Fat and getting fatter: U.S. obesity rates to soar by 2030

GMO and their terrible lean atificial diets. You need the diet your grandparents ate, including, soup bones, marrow, natural meat fats so you nourish your bones and joints, and teeth and so you know when you are full. And affordable food, not only being able to afford crapola.

Originally posted by seeker1963
reply to post by Cabin

 

Why government should prevent?First ones that come to mind
1) More ill-prone people. Less productive at work environment
2) More money spent on curing diseases which come from overweight
3) Worse image of the country internationally if lots of overweight people
4) Healthy people tend to be happier overally

Good luck!

After the ignorance of those statements, enjoy your fat bashing thread! Is ATS about denying ignorance OR promoting it??

In your case, you seem to be the latter!

This is not fat bashing thread, more of a health awareness thread. If I say to you: Start working or you will become fat, is it bashing fat people? These statistics simply show reality and wanted to share with you, that things do not seem good in that field. There were many health facts and statistics in the article.

About the reasons: These were just first things that came to my mind.

reply to post by Cabin

This is not fat bashing thread, more of a health awareness thread. If I say to you: Start working or you will become fat, is it bashing fat people? These statistics simply show reality and wanted to share with you, that things do not seem good in that field. There were many health facts and statistics in the article.

About the reasons: These were just first things that came to my mind

Well then you didn't think it through very well before you spewed your hatred towards people who are "obese" did you????

Hmmmmm, I wonder how this thread would have went if only a race of a certain color was more overweight than another?????

Besides, I gave you an example of the BMI fraud, and so did another poster or two

So keep bashing those whom are overweight if you wish, I am done participating in your thread!.

I'm going back home to the US soon, and really look forward to it. Mostly just to see my friends and fam,
but also because in Europe I am overweight, but in the US I am thin.
All is relative.

Eating junk certainly contributes to US obesity but combine that with an addiction to the www and sitting on your butt most of the day; you're just a heart attack waiting to happen.

Originally posted by seabag
reply to post by Cabin

 

Why government should prevent?First ones that come to mind
1) More ill-prone people. Less productive at work environment
2) More money spent on curing diseases which come from overweight
3) Worse image of the country internationally if lots of overweight people
4) Healthy people tend to be happier overally

Lets get back to the basics….

What in the hell gives the government the authority to PREVENT these things?

You never answered my questions about the constitution and your understanding of law making and freedom (or how young your are

).

Please explain where government has the authority to tell Americans what weight they must maintain.

edit on 31-3-2013 by seabag because: (no reason given)

I am not that young.

If you read my other posts in the thread,you noticed I am not American. I just found this interesting fact and thought to share with you, even though I am not American. I do not know exact details about constitution. For example, we here have very different laws and constitution . To be honest, I have never seen anybody bring up constitution as an excuse round here not for making a law needed. For example, our government fines kid´s parents, if the kids skip school too much. Healthy and educated is better for the survival of the country than unhealthy and uneducated. Influencing people´s choices in such matter is common in Nordic countries, taxing fatty foods, making gas more costly for polluting less, sustainability, more sports promotion.

As I said prevention can be said differently, simply influence. I did not say fatty foods should be banned or something similar.

My whole point was that, if people themselves do not do anything and government also does not do something to prevent it by influencing people´s behaviour, then such thing will become reality as the article mentioned

reply to post by Cabin

Dear Cabin,

This post is not an argument or an attempt to sway anybody's opinion. I'll just relate an example.

I know a woman in her mid 50's. I'm guessing she's about 5' 4". I'm further guessing that she weighs about 300 pounds. Doesn't seem to eat a lot, but doesn't exercize. Every now and then she tells me about her visits to the doctor.

She tells me, and I have no reason to disbelieve her (Ok, I know her VERY well), that her blood pressure and heart rate is within the normal range. I also know that her doctor has told her that, surprisingly enough, her weight seems to be causing no trouble and there are no signs of future trouble.

Can't we just leave her alone?

With respect,
Charles1952

I don't think that government needs to tell us what to eat, period.

Our main problems are too much sugar, too much fast food, and store shelves packed full of processed food.

It's cheap, it's easy, it's fast and it is absolutely everywhere.

Way to many people don't cook actual dinners anymore, and in my opinion, that plays a big part in the problem. Far too many have come to rely more and more on convenience foods, and those foods are packed full of things we cannot even begin to pronounce. And sugar. Lots and lots of sugar.

But, you guys shouldn't listen to me because I ate two Reese's peanut butter Easter eggs as I typed this reply.

Why government should prevent?First ones that come to mind
1) More ill-prone people. Less productive at work environment
2) More money spent on curing diseases which come from overweight
3) Worse image of the country internationally if lots of overweight people
4) Healthy people tend to be happier overally

I agree with your statements, except that it can't come from the government.

People should try to be a healthy weight for their own health. Doctors don't always know how to fix us when things go wrong with our health. We're an experiment for some doctors. Prevention is the best medicine, which starts by being a healthy weight.

There should be education about foods, nutrition, cooking, etc, but then there would be arguing about teaching stuff parents should be teaching (but clearly aren't). Many parents need to learn about nutrition too.

I also agree that the bmi should be combined with waist size, fat composition. It puts me in the normal range, yet I feel better when I'm 15 lbs lighter. That chart puts that at underweight. It's not for my frame.

And Unity is right. People need to learn how to eat like people used to. Real food, home cooked, and then work it off.

And who knows, maybe America being so overweight, is the only thing stopping the earth from tipping over (crustal shift)

reply to post by Cabin


reply to post by Cabin


reply to post by Cabin


Last year was a wake up call for myself and my family.(Pushing almost 50 yrs old, I was borderline obese) my 21yr old daughter, getting gallbladder attacks. I researched everything I could on metabolism, what controls the fat in our bodies. What is responsible for regulating fat?. This lead me to a few excellent books \\\"Why We Get Fat\\\" Gary Taubes, \\\"Good Calories, Bad Calories\\\" Gary Taubes, Documentaries \\\"Fat Head\\\" by Tom Naughton.. You Tube videos and many presentations from Taubes, Dr.s Lustig, Biernstein, Dr. Mike Eades. Arctic explorers/anthropologist such as Stefansonn (1920\\\'s) Lived 10 years with the Innuit. What is the number one culprit in our bodies that does this??? INSULIN. Insulin is not solely the blood sugar regulator hormone, it has numerous functions. (I think 100\\\'s of functions) People who are overweight or obese, do not want that status with declining health,always tired, low self esteem, depression etc. I\\\'m sure everyone wants to look and feel awesome, and the studies are there, and they\\\'ve been around a LONG time. You won\\\'t get this on TV. My search led me to my path to incredible knowledge, good health, energy to spare, radiant, happy and a weight loss of over 50 lbs in 7 months and I honestly feel like in my 20\\\'s. No gym membership required. Knowledge on what is really going on inside, what controls what.. avoid stressing that hormone too much and you\\\'ve got success. You\\\'ll be using your fat storage as your fuel to keep you going. That is the ultimate goal your after.

reply to post by Cabin

I am not that young.

If you read my other posts in the thread,you noticed I am not American. I just found this interesting fact and thought to share with you, even though I am not American.

I figured that based on your spelling of “behaviour” though I failed to see that you did mention that fact.

My mistake!

My whole point was that, if people themselves do not do anything and government also does not do something to prevent it by influencing people´s behaviour, then such thing will become reality as the article mentioned

Well, in US we have a Bill of Rights and constitution. Those documents limit the ability of government to influence the free will of the people. People in US have FREE WILL to live life as they see fit, which includes being obese if they chose, despite the good intentions of do-gooders (in America, do-gooders are liberal elitists who feel compelled to dictate the behavior of fellow citizens based on their own standards).

Originally posted by Cabin

My whole point was that, if people themselves do not do anything and government also does not do something to prevent it by influencing people´s behaviour, then such thing will become reality as the article mentioned

I get what you're saying, but it doesn't work for the american idealism.
See, we are taught early that the individual that seeks his own pleasure and satisfaction,
actually contributes or influences the good and satisfaction of the whole, ultimately.
(the man who seeks wealth, for example, feeds the economy, provides employment, everyone benefits from his appetite)

But we don't really follow that up the other way- in which the self destructive paths of an individual contribute and influences the destruction of the whole- suddenly what the individual does is detached and doesn't effect anyone else anymore.

For some other, more social cultures, this is illogical and unthinkable. But not to us americans. A big appetite is ALWAYS good, for everyone, period.



On another note, my big complaint is the recipes I try to get from the US all call for processed and premade foods- Cool Whip, packaged pudding mix, cake mix, can of this and box of that.... nobody makes anything from scratch! I can't get these products, and frankly I wonder how much crapola gets snuck in those things, that might be making people fatter or unhealthy......

i think we are being GREATLY MISLED, in a lot of the "facts" we are told about obesity. the question is is it just ignorance on the part of those telling us what is making us "fat " or is it intentional?

for example SUGAR supposedly makes us fat. yet it only seems to happen in North America? i have found for example that quite a lot of food in the Philippines is LOADED with sugar, even the BREAD is overloaded with it. yet most Philippino people are NOT obese. in fact quite a lot of the Asian food (i am not even gonna count western Chinese food most are familiar with as it is not real Chinese food lol), that i have ever eaten has had a fair amount f sugar involved. yet again is there a major obesity issue in Asians? i ask people from Britain, have you had an obesity problem the last couple hundred years? if sugar was the issue Britain should have been grossly obese at least that long due to what i understand was an extreme high sugar intake that was rotting out everyone's teeth.

we are also told it is from high carb foods like potatoes and rice. again most Asian people put away quite a lot of rice at a time without becoming obese. i was rather amused when my father got diagnosed as diabetic (he wasn't a very large person but was a bit overweight), was told to cut down his rice consumption. thing is he always ate LESS (say maybe less than 1/4 of normal servings) rice than all the skinny people around him did, seriously i can't believe how much rice i see people eat, with an equal portion of whatever is served with it (which may even include potatoes,and lots of fats ).

how about FATS, something else we are told is part of the problem. if this was the case why is it only NOW becoming an issue? it's not like we haven't been eating meats and even deep-frying/frying foods for an extremely long time BEFORE the issue.

POP is yet another thing tagged. but then why was i skinny while i was drinking OVER FOUR LITERS of COKE a day? i'll admit it is not healthy but i don't think that it (at least the old style with sugar and not the corn crap) is the issue.

LACK of EXERCISE is blamed, yet i see obese people almost killing themselves trying to slim down with exercise to no avail. and even see obese people who do a lot of manual labor, or participate in sports regularly and hard. while at the same time see skinny people that work a sitting job, and don't get off the couch.

then we have FAST FOOD. ah the king of blame. WHY is it so BAD? pizza- bread- fairly healthy, tomato sauce- fairly healthy, heck even the toppings are good for you not to mention in SMALL PORTIONS overall. so whats bad about that? the "grease" you sometimes see on it? that is the same grease that is within those same "healthy" toppings like the meat and especially the cheese, they are not say ADDED IN or something. and like i said there is actually very LITTLE of anything. seriously take a large pizza, pull off and pile up each topping, except for possibly the cheese you will find that on that pizza that 3 or 4 people may be eating that there is actually VERY LITTLE of anything, probably less than ONE person would eat if they were say served on their own. so why is it so bad for you?

how about the "evil" hamburger, what is exactly wrong with it? again we have bread which is not unhealthy, the burger patty- just ground up beef (maybe pork, horse, lamb or other meat) some spices a little egg normally (ok maybe some of the "fillers" they use aren't so good but that could be easily changed), toppings- yet again most of the topping are actually healthy vegetables (ok not the lettuce which is pointless to eat), so what is wrong there? the mayo, mustard, ketchup? again these are all things that have been eaten for years without everyone being "obese". the grease? yet again the grease is part of the meat, not something they really ADD to it.

french fries are also BAD, but why? what is a french fry? it is a potato that has been deep fried. potatoes are good for you. even if fried in lard, yet again you run into that deep frying has been going on an extreme longer time than the "obesity" issue. even if the lard (fat) WAS the issue wouldn't using the "vegetable oil" as they mostly use now fix that?

just look at things they call bad but if not from a "restraunt" are considered ok for you. is it the restraunt itself that makes you fat?

i even wonder if the "portion size" is a real issue. think of it this way. is the portion size the cause of being fat, or is it with being fat you need more food (energy) to operate?

no i think the problem is much deeper and more hidden than what they try to foist off on us is the issue.

to be cont.

cont.

i think we should not be looking at the food per say, as the issue, but what changes have been made to that food as possible issues.

my father and i were talking the other day and we got on the topic of the obesity issue, and the fact that it seemed to be in the 80's when it really started to become the problem we are seeing. something clicked in my head at that. what "wonderful appliance" came to be more and more popular and widely used at that time? the MICROWAVE OVEN. is this "time saving device" that most people now use all the time a part of the problem? does it do something to the food that is a part of people becoming obese?

another change that was becoming more common at that time is the more common use of "instant" or "time saver" meals. this due to either both of a couple wanted to have careers or needed to both work in order to have enough money to live and raise a family on. this meant that someone was not able in a lot of cases to spend time on "cooking from scratch", which can be time consuming. instead started to use "prepackaged" mixes or "instant" stuff in order to cut down the cooking times. or alternately "eating out" which in most fast food type places use the same"quick foods". is it something IN these "quick foods" that is a part of the problem? all those additives and preservatives that they have in them so they can stay on the shelf without going bad? things that seem to read in the ingredient lists like a chemistry experiment. perhaps even something in the drying method used to "dehydrate" some of it?

how about some of these "better for you than sugar", and other chemicals used in place of cane sugar like corn syrup or aspartame? are these actually a part of the problem and not the cure?

another thing that should be looked at is things like all the steroids, antibiotics and crap they put in our meat animals as well as the feed. is all that a part of the problem?

is it the chemicals that are sprayed to "protect crops" part of the issue? are the "frankincrops" that are becoming more common a part of the problem?

it has to be SOMETHING that is being done with the food supply. i say this as i have noticed something rather worrying. i am starting to see obese philippino children starting to be rather noticeable as an increase. they are just as active as the other kids so i don't think that is the issue (kids still actively play outside for the most part, not sit watching tv or playing video games). but what i have noticed is that most of these kids are from "well off" families. those that can afford and so tend to buy more "american type" foods like all the processed time saving crap, american beef and cheese etc. and buying luxury items like microwaves. most of the poorer population cook on small coal stoves, and the middle class uses electric or gas stoves and some even have microwaves. it has been interesting seeing them in the store and seeing a connection that those who have more "american" brands of food in their carts are also the same ones who are becoming obese. while those who seem to buy more "local", especially "fresh" type products and especially those who seem to stay more away from processed foods are those that are skinnier.

i really think that research needs to be done on things like microwaves and all the chemicals and altered stuff that end up in our food supply to see if the obesity problem is really in that area and not what types of foods we eat. i suspect that THAT IS where we will find the problem originating from.

Pretty obvious really isnt it.

Technology does so much for us, we can do just about anything with pushes of buttons.

Tastier, cheaper foods with less and less of the good nourishment of a natural vegetable or fruit.

Bombardments of advertisements from every direction and more locations to get the food we are pitched.

More control of us from the government, banning things and monitoring everything making us have to do less and less to stay safe. This is creating a situation where people are so used to being looked after they think less about what we do, getting ever more complacent. Blind faith, asking no questions. "If its on TV how could it be bad for me?".

This fat crisis was inevitable - till the gov starts to realise that capitalism is good till it starts cutting corners at the expense of the paying customer.

When i make a beef burger, its 100% beef. No 'cutting' products, preservatives, bulking agents etc Business use anything they are allowed to, to make their food last longer, look better, taste better and most important to them: cheaper.

reply to post by generik


Exactly!
I observe that the french eat more fat and sugar and carbs than my family in the US- and don't get fat.
I noticed that there are more smokers here though- that is one element to take into account. It speeds up the metabolism.

But even besides that, I have been wondering if it isn't additives, or things like growth hormones being allowed in meat. Give an animal chemicals which cause it to fatten up, seems expected tht it will have the same effect on those that eat that animal!

reply to post by generik


I certainly agree we've been misled. The food pyramid as our guideline to good health is a joke. Potatoes and rice are starches which are sugars. All carbohydrates are sugars. Simple and complex. In the glycemic index a slice of bread has more sugar in it then pure sugar. The role of all carbohydrates is energy for the body/brain. In most people if you don't use that energy(excessive exercise) it converts it to fat storage. Fruits (fructose) has a huge amount of carbs.

Any products that has its fat removed ie: dairy products it is replaced with sugars/starches and now aspartame... That is a tragedy. Children consume most milk products, and I believe the low fat has been the culprit in obese children. Fat has been vilified to no end and their science to back it up is "observational" or epidemiological. That is not science. And in my experience on this weight loss journey its not the fat that has been the problem but an overconsumption of carbs that led to my excessive weight gain as once the carbs have been metabolized, I want to eat more carbs. Its a vicious cycle. 1 tsp of sugar = 4 grams. If you consume 140g of carbs per day, (conservative amount) divide that by 4grams. 35 tsp of sugar per day. that's not cool with me.

At the rate we're going, America will be a third world nation by 2030; I doubt obesity will be an issue. Famine and hyper-inflation, sure, but obesity not so much.

obese means good profits for the food industry fitness schools and pharma industry's
perhaps the obese ones schould be recycled after there passing away to bio-fuel ?/?
that would mean an gigantic moneypit... and an much greener enviorment !

Originally posted by daryllyn
But, you guys shouldn't listen to me because I ate two Reese's peanut butter Easter eggs as I typed this reply.

ROFL Love it! =P

I have lost almost half my body weight and and am STILL considered overweight I guess. I quit caring because I have *more* health problems after losing weight than I did at my highest. I am 5'6" 140lbs (down from 277lbs) and am munching on cheddar jalapeno cheetos and m&ms. Moderation is definitely important.

IMHO the government doesn't need to make laws to change what we are allowed to eat. I think the government needs to help protect us against corporations that would rather get us fat so they fill the shelves with cheap crap while hiking up the prices for the healthy stuff. But then again the government is in bed with big pharma and THEY wouldn't make money to kick back to the government. Not if we are all healthy and staying off the meds... sooooo.... yeah....