for many risk factors for cardiovascular disease, but as researchers analyzed the data, one disparity stood out. Those who reported attending church weekly, or more often, were significantly more likely to have a higher body mass index than those who attended infrequently, or never.
Kenneth F. Ferraro, author of similar studies linking obesity with religion, suggested that marriage may have played a role in the weight gain.
"The time period studied is when many Americans get married," said Ferraro, director of the Center on Aging and the Life Course at Purdue University. "We know that weight gain is common after marriage and that marriage is highly valued in most religious groups. Thus, one wonders if the results could be partially due to religious people being more likely to get married earlier and then gaining weight."
Those church potlucks probably don't help either.
"There's certainly a church culture around eating," said Erik Christensen, a pastor at St. Luke's Lutheran Church of Logan Square in Chicago, Illinois. "What I see among congregants in their 20s and 30s is they are very fit and what I see among congregants in their 50s and 60s is disproportionate obesity."
Christensen suggested that the virtual disappearance of church-sponsored baseball and basketball leagues may be part of the problem. He added that the decision to attend church is sometimes made at the expense of being involved in athletic or recreational activities.
But he kept coming back to that culture of eating.
"What's ironic to me is that in my congregation we are working on a childhood obesity initiative and spend a lot of time thinking about weight and food," said Christensen. "We sit and have a potluck and talk about obesity."
Yet another irony is the number of studies suggesting that religion and faith are actually beneficial for health. Recent studies suggest that a "relaxation response" in the brain among people who pray, meditate, or engage in otherwise relaxing activities may alleviate anxiety and stress. Stress is implicated in many illnesses. Other studies suggest an association between church-going and longevity.
"On the whole being religious has been shown by many studies to be associated with better mental health, lower smoking rates, lower mortality rates and better overall health status," said Feinstein. "There are a whole lot of things religious people are doing right, but it's just this specific area where there appears to be room for improvement."
The upshot of the new research, said Feinstein, is that knowing there may be an obesity problem among church-goers provides a captive audience for intervention.
"The real value of the study is not understanding why," said Feinstein. "What this study does is highlights a group that could potentially benefit from targeted anti-obesity initiatives. That's exciting because there is a lot of infrastructure already in place in religious communities."
http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/24/frequent-church-goers-frequently-fatter/
Frequent churchgoers frequently fatter
Young, religiously active people are more likely than their non-religious counterparts to become obese in middle age, according to new research. In fact, frequent religious involvement appears to almost double the risk of obesity compared with little or no involvement.
What is unclear from the new research is why religion might be associated with overeating.
"Churches pay more attention to obvious vices like smoking or drinking," said Matthew Feinstein, lead author of the research and fourth-year medical student at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "Our best guess about why is that...more frequent participation in church is associated with good works and people may be rewarding themselves with large meals that are more caloric in nature than we would like."
The new research, presented at an American Heart Association conference dedicated to physical activity, metabolism and cardiovascular disease, involved 2,433 people enrolled in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study. The group was tested - at first between 20 and 32 years old - for various cardiovascular disease risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, and smoking. Those same tests were repeated in the same group over the next 25 years.
The results were mixed for many risk factors for cardiovascular disease, but as researchers analyzed the data, one disparity stood out. Those who reported attending church weekly, or more often, were significantly more likely to have a higher body mass index than those who attended infrequently, or never.
Kenneth F. Ferraro, author of similar studies linking obesity with religion, suggested that marriage may have played a role in the weight gain.
"The time period studied is when many Americans get married," said Ferraro, director of the Center on Aging and the Life Course at Purdue University. "We know that weight gain is common after marriage and that marriage is highly valued in most religious groups. Thus, one wonders if the results could be partially due to religious people being more likely to get married earlier and then gaining weight."
Those church potlucks probably don't help either.
"There's certainly a church culture around eating," said Erik Christensen, a pastor at St. Luke's Lutheran Church of Logan Square in Chicago, Illinois. "What I see among congregants in their 20s and 30s is they are very fit and what I see among congregants in their 50s and 60s is disproportionate obesity."
Christensen suggested that the virtual disappearance of church-sponsored baseball and basketball leagues may be part of the problem. He added that the decision to attend church is sometimes made at the expense of being involved in athletic or recreational activities.
But he kept coming back to that culture of eating.
"What's ironic to me is that in my congregation we are working on a childhood obesity initiative and spend a lot of time thinking about weight and food," said Christensen. "We sit and have a potluck and talk about obesity."
Yet another irony is the number of studies suggesting that religion and faith are actually beneficial for health. Recent studies suggest that a "relaxation response" in the brain among people who pray, meditate, or engage in otherwise relaxing activities may alleviate anxiety and stress. Stress is implicated in many illnesses. Other studies suggest an association between church-going and longevity.
"On the whole being religious has been shown by many studies to be associated with better mental health, lower smoking rates, lower mortality rates and better overall health status," said Feinstein. "There are a whole lot of things religious people are doing right, but it's just this specific area where there appears to be room for improvement."
The upshot of the new research, said Feinstein, is that knowing there may be an obesity problem among church-goers provides a captive audience for intervention.
"The real value of the study is not understanding why," said Feinstein. "What this study does is highlights a group that could potentially benefit from targeted anti-obesity initiatives. That's exciting because there is a lot of infrastructure already in place in religious communities."
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Replies
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Church pot-lucks. 'Nuf said.0
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The priest saying mass on Sunday mentioned this He is an immigrant and thus his broken English made for a bit of translation issues as he tried to make a joke about the study that fell like a dead weight in the room. He went onto to talk about Lent and about taking care of ourselves and doing right by ourselves as a way of doing right by God....he turned his horrid joke into a beautiful message.....0
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My In-laws are avid church goers and my FIL a minister - they're both terribly obese. They don't drink, eat meat/fish, or smoke but they double their calories per day by drinking more juice than I would in a month and they get no exercise. FIL has gout and MIL is constantly ill. Not much of a temple for Christ there I'm thinking!0
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Brother, I for one led the charge, pastors are fat. I was a fat Pastor and my congregation reflects that fact. Several things motivated me to get fit, the biggest wake up call came after the earthquake in Haiti. I was on my states initial assessment team early last year and I noticed something, the men down there are fit, very fit, almost all of them. The few fat men I saw where either us pasty guys, or the Pastors. People do what we do, but only when it's sinful. Way to Go leading by example!
Here is what I love about the report: "On the whole being religious has been shown by many studies to be associated with better mental health, lower smoking rates, lower mortality rates and better overall health status," said Feinstein. "There are a whole lot of things religious people are doing right, but it's just this specific area where there appears to be room for improvement."
If we can get more fit we will all become way more productive.0 -
I'm part of a small group through my church that always starts off with a huge late dinner. That's my cheat meal for the week...0
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I've always wonder why my Fat pastor would get up and preach about smoking and drinking is sooo bad, and never once do a sermon on over eating or healthly live styles. I think you are sending a good message to your church.0
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I saw a study recently of church attendance by state and no surprise, the "Bible Belt" states had the highest church attendance. The Bible Belt is also known as the "Diabetes Belt" as this is where you find some of the fattest states, year after year. I am thinking there is a correlation between the two.
Interestingly, the states with the lowest church attendance are the thinnest states (Hawaii, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Oregon, etc.).
As a side note, I am a non-Christian living in a "thin" state :bigsmile:0 -
Former Lutheran here. Hotdish. That's all I have to say.0
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Here are a couple other stories about it linked in this post:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/202035-praise-the-lard
ETA - one different story in addition to CNN's
In my experience, the only religious people I know well are on my step-dad's side of the family and they live in middle America, but for the most part are not overweight - and I've seen the "food gatherings" they've had, too. :sick: Who knows.0 -
It makes a lot of sense to me.
I used to be very active in the church and life did kinda revolve around food. I cant think of an event (excluding actual church services) that didn't involve food.0 -
Our Pastor has made quite an effort to tell us that in order to be a good temple we need to take care of ourselves better. He himself has lost a bit of weight since we started attending that church. My whole journey to getting healthy is my attempt to be a better temple for the Lord as well as be a better parent to my son and just for my over all health. Our church doesn't have many pot lucks. We usually only have 2 a year. I have always made it a point to try eating healthy, but my portion sizes were all out of whack. My portion sizes are now more controlled and I have been pretty good about staying in my calorie range. I do allow myself cheat days or else I wouldn't be able to keep to plan. this is not a diet to me though, this is a lifestyle now. My husband isn't counting calories, but he has a job where he walks 5 miles or more a day. He is a security guard at the place where the Detroit Pistons play their home games. I went to a chinese buffet last Saturday (which is a rarity for me) and still came in under my allowed calories. Anyways, what kind of example are we as Christians if we can't even take care of our weight and our health? It really is time that the church stood up and said "enough, I'm going to start taking care of myself now instead of eating too much and moving too little."0
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I was shocked when I first heard of this. But then I thought, Yes we do eat alot. lol.
I have tried to take less cal food and more nutritional foods when we do potluck.0 -
can I respond with the strapline 'atheism will keep you slim'?
:bigsmile:0 -
I once went to a diff church
The Paster was preaching on self control. I found it hard to take him seriously as he was so massive that he would have had to have clothes made specially.
Self control is not just about not being drunk but self control around food. I am guilty of not having that much control at buffets but am working on it
The other thing is that the bible says your body should be a temple. Again, I am not perfect and don't always respect my body with the food I put in.
So many people at my church are morbidly obese and I don't get it if they are christians. However, I suppose I am not perfect in other, less visible ways0 -
Correlation does not imply causation.0
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Former Lutheran here. Hotdish. That's all I have to say.
hrmmm tatertot hotdish (was sooo craving some yesterday)0 -
We go to church twice per week, and only a very few people are morbidly obese. Most are within a healthy weight range, or slightly over weight.0
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Seems to me that instead of pastors pointing out that people are fat, they could offer fitness times and some nutrition guidance rather than pointing to a link that seems a bit suspect but yeah the church potlucks are death to the dietary efforts.0
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Correlation does not imply causation.
WORD!!!0 -
i see it in our church too. it's sad. i hope that ministers/pastors/priests can bring awareness to the congregation and provide support groups to the people that need to make a change.0
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