BS: Obesity out of control

Subject: BS: Obesity out of control
From: GUEST,Martin
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 05:32 PM

Child obesity 'doubles in decade'
Overweight people
Obesity costs the NHS £1bn a year
Childhood obesity in England has doubled in 10 years, figures show.

One in four children is obese, the Health and Social Care Information Centre survey of 2,000 children found.

From 1995 to 2004, obesity among boys aged 11-15 rose from 14% to 24% and girls from 15% to 26%. The rate rose slightly in the two to 10 age group.

Campaigners said England was facing a "health timebomb", and ministers said more had to be done to hit the target to halt the child obesity rise by 2010.

And all the bloody government does is attack smokers. Wouldn't do if we attacked the fat arse brigade.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: Bill D
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 05:41 PM

no...because smoking is total choice,,,obesity is only partial choice.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: Wesley S
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 05:48 PM

The problem with smokers is that they exhale - and stink up the air for the rest of us. I've never seen an overweight person stuffing donuts down someone else's mouth.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: bobad
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 05:54 PM

What about automobiles, factories, coal fired power plants etc. Wesley? Going after smokers is a red herring IMO, it's much easier to make it look like the government is doing something about the environment by targeting the little guy as opposed to big bizness.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 05:56 PM

"obesity is only partial choice"
False

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: GUEST,Glamdrake
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 06:14 PM

Being an asshole, on the other hand, is 100% choice.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: ridge plucker
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 06:22 PM

Clinton,

   What kind of medical background and expertise do you have to back up your "false" statement?

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: ridge plucker
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 06:23 PM

Oops...sorry, I'm on my husband's account, but it is me, Lilyfestre/Michelle. :)

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 06:46 PM

I can put up with smokers as these days they are confined in public places. On the other hand these pigs take up the whole sidewalk and society takes them by the hand and more is spent on them blocking up our medical centers than smokers. Smokers pay a lot of tax, the fat asses don't.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: Ebbie
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 06:49 PM

I am obese. I was not obese as a kid. So let's talk about obese kids.

Surely it is evident that it's not the 'fault' of the kids alone if such a hefty (pun noted) number of them are obese.

There are many factors at work. Among them:

1) Fast food. Families go out to eat far, far more than they used to. I read that what soldiers on duty far from home miss most is the family's visits to McDonald's!

2) Sugary cereals and sodas and fatty chips/crisps and many other taste-friendly foods

3) Parents who did 'without' such treats and like the idea that they can afford it for their children.

4) Portions

5) A different ethos- Children have much more disposable "income" than they had in previous generations; parents may not oversee the child's money as much as previously, when the expectation was that 'This percentage you can spend, this percentage is for your savings account'.

6) And the heaviest factor: Children, by and large, no longer live on farms. When children had chores they were less sedentary. When children were on farms they had more access to swimming holes, they often had trapping lines and if they wanted to go hunting with Dad or Uncle Joe they would quickly learn that they needed to be able to keep up.

Nowadays, for many children chores consist of taking out the trash and emptying the dishwasher. Some may have a paper route, but even that is different because parents today often recognize the exploitative nature of a child's paper route. Frankly, I am appalled by it. We expect our children to get up in the dark and trudge for hours in the cold and the heat for the equivalent of perhaps 3 dollars a day. I don't see how we can say it builds character.(Nowadays many of them no longer have to do their own collecting so that part has gotten better.)

7) Some children in the past were avid readers, and some of them were overweight. Today many, many children spend hours each day playing video games and a proportionate number of them are overweight.

There are other reasons, I am sure. It's just a different world out there.

Anyway, that's my opinion.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 07:00 PM

Well, I notice that in places like Cuba and Trinidad, for example, the population is much trimmer and healthier looking. Why? They are way more physically active than we are, that's why. So, yes, I think the changes in North American lifestyle which have made people much more sedentary than they once were are the biggest factor, along with the crummy fast food diet a lot of people are eating.

I played outside a lot when I was a kid. I didn't have any video games. It makes a big difference.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: Sorcha
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 07:00 PM

Obesity CAN be caused by thyroid imbalance.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: Zany Mouse
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 07:06 PM

And poverty. Lets not forget that poor families have to fill up on stodge and fattening things because they simply can't afford to do anything else. It's cheaper for a mum to put out a bread based meal than a salad after all.

Rhiannon

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: michaelr
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 07:18 PM

A huge culprit is the high-fructose corn syrup that's used as sweetener (instead of sugar) in just about everything here in the US. I'd be interested to know if it's as widely used in the UK.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: Bill D
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 07:20 PM

Clinton simply ignores the truth.....My brother & I were raised in the same house on the same diet...he could gain an ounce waking past the mashed potatoes, while I was totally skinny until I was past 30.

He got VERY heavy, but has learned to control the worst of it.....I still can eat almost anything with little consequence.

Of course some people don't try hard enough, and kids ARE getting bad starts....and we DON'T exercise enough in general....but wild generalizations about bad eating habits are stupid!

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 07:20 PM

I've had weight problems all my life.

Various times I've shed amounts up to six stones.

In the last couple of years I started getting angina.

Everybody (medical staff included) treated me like I was Desperate Dan off to drink another fifty pints of Guinness and wolf down a few dozen cow pies. Some still do.

Only when my arteries proved to be totally clear did they put radio active isotopes into my bloodstream and it revealed that I had an abnormally sited artery. It runs into the wrong side of my heart, and because of this my heart doesn't get a proper blood supply.

So a lifetime of lethargy and physical inactivity was explained at a stroke. And because I'm inactive, I burn up less calories than you self righteous wiry bastards. All those abusive PE teachers provided with an explanantion why some enormous huge fat kids could run faster than me - just like that.

I'm willing to bet there are simple explanantions for half the overweight people like me. Basically its easier to screw us up and abuse us and exploit us with a 'diet industry'.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: Midchuck
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 07:30 PM

What are "Cow Pies" in Britain?

By the US definition, one would be unlikely to eat them, no matter how hungry.

Peter

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: jacqui.c
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 07:38 PM

The term 'Cow pies' comes from a children's comic, the Dandy, one of whose denizens was Desperate Dan, a cowboy who did all sorts of amazing feats and ate Cow Pies - basically a whole cow with the horns sticking out of the pastry.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 07:42 PM

Still when you look at it people seem to accept these monsters walking on the sidewalks and blocking up stores with huge asses and guts. they turn me looking at them. A lot need put through a bacon slicer.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: Bill D
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 07:56 PM

You are a total ass, anonymous one....I don't even want to dignify you by saying 'guest'.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 08:07 PM

quote..And poverty. Lets not forget that poor families have to fill up on stodge and fattening things because they simply can't afford to do anything else. It's cheaper for a mum to put out a bread based meal than a salad after all.

I think there is a lot in the above quoted .I think your diet/eating habits as a child sets you up for life my woman and i are bringing up two kids along with our own kids their diet was all fast food mcdonalds mainly from weaning age as soon as they could eat solids thats what they got shoved especially the youngest,parents were and are junkies.The sugar shit in mcdonalds food more so at that time than now alterd their brain chemistry we have been told, ie the pleasure reward thing.We both thought this was absolute nonsense but four years down the line we are convinced this is true now,it has been an absolute nightmare to get the youngest to eat a balanced diet and he is still addicted to sweets and sugar shite.To get him to eat vegatables or anything that is not laden with artificial sugars has been an absolute battle that still we havent fully adressed with him he would starve himself if we did not relent to some extent,to get the necessary vitamins and minerals he needs has to be done by stealth.With his older brother it has been more successful because he is old enough to grasp what the consequences are to not eating a healthier diet,although it has still been a battle of wills and to his credit he has fought it because he is a very intelligent little boy.They were addicts no other way to describe it and have to go through withdrawls the youngest as i said is still to some extent addicted.Its been a nightmare.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 08:07 PM

Pity they don't know who you are..."Guest". They could all take turns sitting on you until you die. ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: GUEST,not that
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 08:09 PM

Sorry im not that guest.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: GUEST,Wesley S
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 08:09 PM

Video games,rap music and Hillary Clinton. That's the cause of it all.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 08:18 PM

You leave Hillary out of this, you rotter.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: dianavan
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 08:20 PM

Lack of exercise, pop and fast food are the biggest culprits.

Its all about balance.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: Alba
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 08:41 PM

Other factors to consider.
Metabolic Syndrome
Depression and stress
Cushings Syndrome,
Hypothyroidism
Steroid medications
Antidepressants and other mood altering medications

Each one of the above or a combination of several can cause obesity.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: GUEST,Desdemona
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 09:05 PM

Wow.

I have to say that I'm always taken aback by the vituperative hostility (or is it fear, "there but for the grace of God," etc.?) aroused by the very sight or, as in "Guest"'s post above, existence of overweight people. I just can't help but wonder what could be the source of such an unwarranted and seemingly furious reaction to the appearance of total strangers with whom one is apparently unconnected...the armchair psychologist in me can't help but wonder what unhappy personal associations a person like "Guest" must have, and whether their time might not be better spent on working on those issues, rather than viciously attacking people who are, presumably, suffering as a result of their physical condition than he or she is? And before he or she even tries it on, I'll tell you that I'm 5'4" and weigh about 120 lbs, so I'm not "defending" my right to be a "monster" with a "huge ass and/or gut", although if I did have them I'd be bound to say it was no damned business of anyone else's!

Why so threatened, hmmm?

D

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: GUEST,Chongo Chimp
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 09:21 PM

I don't figger it that way, Desdemona. I think they're just screwin' around tryin' to pull someone's chain, that's all. That's what cheap little punks do in their spare time.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: Bobert
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 09:39 PM

Garbage in, garbage over the belt... That accounts for a lot of obesity...

...but, unfortunatately, that's not the entire story... Some folks is just genetically more fuel efficeient and just don't metabolize calories as others...

I've always been on the other side in that I burn 'um up jus' typin' this on Mudcat... I can't gain weight... But I'm not in the majority here...

But, yeah, better diet would knock out a lot of obesity... Not all, however, dang it...

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: GUEST,Chongo Chimp
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 09:44 PM

I been noticin' a small increase in the weight department. I've gained maybe 15 pounds. It could be the burgers. It could be the booze. I gotta look into doin' some more pushups or else get a new girlfriend. Doin' the latter usually knocks about 20 pounds off me in a month, easy.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: GUEST,Desdemona
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 09:54 PM

I suppose you're right and it could just be simple attention-seeking behaviour, but it always just strikes me as sort of weird, like being violently offeded by the sight of someone with red hair, or anyone who wears a green shirt, etc. It's like, "why should you care so much bout something that has nothing to do with you?", you know?

~D

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: GUEST,Chongo Chimp
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 10:19 PM

Those types sometimes try to get my attention too. I give 'em a mouthful of knuckles, and they usually leave right after that.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: katlaughing
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 10:34 PM

Good points, Alba. Also sleep apnea and genetics.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: kendall
Date: 16 Aug 06 - 05:32 AM

Mothers who force feed their kids when they are little have a lot to do with their weight problems in later years. And, if she is a lousy cook to boot, well...My ex couldn't boil shit for a tramp. The garbage can had ulcers. The flies in the yard took up a collection to get the screen door fixed.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: LilyFestre
Date: 16 Aug 06 - 06:11 AM

Alba,

Well said my friend.

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: GUEST,HP
Date: 16 Aug 06 - 09:45 AM

Well said, Kendall. My mother was an awful cook ... all the vegetables came out the same colour of grey .... no seasoning of any sort. At one point the Doctor recommended I be given Mars Bars just so I ate something. Once I got to Grammer school and discovered food with taste (and my school meals there were really good) there was no stopping me, and I've been overweight ever since, although I don't eat dramatically more than my friends, and have quite an active life.

I've always wondered whether eating very little as a small child caused my metabolism to 'learn' to be ultra-efficient, and to remain that way since.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: MMario
Date: 16 Aug 06 - 09:55 AM

register now for training in childhood obesity says the ggole ad. I wonder if they actual mean in copin with or preventing childhood obesity? I doubt many people want to learn how to CAUSE it!

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: Scoville
Date: 16 Aug 06 - 10:14 AM

I can't make up my mind. Part of me think that U.S. school need to reimplement home economics/management (my mother had to take both a nutrition class and a how-to-balance-your-checkbook-and-apply-for-a-loan class in high school), not in the brainwashing-our-daughters sense but as a gender-neutral class on nutrition and basic food preparation that doesn't involve frying. I am absolutely shocked at the things I hear people say and how little they understand about food. And no, I'm neither a nutritionist nor a health-food nut.

Part of me thinks that that would just be another doorway for the junk food lobby and another scapegoat for people who complain that U.S. schools suck because they "waste" money on things like art and gym.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: SINSULL
Date: 16 Aug 06 - 12:05 PM

I went on my first diet when I was eleven. In my house, you cleaned your plate (a plate filled by my mother which always included a huge serving of mashed potatoes and gravy and white bread and butter) or sat there until you did. In their defence - they grew up during the depression and learned the inportance of food.

My younger brother was the black sheep of the family. His road to perdition started with a refusal to eat more than he needed to stay alive. He remains thin today as do his children.

Once I got to high school, I controlled my own portions and managed to stay thin through college. Once I started working and sitting at a desk and entertaining customers on an unlimited expense account, my weight climbed.

Mt metabolism is all screwed up. I eat to handle stress - another habit learned in childhood. But ultimately, though genes and habit play into it, I am fat because I choose to be. I alone decide what goes in.

It saddens me to see very young children of eight and nine who are grossly overweight. Computers, hand held games, and fast food are at the root of the problem. They are teased by their classmates, will be shunned in the work place and be lucky if they are hired at all. Unless of course the entire work force is overweight.

Be interesting to see if the change in the general population will generate a new body ideal - Rubenesque models with hips and breasts and tummies. Probably not. More likely, gastic by-pass will be as common as acne.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: Bill D
Date: 16 Aug 06 - 01:09 PM

well, Guest HP is correct that the body does learn early on how to process calories and establishes 'set points', sending messages of hunger independent of actual requirements.

This is only ONE factor in the over-all picture of how much weight we gain. Emotional factors, genetics, exercise, culture, age...etc...all are involved, and it ain't easy to deal with!

I said that I had very little problem....actually, my 'ideal' weight would be 10-15 lbs under what I weigh now, but since I don't gain, no matter what I eat, losing even 5 lbs. would require enormous self-control and effort. I have started walking and doing some other exercise, and cutting back on the bags of cookies that I love....we shall see.

(I am 6'...thin frame...175lbs... Until I was 30 yrs. old, I weighed 135-140. They laughed at me when I wanted 26'x34' jeans. I would 'like' to be 160, as I was when I did serious labor-intensive work, but lordy, those mashed potatoes are good!

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: Scoville
Date: 16 Aug 06 - 01:23 PM

My brother is 6'3" and long-legged, when he was in high school, wore 26 x 36 or, if he could get them, 26 x 38. He usually had to special-order them. Talk about a bean-pole.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 Aug 06 - 01:39 PM

He could get a job playing the skinny kid in the Bazooka Joe comics if they ever made it into a TV show or movie. (and boy, would it be a lousy one!)

You know, the kid with the red turtleneck sweater that came up to his eyes?

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: MMario
Date: 16 Aug 06 - 01:46 PM

Bill - if you don't GAIN no matter what you eat - wouldn't LOSING be relativly simple?   I would think if you burn it off no matter what you eat that you would be in danger of losing too much too fast if you tried even a simple diet.

on the other hand - I'm one of those that gains weight looking at pictures of chocolate.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: Scoville
Date: 16 Aug 06 - 02:00 PM

Heh heh--yeah. My dad was like that, too. 6'1" and I think his army pants had a 24-inch waist. Yikes.

I didn't inherit it. Oh, well. I seem to be able to keep it under control without a whole lot of effort but I do tend to pudge out a bit if I overindulge.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 16 Aug 06 - 02:09 PM

Exercise, of course, is a great way of sorting out obesity. Schools should spend more time getting kids hot, sweaty and breathless during physical training lessons rather than trying to introduce fancy cross-curricular activities into physical training classes. Being overweight is a lot more dangerous to a persons health than smoking - which is, of course, also, not recommended!

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 Aug 06 - 02:22 PM

It's simple. Legislate the conversion of all TV's to models that are powered by exercise bicycles. The TV will only show a picture if you generate sufficient power by pedalling the bicycle rapidly. Additionally, make sure to broadcast plenty of porno films, so that people will be strongly motivated to keep that TV running no matter what!

This would work great, at least where men are concerned. I predict that in a year's time the population would trim down significantly.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 16 Aug 06 - 02:37 PM

I was a fat baby, fat child overweight teenager and am a fat adult. I find losing weight extremely difficult while gaining it seems to be very easy - yes some of that is due to high calorie foods but not all. My eldest two children were fed similar meals, given equal amounts of treats and taken out to the same activites. They are both very tall daughter 6ft and son 6ft5ins but whilst my son is as thin as a lat and can't gain weight no matter how much junk he consumes my daughter has the same problem I have.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 Aug 06 - 02:41 PM

The body is built by the soul's self-image. It's a mysterious business. You can, however, work the process backwards from the other end through physical means...no doubt about that...but those physical means don't work the same way for everybody.

Subject: RE: BS: Obesity out of control
From: katlaughing
Date: 16 Aug 06 - 04:31 PM

I didn't have any problem with weight until I was neutered at 27 yrs. When my weight began to climb the doc told me it was all in my head and not to worry about it. (Arsehole!) Then we found I had a leaky heart valve, it became harder and harder to keep up with enough activity, until eventually I weighed a lot more than I ever ought've and felt helpless to do much about it.

Now, a year after getting the new valve, I am finally energetic enough to go to exercise three times per week plus do more daily activity than I have in years and it shows. After two months of going to "Girlfriends in Motion," I have lost ten pounds. It also helps that I eat differently than I did when I was so frustrated at not being able to do the physical things I wanted to. Like Sins, I tend to eat because of stress, but if I am very careful I can make it through, a day at a time, and not eat too badly. It feels as though my body is fine-tuning itself and does NOT like it if I deviate with any kind of "junk" which would be anything not fresh and/or whole grain, etc.

It's a process, ya know?

Scoville, I agree about the schools. Kids need more recess time, more art, and gender-neutral mandatory classes in nutrition, etc. They also need to bring back Social Studies!

kat