Reposting CDC stats because EVERYONE should see them

Feathil

By the way luke, I live in Ireland, so that's why I don't know exactly how many are considered obese by looking around me :P Though I doubt we are all that much better as a country, there are a lot of unfit people because of the miserable weather I think!


And to make the gif, I saved the twenty-odd pictures into a folder, used GIMP2.0 to open them all as layers, saved them as a .gif animation and set them to change every half a second. There's tutorials out there, it can be handy

sem41278

Ronald Reagan deemed ketchup to be a veggie too. French fries are considered a veggie with school lunches. Pack your kids lunches. End of story.

SueInAz

Ronald Reagan deemed ketchup to be a veggie too. French fries are considered a veggie with school lunches. Pack your kids lunches. End of story.

You even have to be careful doing that nowadays. There are apparently school districts which monitor the kids' homemade lunches. If they don't have all of what the school deems appropriate, they'll force the kids to eat a school lunch instead. There was an article on it just a few weeks ago....

Here's one but not the one I was thinking of: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-04-11/news/ct-met-school-lunch-restrictions-041120110410_1_lunch-food-provider-public-school

THIS one: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/n-c-food-inspector-sends-girls-lunch-home-after-determining-its-not-healthy-enough/

lukeout007

Ronald Reagan deemed ketchup to be a veggie too. French fries are considered a veggie with school lunches. Pack your kids lunches. End of story.

Reagan SMASH!

sazroy

I'd love to see something like this on Australia (where I am from) but not one based on BMI.

As everyone has stated, BMI is rediculous. Look at my profile picture. I am not OBESE. I can still do a 4 hour hike through steep Australian bush/country side and not have a heartattack. I can do an hour on the exercise bike and burn 500-600cals no worries. I'm only a size 16 (Australian) not a size 20+! I am no obese, but if I weight myself at the doctors or on my Wii Fit the little character on the screen blows up to a balloon and tells me I'm obese, gee thanks for the motivation. Yes I am overweight, but I'm still quite fit. Not as fit as most thinner people, but fitter than most people the same BMI as me that's for sure.

I've never had my body fat % measured and don't know where or how to get that done but I'd love to know it just so I can go by that instead of BMI cos BMI is a load of bull. For the fact it doesn't include muscle mass. It doesn't include some women have a bigger upper half. etc. etc.

waldenfam2

This morning on the news they said there is a link between mom's being obese and children being autistic. There was a higher likely hood that if you are obese while you are pregnant for this to happen. They didn't mention the research data and how many people were studied or how long they did this study. So I don't know how valid this study was but it's something to think about.

They have been trying to find an explanation for the rise in autism numbers too. everything from the age of the mother to environmental factors. Plus it's just better documented now with the varying degrees of autism too.

VERY interesting because NIH has been researching for so long to figure out what is causing higher rates of autism! Interesting link.

My youngest has autism and my starting weight when I got pregnant was lower than with my second child. Though I was considered obese at the time at 5'4" and 180 pounds.

sazroy

This morning on the news they said there is a link between mom's being obese and children being autistic. There was a higher likely hood that if you are obese while you are pregnant for this to happen. They didn't mention the research data and how many people were studied or how long they did this study. So I don't know how valid this study was but it's something to think about.

They have been trying to find an explanation for the rise in autism numbers too. everything from the age of the mother to environmental factors. Plus it's just better documented now with the varying degrees of autism too.

VERY interesting because NIH has been researching for so long to figure out what is causing higher rates of autism! Interesting link.

My youngest has autism and my starting weight when I got pregnant was lower than with my second child. Though I was considered obese at the time at 5'4" and 180 pounds.

I know many parents who are thin and fit who have autistic kids.

nz_deevaa

Arnold Schwarzeneggar (spelling) has a BMI of 38....

LMAO....isn't that considered morbidly obese?

Over 40 is considered morbidly obese.

I know this because I am currently at 40.5

I'm looking forward to being 'just' obese... Hoping I'll get there next week!

PixelTreason

Edited it to work as a gif on this thread, it's pretty shocking!
1 in every 4 is obese... A quarter of the WHOLE country....

It doesn't seem strange to you at all that if you look around you won't see 1 out of every 4 people looking disgustingly fat? I weight 203 and I'm considered Obese.

I'm not arguing the chart is accurate - just pointing out that looking around you means nothing.

Obesity rates can can vary greatly depending on where you live. Where I am, in South Florida, I *can* look around and see extremely overweight people constantly. When I visited Manhattan... different story! I was shocked that I saw only 1 obviously obese man the entire week I was there.

weathergirl320

this gaphic has been already dismissed because they exaggerated the numbers. the cdc gets funding for obesity research, and they exagerrated the numbers on this graphic. do some research for gods sake

ItsCasey

Think about the reverse...

If we had a 20% obesity rate in the 80's...and then in the 90's they lowered the standards and all of the sudden our obesity rate dropped to 10%....would that make anyone less fat? The numbers still mean nothing.

I'm not saying there aren't more fat people now...convenience foods, larger portions, laziness, etc has all contributed to a rise in americas weight. But these statistics were so skewed to begin with that they just aren't worth paying attention to because they aren't even close to accurate.

What motive does the CDC have to lie or fudge obesity rates? They don't get more money if the nation is fatter. They don't get praise for highlighting it.

What motive does a government agency have for telling us that we're not capable of successfully making it from one day to the next without being told what's good for us and what isn't? Really? A government that enjoys being overly involved in the private lives of its citizens has every reason in the world to lie.

That doesn't mean I don't think obesity is rampant. I just think it's a symptom of a bigger problem that no one in government wants to address: lack of personal responsibility. The government has a vested interest in making us dependent on them.

The school lunch thing is a perfect example. Is it ridiculous that tomato paste is considered a vegetable? Sure. But what is the first thing these enraged parents can think of to solve the problem? Appeal to the FEDERAL government to step in and dictate what kind of food should be served in the schools. You're dependent on them. And the result of that is that they reach a little further and start telling YOU what kinds of foods YOU must eat in your own home. Is the more sensible course of action not to go to your duly elected school board and say "Do something about this or you will not be voted back onto the board?" This allows you to work on the problem at a local level and keeps the feds as far away from your daily life as humanly possible, which was sort of the point of establishing the U.S. as a republic in the first place.

2April

Child Obesity is also linked to more working mothers...

"As the rate of working moms has drastically increased over the past 35 years to 70 percent, so has the childhood obesity rate, according to new research. A study published in the journal Child Development suggests that the longer a mother is employed, the more likely her children are to be overweight or obese. In fact, the study estimates that with each five-month period a mother is employed, her child will gain one extra pound above normal. Additionally, sixth graders with working mothers were six times more likely to be overweight than middle schoolers with stay-at-home mothers."


Kind of makes sense. When pressed for time one is more likely to opt for convenience food and have less time for active play and outings. Obviously this isn't always the case but it could be a factor in the increased obesity rates.

leeann0517

Child Obesity is also linked to more working mothers...

"As the rate of working moms has drastically increased over the past 35 years to 70 percent, so has the childhood obesity rate, according to new research. A study published in the journal Child Development suggests that the longer a mother is employed, the more likely her children are to be overweight or obese. In fact, the study estimates that with each five-month period a mother is employed, her child will gain one extra pound above normal. Additionally, sixth graders with working mothers were six times more likely to be overweight than middle schoolers with stay-at-home mothers."


Kind of makes sense. When pressed for time one is more likely to opt for convenience food and have less time for active play and outings. Obviously this isn't always the case but it could be a factor in the increased obesity rates.

gee, maybe if they're lucky, they can blame the Kennedy assassination on working mothers.

Are fathers not capable of cooking?

I'm a single working mother, have been since my kids were 2, 5, and 7, and none of them are overweight.

leeann0517

Ronald Reagan deemed ketchup to be a veggie too. French fries are considered a veggie with school lunches. Pack your kids lunches. End of story.

and what about the kids whose parents can't afford to pack their lunch? I guess they're screwed?

2April

Child Obesity is also linked to more working mothers...

"As the rate of working moms has drastically increased over the past 35 years to 70 percent, so has the childhood obesity rate, according to new research. A study published in the journal Child Development suggests that the longer a mother is employed, the more likely her children are to be overweight or obese. In fact, the study estimates that with each five-month period a mother is employed, her child will gain one extra pound above normal. Additionally, sixth graders with working mothers were six times more likely to be overweight than middle schoolers with stay-at-home mothers."


Kind of makes sense. When pressed for time one is more likely to opt for convenience food and have less time for active play and outings. Obviously this isn't always the case but it could be a factor in the increased obesity rates.

gee, maybe if they're lucky, they can blame the Kennedy assassination on working mothers.

Are fathers not capable of cooking?

I'm a single working mother, have been since my kids were 2, 5, and 7, and none of them are overweight.

Who is blaming? Sometimes it is hard to have the energy to cook healthy when you have worked all day. Sometimes I would rather bring home a pizza. The study is linked to mothers because the rate of working fathers has remained fairly constant. I am a single parent too who worked my through law school and my kids aren't overweight either. However studies look at trends not unique observations.

grinch031

Child Obesity is also linked to more working mothers...

"As the rate of working moms has drastically increased over the past 35 years to 70 percent, so has the childhood obesity rate, according to new research. A study published in the journal Child Development suggests that the longer a mother is employed, the more likely her children are to be overweight or obese. In fact, the study estimates that with each five-month period a mother is employed, her child will gain one extra pound above normal. Additionally, sixth graders with working mothers were six times more likely to be overweight than middle schoolers with stay-at-home mothers."


Kind of makes sense. When pressed for time one is more likely to opt for convenience food and have less time for active play and outings. Obviously this isn't always the case but it could be a factor in the increased obesity rates.

gee, maybe if they're lucky, they can blame the Kennedy assassination on working mothers.

Are fathers not capable of cooking?

I'm a single working mother, have been since my kids were 2, 5, and 7, and none of them are overweight.

Because mothers staying at home = mothers cooking. Mothers going to work = nobody cooking because both father and mother are now busy at work.

Your n=1 doesn't disprove that other kids can become overweight because their mothers work and neglect their dietary needs.

grinch031

The data shown in these maps were collected through the CDC's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), on the basis of self-reported weight and height. Each year, state health departments use standard procedures to collect data through a series of monthly telephone interviews with U.S. adults. Prevalence estimates generated for the maps may vary slightly from those generated for the states by the BRFSS as slightly different analytic methods are used.

How many people did they get the information from? If you only call 100 people and 50 are overweight. Than 50 percent of the people are overweight! In order for these stats to be TRUE tehy would have had to get the info for EVERY person in the state. Not just a handful.

You don't have to get data from every single person to have a statistically valid population sample.

BULL! So your trying to say that if I called 100 people in a buisness of 10,000, and 50 of those 100 people are OBESE. Then 50% of that business is OBESE! Try again!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_(statistics)

lukeout007

I think its also safe to say that this entire conversation is pointless seeing as it won't make a bit of difference whether the stats are accurate or inaccurate. At the end of the day there are still far too many people who are at unhealthy weights. There are still government agencies putting out whatever data they want in order to get funding. And those of us here talking about it are still doing what we need to do to not be part of those statistics.

Nothing changes.

GasMasterFlash

Pfft... What does the CDC know?

JaySpice

Glad I saw this! Gonna be honest, I blame the food industry. When legislators push to have a tablespoon of tomato paste count as a serving of vegetables, and the corn farmers' association advertising that HFCS is just like any other sugar, I know who's convincing America to just shut up and eat. >[

^^^ I love this!!

Thanks for reposting the link when the thread was locked, OP.

I agree! I was INFURIATED when they allowed the tomato paste on SCHOOL PIZZA to be counted as a serving of vegetables. Ridiculous!

That is ridiculous...

And this is what children are learning! The tomato on my pizza counts as vegetables! Does the tomato in the ketchup on my CHEESEBURGER count as one too? Sigh :noway:

What about what the parent is teaching. It's ALWAYS someone else's fault.