What do you think is the primary reason for obesity?

ctooch99

I won't even respond to this because all of the food company employee *kitten*/trolls who constantly police these message boards will tell me to take off my "tin foil hat" and go eat a nice healthy bag of Doritos and a Big Gulp... after all it's just calories and all calories are the same according to them...

Christi6604

I think portion control is the biggest problem. I eat any kind of food, I just eat a small amount.

^^^^ This. As a country, we don't seem to do "moderation" very well. Also, I hear a lot of people talk about what they "deserve"....but just because you "deserve" something doesn't mean you should have it.

Bobby_Clerici

Spoons cause obesity....it's a conspiracy of the spoon industry....:sad: :sad: :sad: :sad: :sad:

Bobby_Clerici

I won't even respond to this because all of the food company employee *kitten*/trolls who constantly police these message boards will tell me to take off my "tin foil hat" and go eat a nice healthy bag of Doritos and a Big Gulp... after all it's just calories and all calories are the same according to them...

I don't think it's a conspiracy but more insecure people in denial about their eating.
IF MAN MAKES IT, WE SHOULD NOT EAT IT.
So, why not just say that, then just admit to being a work in progress?
They can't do that, and it bothers me as well. Clean eating is so simple.
These weaklings are like alcoholics in denial.

Like I said....spoons cause obesity.....:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

mcarter99

Gluttony and laziness......a no brainer......:bigsmile:

Yes, of course this is right... but why? WHY are we more lazy, WHY are we more gluttonous, WHY do we all make excuses?

Have humans fundamentally changed in two or three generations to become lazy slobs with no self control?

I don't know the answers, but it's a fascinating discussion!

Exactly. Why are we lazier than our grandparents?

And why would the food companies want us obese? Is it some government plot to keep the health care system loaded up?

Florawanda

I think it all stems from lack of proper food education from a young age.

And also I echo about growing your own veggies, which is good exercise, too.

I was a wartime baby, and sugar, chocolate, meat, butter and eggs were strictly rationed until into the 50s, and you rarely saw anyone obese then... the diet was lots of homegrown veggies, apples and seasonal foods, with a bit of meat now and then. Alas, I can remember the day sweet rationing ended, and I could eat as much as my pocket money would buy. And then the advertising started kicking in, about the benefits all these processed foods would bring.

So can we lay down for our children some new cultural norms - like birthdays do not mean a visit to a fast food palace, and lots of toys, but time spent with friends and family.

wolfi622

Gluttony and laziness......a no brainer......:bigsmile:

Yes, of course this is right... but why? WHY are we more lazy, WHY are we more gluttonous, WHY do we all make excuses?

Have humans fundamentally changed in two or three generations to become lazy slobs with no self control?

I don't know the answers, but it's a fascinating discussion!

Exactly. Why are we lazier than our grandparents?

Because we CAN be. Life has never been better for humans in the history of this planet as it is right now, in just about every way imaginable. By and large, we no longer have to be virtuous to merely survive. In some ways it was easier doing the right thing when life was more difficult.

And why would the food companies want us obese? Is it some government plot to keep the health care system loaded up?

They don't. And No. There is no grand conspiracy. It's just human nature.

joshuamhort

I know for me, the biggest thing was lack of exercise. I used to be a scrawny kid, so scrawny you could count my ribs. I wasn't unhealthy though, the doctors always said I was just fine and perfectly healthy. I used to snack on raw carrots, and I would have raw veggies when I could. Broccoli with ranch, fresh snow peas, whatever. I hated cooked veggies. I would also eat hot dogs right out of the package. I loved them a lot. I would have one or two throughout the day.

However, I also spent the majority of my time outside running around. When the outdoor play slowed down and video game playing increased, I gained weight. Then I started to increase portion sizes, like I was competing with my dad to see who could eat more. Not that it was intentional that I did, just something that happened, and gained more weight. So now, I am trying to fix the habits I created and do better about exercise and eating healthy.

mcarter99

I don't think I'd call it "lazy" that we work with our minds where our ancestors worked with their backs. I could hand wash my clothes on a rack and go work in a factory or keep my fancy appliances and my terrific desk jobs. I think choosing the latter is only rational.

I guess it's just semantics but I prefer to think of it was we have a far less labor-intensive lifestyle than we're lazier people. I think if people could've sat as much as we do in the past, they sure would've.

tjphelps73

Each obese person has their own reason for being obese. Yes, there are triggers that have influenced obese Americans that come from all different directions but at the end of the day there is no blame to be given out to anyone other than the obese person. I have been obese my entire life and I know this to be so. I am obese and had to figure out why. Once I found the cause it is my responsibility to remove the cause and work to not be obese. The TV, fast food, laziness, hormones, etc., did not cause me to become obese. A big problem we as humans have is wanting to post blame on someone other than ourselves. As an obese person, I now look in the mirror everyday knowing I am the reason I am obese and it is MY responsibility to repair the damages.

dmpizza

The hole where things go in, is bigger than the hole where things go out.

marz42

Gluttony and laziness......a no brainer......:bigsmile:

Yes, of course this is right... but why? WHY are we more lazy, WHY are we more gluttonous, WHY do we all make excuses?

Have humans fundamentally changed in two or three generations to become lazy slobs with no self control?

I don't know the answers, but it's a fascinating discussion!

Exactly. Why are we lazier than our grandparents?

And why would the food companies want us obese? Is it some government plot to keep the health care system loaded up?

They don't want us obese, they want to make money, and if they can make things taste "good" using cheaper ingredients, ie corn syrup, or add chemicals to improve the color and texture (leading to more sales), they do.

ronadams52

I just receved this tid bit of information from a professional organization I belong to - Junk Food Commercials Increase

Food 'Wanting'


(7/11/2012)


Research to be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB), the foremost society for research into all aspects of eating and drinking behavior, sought to investigate personality traits that make some people more vulnerable to over-eating and weight gain.

Obesity rates have been partly attributed to the easy access of cheap, high calorie food. However, many individuals exposed to the same food lie well within the healthy weight range. In her study, Dr. Natalie Loxton proposed reward sensitivity as a key trait predisposing some individuals to be highly attracted to cues linked with appetitive food - such as a television commercial marketing junk food.

ronadams52

Also received this tip from the same organization -

NEWS


Food In Smaller Pieces May Help Control Weight


(7/11/2012)


Cutting up food into smaller pieces may help people control their weight more easily because they are more satisfying to eat than one large piece with the same number of calories, according to a new study presented at a conference this week.

The 2012 meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior, which runs from 10 to 14 July in Zurich, Switzerland, heard how the researchers concluded that humans, like animals, seem to find eating food as smaller pieces more enjoyable and satisfying

Springer007

a combination of all of that.... but at the end of the day.... Bad stuff tastes sooo good.

smartmom0818

I am obese because I used to eat all the time for pleasure. Bored? Go eat. Sad? Go eat. Hungry? Eat more. I ate my way to obesity, plain and simple. I regret it but all I can do now is try to fix the problem.

Cold_Steel

There are so many excuses why, but in reality the only true "reason" is the choices that we make.

Every thing is much easier today.

With the technology in packaging, preservatives, delivery methods of said cheap food products they are much more readily available and ...taste good they are either over sugary or over salted and most Americans like it...

Every thing is easier today. They have remote controls for remote controls, apps to set recordings of programs, technology that presses your coffee for you in single cups...

A lot of jobs where you are on your butt all day. I have a computer / scanner/ fax / phone etc I can be completely disabled from waist down and do my job with 100% efficiency - no stairs to climb -

The unemployed- not getting much exercise if they are doing nothing all day ....

Blah blah blah blah a lot of excuses and until obesity truly costs americans MONEY nothing will drastically change.

honkytonks85

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/08/us-usa-health-obesity-idUSBRE8470LC20120508


This is an interesting article on obesity and the social factors that contribute.

Basically we live in an obesity promoting environment. And whilst it is easy to go 'personal responsibility' etc. etc. the fact is that we are born and raised in a society that promotes obesity and we (as a society) need to work together to change these environmental factors.

I am not actually obese, and I don't blame 'everybody else' for any weight problem I may have had or may have. But I am also aware (through my sociology and psychology studies at University) of the way social forces shape our identity and decision making and feel that social action is the only way to prevent obesity.

Another interesting article I suggest you read if you have access to journals online here are some abstracts:

"victim-blaming ideology
both ignores what is known about human behavior and minimizes the importance of evidence
about the environmental assault on health. It instructs people to be individually
responsible at a time when they are becoming less capable as individuals of controlling their
health environment. "

" the cultural environment in which individuals are expected to take personalresponsibility for their health must also be thoughtfully considered. The average American
school-age child, for example, watches 10,000 television commercials per year, and
in a single recent year, one company spent more than $30 million advertising a single
sugar-coated cereal! During that same year, the amount spent by the U.S. government on
nutrition education for schoolchildren was just $50,000 per state.60 Americans not only
are bombarded with advertisements for high-fat, high-calorie foods but consistently are
provided large servings of such foods when they eat at most restaurants and fast-food
establishments. At the same time, as Robison61 points out, “When our culture continues to
say to us, ‘why walk when you can ride?’ when it admonishes us to get every new laborsaving
device, and to not even leave our chair to change a TV channel or our computer to
send a fax, is it any wonder that the notion of building in 40 minutes three or four times a
week for exercise goes against the grain?”

"Personal responsibility for health? A review of the arguments and the evidence at century's end" Community Health Education, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley
Author is Meredith Minkler

toysbigkid

bump, ...........interesting read....good night everyone

Mahalo123

I THINK IT IS A CYCLE WE GET CAUGHT UP IN. WE EAT THE WRONG FOODS, WE DON'T EXERCISE ENOUGH, WE GAIN WEIGHT. THEN WE TRY TO LOSE IT AND IT IS SO HARD WE GIVE UP. THEN THE POUNDS JUST PILE UP ON US. AND WE FILL HELPLESS BECAUSE WE ARE SO OVERWEIGHT ....EAT MORE, BECAUSE WE ARE DEPRESSED......CONTINUE TO GAIN......

bellesouth18

What I think causes it the most isn't there. Other than portion control, I really believe that ease of access is our country's main concern. We don't have to work for it any more. The days of going out and hunting/growing it, prepping/harvesting it for human consumption, and then cooking it are long gone. It's just too easy to run down the road for a hamburger, open a bag of chips, or put some poor-quality sodium-laden frozen dinner (still guilty of that myself on occasion) in the microwave. I'd probably starve to death now if I had to get my food like people had to 100 years ago. I don't know how to do any of that.

FloridaAimee

Our biology hasn't caught up with our environment. Our bodies are used to physical work and periodic famines and simpler, less calorie dense food.

I don't think people are lazy, stupid, weak or emotionally fragile. Or any food is evil, deadly or addictive.

This ^^^^

I know what happened to ME.
As a teenager, I LIVED on Taco Bell and Little Ceasars spaghetti because I worked at LS and my BFF LOVED Taco Bell. I was skinny. However, I walked EVERYWHERE. I lived 4 miles from high school, and walked both to and from, all year round (yes, even part of the summer, I worked cleaning books). I lived 6 miles from my job, and walked to work, and was driven home. I walked to the store. I walked to visit friends. I walked EVERYWHERE.
Then, at 19 I got pregnant and moved to the middle of no where. And quit walking. And lived with family that ate all the time!!!
Lived there for 12 years. And got fat.

Now my kids are having a fit that they have to walk home from marching band practice next week- 3.5 miles, and I am driving them TO practice.

marz42

There are so many excuses why, but in reality the only true "reason" is the choices that we make.

Every thing is much easier today.

With the technology in packaging, preservatives, delivery methods of said cheap food products they are much more readily available and ...taste good they are either over sugary or over salted and most Americans like it...

Every thing is easier today. They have remote controls for remote controls, apps to set recordings of programs, technology that presses your coffee for you in single cups...

A lot of jobs where you are on your butt all day. I have a computer / scanner/ fax / phone etc I can be completely disabled from waist down and do my job with 100% efficiency - no stairs to climb -

The unemployed- not getting much exercise if they are doing nothing all day ....

Blah blah blah blah a lot of excuses and until obesity truly costs americans MONEY nothing will drastically change.

I lost weight when I was unemployed without even consciously trying. Instead of sitting at a desk away from home for 8, 10, 12 hours a day, I spent a good part of the day reorganizing the house and going for long walks. Instead of going out all the time with coworkers (in part as a "treat" and escape to deal with the stress of the day), I made tuna fish or pbjs for lunch. That was my lowest weight of the last 20 years.