I just don't care about the 'obesity epidemic'

We should definitely educate children about nutrition much more effectively than we do now, and we should not allow junk food in schools. And I also think that nutritional information should be much more front-and-center at restaurants. Some restaurants don't provide it at all, as I well know from trying to estimate calories from eating out (pain in the a__ :grumble: ).

When I was in school in the 60's and 70's, I was and a few others were the fat kids that everyone else made fun of. Now, everywhere you look there are obese children.

Many restaurants do have calorie information on their menus now. Those restaurant calorie counts can be eye-opening at times.

not to mention the kids menu is actual portion sizes for adults! and our portion sizes are big enough to more than feed two adults. This is why I find it hard to eat out because the servings are massive and really not necessary.

I did visit L.A. in the 90's and was totally shocked and overwhelmed at the attitude regarding size. Super size this and the other. I spent an hour at the car rental plaze to try and explain I was not comfortable driving anything bigger than a small four door saloon car (UK size 1.6L). I had plans to do a lot of driving, which I enjoy, (when travelling to the balearic islands, main land Spain, Italy etc). Then I was harassed for the remaining holiday on all the highways for either keeping within the speed limit or for driving a small saloon. My holiday was spent mainly cooped up in Holiday Inn, Anaheim for two weeks and being brainwashed by American cable tv. Never again!

Someone doesn't seem to know how to travel.
You had a car but were cooped up in a Holiday Inn? I don't get it.

I did visit L.A. in the 90's and was totally shocked and overwhelmed at the attitude regarding size. Super size this and the other. I spent an hour at the car rental plaze to try and explain I was not comfortable driving anything bigger than a small four door saloon car (UK size 1.6L). I had plans to do a lot of driving, which I enjoy, (when travelling to the balearic islands, main land Spain, Italy etc). Then I was harassed for the remaining holiday on all the highways for either keeping within the speed limit or for driving a small saloon. My holiday was spent mainly cooped up in Holiday Inn, Anaheim for two weeks and being brainwashed by American cable tv. Never again!

Wow, America is pretty terrible, huh? I visited Syria in the 90's and was regularly groped by strangers on the street, wasn't allowed out in public without a man to escort me, and had to wear a burka before visiting a mosque, and I still had a better time that you did in the US.

But we digress.

I did visit L.A. in the 90's and was totally shocked and overwhelmed at the attitude regarding size. Super size this and the other. I spent an hour at the car rental plaze to try and explain I was not comfortable driving anything bigger than a small four door saloon car (UK size 1.6L). I had plans to do a lot of driving, which I enjoy, (when travelling to the balearic islands, main land Spain, Italy etc). Then I was harassed for the remaining holiday on all the highways for either keeping within the speed limit or for driving a small saloon. My holiday was spent mainly cooped up in Holiday Inn, Anaheim for two weeks and being brainwashed by American cable tv. Never again!

Someone doesn't seem to know how to travel.
You had a car but were cooped up in a Holiday Inn? I don't get it.

I don't expect you to 'get it' from an American viewpoint.

I am at a loss as to why you would choose the US for a holiday. Why not travel to places you will enjoy?

I did visit L.A. in the 90's and was totally shocked and overwhelmed at the attitude regarding size. Super size this and the other. I spent an hour at the car rental plaze to try and explain I was not comfortable driving anything bigger than a small four door saloon car (UK size 1.6L). I had plans to do a lot of driving, which I enjoy, (when travelling to the balearic islands, main land Spain, Italy etc). Then I was harassed for the remaining holiday on all the highways for either keeping within the speed limit or for driving a small saloon. My holiday was spent mainly cooped up in Holiday Inn, Anaheim for two weeks and being brainwashed by American cable tv. Never again!

Someone doesn't seem to know how to travel.
You had a car but were cooped up in a Holiday Inn? I don't get it.

I don't expect you to 'get it' from an American viewpoint.

Careful now.. the colonists might start getting uppity again (and HOW exactly your statements any less offensive then what you've reported?) :huh: ..cheers

If LA was the only place I'd ever been to in America I'd have a pretty bad impression of it too. Go even 6 hoursish north to the Mendocino county area and it's a whole different experience and leisurely drives can be had. Being in one of the biggest, busiest, most populated areas is not an accurate representation of how most of us live. The traffic there and in the bay area is really awful.

Anyway, back to topic: I get a bit tired of the obesity epidemic stuff too. One, it's not like it's a contagious disease that people have no control over. Two, what can you do? There IS education out there for those that want it. Everybody is aware that eating a bunch of candy and McDonald's on a daily basis is not good for you, yet people do it anyway. I did learn quite a bit about nutrition in high school health class and there's this crazy thing called internet these days too. Don't know how to cook? Well get thee to youtube and freaking learn.

I also have to disagree that obese people don't pay more for insurance. My sister does. She is charged way more for it. Along with being Autistic. Yep if insurance can find a reason to charge you more they will, and I don't think that Obamacare is going to successfully change that, not anytime soon at least.

I agree the only time it really bothers me is when it's young kids. I know how hard it is to overcome bad childhood habits. But it can be done.

I think a lot of the problem is our relationship with food. People have been brainwashed into the idea that eating out saves time, that buying processed ready made food saves time, that eating healthy is expensive. It isn't. Once you have your recipe staples in place you can make a meal from scratch just as fast and for way less than buying it ready made.

How does the obesity epidemic effect me?

1. Not enough fit young people to to serve in war time. The military even has a program to get overweight and obese teens who wish to join into a "pre-boot camp" to see if they can get the weight off.
2. Not enough fit people to do physically demanding jobs (construction, agricultural work, fishing, forestry, care takers of the sick and elderly, etc)
3. Obesity leads to chronic illnesses such as heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, hypertension, arthritis, cancer.
4. Obesity reduces fertility in the population (no babies, no future).
5. Obese people use more fossil fuel (higher weight = more fuel usage) and increase pollution of green house gasses.


And that is just off the top of my head. I'm sure there are economic ripple effects that can be cited, such as increased health insurance, increased cost of burial of obese deceased, shortened lifespan due to early onset of disease, decreased productivity due to chronic diseases of obesity.

I don't know what the underlying cause of obesity is. Really, no one does. We have guesses about what may be causing it, but no single hypothesis has ever been conclusively proven (thin people get the same diseases as obese people, too. These diseases are not strictly an obesity problem.).

As long as the public focus is on the obesity epidemic, we will keep seeking answers and keep seeking a cure. I'm sorry you don't care about it. Maybe you could reframe your thinking to include all the ways obesity is hobbling our society and that would help you care a bit more about finding a cure.

There is absolutely a higher cost associated with burial and cremation for obese people- you are absolutely correct on that. I read an article that said it costs an average of $2000 - $5000 more per funeral of an obese person depending on size of the individual and the choice of cremation or burial. First of all a very obese person could not fit in a standard sized casket so specialty caskets need to be purchased and shipped in which costs a lot even for a simple one. Because of the large casket special lifts need to be used to hold it as a standard lift cannot function under the strain. The hearse needs to be able to accommodate the size of the casket so the funeral home needs to either rent one or purchase one thereby driving up the costs, and the burial plot needs to be widened and most cemeteries require you to buy two plots of land in this case- much as the person when they were alive would have needed to purchase two plane seats.

As for cremation- fat burns at a much higher temperature meaning the crematorium needs to turn their furnaces on super high to incinerate the body fully. This is a very dangerous practice and has resulted in fires that end up destroying the entire crematorium. And again, the body needs to be in a casket so the casket would need to be larger and as such a larger furnace would need to be provided to fit the casket into.

In fact, I'm sick of reading/hearing about it everywhere. I don't care if you weigh 100 pounds or 500 pounds. I don't care what you eat. I don't care how much you eat. I don't care how often you eat.

Seriously people, why the hell does it even matter? It's like everyone's forgotten that underneath all that subcutaneous fat is an ACTUAL person -- someone who has goals and ambitions, feelings and emotions, and families and friends JUST LIKE YOU. We aren't just sacks of ooey gooey yellow fat to pitied for or disgusted by.

How does your curvy/chubby/fat/obese neighbor affect you?

I hear a emotionally defeated person who has given up on being healthy ! And if you are unhealthy it cost me money in Ins premiums due to your heart surgery and your dubieties and vascular issues and you will see fat people be penalized for unhealthy life styles under ABM Care I hate Obama care my goal is to be healthy at 54 and use WEB MD ( By the way most of your Dr. prescribe your meds and tell you what is wrong right from this program on the same Internet you have access to Take a few deep breaths and no like it or not fat ppl are not treated the same and they are discriminated against . . . .SOOOOO Have it your way and pay

Yes, this was what I heard as well. Then I saw it was funkyspunky, this is a new user name in the last year or two right?

Yea you've had tons of ups and downs in weight... I remember you start out at 15 on here at 300-400 lbs you'd shared. That would be hard to be so young and having ppl judge you in school

I've seen many many many of your posts from the ED ones to the excited ones to the sharing with us all how several pizzas are OK to eat as long as you get rid of them quickly (purge). I take your posts with a large grain of salt as often they are by your mood when you sign on and post, not by how you might actually feel in 10 minutes, a day or a week or even how you felt yesterday.

Depression is a tough battle, it does matter to you about your weight/health, you've shared many times that it does. I think a huge part of the problem of getting at a high weight and then being very underweight was you being allowed to be on this site.

THIS is why anyone under 18 is deleted and referred to spark kids.... 15 and 18+ are miles apart on WHY we want to get healthy and why it's important to care about it.

I hope things turn around for you and you get to feeling better about who you are.

Warmly,
Hearts

If LA was the only place I'd ever been to in America I'd have a pretty bad impression of it too. Go even 6 hoursish north to the Mendocino county area and it's a whole different experience and leisurely drives can be had. Being in one of the biggest, busiest, most populated areas is not an accurate representation of how most of us live. The traffic there and in the bay area is really awful.

Anyway, back to topic: I get a bit tired of the obesity epidemic stuff too. One, it's not like it's a contagious disease that people have no control over. Two, what can you do? There IS education out there for those that want it. Everybody is aware that eating a bunch of candy and McDonald's on a daily basis is not good for you, yet people do it anyway. I did learn quite a bit about nutrition in high school health class and there's this crazy thing called internet these days too. Don't know how to cook? Well get thee to youtube and freaking learn.

I also have to disagree that obese people don't pay more for insurance. My sister does. She is charged way more for it. Along with being Autistic. Yep if insurance can find a reason to charge you more they will, and I don't think that Obamacare is going to successfully change that, not anytime soon at least.

I agree the only time it really bothers me is when it's young kids. I know how hard it is to overcome bad childhood habits. But it can be done.

I think a lot of the problem is our relationship with food. People have been brainwashed into the idea that eating out saves time, that buying processed ready made food saves time, that eating healthy is expensive. It isn't. Once you have your recipe staples in place you can make a meal from scratch just as fast and for way less than buying it ready made.

Yes, I have been told that LA is not the best place. I think we chose it because of Chicago Bulls/LA Lakers at the time, and Jordan was big back then.

With regards to the domestic housewife, I believe America was at the forefront with kitchen gadgets for the American housewife long time before Europe could even afford any kitchen appliance other than a conventional oven (I have funny images of retro adverts on my mind). I suppose then the next stage was naturally going to be lazy housewifes, and subsequently the health issues associated with a sedentary lifestyle. If anyone is to blame, I would put it down to the American government for failing to address the issues associated with a sedentary lifestyle.

I have nothing to say except:

Are you kidding me?

I read all 16 pages of this post and some things I think are quite humorous. It's like everyone wants to speak their peace and while there is a HUGE common ground, it's hard to see the other point of view. We all are hearing each other without necessarily listening and can't seem to agree. Which is fine. It's interesting to read varying perspectives.

But THIS - you have to be kidding me?! You want to report this post as offensive a few pages earlier and then decide to slam the entire US because of a trip to LA? And then say that the housewives are lazy because of modern conveniences? Are you out of your mind?

You must be. Especially to have spent an entire vacation in a hotel room......

I'm probably being offensive now but I don't care because this was so far out there and so random that I can't even not say anything.

I would also like to add that MFP is a tool to help people to improve their health and general well being and all forums should be in support of a common goal. I am aware from reading this thread that some MFP members are interested in insulting those very people whom MFP support.

Pot, meet kettle.

I would also like to add that MFP is a tool to help people to improve their health and general well being and all forums should be in support of a common goal. I am aware from reading this thread that some MFP members are interested in insulting those very people whom MFP support.

Pot, meet kettle.

HA!!!!!!!!

I would also like to add that MFP is a tool to help people to improve their health and general well being and all forums should be in support of a common goal. I am aware from reading this thread that some MFP members are interested in insulting those very people whom MFP support.

"I gotta be honest guys, I have no idea where I'm going with this. I just read one too many articles on the 'horror' of obesity rates and snapped. My posts probably don't even make any sense because I have so many conflicting thoughts running through my head at the moment. But that's what internet forums are for sometimes. "

I'm obese and from my own experience it is a horror. I'm not sure if you are or not obese but you are 20 so you may not feel the health implications that it'll take on your health. It didn't affect me when I was in my 20's and I was told by countless people how I need to lose the weight but I felt fine so I didn't take it serious enough. I'm 32 now and within this year it has caught up, I'm pre-diebetic and feel at times I'm going to pass out; at first when I didn't realize I was pre-diebetic this was frightening since I was in a situation where I had no snacks on me or money to buy a snack, etc. I felt so lucky I got home that evening. Just walking has now become harder especially when its hot, I can't walk in the heat without feeling out of breath or I'm going to get heat exhaustion compare to others who are normal weight.

Everyday I wish I had listened when I was younger since losing weight would had been far easier in my 20's when I still felt good. So if you are in a position where you need to lose weight please do so. Not for all those who might judge you or claim you're going to be a burden on the health care system etc but for yourself so you can continue feeling healthy because once obesity starts to impact your health it becomes much harder to reverse.

I did visit L.A. in the 90's and was totally shocked and overwhelmed at the attitude regarding size. Super size this and the other. I spent an hour at the car rental plaze to try and explain I was not comfortable driving anything bigger than a small four door saloon car (UK size 1.6L). I had plans to do a lot of driving, which I enjoy, (when travelling to the balearic islands, main land Spain, Italy etc). Then I was harassed for the remaining holiday on all the highways for either keeping within the speed limit or for driving a small saloon. My holiday was spent mainly cooped up in Holiday Inn, Anaheim for two weeks and being brainwashed by American cable tv. Never again!

Someone doesn't seem to know how to travel.
You had a car but were cooped up in a Holiday Inn? I don't get it.

I don't expect you to 'get it' from an American viewpoint.

Oh man, you should've left the LA area and driven up towards San Francisco. It's a beautiful drive and not so... intense. The redwoods are nearby and everything. Or Mammoth if it was winter time... or anywhere but the LA area. I live here and I think pretty often about how crap it would be to visit.

It's just really spread out and not easy to get around. Having said that, I've been plenty of places where driving was a lot more stressful than Los Angeles. New York for one... San Jose in Costa Rica (the streets don't have names)...

I don't remember exactly but we where on our way to another city, but when we approached Palm Spring with all the windmill in the desert, my flatmate freaked out, so I had to drive back to Anaheim. Didn't like the isolation apparently...so that was it really.

I'm sorry, I had not read the OP profile, only checked out the age but that's still my personal experience and thoughts on obesity. I believe it is a problem but I don't feel it takes away from the actually person admitting its a problem.

your first post was a good one. very encouraging and from personal experience. :-)