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Actually, STL has a degree in physics, from CalTech if memory serves. AFAIK she isn't a practicing physicist, but she's obviously far from being a moron. Still, even the brightest people can make such choices in exigent circumstances, and end up in the similarly bad situations. BTW I don't think she's obese, but she does talk about weight in many of the podcasts I listened to.
People with degrees can still be morons. Just saying.
This thing about reading labels being too much trouble is a joke.
People should buy fresh food that isn't processed then they know exactly what they're eating.
I also don't buy this nonsense about people being too tired at the end of a long day's labor to cook for themselves so frozen micro-wave crap is the way to go.
Or that good food is too expensive.
Plan ahead.Buy in bulk.Spend part of your weekend cooking and freezing food for the week ahead.
A single roast chicken can make about three meals if you know what to do with it.
Drink iced water instead of iced,sugary drinks.
Get a grilled chicken salad without dressing to go rather than a Big Mac and Fries.
Eat on a smaller plate to reduce portions.
Don't eat after 8pm.
Eat a proper breakfast of oatmeal and toast.
There are so many easy tips available online for anyone who is obese and seriously considering changing their lifestyles - and adding years to their lives.
You want to live long enough to see the grandkids surely ?
I come home and sometimes really do not feel like cooking if my day has been super stressful.. however, i have on hand frozen veg, and other ingredients in the fridge so i can grab it and make a meal. so if my fridge has healthy ingredients, then im good. Quicker than fast food really. i can grab out the fridge some sliced deli meat, cheese, olives, warm that up in a microwaved even. Steam Fresh vegetables and some meat already made, mix that together and i have a meal. But on sunday i usually cook for the weeks' lunch and breakfast (boiled eggs).
I come home and sometimes really do not feel like cooking if my day has been super stressful.. however, i have on hand frozen veg, and other ingredients in the fridge so i can grab it and make a meal. so if my fridge has healthy ingredients, then im good. Quicker than fast food really. i can grab out the fridge some sliced deli meat, cheese, olives, warm that up in a microwaved even. Steam Fresh vegetables and some meat already made, mix that together and i have a meal. But on sunday i usually cook for the weeks' lunch and breakfast (boiled eggs).
You're absolutely right of course.
Obesity is purely down to laziness and poor education.
Anyone with more than half a brain cell knows that if you constantly eat crap and don't exercise you're going to get fat.
And by exercise it could be something as simple as going for a walk.It costs nothing except a decent pair of shoes or trainers.
Likewise you are what you eat.Healthy food has never been cheaper or more available than it is today yet for the first time in the history of civilisation the poorest people are the fattest.
Yet people would rather stuff their faces with deep-fried crap than spend ten minutes grilling some lean meat or fish and steaming some vegetables and rice.
I had dinner with a former coworker recently, at a place that advertises "endless appetizers" (which would have not been my first choice for locale, but whatever.) She's always been a big woman, and as we're catching up, she's telling me about how her mother recently had a quadruple bypass, while at the same time downing mozzarella sticks and potato skins (extra ranch, of course.) It's none of my business, but I was thinking "do you not see the cause and effect, here?"
To be honest I was shocked to discover this is true! I researched it:
America:
Quote:
More than one-third (35.7 percent) of adults are considered to be obese. More than 1 in 20 (6.3 percent) have extreme obesity. Almost 3 in 4 men (74 percent) are considered to be overweight or obese. The prevalence of obesity is similar for both men and women (about 36 percent).
Canada:
Quote:
In 2014, 20.2% of Canadians aged 18 and older, roughly 5.3 million adults, reported height and weight that classified them as obese. The rate of obesity among men increased to 21.8% in 2014 from 20.1% in 2013, and is the highest obesity rate for men reported since 2003 (in 2003, 16.0% of males were obese).
I can answer only for myself. I eat a good diet of foods cooked from raw ingredients, I get almost daily exercise (running), I exercise portion control. I'm used to eating small portions because of my small size and my stomach sends me the message to stop sticking food in my face. I also rarely drink more than one beer, cocktail or glass of wine, and often opt for tea than alcohol. Yep, that's me: a cheap date!
I particularly enjoy salads with many vegetables and some protein (shrimp, chicken, etc.) added, rather than a spread of food excess and a steak the size of my head!
I too amuse myself people watching other shoppers and what they chose to buy. It cannot be denied that you look at the conveyor, then look at the shopper, and I am almost never surprised!
I do not eat convenience foods or fast foods. And nary a single drop of HFCS in my house!
I agree with you.
But the HFCS argument is superfluous if Americans were to prepare and cook their food from scratch like they used to.
I can make a beef stew to feed a family of six that costs less than a Big Mac and Fries with a half-gallon cup of sugared water laughingly called soda.
Laziness and stupidity is what drives obesity in this country.
If everyone wasn't trying to work 2 jobs to make a living wage I am sure there would be more home cooked meals and people in general would get more exercise. After working 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, most don't have enough energy to do more than open up a packet and eat.
I can make that same beef stew and I agree it's better for you than McDonald's any day. But I have the luxury of time.
If everyone wasn't trying to work 2 jobs to make a living wage I am sure there would be more home cooked meals and people in general would get more exercise. After working 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, most don't have enough energy to do more than open up a packet and eat.
I can make that same beef stew and I agree it's better for you than McDonald's any day. But I have the luxury of time.
Besides, not everything made from scratch is wholesome and healthy. You can make fried chicken and cornbread with bacon grease and an apple pie with love with your own two hands in your own kitchen. That is in no way healthier than a salad from Panera.
Wait - are you suggesting that being obese is therefore related to..... calorie over-consumption?
I thought that had been ruled out. I thought it was "glandular"/none of your business/chemical contrails/big pharma/big boned etc.
Please, you are being sarcastic, right? I'm pretty sure you are.
Your weight is determined by diet, exercise, basal metabolic rate (BMR), and various inherited factors (and also eating habits your parents taught you). It's a simple equation: your weight is determined by the caloric value of the food you consume minus the caloric value of exercise you expend, taking into account your BMR.
BMR is inherited, but your BMR changes throughout your life (declining by 20s or 30s and thereafter), and your lifestyle can also change your BMR.
Muscle tissue consumes far more calories than fat tissue. In fact fat tissue is where your body stores unneeded calories. Take two individuals the same weight but one has high muscle:fat ratio, the other has lower muscle:fat ratio. The muscled person will burn more calories even at rest compared to the fat person because muscles at rest still consume more calories than fat tissue. (And worse, fat tissue releases hormones that cause hunger.) Rather than my explaining the hormal aspects just read Hormones of the Adipose Tissue.
Noting that exercise burns calories, and the bodily demands upon requiring more calories, adipose tissues (fat) release more energy to feed your muscles, and thus lose in weight. This alters your bodily balance towards more muscle and less fat, and this changes your BMR, makes your body less efficient in that you burn calories rather than store them in fat. Exercise changes your BMR in addition to expending excess calories rather than storing them in fat.
It's a lifestyle choice decision. Eat less, exercise more, and you will tend towards a healthy, athletic body type. Eat more, exercise less or none, invite obesity.
But in my opinion, without exercise you will never get to healthy body mass index (BMI) = the scale of normal weight, underweight, overweight and obesity. Here is a good calculator: NIH: Calculate Your Body Mass Index. Your goal is to fit within the normal weight range.
Finally, and sadly, your body will compensate your attempts to attain a good, healthy body weight (and BMI) because of hormonal feedback systems. This is sometimes called "hitting the wall" (in exercise terms) but keep at it and as long as you are healthy enough to exercise and possess the self control to choose for yourself what to eat as your diet, the vast majority of people without underlying medical conditions can achieve normal weight and the resultant healthy lifestyle!
And please, avoid convenience (microwave) food and fast food joints. Therein lies obesity.
That is not going to happen anytime soon. And while I sympathize (not with the woman who has her kids in 2 different private schools on the opposite sides of an L. A. suburb - she sounds like a moron) with the overworked, overburdened population, that is still no excuse to over eat crap.
Health needs to be a priority in one's life if they want to make changes. Making excuses is not going to help anyone. Buying fresh foods and cooking is a pain in the ass, but it is a worthwhile one. Cooking a big meal to make leftovers, making pb&j sandwiches (not hard at all), fruit is portable, etc...
Ditto; if it's a priority, you make it happen. It was tough when I first went back to work and the last thing I wanted to do after a long day was cook and eat a full meal 3 hours before bed. What we did do, though, was reframe what our idea if "dinner" is: hearty, more labor intensive meals are for the weekends, while weeknights are light, healthy dishes that can be thrown together in under 30 minutes.
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I also rarely drink more than one beer, cocktail or glass of wine, and often opt for tea than alcohol. Yep, that's me: a cheap date! 
