Choosing to be fat
Free choice is a slippery thing. If you think you don’t have it, you don’t. And it is tempting NOT to have it - easier to blame your problems on others or on capricious fortune than make the tough choices. A good test case is obesity, a growing problem worldwide. Most fat people choose to be fat by what they do or won’t do, but it is not that simple.
The Economist runs a special report on the growing problem of obesity. We Americans are still world leaders, but the rest of the world is quickly catching up.
Fat people often blame genetics. They are wrong; people today are generally fatter than their parents or grandparents. Watch look at the "fat guys" in old movies. People who were legendarily fat in the 1950s or 1960s would today seem normal, maybe a little "husky". Genetics can't change that fast. Habits can and habits did.
BTW - I do not advocate that everyone be in Olympic athlete shape. Maybe a very simple standard would be to be no heavier than your grandfather at a similar age. That would be a good start for many. (If grandpa was fatter than you are, and you are not very athletic, check into that family history.)
The most facile explanation for the new fattiness is diet. We eat a lot more fatty or sugary food. Well, maybe. I grew on a diet of Polish sausage and bratwurst and in those days they were not made "lean." My father saved bacon grease to fry and spread on bread. My father ate a lot and drank a lot of beer, but his work was physical and since we didn't own a car and had to walk everywhere we went, he never got fat. Chrissy's parents were farmers. I could not believe how much her brothers ate. And it was not low calorie fare: pork and beef, potatoes and always lots of pies and cakes.
We clearly have more chances to eat and we use of them. But it seems to me that the larger change is on the other side of the equation. We still eat like farmers and workers, but we no longer work like farmers and workers. Even people who are still farming and working don't do the kinds of physical labor of the past. Machines do the heavy work. Most of us don't do any real physical work at all. It gets worse. Many opportunities for routine exercise are gone. In lots of office buildings, you cannot take the stairs even if you want to. Stairways are locked and alarmed. Parking is provided close to buildings. Most devices come with remote controls, so you can do all you want to do from the comfort of your lazy-boy lounger.
Maybe we could start attacking the obesity problem by making life a little less convenient. Stairs should always be available. I know it is impolite, but when I know stairs are available, I sometimes inform people waiting for the elevator that they have fixed the stairs. It might be a good idea to copy an idea from our German and Scandinavian friends. They often have a central parking area, from which you have to walk significant distances to get to shops and offices. These little things don't seem like much, but over the course of a day they can add up.
It would be a good idea to get calorie rich junk foods out of schools, but I think the war against such things is a little misplaced. Young people like to drink soda. Why not let them, but make it diet.
One thing we should NOT do is to accept obesity. There is some push to regularize it, even to make fat people a kind of protected group, a civil right. That is why I don't like the use of the word epidemic in relation to obesity. "Epidemic" implies that the victims have no choice. It is impossible to be obese w/o the complicity of the "victim". We can never address this problem if we take that kind of attitude.
As I said up to, choice is a slippery concept. I don't believe that the legions of fat people can simply decide to slim down by force of will. There is a place for public policy. We can encourage Coke drinkers to switch to Coke-Zero and we can put pressure on restaurants and shops to feature more nutritious foods. Consider the history of the anti-smoking movement. It is true that localities made laws against smoking and began to ban it from more and more places. But those laws did not turn the tide. The reason it worked was the social pressure. In the span of a very short time, it became socially unacceptable to smoke in most places. Smoking went from being a casual act (people lit up w/o a second thought), to being a slightly impolite one, to being an act of defiance of norms to being almost gone in the course of around two decades. A similar rapid social change is related to drunk driving. I can still recall when drunk driving was a kind of joke and the police would cut a drunk some slack. This is nearly impossible to believe today. We have to stigmatize overeating the same way we did smoking and public drunkenness.
Obesity is already one of our biggest health problems. Fat people have greater incidence of almost any malady you can think of. I knew a woman so fat that she cracked the bones in her ankles and crippled herself. Being fat is associated with heart disease, diabetes and even cancer. It is probably the biggest source of preventable suffering in the world today. We weren't so fat a generation ago, even a decade ago. We don't have to be so fat in the future. It is a choice.
The gordos of the world have choices. They can eat less, move more or try a combination of those things (probably the best choice). Or they can choose to remain fat, not good for them and not good for any of us. Normal people also have choices In the tradition of hating the sin but loving the sinner, we should help gordo when we can, but never accept obesity as a routine or accidental.
Posted by Christine & John at December 16, 2012 7:30 PMOnce Obamacare kicks in, we won’t ever have to worry about obesity again. The government will be telling us what we can or cannot eat. We are on the very edge of a utopian society with no sickness, no hunger, no pain, no war, no poverty. I, for one, can’t wait.
Posted by: george at December 16, 2012 8:47 PMIt doesn’t help either that Americans fall for one diet scam after another. Instead of making the hard choice which is to permanently change your bad eating and exercise habits instead we opt for the quick way out or the fad diet that only has temporary results. When we get fat we blame it on the corn syrup or the hydrogenated oils or the gluten or the genetic modifications or even the fact that we no longer eat like cave folk did way back when.
When folks find out I don’t eat dead animals they tend to think then that I only eat lettuce. But let me tell you. I got pretty obese the last 5 years eating the same fats and carbs and sugars from plant sources as folks get in same quantities from eating dead animals. I lost about 70 pounds 18 months ago and have since gained 30 of that back. I’m back on my strict diet and exercise routine but if I don’t find a way to change the way I eat I’ll be right back where I was two years ago or worse. No fad diets will stop it.
Posted by: Adam Ducker at December 16, 2012 10:38 PMI don’t know anything about being fat. I’m 6’ 1” tall and ain’t never weighed over 220 lbs. So I won’t put any blame on folks for being fat. But I do know from seeing what some of my overweight friends and family have gone through that it is unhealthy.
I have a friend that is close to 600 lbs. He is diabetic, has heart trouble, has back problems, and has problems walking and standing. This is the worst case of the folks I know that are fat. But most have at least one or two of these problems.
What I don’t understand is that none of them like being fat. But only two have tried to do anything about it.
My 600 pound friend has just had some sort of surgery that’s suppose to cause him to lose weight. Sure hope it work for him.
Adam
One of my fat friends is a woman that turned vegetarian about 6 years ago. Until she stopped eating meat she was the proper weight for her size. After she stopped she gained 85 lbs. She’s now down to 40 lbs overweight and is working it.
I didn’t know until then that vegetarians could be overweight. Most I’ve know have been underweight. Which to me can’t be very good for them either.
Ron Brown:
If you’re older you may remember vegetarians from a time when it was pretty tough to get by and you ate a ton of whole foods and made your own meals which is the key to almost any healthy diet. My parents were vegetarians long ago for a short time but gave it up because our protein sources ended up needing to consist mostly of deer meat year around because we were poor and hunting was cheap. My mother concerned herself with now defunct ideas about complete proteins and food combinations. They ended up eating a lot of strange stuff because of it.
These days vegetarians have frozen, prepared and processed foods just like any regular eater. We have restaurants that serve multiple vegetarian options. The amount and types of foods matter so much for Americans and even vegetarians. I can go to Red Robin and get a 1,500 or even 2,000 calorie plate with a vegetarian burger and french fries. That is how I get off track with my habits.
I cook 100% vegetarian meals at home for around 500 to 700 calories and that’s really nice and less money too of course even ramping up my consumption of produce. You have to eat a quarter of your plate or half your plate at most restaurants to get so few calories and then the staff thinks you hated the food and looks at you strangely. At Olive Garden who wants to be the one person in the joint that isn’t eating everything in sight?
Americans have got to stop and think about how much and what kinds of foods they are eating. Smaller portions, more whole foods, and for goodness sake stop drinking non-diet sodas by the gallon. None of this is easy or we’d all be skinny but it’s a more responsible course.
Posted by: Adam Ducker at December 17, 2012 7:54 AMAdam
I reckon being older is a matter of how you see things. I’m 66 and don’t really consider myself older.
When I was a bit younger I used to really pack the food away. I loved restaurants that heaped on the food. Along about 6 years ago my appetite started to change. I started eating less, but the restaurants just keep on piling on the food. I eat what I want, usually about 1/2, then ask for a to go box, and eat the rest latter.
The thing I don’t understand is why everyone thinks that men are supposed to be big eaters. And a whole heap of them try to live up to that stereotype. But they don’t get enough exercise to burn off the calories and they get fat and don’t understand why.
One of the reasons I’ve cut down on how much I eat is I’m not as active as I used to be and I don’t get as hungry as I used to. Even though I still get plenty of exercise it’s not like it used to be.
You don’t have to worry about me drinking diet sodas, by the gallon or the can. Can’t stand the taste of the things. While I don’t drink soda by the gallon, I do drink 4 or 5 cans a day. Got a Dr. Pepper at my desk right now. If I wasn’t drinking them I’d have coffee. Both work wonders if your taking a water pill everyday .
Ron Brown:
I say older relative to me. I was born in 1982 and I have no strong memory of my parents strange vegetarian ways. It’s much, much easier now thanks to decades of demand for alternatives to meat and meat bi-products.
On the cola front if you don’t have a weight problem and you’re checking your cholesterol it’s probably a safe bet that you can continue to eat and drink the way you like for a while. I have to avoid non-diet colas just to cut out some extra calories here and there.
There’s not just a perception of a big eating man but also meat eating men. Too many calories of saturated fat and cholesterol added to decades at a stressful job and that’s a nice combination for heart disease in middle aged men.
Posted by: Adam Ducker at December 17, 2012 12:55 PMWe can probably eat less meat than we do. Meat is calorie rich. Some people attribute our human intelligence to meat eating. As long as we ate only vegetation, we had to spend all our time eating and didn’t have time for the pursuits of civilization.
But I don’t think today’s Americans are fat because we eat too much meat. In fact, richer Americans, who eat more meat, are thinner than poorer Americans.
As I wrote above, I think the big change in the equation has been on the exercise side. Many people have been lazy for a long time, but it is only recently that they can avoid physical activity so effectively.
Posted by: C&J at December 17, 2012 5:01 PM“As I wrote above, I think the big change in the equation has been on the exercise side.”
I think that you are correct, C&J. I saw a re-creation of the Lewis and Clark expedition a few years ago. As part of the program, typical meals and recipes of the expedition were prepared. I was astounded at the amount of food that the expedition typically ate. However, upon reflection, the amount of energy expended by the members during a typical day was equally astounding compared to today.
Posted by: Rich at December 17, 2012 6:23 PMC&J:
I agree. I wasn’t trying to blame fatness on meat eating but trying to say that the basis of a diet is the same whether it’s fat and carbs from plants or fat and carbs from animals. Eating too much is a big problem. Exercising more would be better but if you had to choose between eating less or exercising more you’d almost always want to choose eating less.
Posted by: Adam Ducker at December 17, 2012 7:49 PMSome of the obesity problem has to do with someone’s metabolism. I have 2 sisters that are equally active. One eats anything she wants and barely gains an ounce. The other one just looks at food and puts on 10 pounds. Both will eat just about anything. But the last one doesn’t eat as much.
When I’m traveling I like to go to truck stops to eat. These places ain’t known for their salads, and heap on the food. Most of it fried. When I see guys that sit all day behind the wheel of a truck polish off a big old plate of food and have a big desert, I can see why so many are way overweight. This can’t be very healthy for them.
I was at The Farm House just off exit 5, Lake Park, GA, the other day. I like to eat there when I’m over that way. I pulled in behind a car form Ohio. As it turned out the couple were at the table nest to me. While the were looking at the menu the women asked her husband why everything was fried. I’m thinking, Lady this is the South everything down here gets fried.
If y’all ever find yourselves in Lowndes County, GA around meal time stop by the Farm House. They serve up a wicked alligator plate.
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Genetics IS the problem!!! We are actually changing our genetics through over-eating. If parents over-eat and are fat, their offspring have an automatic genetic tendency to be fat. The kids have a higher “set point”. This effect is obviously happening, but researchers haven’t really caught up to verify this scientifically yet.
So, we have this going on in addition to just plain inactivity and over-eating. The parents’ weight at conception determining the kids’ propensity for fatness explains very easily why we have so many obese kids at an early age. Lifestyle alone would never explain that. Of course they over-eat, but it is BECAUSE of the preset genetics.
Posted by: bptr at January 24, 2013 5:10 PMGenetics IS the problem!!! We are actually changing our genetics through over-eating. If parents over-eat and are fat, their offspring have an automatic genetic tendency to be fat. The kids have a higher “set point”. This effect is obviously happening, but researchers haven’t really caught up to verify this scientifically yet.
So, we have this going on in addition to just plain inactivity and over-eating. The parents’ weight at conception determining the kids’ propensity for fatness explains very easily why we have so many obese kids at an early age. Lifestyle alone would never explain that. Of course they over-eat, but it is BECAUSE of the preset genetics.
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