ARE YOU LAZY? 92% should say yes

Dave198lbs

from the web this morning
Middle Age Lazy
Tuesday June 9, 2009
Well, this is a bummer. Researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina took a close look at the health habits of middle age Americans and found some lousy trends over the last couple of decades. Physical activity has decreased, smoking has barely decreased and fruit and vegetable consumption has plummeted. Here are the stats:

"Investigators from the Department of Family Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston compared the results of two large-scale studies of the US population in 1988-1994 and in 2001-2006. In the intervening 18 years, the percentage of adults aged 40-74 years with a body mass index greater than 30 has increased from 28% to 36%; physical activity 12 times a month or more has decreased from 53% to 43%; smoking rates have not changed (26.9% to 26.1%); eating 5 or more fruits and vegetables a day has decreased from 42% to 26%; and moderate alcohol use has increased from 40% to 51%. The number of people adhering to all 5 healthy habits has decreased from 15% to 8%."

Only 8% of middle aged Americans lead a healthy lifestyle. Eight percent! I don't get it. Bad lifestyle habits mean poorer health and less energy, at a time in your life when you really need to think about diseases that not only make you sick, but can kill you. Like heart disease. Like diabetes. Like some types of cancer. These are diseases that may be prevented by making healthy lifestyle choices.

Do Americans look at middle age as life being half over, so who cares - eat, drink and be merry then wake up sick, hungover and fat? Or what is it? Tell my why. If you're middle age and don't match that 8% who live healthy, leave a comment telling me what it will take for you to make the changes in your lifestyle that will keep you feeling good (and looking great) as you age.

1Corinthians13

hmmm, I don't get that.

I'm 28 and am much more healthy now than I was and only wanna keep being more healthy!

Dave198lbs

hmmm, I don't get that.

I'm 28 and am much more healthy now than I was and only wanna keep being more healthy!

good for you

you are in teh top 8%

Hermit4Hire

92 percenter here. I still exercise and eat right, get my chores done, but I would still say I'm lazy. Hey can you finish typing this senten....

naugustyniak

I will be 50 in a couple of years and that motivated me the most because I FEEL LIKE CRAP!!! I did okay until I hit about 35 then it was all down hill. I have battled my weight my whole life but pretty much kept it under control until about 35. I guess I got "comfortable" with my lifestyle and didn't care. I don't know. I ate crap, didn't exercise and put on weight but not a lot. Last year I put on 30 pounds in less than 6 months and found out I had a thyroid problem and got it removed but STILL FEEL LIKE CRAP:explode: I am trying but old habits are hard to break. My kids eat healthy but hubby won't (I quit worrying about him and eat what I want and fix the same for the kids. If he wants it fine, if not he can fix whatever he wants). I wouldn't say I am lazy but kind of uninformed and in the dark (or was). I am making better choices and exercising but it will take awhile to undo the damage done.

Once again Dave thanks for being the conscience of us slackers :laugh:

Marla64

I only saw the title and knew this was your thread--

Bravo, my good Dave--

adopt4

Part of it, I believe, is that people are ignorant. Not as in stupid, but as in they just don't know. And eating healthy, especially fresh fruits and veggies, is expensive. Those people who say it's not don't live where I live. I think people don't realize that they can get healthier if they just move a bit more and take more control of their lives. That generation as well isn't as well informed as the next one about what's good for you - their parents were the Depression era, eat the fat and the bone marrow, becuase you don't know when you'll eat again, meat and potatoes crowd, and that's what they grew up on. I'm one of them although I dont' think I'm middle aged... but I guess technically I am.

I am eating healthier now than I ever have, and losing weight, and KNOW so much more than I ever did about food and my body... that now I will always be healthier and eat healthier, because I know the RIGHT way. Not fads, not the most recent trick or diet... but really eating healthier. So I am NOW the 8 percent, 1 yr ago, I was the 92.

annaliza

Lazy - I am not. You cannot tell me that someone who works 60+ hours a week in two jobs, goes to grad school and has two kids in diapers (plus older kids) that they are lazy. I would call you a liar. BUT.....

My eating habits were poor because I ate on the go, fast food, what I can grab, whatever...and I didn't eat enough. Healthy foods were not on my plate....I never even heard of clean eating until recently.

Also, I LOVE LOVE LOVE sweets.

And, I am a big stress eater (who knew that exercise is a big stress reliever LOL) and one that likes to eat when they are bored.

I just didn't care.

I smoked, ate whatever I wanted and never did anything active.

Until I got really sick, looked at my beautiful children, looked in the mirror and realized that I needed to change my life. The diseases? Ha, they always happen to someone else......

So what would it take? It took me getting sick and realizing that I was going to die soon if I didnt do anything about it. And realizing that if I don't do something now, my children will pay for it later because they will learn habits from me (my two older children are overweight and do not eat healthy. I blame myself for that).

Good post and some interesting numbers to chew on.

Thanks :flowerforyou:

1Corinthians13

hmmm, I don't get that.

I'm 28 and am much more healthy now than I was and only wanna keep being more healthy!

good for you

you are in teh top 8%

Thanks! I guess it doesn't really surprise me. I mean look around...but I think adopt4 is right - a lot of it is ignorance. I remember growing up, my mom kept us fairly healthy - 2 glasses of milk a day, our dinner plate half filled with veggies, fruit and a small snack with lunch, only 2 snacks allowed a day...I had friends who would pull a sandwich, chips, cookies, and soda out of their lunchboxes. I think a lot of people just grow up...not eating healthy at all. They don't know any better.

CarmenSantiago

Wow 92%! That's huge! I count myself in the 8% that aren't lazy. I am in better shape and much healthier now then I've ever been in my life. When I was 25 I felt 45, now I'm 45 and I feel 25.

BTW: Good to see you back Dave. :smokin:


I forgot to add I quit smoking over 12 years ago. When I was 25 I smoked 2 packs a day, and I drank a lot. Both of these habits are in the past for me.

annaliza

Part of it, I believe, is that people are ignorant. Not as in stupid, but as in they just don't know. And eating healthy, especially fresh fruits and veggies, is expensive.

I don't think ignorance is an excuse...there is too much propaganda out there about healthy eating. At least, IMHO

I used to say that too...that healthy eating is expensive. BUT...

I've realized that is actually cheaper because I eat less with more filling foods. That was the biggest thing that surprised me when I started eating healthy. :drinker:

Lol, and I have a hard time calling myself middle aged, too

dskline1

Well, I can confirm that poor diet choices can play a negative effect on your body regardless if you are overweight or not....had body fat % of 20 and had 210/106 blood pressure!!!! Medicines did not do the trick, but making good sound food choices and limiting my sodium and caffeine and plenty of exercise has made a dramatic difference. BP is normal now and doc even took me off of my meds and my bf% is 18%, Until I made the changes, I felt like I was constantly hitting a wall. Little energy, lethargic, content to just be as I was (especially since weight was not an issue), was my lifestyle from 35-38....was definately in the 92 percentile then. Whoever said the comment about ignorance is right on....when weight is not an issue, you tend to eat the garbage and don't care - you don't get to see what it is doing internally. Glad to say that I will forever remain in the top 8% from here on out....once your body discovers what it is like to be nourished and taken care of, it is a path that would be hard to get off of. Here is living to 100 in the top 8% and continuing to learn how to treat and fuel my body better!!!

havingitall

Don't smoke, rarely drink, Eat lots of fruit and veggies ( because they taste good), go to the gym 5 times a week. The only thing letting me down is the BMI and I am working on that.

So, I guess because I am not doing it all right... I am lazy

Juicey1401

Bumped for later read. On my way back to school.

Have a great day!!

lessertess

Honestly, I worry less about those "middle-aged" lazy people and their personal health than I do about the fact that most of them are raising children with the same bad habits. If you choose, as an adult, to live an unhealthy lifestyle and die young....your business. I just am appalled that people are making those choices for their children.

singfree

Lessertess---so true!

Everywhere I go, I see out of shape, obese parents buying crap for their out of shape, obese kids.

Pop Tarts for breskfast, unhealthy school lunches, McD jumbo slop for dinner...soda & chips after that...sadly it's too typical.

Exercise the fingers with video games...what happened to playing outdoors?

We...er..they are in deep trouble!

chgudnitz

Lessertess---so true!

Everywhere I go, I see out of shape, obese parents buying crap for their out of shape, obese kids.

Pop Tarts for breskfast, unhealthy school lunches, McD jumbo slop for dinner...soda & chips after that...sadly it's too typical.

Exercise the fingers with video games...what happened to playing outdoors?

We...er..they are in deep trouble!

Agreed 110%

That's why I joined here. I have a 2 year old son and I will not let my stupid life choices do to him what it did to me. I will be healthy so I can be the best possible role model to him. I want my kid to be running with me, not dying with me.

I hope people think twice before feeding CRAP to their kids.

keiko

Since I'm almost middle age I thought I'd chime in here. I am in the 8%. I've always been an exerciser but not always a healthy eater. A few years ago I started to see my older sisters have to take meds for high blood pressure, high cholesterol. Gaining more belly fat, which I was really starting to do. I knew if I didn't change things I would not be enjoying life later.

I've seen people, especially women hit menopause and it's like "life sucks now and I'm waiting to die"

Right now I feel like my life is really just beginning again! My kids are adults now. I have more time to do things that I could not do before. I'm even going back to school in the fall.

I want these years to be happy, healthy and fullfilling. The only way for that to happen is to eat healthy (most days, if I want a piece of chocolate cake I'm going to have it) exercise both my body and my mind.

My advice is to be proactive in taking care of yourself. Don't wait for the Dr to say you need meds or a diet before you start to take care of yourself.

This is my life and I am going to enjoy it to the fullest:flowerforyou:

StiringWendel

I'm curious that this just reflects the habits of middle aged Americans. I would wager, if studied, it would prove true for all of Americans, at least to some degree.

I'm a middle aged American, and I'm in the 8%. But I have alot of thoughts why Americans--be they middle aged or not--are becoming increasingly lazy with respect to health and nutrition.

In short, I think we, as a culture, have been lazy for years (nearly a century as far as I know) when it comes to health and nutrition. It isn't necessarily a coincidence that the culture of fast food restaurants, drive thrus, and frozen foods started here in America. One could argue that enterpreneurs are responsible for those developments, but consumers responded, and they responded very enthusiastically. And they continue to respond enthusiastically to anything regarding eating that makes their lives easier. Look at how the restaurant industry has absolutely boomed in the past 20 years as an example.

Like it or not, Americans don't have an ingrained food culture. We, as a culture, don't take much pride in 'American food', and I think that is the source of a great deal of our problems. While there are regional food traditions within the US, by and large, our culture hasn't been developed around the cooking of food (unlike many other cultures of the world). So it's hardly surprising to me that Americans go for what is fast and easy in that part of their lives. That doesn't mean Americans are lazy in general, though. Many Americans may opt for shorter, faster and fatter meals than the average Italian (as an example), but we still work longer days and such than the average Italian. Food just doesn't play the same role in the life of the average American as it does in the life of some others in a different culture.

Why is it more prevalent in middle age, as was the subject of this article? I'm not sure it is, as I said before. But if it is, I would wager that is due to a couple of things. By and large, people in their 40s are either part of a single parent/single income house or a double parent/double income house. The key here is that most people are working full time outside the house. Many people in their 40s have children...and usually more than one. At that age, many people in their 40s have children who are involved in many activities, but may not be old enough yet to drive. So, in between work and driving the kids to baseball practice, it is simply easier to pick up McDonald's along the way. Lazy? You betcha. But also a reflection of the realities of our culture--a culture that has been developed over generations into what it is today. In other words, this didn't happen over night in the US, or even in the past generation. But the effects of this cultural and societal reality are simply making themselves more evident these days because the food industry has really figured out how much it can capitalize on those cultural traits.

For whatever reason, we've developed a life on-the-run with little emphasis on proper health and nutrition. We (needlessly, in my opinion) overtask ourselves, we overtask our children, and when it comes to food, we go for that which is more readily available than for that which is healthy. I've said it before and I think it is very true, it is actually a whole lot easier to be unhealthy in eating in this country than it is to be healthy. Individuals are, of course, responsible for what they do to themselves on a daily basis since there ARE healthy options available. But I don't think it is fair to ignore that those 92% of 'lazy' middle aged Americans as reflected in this article ARE, in fact, just the embodiment of our now ingrained food culture.

What could change this? At this point, it would take something akin to a cultural revolution when it comes to food. Individuals may change what they are doing, but, again, our problem is that the culture skews so strongly towards the unhealthy that it is actually very hard for people to make the changes permanently (which is why when so many people lose weight, they gain it back again). I think in order for those numbers to be reversed (92% are healthy, 8% are not), the entire culture of food would need to be changed in America. And I don't see that happening anytime in the near future....I'm very sorry to say.

gustergirl

I feel I am in the 8% and it is soooo hard to be in that way because all I see around me are lazy, fat people who with the help could easily become a different person. I spent the weekend with my parents and it just was mind boggling to see the choices they made, what they did and how they spent their time. I see it constantly now and really wish I could help make a difference! I totally agree with the kid thing too--my kids are so conscience now that I eat right. It is wonderful to see my kids act and eat healthy now and know that I am setting up a good example!!

beckyi88

DISCLAIMER: not a personal attack in any way, shape or intent....
No emotional voice, tone or attitude....merely another point of view

Devil's advocate here.....:devil:
I think we need to be careful in assuming a moral superiority because of size, weight, or lifestyle.
I find it disheartening that bias against overweight people is an acceptable prejudice. Just a thought.

And, yes, I guess I'm in the 92% because I am overweight, even though I workout 3-4 hours a day, 6 days a week. :frown: