America, your belly is too big

[Salome]

I only have 20 mins between going to clients' houses sometimes I only have time enough to grab a candy bar or some other such junk before I pass out from hunger.

or some fruit and a salad

I know you can't do that every day though
or you will start hitting anyone who even just mentions the word salad

but the notion that we only have time for some sort of junk food is a myth created by television really

 

[BluberryPoptart]

Some people I know hate vegetables and don't eat fruit, only meat and potatoes. I hate lowfat foods, they are tasteless. It's terrible if any govermnent would try to be so involved in people's business that they would control your food intake. I don't believe a whole half of the population is obese. Overweight some, but not obese to the level of causing health problems. Like the person who said her friend was six feet tall and 200 lb? That is not a bad weight for that height. This thing about being obese at only 10 or 15 lbs. over the ideal weight chart has come from our obsession with looks and image caused by magazine covers and that's not healthy. Enough people already have eating disorders and are starving themselves because they fear being fat we don't need to add to the stigma!!

 

[Salome]

it's not about ideal physical appearance
it's when being overweight becomes a health issue

and the difference between junk food on one side and sigarettes and alcohol on the other side is a slim one

except for that someone at the age of 8 is allowed to buy junk food

 

[BluberryPoptart]

I'm not saying it's about looks, but I am saying the idea or attitude that thinking someone is 'obese' at 10-20lb over 'ideal' weight is based on our unreal image of beauty and looks for the average person. I think you'd have to be 50 pounds or more over to be called obese, 100 lb over to be morbidly obese, and that's when the health risks multiply. That's what I'm saying half the population is not actually 'obese' to a dangerous extent, that idea is misleading. I have also known skinny people to die of blocked arteries and fat people not have it. I know a lady 78 with no problems, and her son only 46 had to have open heart bypass surgery. The tendency to develop things is also random and hereditary. While weight adds to problems, I do not believe enough people are obese enough to call for drastic action as described in this thread!!

Who says tax dollars are paying for it anyway? America has no national health plan, we pay ourselves!

 

[LoveTown]

Salome... I thought about that before you said it. But honestly, when I have 20 mins and a 10 min drive I dont have time for a salad or to stop into a grocery store to get an apple or something healthy. So, it's whatever I can grab at a small store which is unfortunately most often a candybar or some chips. To tell ya the truth, most days I just skip lunch totally and wait until I get home to eat.

 

[FizzingWhizzbees]

I'm not saying it's about looks, but I am saying the idea or attitude that thinking someone is 'obese' at 10-20lb over 'ideal' weight is based on our unreal image of beauty and looks for the average person. I think you'd have to be 50 pounds or more over to be called obese, 100 lb over to be morbidly obese, and that's when the health risks multiply. That's what I'm saying half the population is not actually 'obese' to a dangerous extent, that idea is misleading.

I definitely agree that society has some screwed up ideas about beauty and weight. It pisses me off to see fifteen-year-old girls going on diets because they think unless they look like whatever actress is on the front pages of the tabloids this week then they're fat. I just want to scream at them that none of that is real, nobody really looks like that all the time. It's like that whole episode a few years back when all the tabloids were printing pictures of various actresses looking as though they'd lost 20lbs, and now it turns out that half the time they were manipulating the photos to look like that. I guess that's the wonderful responsible world of tabloid "journalism" though.

Anyway, I did actually have a serious point to make at the end of this, I wasn't really just looking for an excuse to rant, lol. So, while I hate the media for perpetrating the idea that thin = beautiful, I have to acknowledge that actually it isn't that which determines what counts as being overweight or obese. I know that in this country at least, doctors normally use someone's BMI (body mass index) to determine whether they're overweight or not. That takes into account their height and weight and comes out with a result which says they're too thin, just right, overweight, obese, etc. Also, you don't have to be 100lbs overweight to be putting your health at risk.

I also think the people who suggested it's acceptable to smoke and drink but not to be overweight are, well, wrong. Sorry! Look at how many anti-smoking campaigns there are, look at the HUGE warnings cigarette companies have to put on cigarette packets. Besides, it's seen as acceptable to lecture someone who smokes on how unhealthy smoking is, but how often do you hear someone telling a fat person about the damage being overweight is doing to their health?

 

[verte76]

I agree with Fizz. I hate it that kids think they have to look like Actress X or Model X to look good. It's not about looks. It's about health and well-being. One huge health problem associated with obesity is arthritis, particularly osteoarthritis, which is the I have in my knees. This is because fat puts pressure on joints in general, and the cartilage wears out faster because of the pressure, and, let me tell you, something routine like kneeling or whatever turns into penance. I know people whose lives are absolute hells because of pain. This is the main reason I wanted to lose weight. It wasn't my looks that was getting me down. It was the damn pain in my joints. I lost the weight, and that helped me get the pain in my joints under control. You can't prevent arthritis, but you can delay it and slow down the degeneration, and save yourself pain in the process.

 

[RockNRollDawgie]

Not only is America's belly too big, but brain size has decreased
in America as well, since Bush became president.

 

[LoveTown]

lol Dawgie....I'm going to keep VERY quiet on that topic.