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Thanks for advising me not to call thin/slender/underweight people "skinny." Is there a preferred, correct term? I certainly don't want to hurt/offend anyone, and apologize to anyone I might have by using this term... Mea culpa.
In the teen groups - obviously - this type of mentality is leveled at an unbelievable pace.
It really has been since the dawn of time because teens always place emphasis on looking good, being cool, and fitting in. This is by no means anything new.
This is true, but it sure has accelerated in recent years.
In my teen years, we'd never heard of a "Six-pack" and gyms and working out weren't even a blip on the radar. The cool kids were the sports athletes, and as long as we had an average body weight we weren't teased or looked down upon.
Now there seems to be such a huge emphasis on being buff, model weight, and cool hair-do's, including highlighting and expensive cuts for both genders, and so on. Must be hard to be a kid today with so much focus on looks and exteriors rather than interior worth...
Over weight people have learned to confuse the feeling of being full as a being well nourished. Poor people worry about getting enough to eat an believe they should over eat at every opportunity. These are some of the dozens of food myths that people cling to. You can't blame McDonald's any more than the entire industry. When I was traveling a lot (7-9 consecutive months out of the year) I ate at McDonald's exclusively out the convenience of their many locations. I would always loose weight. I would eat the salads, on some occasions when long drives prevented me from eating for two days or more I would order large fries to give myself a calorie boost. The food industry is just as guilty as the cigarette industry is in Packaging food for abuse.
You can't blame McDonald's at all. They have at least three kinds of salads (with low-cal dressing)... grilled chicken wraps... yogurt with fruit... and clear, sparkling water. There are healthful, low-calorie choices on the menu at almost every fast food place. Even if you want a hamburger, the cheese and mayo are optional, and it is possible to order the small fries and not finish them.
People make choices. Choices have consequences. Most of the time, it really is that simple.
I think for the most part its the parents to blame. For the most part if you notice, when a parent is obese so is the child. Parents dont teach their kids what they should know about food and weight at an early age which obviously makes them not care about what they are eatting. Most parents now a days dont make dinner at home. Tehy would rather go to a fast food restrount and just get it there since its quicker. It's pretty sad if you ask me.
The food industry is just as guilty as the cigarette industry is in Packaging food for abuse.
It must be comforting to go through life taking no responsibility for ones own actions. It's especially cool when you find a convenient scapegoat that you can pin it all on.
It must be comforting to go through life taking no responsibility for ones own actions. It's especially cool when you find a convenient scapegoat that you can pin it all on.
You know people who die in unsafe Automobiles should of read those crash reports, they could still be alive, some toddlers who die have parents who don't take responsibility and read about those recalls on products they buy at garage sales. Health and life insurance companies shouldn't have to cover lung cancer and emphysema deaths related to cigarette smoking because that's the same as suicide.
Around a week ago in Missouri an innocent woman was killed by a stray bullet as she returned from a concert while driving her car in a bad section of town. She was a young Attorney and probably could of gotten crime reports for that part of town and routed her trip accordingly.
I think it is reasonable to have an expectation of safety and security in this country when so much of our tax dollars goes for the cause of protecting us. What is the job of the FDA NTSA, USDA, or the ATF ?
Last edited by thriftylefty; 07-24-2009 at 10:07 AM..
Reason: sp
If the population in general is gradually getting fatter, yet eating right and exercising is so simple, why are people continuing to gain weight? If healthy food is so affordable and so easily accessible, why isn’t everyone eating it? There are many factors involved, all of which have been touched upon in this thread, but the combination of factors are different for every single overweight person out there. It is unfair and unrealistic to ‘blame’ all overweight people for their own condition when the majority of overweight people have more than one factor contributing to their weight gain. it is not always so simple to blame overeating for the problem.
Of course, this comment will be viewed as me subscribing to the ‘victim’ mentality or not taking ‘personal responsibility’. What many of you fail to realize is that everything stated in this thread is "a" reason why people in America are obese. It is a combination of everything mentioned on here, not always just one factor, that ‘causes’ someone to gain weight. For each individual, whether rich or poor, the contributing factors are different.
Offering alternatives to eating processed, pre-cooked food as well as moderate exercise is a POSITIVE thing to do. Condemning someone for being fat is not the way to go about making changes in this country. Believe me, fat people KNOW THEY ARE FAT. They do not need anyone telling them to put down the fork and back away from the table any more than a naturally thin person needs to be told to eat a cheeseburger LOL. Not everyone is fat due to overeating or lack of exercise. A lot of fat people are fat due to overeating, however, if the entire population of ‘obese’ people keeps growing, there is much more to it than just eating too many burgers and fries IMHO.
For the record, I used to be 'obese' by medical standards. I am not considered ‘fat’ anymore, and I DID NOT EXERCISE in a gym in order to do it. I stopped eating polluted, processed food, refined flour and sugar due to allergies! I am not interested in fast food, so McD's, BK or that crap was not on my list. I grew up on typical American foods whose ingredients changed significantly over the years. I merely changed my food selections from conventional to organic, canned to frozen, and from grain-fed meat to free-range. I did not cut my calories but did WALK instead of driving everywhere...and the rest is history.
In the teen groups - obviously - this type of mentality is leveled at an unbelievable pace. It really has been since the dawn of time because teens always place emphasis on looking good, being cool, and fitting in. This is by no means anything new.
This is true, but it sure has accelerated in recent years.
In my teen years, we'd never heard of a "Six-pack" and gyms and working out weren't even a blip on the radar. The cool kids were the sports athletes, and as long as we had an average body weight we weren't teased or looked down upon.
Now there seems to be such a huge emphasis on being buff, model weight, and cool hair-do's, including highlighting and expensive cuts for both genders, and so on. Must be hard to be a kid today with so much focus on looks and exteriors rather than interior worth...
I can remember the aerobic "craze" in the 80's. I think it's along the same lines now, we just didn't have Paris Hilton. Back then, it just didn't seem to be as well advertised. Perhaps it's just that more people are aware of it? Most everyone has cable and internet now. Back then, if you did have cable, many stations played old sitcoms etc, whereas today IMHO, you can't change a channel without hitting an infomercial about the latest "fat-burning, super-charged, gauranteed to make you lose weight in 10 minutes..." kind of pitch.
Ultimately, IMHO, it's up to people to police themselves (and not to believe all of the "pie-in-the-sky" claims that "pitchpeople" give in order to sell product).
Thanks for advising me not to call thin/slender/underweight people "skinny." Is there a preferred, correct term? I certainly don't want to hurt/offend anyone, and apologize to anyone I might have by using this term... Mea culpa.
There are times when I think that there is no "perfect" term. I suppose you could use medical terms like "obese" and "anorectic."
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