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More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

diabetes.co.uk

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Re: More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

#121

Post by dwaltrip »

konjin wrote: post #118
dwaltrip wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Warning people that all the food they have access to is poison is not a solution to anything. It sounds like you are suggesting all food in American grocery stores is equally bad when it comes to sugar. Perhaps I misunderstood you, as that is obviously absurd. While I do wish there were more healthy options, I can assure you that the mainstream grocery stores (Ralph's, Safeway, etc) contain many products with low o…

>What is your alternative proposal? Ban over the counter sale of processed food, the same way heroin stopped being sold as Mr. Jims Magical Cure All. It's not like banning additives that have proven detrimental to health is a radical new idea. We have killed hundreds of industries that killed people before, most of them in much smaller numbers than the food industrial complex. >Empowering people to make better decisi…

What's the definition of processed food?

I think most people will think your proposal is very extreme.

Re: More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

#122

Post by VanillaCafe »

tasty_freeze wrote: post #47
andygcook wrote: post #11

BMI isn't a reliable indicator to gauge obesity. For example, Tom Brady at 6' 4" and 225 lbs is considered overweight, which is obviously not the case. That being said, as an American, it really did shock me how fit the majority of people were in Italy when I visited there for the first time last year. This New England Journal of Medicine chart really does a good job of showing that America has gotten heavier over th…

Every time BMI is mentioned someone has to come up with an example of a body builder or fit athlete who has a high BMI. Yes, everyone realizes this already, and nobody who is in that position is going to be mislead into thinking they are obese. Sure, it would be great if everyone could do a caliper test or a water displacement test, but that isn't ever going to happen, and BMI is a trivial and good enough place to st…

You're not wrong that BMI is okay enough of a metric for most people. But, in terms of a metric that is even more simple (one simple measurement tool instead of two), accounts for athletic builds, and is arguably more predictive of health outcomes (example: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1071369/), it would be great if we could standardize on waist-to-hip ratio instead of BMI.

Re: More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

#123

Post by shinycode »

symlinkk wrote: post #111
shinycode wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because processed food yields the most profit. It’s cheap and quick to cook. It’s the economy of profit, with 8h of work and the same food budget you cook more and make more profit ...

Maybe there is space in the economy for a fast food restaurant that is slightly more expensive but also slightly healthier. Food for thought.

In Europe, at least in France there is lots and lots of restaurants with healthy cooked food and not expensive. Maybe it’s cultural ?

Re: More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

#124

Post by lotsofpulp »

misja111 wrote: post #88

I find it amazing how much effort and economic sacrifices we are willing to take to fight COVID, while at the same time, even now, the death toll because of unhealthy lifestyles is far greater. Why don't we put a similar effort into banning fast food, for instance? How can the USA allow companies to advertise that stuff when the bad consequences can be seen everywhere?

Things must be politically unpopular in order to get banned. Merely being objectively bad for a given metric is not sufficient. See also alcohol vs marijuana.

Re: More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

#125

Post by viraptor »

misja111 wrote: post #88

I find it amazing how much effort and economic sacrifices we are willing to take to fight COVID, while at the same time, even now, the death toll because of unhealthy lifestyles is far greater. Why don't we put a similar effort into banning fast food, for instance? How can the USA allow companies to advertise that stuff when the bad consequences can be seen everywhere?

With the virus you can get funding to get rid of it. But try enforcing limits of sugar in coke and you'll mostly find money that tries to stop you.

Re: More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

#126

Post by [deleted] »

zeroonetwothree wrote: post #33
vkou wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can pay someone to change my oil, I can pay someone to cut my grass, but for some reason cooking healthy food, the most essential service, is difficult to find. > Why has our economy failed us in this sector specifically? Because it's incredibly inefficient for a chef to cook a meal for a family, because people want their food to arrive warm, thus preventing factory-food-production, because delivery is expensive,…

Fat and salt are both critical for your health.

[deleted]

Re: More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

#127

Post by Clubber »

psgibbs wrote: post #15
Clubber wrote: post #2

Using the BMI to gauge obeseness of a population is very lazy and disingenuous.

My understanding is this is precisely backwards: using BMI to gauge your own health is inaccurate, but using it to analyze populations is the intended purpose.

As the country gets more fit, and that fat turns into muscle, what happens to the BMI? It either gets higher or stays the same, right? Certainly a good measure to perpetuate a crisis.

Re: More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

#128

Post by konjin »

dwaltrip wrote: post #121
konjin wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>What is your alternative proposal? Ban over the counter sale of processed food, the same way heroin stopped being sold as Mr. Jims Magical Cure All. It's not like banning additives that have proven detrimental to health is a radical new idea. We have killed hundreds of industries that killed people before, most of them in much smaller numbers than the food industrial complex. >Empowering people to make better decisi…

What's the definition of processed food? I think most people will think your proposal is very extreme.

>I think most people will think your proposal is very extreme.

As would most heroin addicts in 1890.

When 73% of your country is losing between 5 and 20 years of life expectancy drastic measures are in order.

Re: More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

#129

Post by hombre_fatal »

dmichulke wrote: post #51

For those interested in a different measure that is much more suited to athletes: A body fat calculator that requires just a tape measure. You measure your height, waist and neck (as a man). http://fitness.bizcalcs.com/Calculator.asp?Calc=Body-Fat-Nav... The site is in 90's retro style. You can click on the question mark at the bottom left to see an explanation of all fields. Someone with BMI of 27 ("overweight") and…

I was happy to close the tab once "Fit" popped up until I saw the waist measurement is to be done "at navel".

Re: More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

#130

Post by worik »

kbenson wrote: post #63
tasty_freeze wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every time BMI is mentioned someone has to come up with an example of a body builder or fit athlete who has a high BMI. Yes, everyone realizes this already, and nobody who is in that position is going to be mislead into thinking they are obese. Sure, it would be great if everyone could do a caliper test or a water displacement test, but that isn't ever going to happen, and BMI is a trivial and good enough place to st…

> Yes, everyone realizes this already, and nobody who is in that position is going to be mislead into thinking they are obese. No, but someone who works out the numbers and realizes that the BMI doesn't match them well, or their circumstances well, realizes it calls the study and what it represents into question. Using controversial metrics because they are easily available is counter-productive in the long run, beca…

The fallacy of applying statistical measures to individuals. That fallacy has a name, which I cannot recall
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