Obesity Epidemic | INFJ Forum

Obesity Epidemic

Quinlan

Quinlan

Right the First Time!
Jun 12, 2008
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Is it a case of simple economics? Most people make their money sitting on their arses all day in office jobs, they then go home and use what little money they earn on the cheapest and easiest bulk food items they can find: Junk food. Processed carbs are so cheap compared to things like meat, fruit and vegetables.
 
So are education programs (advertisements etc.) about healthy eating a waste of government time and money? How to live healthy is obvious to most people, having the means to do that on the other hand isn't always possible.
 
Also corporate lies about the healthiness of their processed food make it impossible to. Also there's a lack of information on what's healthy. There's a lot of scientific data "eat lots of carbs and protein", means nothing since people who are not superman cannot look at an apple and say it has:
X Natural Sugars,
X Fat
X Transfats
X et cetera.

We need a diet book that tells us specifically what's good to eat, how much maximum.
 
Unfortunately, it is cheaper, faster, more convenient and easier to eat the processed foods than cook from scratch...I agree there is a HUGE epidemic in the world...And myself feeling quite obese most of the time have a hard time eating healthy with work, school, kids, housekeeping and the hectic life that is the modern life...I often want to move to a small town and slow life's fast paced city dwelling to a crawl. I work out I TRY to eat right and don't get anywhere with loosing weight...(I have Hypothyroidism which makes it difficult to loose weight and makes your face really fat :Cry: ) There is no time to buy fresh foods every day, I have no time to cook a meal from scratch...it seems very limited thinking...but..it is what it is...
 
Why don't people take these things into account? They are so quick to jump to the "lazy" card... :mmph: They're are a ton of other reasons why someone might be big but I suppose knocking other people down makes them feel better.
 
Part of it is that a lot of us were raised by baby-boomers who experienced rationing during WWII, they were taught to eat everything they were given as food was not something to be picky about, they raised us to do the same, to eat everything on our plate. We are a generation of over eaters, the problem isn't the foods, processed food in small doses is unhealthy but not necessarily going to cause obesity, the issue is the size of the portions, they are bigger than we need. You are the product of the previous generations mistakes.
 
That's something I've thought about too, finishing your plate. Apparently being a "picky" eater is the healthiest way for us.
 
I have a problem with eating everything, and, I'll be perfectly honest, I have a very well developed taste for junk food.
What I usually do is just limit myself; it takes a lot of self control, but I try to buy fruit (fresh or packaged; certain types last a while), and I really concentrate on when I'm feeling full...it's hard though, especially because so many social activities center around eating these days....
 
Stone said:
Why don't people take these things into account? They are so quick to jump to the "lazy" card... :mmph: They're are a ton of other reasons why someone might be big but I suppose knocking other people down makes them feel better.
Click to expand...

I hope you didnt take my post wrong I wasn't assuming you were saying all heavy people were lazy just explaining why I am heavy...I am truly a very health conscious individual and I HATE being overweight...I have been told I actually look amazing at my current weight...but that's not enough for me...I have NEVER been a heavy person its killing me..
A couple years back when I was Diagnosed with Hypothyroidism...I joined a gym, and the health and nutrition program they offered basically they planned your meals and what not for 6 months...I worked out for 7 days a week 45 mins a day religiously for 6 months...at the end of this period EVERYONE in the class had lost AT LEAST 30 lbs...I lost NOTHING not an inch not a pound...Nothing...I was exactly the same as the day I joined....I have been really discouraged to try again...It feels like a loosing battle :(
 
What I meant by that is that it bothers me when overweight people are constantly judged as being lazy when there are a ton of cases (like yours) where the person tries their best and is probably making ten times the effort of skinnier people and yet they still retain the weight. It's the very common misconception that "all fat people are lazy" that really bothers me.
 
I don't know about America, but here it depends a lot on money (yes, organic is so damn expensive) and social background.

It takes a while to change one's way of eating too. When I was a teen I lived on junk food, but now that I'm used to a healthier diet, I get disgusted by it very quickly (I still get a craving for mcdonald's or for candies sometimes, but it's quite rare).

It's probably quite a lot easier in Europe too, in France the only really big chain is mcdonald's. And I've heard the portions are much smaller.

But lower classes are starting to have weight problems because they go to the cheapest supermarket, drink more coke, not enough greens, etc.


In the past weight was a sign of richess and money, and it's funny comparing a Rubens to the skinny models from today...
 
Rubens_union.jpg
apr_model_rosa_071117_ssv.jpg
 
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Somewhere along the line we've got our wires crossed. Todays models aren't supposed to represent beauty or attractiveness, they are walking hangars for fashion designers and are selected as such. Anyway most fashion designers are gay men or straight women and have very little interest in the attractiveness of the models and are much more interested in the clothes. Meanwhile the rest of society thinks that these women are "models" to aspire to, women are trying to look like the walking clothes hangars that designers use to show off their clothes. The reason fashion designers don't use more natural women is because they require much more skill to design clothes that look right. Asking a modern fashion designer to create an outfit for a curvy woman is like asking a tractor mechanic to repair a ferrari.
 
It's an art form I suppose and as with most forms of "high art" there's a lot of bullshit involved.
 
The masses are told that's beauty and there are a lot of people out there willing to follow the fads that are 'in' simply cause they're told it's 'in'. How does a young, easily influenced girl grow up with a good body image when she’s told that is attractive even when it’s not.
 
Brian Wansink, who has done research on this topic, was on the local newspaper some time ago. He says the problem is the size of the portions, just like Lurker pointed out above. Theres stuff about him in Wikipedia if you´re interested.

I myself have always been a picky eater, and for the last seven years also a vegetarian. I´ve been underweight all my life, which seemingly isn´t ideal for men either in health or fashion model sense.
 
It's because we're already strong enough to crush a healthy girl. An underweight girl could be crushed in a moment of passion... plus, there's no sexy in a lack of muscle and fat.
 
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