What do you think is the primary reason for obesity?
Replies
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Overall it really is as simple as calories in / calories out.
Some people don't understand this or they deny it and make excuses, blaming genetics etc.
We live in an age of convenience and calorie dense, processed food with little to no actual nutrition.
If you don't read the info on the box, wrapper or whatever, or you are ignorant to it, it is very easy to consume massive amounts of cals and still want more.
I think a lot of people don't actually realise what they are eating.
Life is far too easy these days and we have a "fat acceptance" attitude going.
Not saying we should discriminate obese people but too much fat is straight out unhealthy and I make no excuses for saying that.
If you are overweight, the good news is that it is in your power to do something about it.
The first step is accepting responsibility.
The second step is educating yourself.
Your body will love you for it.
If you are obese and genuinely happy the way you are then hey...more to power to ya and I'm also happy for you!0 -
All of the above.
Also that it isn't "normal" any more to cook your own food from basic products.
A lot of people seem to have forgotten/never learned how to cook their own food and also a lot of people don't use basic, nutrient-rich foods anymore.0 -
lack of movement is a biggy,
sleep > drive 2 work > sit at work > drive home > sit on the couch > sleep
with people's busy work schedules people run out of time to actually work off the food they consume during the day0 -
Im not from the USA but, i think this goes for almost every country: Education: Children are taught at a young age bad eating habits, and as adults that can be a hard habit to change! There are more and more obese children and of course they are growing up to be obese adults. For obesity to stop we have to start the the children, of course there are adults that need help and maybe grew up with good food habits but we are seeing obesity more and more in children and they really need help to try and stop this tread of bad choices and over eating
Well said. I'm American, but I've lived in Europe for half my life, and I travel a lot of business. I see so many obese children now all over the world. What has started in America has now spread (no pun intended). And ultimately it's about education.
In the past, every culture had its own food. It was a way to regulate how much, and what types of food, were "allowed." You really didn't need to think about it that much. Even the unhealthy items were balanced with other, healthy meals in a way that the ultimate result was a relatively healthy society.
The advent of international cuisine, fast food, processed food that ignores borders, etc., has completely changed how people everywhere eat. Now it's about making healthy choices, and this requires education.
I was at the mall yesterday in a Gulf state here in the Middle East, where they have an epidemic of obesity. Practically all of the children are massively overweight. I saw one girl who was at most 5 years old, significantly obese, carrying a large bag of potato chips, chomping away. I saw a mother pushing a stroller with a 3 year old child, and underneath she had a box of Pringles and a Sprite. At what point is this child abuse? These mothers (and fathers, of course) are condemning their children to a lifetime of obesity. All out of ignorance.
--P0 -
lack of movement is a biggy,
sleep > drive 2 work > sit at work > drive home > sit on the couch > sleep
with people's busy work schedules people run out of time to actually work off the food they consume during the day
I agree that some people aren't active enough but if you were eating at a calorie deficit or at maintenance you wouldn't gain a gram of weight even if you laid in bed all day.
On the flip side, you could spend 8 hours running 7 days a week and still gain weight if a caloric excess is present (though this would be very hard and you'd need like a truck load of big macs)0 -
:drinker:0
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James, I don't think anyone would argue that as a population (in the affluent world), we're taking in more calories than we need. But the question is really why are we doing it now, when we didn't do it (so much) 40 years ago? I don't believe it's because people were more educated 40 years ago and that foods were better labelled, because I don't remember that being the case. So I think we have to look at other things that were different 30 or 40 years ago.0
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Research shows that pushing stuff in your mouth results in accumulation of stuff around your gut and *kitten*.0
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People not knowing when to quit stuffing their face.0
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We didn't have 2000 calorie mocha's and a fast food outlet on every corner back then.
Everyone is out to make a buck and people have grown to demand convenience.
I see it as a failure of our first world system.
When you can swallow your daily caloric needs in one go and still feel hungry, well that's not a good thing.0 -
Hi - I reckon generally people's lifestyles are so sedentary - and highly fatty foods are everywhere and so cheap and easy to buy that this contributes. BUT I do think that it is primarily up to each individual - everyone can choose what to put in their mouths and if they want to sit down all evening once they come in from work. It's 'easier' to be overweight and 'harder' to lose it as it takes more effort.0
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I think that my being over weight stems from grief and depression - not to be a whingey cow but when I found out my sister was ill in three months i went from size 10 (USA 6) to a 16 (USA 12) and stayed there until now - three years after her death in August...0
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I did my dissertation on this and apparently we arent eating significantly more calories than in the 1950s the major changes are lifestyle changes i.e. less incidental exercise through driving to work and labour saving devises and longer commutes which reduce the amount of leisure time available to exercise. Exercise not only boosts metabolic rate and burns calories it improves moods which reduces things like stress eating and it curbs your appetite. However I am also of the opinion that given the amount of chemicals in food these days are bodies have to work extra hard making them less efficient at processing the food we eat properly.0
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My opinion: Primarily poor portion control and sedentary lifestyle.0
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Aliens!!
:O0 -
We live in cavepeople's bodies. They are designed to store fat in time of glut and shed fat in times of famine. Our evolution has not caught up with the current situation. Sone of the major causes of obesity are:
1, The constant availability of cheap calories. (fast food, sugar treats, sweets etc)
2, the move to a more sedentary lifestyle.
Add those two together and you have a time bomb of obesity and health related problems.
S,.0 -
I think it is simple, we have easy access to food and do not have to expend any energy to get it. For example, within the last century if you wanted to have butter you had to raise and feed the cow daily, milk the cow twice daily, strain the milk, pour in a container, when the cream rises to the top skim it off, strain the cream again, churn the butter at about 90 revolutions per minute until granules form and then pour off the milk and immediately cleaning out the butter churn. Then after you had pretty much used more calories making the butter than if you at it all you could spread some on your bread, oh wait, then you had to make the bread.
I can take about 5 minutes to drive to the store and walk to the back and grab the butter in about 30 seconds, walk back to pay and walk out another thirty seconds and drive home 5 more seated minutes. I have used what 25 calories and if I ate the whole pound of butter that would be approximately 2240 calories.
It is not some big conspiracy, people like to blame everything and everyone. It is simply our society has made life less physically demanding and our high calorie foods more easily and readily available. Not rocket science by any means.0 -
It's the L'Oreal theory, because I'm worth it. We have a hard day at the office and managing our home life and reward ourselves with food. Party food (sweets, crisps, fizzy drinks, alcohol) adults would only get a couple of times a year when I was growing up are available, acceptable on a daily basis and hard-marketed at every turn.
I sound like an old fart, but few people were obese when I was growing up when we'd have three square meals a day and other food just wasn't available. If you went on a family day out, you'd bring a packed lunch because there weren't fast food outlets on every corner. And eating out was expensive.0 -
It is called "disease of affluence", and America has it bad!
Meditate for 20 minutes, twice a day. Exercise at least 30 minutes a day, eat plenty of organic fruits and vegetables, spend more time in nature, less indoors, stop worrying about things you can't control.
Ditch your TV...
Good advice right here. On Sunday I was going to go to the gym and get a little workout in, instead I had a brillant idea to go to the park. I am so glad I did. It was really fun and I havent been in a while. I played volleyball it so simple but fun to be outdoors.0 -
The abundance of low quality processed food, lack of exercise and poor impulse control.
Its hard and expensive to eat 3000 calories of clean, cooked from scratch food without adding mountains of carbs or fat that will quickly make you feel very full. Very easy and cheap to eat 3000 calories of processed food and still feel hungry during the day.
Lack of exercise doesn't make you fat, it just makes you unfit, eating more calories than you burn makes you fat.0 -
looking back through the 50's people in general were smaller. They had set times to eat, had to fix it themselves (no fast food places ) and eating out or ordering in pizza was a treat not an everyday experience. You had to GO to the movies not sit at home and order them to come in your mail box, no shopping on line but actually going to the store and trying on clothes or buying your products you seek. Now days parents are so busy with work, then running their kids to ball games etc, eating is done on the run through fast food. (my mom made sack lunches ahead of time) every kid is drove every where instead of walking like they used to. Every one crams as much as they can in a day and food options are always thought of last so they grab something quick at a drive thru. Bed time was 9 oclock without fail, up at 6.more of a structured lifestyle.
I can't remember many food commercials on TV (when I was allowed to watch it) if there was, it was things like milk, ovaltien,Nestles products, soap commercials hair products and of course smoking was not banned everywhere so lots of ciggerette commercials. Of course the shows and channels were limited and actually went off the air at a certain time! Then in the 60's fast food was introduced and thats when it begun the era of going to get a burger and fries and that wasn't very often still. I remember eating out maybe once every two weeks or so useally after church. In the 50's you went to your local 5 and dime or soda shop and it was real food. real hamburgers, real potato fries. The low down, easier access to quick foods and less activity. To preserve foods for longer shelf life and being able to ship them without spoilage, MSG ,salt and high frutose sugar were introduced into the products we consume. Thats why we are now taught to eat less processed and more fresh foods. YAYYY back to the basics!0 -
1 2 and 3 - simples0
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I thought it might be interesting to see what our site feels might be the root cause(s) to our country becoming 66% overweight or obese.
Is it due to?
1. Poor food choices
2. Portion control
3. Lack of exercise
4. Lack of sleep
5. Physical problems (thyroid, hormonal imbalances, diseases, chronic illnesses, genetics)
6. Mental issues (lack of an equal quality of education)
7. Emotional problems (stress, finances, job loss, divorcee or a bad relationship. etc.)
8. Lack of self-control or will-power
9. Lack of availability to get quality foods in some areas
10. Sedentary lifestyles now common place in the work and home environments
11. Fast food restaurants
12. Regular restaurants who in many cases serve portion sizes twice what one should eat
13. TV/Cell phones/Internet/Gaming
14. Something else
All of the above, but mainly 1, 2, 3, 8 and 10 with a special emphasis on number 8.0 -
laziness, slothfullness, convenience0
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The primary reason I was overweight as a child is because my parents never taught me the correct way to eat or about proper nutrition. I don't blame them now for being over weight as an adult but as a child I certainly do blame them and my mother will be the first to admit a lot of it was her fault. I remember my parents and I ate out a lot, ordered pizza a lot, and got fast food quite often. I was never taught portion control or that food was a substance used to stay alive. I do believe that a lot of children that are overweight now is because of their parents *Aside from legitimate medical problems*
Now as I got older and was able to make food choices on my own I am going to conclude that the primary reason for being overweight was lack of self control and because the taste of food outweighed the benefits of being fit and healthy. I just didn't care for a very long time. I think for adults it can be a variety of different things besides just overeating. I mean obviously overeating and a lack of exercising are the primary reasons for being overweight but I also believe there are other factors that increase someone to overeat. I definitely believe emotional eating can be one of them. I did a lot of emotional eating while in my last relationship, thus the reason I piled on the pounds.0 -
We eat too much. That's simplistic, but that's it really. We eat more than we should, and move less than we ought, for a variety of reasons, both mental and physical, internal and external, big and small. Thankfully, reversing that process by eating less and exercising more does work.
^ That.0 -
I thought it might be interesting to see what our site feels might be the root cause(s) to our country becoming 66% overweight or obese.
Is it due to?
1. Poor food choices
2. Portion control
3. Lack of exercise
4. Lack of sleep
5. Physical problems (thyroid, hormonal imbalances, diseases, chronic illnesses, genetics)
6. Mental issues (lack of an equal quality of education)
7. Emotional problems (stress, finances, job loss, divorcee or a bad relationship. etc.)
8. Lack of self-control or will-power
9. Lack of availability to get quality foods in some areas
10. Sedentary lifestyles now common place in the work and home environments
11. Fast food restaurants
12. Regular restaurants who in many cases serve portion sizes twice what one should eat
13. TV/Cell phones/Internet/Gaming
14. Something else
All of the above, different combinations for everyone.0 -
A general slowing down of people's activity levels, and a need for convenience at every opportunity.
I don't blame fast food chains, or cars, or promotions in store for "bad" foods. They're just going by what will sell and make them money, which isn't a bad thing IMO.
Excluding medical conditions (which let's face it, aren't the reason for the obesity problem) people have a choice how they look. They can choose to cook fresh meals for them and their family, or they can choose to go to McDonalds or similar.
They can choose to get the car for a 5 minute walk (I've known people to do this) or they can choose to get some exercise and walk it!
People may not know how to cook good healthy foods, they may not be able to afford to go to the gym, but surely they know that what they're doing now is bad for them. Learn how to cook, it doesn't have to be fancy, you can find tons of cheap family recipes online. Go for walks on your days off, bike rides with the family. Especially when you have kids there are lots of things you can do with them that are active and don't even require much money.0 -
1. Poor food choices
2. Portion control
3. Lack of exercise
4. Lack of sleep
5. Physical problems (thyroid, hormonal imbalances, diseases, chronic illnesses, genetics)
6. Mental issues (lack of an equal quality of education)
7. Emotional problems (stress, finances, job loss, divorcee or a bad relationship. etc.)
8. Lack of self-control or will-power
9. Lack of availability to get quality foods in some areas
10. Sedentary lifestyles now common place in the work and home environments
11. Fast food restaurants
12. Regular restaurants who in many cases serve portion sizes twice what one should eat
13. TV/Cell phones/Internet/Gaming
14. Something else
I suppose the simple answer is "Yes", it's all of those and more. When you get right down to it we eat more than we need. Why that's true is different for everyone.
If the problem were simple enough to pinpoint a single cause, we wouldn't have so many obese people, nor would we have a multi-billion dollar weight loss industry.
This is the most correct answer IMO0 -
What this guy said
It's going to take a while for everyone to catch up but the science is there and backs it up, the food pyramid is a crock based on Bad Science perpetuated by politics dictated to by commercial interests.
There is no money to be made in good health, if there is no magic pill/statin/product to flog then why try to actually encourage people to be healthier just by pointing out that eating Real Wholesome Food will do the trick?
In the meantime the echoes of 'just exercise more, eat less ... a calorie is a calorie' will ring out ...0
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