Obesity - Does economy play a role?

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Walmart Security said:
I dont think that fast food accounts for most of obesity... or atleast all of it. It goes deeper than that. My cousin takes this one medicine that has made her burn weight at a slower pace, before the medicine... she was skinny. And dont forget about genetics, those also play a role in obesity.
What you people seem to forget is that widespread obesity has NOT been an epidemic throughout human history.

That pretty much eliminates "genetic factors" as the source of the current epidemic of obesity.

What in our culture has changed over the past few decades or century to change humanity's eating habits? Sitting down and eating with your family? Nope!

Fast food and high-calorie, fat, carbohydrate snacks with addictive chemicals and high fructose corn syrup? Yep!

What else has changed? Automobiles, computers, video games, etc.

These aren't difficult concepts.
 
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Medicine might be a factor in individual people, but it certainly isn't a factor on a national scale. If there was a medicine being widely prescribed to people that caused obesity, it would be found out pretty quickly.

If you look at the growing numbers of overweight people and obese people, they can't all be taking weight-inducing medicines.
 
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Oh, I agree with that totally right there.... just making sure that people do understand that in some cases medication could be the reason why someone is becoming obese.
 
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MC said:
The less fat your body is composed of, the more calories you burn/the higher your metabolism is. I know people who are tiny that can eat a tremendous amount of food and not gain weight.


It's not simple as many people think.
I was stating a point with a rhetorical question. I know I burn the same amount I take it. My point was it's genes that determine obesity. Not what you eat or your culture. I can eat healthy food, I can eat junk food. I can eat a hamburger with 5 million calories in it. And I'd still look slim. Will eating healthy help? Sure. But it won't solve your problem of having a slow metabolism. Speed up your metabolism and you'll lose weight, or stop gaining it.
 
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Like I said, Chris--genetic factors (a.k.a. your GENES) are not the reason behind the national epidemic of obesity. If you know absolutely anything about biology or evolution, you'd know humanity's genetics have not changed pretty much at all for the past fifty years, which is when the obesity epidemic began, coinciding with the introduction of automobiles fast food and computer's introduction.

Funny how the more widespread video games, computers and fast food are, the more and more obese children we're seeing.

If you keep eating those hamburgers with five million calories, and don't exercise enough to correct the positive balance of calories, you most definitely will gain weight.

You should read this:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/metabolism/WT00006

Article said:
It may seem logical to think that significant weight gain or being overweight is related to a low metabolism or possibly even a condition such as underactive thyroid gland (hypothyroidism). In reality, it's very uncommon for excess weight to be related to a low metabolism. And most people who are overweight don't have an underlying condition, such as hypothyroidism. However, a medical evaluation can determine whether a medical condition could be influencing your weight.

Weight gain is more likely due to an energy imbalance — consuming more calories than your body burns. To lose weight, then, you need to create an energy deficit by eating fewer calories, increasing the number of calories you burn through physical activity, or preferably both.
 
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Wow, a lot of people have a way of misconstruing an entire post.

I never asked if the economy to blame for obesity. I was asking if you think it plays a role.

Anyone who disagrees is ignoring the fact you can chow down on thousands of trans-fat filled calories for literally a few dollars.

And what if junk-food wasn't so cheaply available?
 

[S]

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Hey i don't know about you guys but here in Canada ever since they got rid of the McDeal i've had trouble affording my Mcds...
 
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It's perfectly plausible. North America is one of the very few places on earth that carries a surplus of food. We have more to eat, and therefore it's less expensive. I mean look at it this way... I could go to Nieman's (local store)here and buy **** for dinner for 5-10 dollars. Or I could go to McDonald's and have a god damn feast with the dollar menu with only 5 bucks.

I'm not one to make excuses for people. Fat people are fat because they eat too much. Myself included. However, it's perfectly reasonable to speculate that because food is so cheap here, it's more accessible and therefore we eat more.
 
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Well.. I'd pick a 0.10$ apple over a 1$ burger any day tbh..

Yes, fast-food in america might be cheap, but fresh fruit and vegetables are cheaper than fast-food (over here in belgium it is anyway).. I still think culture plays the biggest part in this story, americans have fast paced lifes, they can't be arsed to go to a local store or supermarket to get a bag of apples or vegetable.. They'd rather go to a drive-through, order fast-food, get it a minute later and enjoy a good, fat meal.

What's easier and faster? Spend 10 minutes to drive to the local store, get some apples, pay 0.xx$ per apple and off you go? Or spend 1 minute going to the local McDonalds, order food for 1$ and of you go?
 
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The food industry is a competition to get you to eat more of their food than the other company... it has it's effects.

It will take an energy crisis to wake up our society, that it's not always about profit, but survival.
 
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Alea's right. I eat nothing but trash but because of my job I am constantly running around the office with breaking news stories, etc., and playing in my band is an intense workout in itself most of the time. That is the only reason why I'm not a fat slob; I have many friends with similar eating habits to mine who are three times my size because of it. Now bear in mind I'm not exactly thin, but I'm also not a fat mass either. I don't have a gut, I don't have to wear stuff the wrong size so it reaches around my waste...I have one friend who now has like a hunchback because for ten years he was so self conscious about his man tits that he hunched up his shoulders to hide them and has now damaged his posture permanently because of it. Another friend I have actually tucks his stomach's overhang into his pants to look thinner despite it being incredibly uncomfortable. But both of these dudes do little besides go to work then come home and lay around all day. So therein lies the key difference.

I once lost 20 lbs. because I worked in a mall and the only thing to eat there was Burger King, but I was walking and lifting books all day long at work. So I don't know if we can lay the blame on fast food entirely.

A friend of mine made an interesting point once, about how McDonald's type food has so much of everything in it...but theoretically if that was pretty much all you ate that day, you would still burn it off by default.

Now here's an interesting observations: one of my friends, he sleeps A LOT, and he eats really bad food (like, he's one of those people that goes to McD's and gets a big huge meal and an extra sandwich and nuggets on the side). My other buddy, he eats fairly normally though (better quality food and in less portions than I do), and yet he stays big. So friend A is definitely in large part responsible for his own obesity but I don't think friend B is so much.

The sad thing is it doesn't take much to shake off this stuff. If I had an exercise bike or something I could do for 20 minutes a day, three times a week, I would look absolutely great despite my fast-paced newsroom lifestyle all but requiring me to eat fast food 3-4 days a week. I think I look pretty good now, but like I always say, much of that comes from discipline. My friends take up lazy hobbies because they are lazy (well, Friend A, at least).

You take video games for example. I am HIGHLY passionate about video games. As a result I have learned tons of stuff about computers, hardware, technology, industry trends, etc...all sought out by me, out of curiosity and interest. I work hard to afford the multitaps, the newest games, the best hardware, the good net connection. My friends don't do that. Yeah they work hard but only because if they didn't they'd be out on the streets because they couldn't afford rent. Since my landlords are my mother and father they allow me to live here for a lot less than if the downstairs was being rented out, but yet I still work long hours doing very stressful work. Why? I'm actually about to move into new place that is literally 4x as expensive as here. Why would I do that, if I don't have to? Why would I work this tough job's tough hours if I don't HAVE to?

I think at the end of the day it is that fundamental difference of mind. I set my alarm every day whether I have work or not; my buddies sometimes dedicate entire weekends to extended unadulterated sleeping. Today is a saturday and I was up at 9am, because I want to maximize my time and get a bunch of stuff done. My buddies wouldn't do that. If there isn't a necessity involved, or at least a strong irrefutable need for a means to an end, they would just as soon sleep all day and never do anything. I mean, seriously...I can't tell you how many times I call these dudes at any given time of day only for their family/roommates to tell me they're asleep. Been happening for 20 years.


So really I think there's more to it than meets the waistline.
 
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Calories in < Calories burned

That's weight loss. No matter which way you cut it, that's how to lose weight on the long term. That being said, it takes more than a diet to cut intake, it requires a long-term lifestyle change and many factors (exercise, diet, disorders, genetics, etc) can alter the rate you burn calories.
 
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SaiyanPrideXIX said:
Alea's right. I eat nothing but trash but because of my job I am constantly running around the office with breaking news stories, etc., and playing in my band is an intense workout in itself most of the time. That is the only reason why I'm not a fat slob; I have many friends with similar eating habits to mine who are three times my size because of it. Now bear in mind I'm not exactly thin, but I'm also not a fat mass either. I don't have a gut, I don't have to wear stuff the wrong size so it reaches around my waste...I have one friend who now has like a hunchback because for ten years he was so self conscious about his man tits that he hunched up his shoulders to hide them and has now damaged his posture permanently because of it. Another friend I have actually tucks his stomach's overhang into his pants to look thinner despite it being incredibly uncomfortable. But both of these dudes do little besides go to work then come home and lay around all day. So therein lies the key difference.

I once lost 20 lbs. because I worked in a mall and the only thing to eat there was Burger King, but I was walking and lifting books all day long at work. So I don't know if we can lay the blame on fast food entirely.

A friend of mine made an interesting point once, about how McDonald's type food has so much of everything in it...but theoretically if that was pretty much all you ate that day, you would still burn it off by default.

Now here's an interesting observations: one of my friends, he sleeps A LOT, and he eats really bad food (like, he's one of those people that goes to McD's and gets a big huge meal and an extra sandwich and nuggets on the side). My other buddy, he eats fairly normally though (better quality food and in less portions than I do), and yet he stays big. So friend A is definitely in large part responsible for his own obesity but I don't think friend B is so much.

The sad thing is it doesn't take much to shake off this stuff. If I had an exercise bike or something I could do for 20 minutes a day, three times a week, I would look absolutely great despite my fast-paced newsroom lifestyle all but requiring me to eat fast food 3-4 days a week. I think I look pretty good now, but like I always say, much of that comes from discipline. My friends take up lazy hobbies because they are lazy (well, Friend A, at least).

You take video games for example. I am HIGHLY passionate about video games. As a result I have learned tons of stuff about computers, hardware, technology, industry trends, etc...all sought out by me, out of curiosity and interest. I work hard to afford the multitaps, the newest games, the best hardware, the good net connection. My friends don't do that. Yeah they work hard but only because if they didn't they'd be out on the streets because they couldn't afford rent. Since my landlords are my mother and father they allow me to live here for a lot less than if the downstairs was being rented out, but yet I still work long hours doing very stressful work. Why? I'm actually about to move into new place that is literally 4x as expensive as here. Why would I do that, if I don't have to? Why would I work this tough job's tough hours if I don't HAVE to?

I think at the end of the day it is that fundamental difference of mind. I set my alarm every day whether I have work or not; my buddies sometimes dedicate entire weekends to extended unadulterated sleeping. Today is a saturday and I was up at 9am, because I want to maximize my time and get a bunch of stuff done. My buddies wouldn't do that. If there isn't a necessity involved, or at least a strong irrefutable need for a means to an end, they would just as soon sleep all day and never do anything. I mean, seriously...I can't tell you how many times I call these dudes at any given time of day only for their family/roommates to tell me they're asleep. Been happening for 20 years.


So really I think there's more to it than meets the waistline.

No offence dude, but it doesnt sound like working at a bookstore would burn all the calories you take in during work.

Of course, I maybe wrong. =)
 
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Bookstore? Rob works at a newspaper, I think.
 
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No, im talking about when he used to work at the mall or whatever and had nothing to eat except burger king. he said he used to carry books everywhere, so I assumed he used to work at a bookstore or something.
 
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<img src="http://pictureserver.funnyjunk.com/pics2/euro_vs_america.jpg">

It was relevent to the conversation..
 
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KelesK said:
<img src="http://pictureserver.funnyjunk.com/pics2/euro_vs_america.jpg">

It was relevent to the conversation..
On the other hand, I could show a picture of a skinny, waxed blonde and a muscled surfer for the US, as opposed to an overweight, balding mediterranian in a disgusting speedo, and a gross, hairy-legged and moustach'ed French woman for Europe.

Shall we continue with the stereotypes?
 
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On the other hand, I could show a picture of a skinny, waxed blonde and a muscled surfer for the US, as opposed to an overweight, balding mediterranian in a disgusting speedo, and a gross, hairy-legged and moustach'ed French woman for Europe.
How about we take his Euro and your Amero and put them side by side? That way, everyone wins.
 
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I swear the mcdonalds next to the burger king next to the wendy's a diner and KFC has NOTHING...and i mean NOTHING to do with my obesity...

Btw is it wednesday yet...buy one get one at carvel....i mean...

>.>
 

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