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What's the most important factor for the increased prevalence of obesity?
Higher calorie diets (fast food, increased processing, corn syrup, larger portions, etc)
53%
 53%  [ 23 ]
Increasing sedentary lifestyles (loss of walkable neighborhood, cultural trend towards automobiles, lower demand for physical labour)
39%
 39%  [ 17 ]
Genetic disorders
0%
 0%  [ 0 ]
Change in definition or perception of obesity
0%
 0%  [ 0 ]
Other (feel free to clarify)
6%
 6%  [ 3 ]
Total Votes : 43

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DRMS_7888
Vintage Newbie


What does everything think about the growing trend of obesity around the world? Should we panic? Should we ignore it? Should we be seek for it's social acceptance?

41% of adults are projected to be obese in the United States by 2015. What are the ramifications on healthcare? Mortality? Productivity?

Is obesity real? Or, is the BMI an unfair and inaccurate generality on one's personal health?

If the problem is real, what can be done on a national level to reverse the growth in prevalence? What about a local or personal level?

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WindFromTheOcean
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hmmm... you have no escape if it really runs in the blood (hereditary).. but complications and risks can be prevented if you have good lifestyle.. I'm asian, my build is small but I eat healthy food and mostly carbs (as in like 2 cups of rice per meal), still, I don't gain much weight. Or probably because, I'm so hyper, I'm workaholic.. like I have to do many things just to feel tiredness..
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mad_sam_purple'ead
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Increasing Sedentary lifestyle.

We've been an industrial society for what, 200 years, whilst the world has been around for many thousands before. Of course, we only have statistics on such things from the last hundred years or so. But I would highly doubt that there was the capacity for such a large proportion of society to be obese. Take a look at pretty much any African nation, and the likelihood is that you'll see that there is a high correlation between wealth and body-size: the wealthier a person is, the more he can afford on food, and so the bigger he is. Wealth also determines other life-styles. A wealthy person might also have enough to employ somebody to do many housekeeping jobs, which would decrease the activity that person does. He'll also be able to afford to drive everywhere, which again ups the chances of him becoming obese.

Wealth as a determinate of life-style is true for western society, too. Low-income families may not have amneties that promote healthy living and eating near-by, such as grocery stores and gymns, and they may not be able to afford to seek them out. I'm sure that accounts for a large amount of obesity in low-income families. Richer families, though, have a much easier choice over lifestyle - they can afford to keep healthy, so why don't they?

Society as a whole has changed. We are more stressed than previous generations. We are more obese than previous generations. Now, one change of society does include our diets, but the wealthy can choose what they eat, so that can't account for the general problem.

Consumerism has helped to cause that change of lifestyle, such as a decrease in physical labour, higher laziness when traveling etc, so is in no doubt partly to blame for this, but we are to blame for lapping it up and deluding ourselves that we need such things.

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wilsmith
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A + B + D = other
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CUBSWINWORLDSERIES
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I don't think you can point to one factor and say that is the one causing most obesity. A combination of 2 or more factors is usually the case. I would add to your list beer and marijuana. One packs the calories on, the other gives one the feeling of hunger where they are not really hungry (the muchies). Also, depression and anxiety seems more prevalent than a generation ago, and some eat a lot when they are depressed or anxious.
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DRMS_7888
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CUBSWINWORLDSERIES wrote:
I don't think you can point to one factor and say that is the one causing most obesity. A combination of 2 or more factors is usually the case. I would add to your list beer and marijuana. One packs the calories on, the other gives one the feeling of hunger where they are not really hungry (the muchies). Also, depression and anxiety seems more prevalent than a generation ago, and some eat a lot when they are depressed or anxious.


I didn't really say that, but I see what you mean. I didn't have a great idea for a poll.

Most of the stoners I know are sticks, but they are all college students yet. I think alcohol and soft drinks have a huge effect on weight management. People can pack in 1000 calories a day without even eating anything.

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Nightmare
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Nobody does anything anymore. At all. The amount of friends I have that go play basketball or whatever is pretty small. Everyone just goes to work/school/whatever and then comes home and that's the day. Add to that the fact that eating healthy can cost almost double than eating whatever crap fills you up and you've got a problem. That and the fact that it's increasingly more accepted to be obese. Not a fun thing.

Of course the BMI thing is crap too. Apparently I'm on the edge of overweight for some reason. I have dropped 15 pounds in the last few years but still I was only 6'2" and 200 pounds. I ran 5k and worked out 3 times a week. I wasn't unhealthy.

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Pantheon4
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Nightmare wrote:
Nobody does anything anymore. At all. The amount of friends I have that go play basketball or whatever is pretty small. Everyone just goes to work/school/whatever and then comes home and that's the day. Add to that the fact that eating healthy can cost almost double than eating whatever crap fills you up and you've got a problem. That and the fact that it's increasingly more accepted to be obese. Not a fun thing.

Of course the BMI thing is crap too. Apparently I'm on the edge of overweight for some reason. I have dropped 15 pounds in the last few years but still I was only 6'2" and 200 pounds. I ran 5k and worked out 3 times a week. I wasn't unhealthy.


OUT OF THE PARK!
I'm not saying everyone should and can get down to the edge of being underweight, but still... obesity has serious health effects. The problem as I see it is that some people are overweight, but exercise and eat right. Then there are the people who take that knowledge and think, "Oh, they're fat and healthy, that means I'm fat and healthy too!" even though they don't exercise or eat right.

And don't get me started on the genetic fat thing...
Oh, well...
I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but I don't buy this 'genetically fat' BS-- it's an excuse. Yes, some people's genetics allow them to retain weight more than other people. It makes sense because back a few 100k years, humans did not really know where their next meal would come from, so people's bodies had to make their calories last.
That said, no one was born 300 pounds, unless you mother was an elephant...er maybe a whale. Meaning, that you have to put all that weight on. And people can take at least some of it off. We've all seen The Biggest Loser... ... ... ... --. . - ---..-...-. ---.----..-.-. .-......

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Nightmare
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Pantheon4 wrote:
Nightmare wrote:
Nobody does anything anymore. At all. The amount of friends I have that go play basketball or whatever is pretty small. Everyone just goes to work/school/whatever and then comes home and that's the day. Add to that the fact that eating healthy can cost almost double than eating whatever crap fills you up and you've got a problem. That and the fact that it's increasingly more accepted to be obese. Not a fun thing.

Of course the BMI thing is crap too. Apparently I'm on the edge of overweight for some reason. I have dropped 15 pounds in the last few years but still I was only 6'2" and 200 pounds. I ran 5k and worked out 3 times a week. I wasn't unhealthy.


OUT OF THE PARK!
I'm not saying everyone should and can get down to the edge of being underweight, but still... obesity has serious health effects. The problem as I see it is that some people are overweight, but exercise and eat right. Then there are the people who take that knowledge and think, "Oh, they're fat and healthy, that means I'm fat and healthy too!" even though they don't exercise or eat right.

And don't get me started on the genetic fat thing...
Oh, well...
I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but I don't buy this 'genetically fat' BS-- it's an excuse. Yes, some people's genetics allow them to retain weight more than other people. It makes sense because back a few 100k years, humans did not really know where their next meal would come from, so people's bodies had to make their calories last.
That said, no one was born 300 pounds, unless you mother was an elephant...er maybe a whale. Meaning, that you have to put all that weight on. And people can take at least some of it off. We've all seen The Biggest Loser... ... ... ... --. . - ---..-...-. ---.----..-.-. .-......

I can't tell if you're calling that statement ridiculous or were agreeing with me. Either way it's a valid comment. People aren't worried as much anymore it seems. And I'm not a big believer in the genetic overweight thing either. I think that everyone can maintain a healthy weight, though admittedly it is much harder for some.

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mikep0922
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The surge in obesity rates in this country started in the 1970's, when Japanese chemist 'broke the sweetness barrier,' with the development of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS.)

Until then food chemist had not been able to make fructose as sweet as the more expensive sucrose. Once that threshold had been crossed, the food industry was able to sell all kinds of sweet beverages and foods much much cheaper!

Now the average consumer can by a half gallon of cola say, for a fraction of what cane sugar cola would have cost! The rest is history Sad

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jack_stripes
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CUBSWINWORLDSERIES wrote:
I don't think you can point to one factor and say that is the one causing most obesity. A combination of 2 or more factors is usually the case. I would add to your list beer and marijuana. One packs the calories on, the other gives one the feeling of hunger where they are not really hungry (the muchies). Also, depression and anxiety seems more prevalent than a generation ago, and some eat a lot when they are depressed or anxious.


your metabolism speeds up when you use weed, so if you don' eat when you get the munchies, you could actually lose weight.

speaking of that, i read an article the other day that said smoking (tobacco) might help boost a "fat-zapping gene", which may be the answer to this epidemic. Smile

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Paranoid Android v2.0
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Do coke. Get thin. You will not want food, nor will you have the cash for it on account of buying your junk.

Problem solved!

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guitarfreak217
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I'm going to go with option B being the biggest problem. The issue of diet and such becomes much less of an issue when it's factored in with a lot of physical work. Since cars are so prevalent and the suburbs are taking over everything and making it almost impossible to get around by anything but car, I'd say that has definitely had the biggest impact.
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CUBSWINWORLDSERIES
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DRMS_7888 wrote:
Most of the stoners I know are sticks, but they are all college students yet. I think alcohol and soft drinks have a huge effect on weight management. People can pack in 1000 calories a day without even eating anything.


jack_stripes wrote:
your metabolism speeds up when you use weed, so if you don' eat when you get the munchies, you could actually lose weight.


Yes, it is mostly beer and fast food that packs on the Freshman 20 or whatever they call it now. But marijuana not only makes you eat a lot, but it also generally will make you lay around a lot, sleep a lot, get up and eat more, etc... True that some stoners are thin. I just threw that out there as another contributing factor, IMO. I don't believe THC speeds up metabolism any more than say drinking coffee does. And before someone corrects me saying they have a friend who smokes pot who has tons of energy and is always motivated and doing things, please don't because we all know that is the exception to the rule.
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Last edited by CUBSWINWORLDSERIES on Thu May 14, 2009 11:45 am; edited 1 time in total
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