Obesity: Why are we getting fat? :epizza:

[ThisIsMyName]

Originally Posted by HydrogenBond

One aspect of obesity that is often overlooked is perception of wealth.
The wealthy parent may cut off the crust for their little darling and throw it in the barrel. The poor parent will tell the child to eat it, since there is not enough food to give everyone 30% more food to suppliment the waste.

I actually have to disagree with that... Though it may be true is some cases, it's just the opposite in most. If what you're saying is true, wouldn't that mean that all the poor citizens would be perfectly lean because they eat a normal amount or less food a day than a rich person. Plus, my family is pretty, what you would call "well off" and I'm not exactly thin... In my opinion, it all depends on what you eat in what portions and all that. Sometimes it's gentic, sometimes it is how your family feeds you. it's a different case every time.

[pgrmdave]

I have a tendency to eat okay at home (a little too much, but not overeating), but if I am eating out, I tend to eat everything. I know it's faulty logic, but I can't help looking at food on the plate and seeing wasted money.

[ThisIsMyName]

Yeah, I'm the same. I always think of the people who can barely afford food and feel ashamed of myself if I leave food on my plate... Has anyone ever been to a Food Show? Hundreds of cooks are there cooking meals and feeding Food Service customers for free. When the show is over, even if there was only one slice cut off a large roast, it all goes in the trash. Some people take that for granted I guess... But let's not let this topic get distracted from Why people are obese to Why why people have food issues concerning money.

[InfiniteNow]

Originally Posted by ThisIsMyName

But let's not let this topic get distracted from Why people are obese to Why why people have food issues concerning money.

You're absolutely right. New thread...


Food conservation and issues with safety

[Southtown]

Obesity and disease are mostly nutrition-related, as well as exercise of course.

http://www.newstarget.com/020177.html

[Michaelangelica]

MOST disease is nutrition related? Maleria? Aids?. Some perhaps but not most surely?

Good article from the Times again
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...53C1A9659C8B63

THE WAY WE LIVE NOW: 10-12-03;

The (Agri)Cultural Contradictions Of Obesity

Article Tools Sponsored By
By MICHAEL POLLAN
Published: October 12, 2003

Sometimes even complicated social problems turn out to be simpler than they look. Take America's ''obesity epidemic,'' arguably the most serious public-health problem facing the country.

It turns out that we have been here before, sort of, though the last great American binge involved not food, but alcohol. It came during the first decades of the 19th century, when Americans suddenly began drinking more than they ever had before or have since, going on a collective bender that confronted the young republic with its first major public-health crisis -- the obesity epidemic of its day. Corn whiskey, suddenly superabundant and cheap, was the drink of choice, and in the 1820's the typical American man was putting away half a pint of the stuff every day. That works out to more than five gallons of spirits a year for every American. The figure today is less than a gallon.

. . .
corn (along with most other agricultural commodities) is again abundant and cheap, and once again the easiest thing to do with the surplus is to turn it into more compact and portable value-added commodities: corn sweeteners, cornfed meat and chicken and highly processed foods of every description. The Alcoholic Republic has given way to the Republic of Fat, but in both cases, before the clever marketing, before the change in lifestyle, stands a veritable mountain of cheap grain. Until we somehow deal with this surfeit of calories coming off the farm, it is unlikely that even the most well-intentioned food companies or public-health campaigns will have much success changing the way we eat.

The underlying problem is agricultural overproduction, and that problem (while it understandably never receives quite as much attention as underproduction) is almost as old as agriculture itself. Even in the Old Testament, there's talk about how to deal not only with the lean times but also with the fat: the Bible advises creation of a grain reserve to smooth out the swings of the market in food.

[Southtown]

Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

MOST disease is nutrition related? Maleria? Aids?. Some perhaps but not most surely?

What do you think the immune system runs on? Petrochemicals?

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by Southtown

What do you think the immune system runs on? Petrochemicals?

So you mean just lack of food by "nutrition"?
Even if you were starving I don't see that this would make your chances of being bitten by a Malaria mosquito or being infected with aids any more or less probable.

When I use the word 'nutrition' I mean the right sorts of foods and trace elements are being included in the diet.
http://www.nutritionaustralia.org/Fo...al%20Nutrition
Many diseases such as pellagra, goitre, rickets,gout and perhaps heart disease, cancer and arthritis are, I am sure, linked to poor nutrition. We probably underestimate its role in many diseases. However I don't think you can say most diseases are caused by poor nutrition.

[Michaelangelica]

Some more factors that have not been mentioned in this thread, sleep deprivation; maternal age and air-conditioning!!!!!
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...-23289,00.html

Obesity goes beyond food and inactivity

Sharon Natoli
September 23, 2006
SPEAKING at a breakfast session prior to the International Congress on Obesity held in Sydney a fortnight ago, professor David Allison from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, US, challenged attendees to think beyond the common understanding that lack of physical activity and food marketing practices are major contributors to the obesity epidemic.

His presentation highlighted additional, more obscure contributors to our obesity problem that have perhaps been overlooked due to our narrow focus on the big two – eating and activity.

. . .

Take sleep deprivation. Research shows those who have the least amount of sleep are more likely to be overweight.

The reason is that lack of sleep changes the hormone balance in the body, increasing the desire to eat while also leading to a reduction in metabolic rate. According to Allison, average daily sleep in the US has decreased over the past few decades from more than nine hours to about seven hou
\. . .
energy expenditure is not required to maintain body temperature.

Exposure to ambient temperatures outside the TNZ requires the body to increase its energy expenditure. By regulating the temperature of the environment we therefore use up less energy.

In southern US, where some of the highest rates of obesity are seen, the percentage of homes with central airconditioning increased from 37 per cent to 70 per cent between 1978 and 1997, and the percentage of homes without any airconditioning at all decreased from 26 per cent to 7 per cent. Should we be encouraging people not only to get outside for activity, but simply to experience the great outdoors no matter what the weather?

To draw on one final example, another contributor may be the fact women are choosing to have babies later in life. According to Allison, studies have shown the odds of obesity in children increase by around 14 per cent with every five-year increment in maternal age, and maternal age is increasing globally. In Australia, the average age of first-time mothers increased from 28.3 years in 1993 to 29.1 years in 1998.
In fact the average age of first birth in Australia is now among the oldest in the world.
Should we be encouraging women to have children earlier in life as a strategy to reduce the odds of having an overweight child?


Overall, it's a salient point to highlight that increasing weight gain and obesity are likely the result of a variety of factors over time, and unlikely to be due to just one or two factors – as significant as they may seem.

[Southtown]

Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

So you mean just lack of food by "nutrition"?
Even if you were starving I don't see that this would make your chances of being bitten by a Malaria mosquito or being infected with aids any more or less probable.

When I use the word 'nutrition' I mean the right sorts of foods and trace elements are being included in the diet.
http://www.nutritionaustralia.org/Fo...al%20Nutrition
Many diseases such as pellagra, goitre, rickets,gout and perhaps heart disease, cancer and arthritis are, I am sure, linked to poor nutrition. We probably underestimate its role in many diseases. However I don't think you can say most diseases are caused by poor nutrition.

I would say that our immune systems are capable of overcoming most diseases. And I would say that our immune systems need proper nutrition, as well as a lack of harmful additives. It's amusing that your post contains 7:2 my favor.