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Adult Obesity Facts

cdc.gov

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Re: Adult Obesity Facts

#61

Post by mc32 »

rjbwork wrote: post #2

We've designed our cities, suburbs, food industry, and society such that the average person is at least overweight, nearing obese. If the average person suffers from what should be an anomaly, perhaps it is less a personal failing than a societal failing and we should try to fix the societal problems generating the poor outcome.

City design hasn’t helped; however, even in places where walkability and public transit are good, Mexico City, Paris, China, etc., people are becoming obese.

Something else is a major contributor to this.

Re: Adult Obesity Facts

#62

Post by kiba »

rjbwork wrote: post #2

We've designed our cities, suburbs, food industry, and society such that the average person is at least overweight, nearing obese. If the average person suffers from what should be an anomaly, perhaps it is less a personal failing than a societal failing and we should try to fix the societal problems generating the poor outcome.

Yes, exercise is good for you, and should be taken, but diet seems to be the most important factor.

Research had came out indicating that exercise doesn't really do much good in losing weight. Might help in maintaining weight.

Re: Adult Obesity Facts

#63

Post by [deleted] »

echelon wrote: post #31
rjbwork wrote: post #2

We've designed our cities, suburbs, food industry, and society such that the average person is at least overweight, nearing obese. If the average person suffers from what should be an anomaly, perhaps it is less a personal failing than a societal failing and we should try to fix the societal problems generating the poor outcome.

People love to rail on suburbs, but I'd be willing to bet that sugar is the real problem. Sugar is in everything. Snacks, restaurant food, drinks, sauces. It puts the metabolism into a bad state and desensitizes the body to its deleterious effects. Before you know it you're overweight, mentally foggy, and pre-diabetic. Not a good place to start working out or going for outdoor activities. People exercise and walk mor…

[deleted]

Re: Adult Obesity Facts

#64

Post by baggy_trough »

rjbwork wrote: post #12
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we should try to fix the societal problems generating the poor outcome What would this look like policywise?

Walkable and bikable cities and suburbs. Increased transit. Reduced working hours so that people don't feel the need to choose between health and survival and stress. Getting the garbage out of our supermarkets. Not subsidizing massive amounts of corn syrup and sugar. I really could go on.

The so-called "garbage" in our supermarkets is there because people want to buy it. What gives somebody else the right to say that they should not do so?

Re: Adult Obesity Facts

#65

Post by CabSauce »

maerF0x0 wrote: post #47
CabSauce wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At a minimum, make it more costly to eat unhealthy foods by taxing added sugar and subsidizing healthy foods.

IMO we dont need more late (consumer) applied taxes, first we need to remove the negative taxes (subsidies) from the input.

That's a great start. However, any tax/subsidy filters down to the consumer in a roughly efficient market.

Re: Adult Obesity Facts

#66

Post by jmclnx »

asciimov wrote: post #5

We need to outlaw sugar and restrict simple carbs in made to order foods.

I would not saw 'outlaw', but a lot of food has sugar added to it, especially bread type items. I even heard meat products have added sugar.

I would say if a food item that people would think should not have added sugar, a very large label would be required on the package that states "SUGAR/CORN SYRUP ADDED".

I heard corn syrup is even worse and that is used instead of Sugar in a lot of places.

Re: Adult Obesity Facts

#67

Post by Jtsummers »

waiseristy wrote: post #26

There are plenty of people who consume highly processed foods and stay skinny. There are plenty of people who eat greasy, sugary, fattening foods who stay skinny. The problem is not car culture, sugar, and processed foods. The problem is overeating. America, and the rest of the first world has major issues with food addiction and a culture associated with "eating until the plate is clean"

The problem is that there is no the problem.

Our foods are unhealthy (low nutritional value, even if they provide the calorie content necessary to live; vitamin and mineral deficiencies lead to poor health outcomes).

Our foods are often too high in calories (portion sizing, sugary drinks, "coffee" that's 90% sugar).

Our culture is increasingly sedentary (cars versus walking and biking, television and computers that are engaging and help people lose track of time idling away on the couch).

And plenty of other factors I'm not thinking of right now. You can't point to any one of these and say this is the problem. They're all problems and all need to be addressed. Educating people on the impact of food choices and health (not even obesity, all the other health impacts). Reconstructing cities without the need for a 30+ minute commute to work or a grocery store. Emphasizing community activities that get people out of their homes and away from their televisions and computers (harder right now with COVID restrictions). Discouraging (by some measure) restaurants from serving grossly unhealthy serving sizes.

Some of these are more feasible than others. We aren't going to rebuild cities any time soon. Public transportation is a political third rail. People in some regions enjoy aiming their trucks at cyclists (too many close encounters in GA for me to even want to use a bike lane in that state again). Others are more feasibly addressed though.

Re: Adult Obesity Facts

#68

Post by reactspa »

BMI is a deeply flawed measure.

It caters to a very specific body-type.

Highly muscular people are usually classified as "obese" according to BMI.

That such a deeply flawed measure achieved mainstream acceptance is quite the achievement.

Re: Adult Obesity Facts

#69

Post by lotsofpulp »

gaws wrote: post #58
waiseristy wrote: post #26

There are plenty of people who consume highly processed foods and stay skinny. There are plenty of people who eat greasy, sugary, fattening foods who stay skinny. The problem is not car culture, sugar, and processed foods. The problem is overeating. America, and the rest of the first world has major issues with food addiction and a culture associated with "eating until the plate is clean"

> There are plenty of people who consume highly processed foods and stay skinny. There are plenty of people who eat greasy, sugary, fattening foods who stay skinny. These people must burn at the stake.

I better start researching fat suits.

Re: Adult Obesity Facts

#70

Post by kleiba »

umvi wrote: post #28
asciimov wrote: post #5

We need to outlaw sugar and restrict simple carbs in made to order foods.

Outlaw sugar? What about those of us that can use sugar on moderation? Sugar passports might be better - you have to get a physical from a doctor and if your BMI and biometrics are ok you can get a sugar passport allowing you to order soft drinks and purchase candy.

Haha, right. Good luck trying to propose that.

But I agree with you on your first point: there's nothing wrong with sugar in moderation. But it seems that it's just too hard to keep it in moderation for a lot of people. And that's understandable: high calorie, highly palatable foods are often packed with sugar and fat (hence "highly palatable") but don't contain enough fiber to fill you up and -more importantly- keep you full for a long time. So you're gonna be hungry again soon, despite having just consumed a shit load of calories.

It's too easy to consume more calories than you actually burn, especially since we hardly move anymore compared to previous generations. Our life style is sitting down.

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