Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You make some good points in both of your posts. My point was that if our (Americans, in general) mindset would get "adjusted", getting outdoors would be normal daily routine, not an "excursion". Walking is the cheapest form of exercise available. Put on shoes and go out the door. Not everyone in scenic areas are wealthy. I still get outside in northern MI where I am now. Sometime it's in town, Alpena, where the city has a walking/cycling/running path that encircles the town. Lots and lots of people use it to their benefit and it's free. Sometime it's in the forest that is close to where I live. If I'm bored with the same scenery, I drive a few miles for a new look and hike in any of the several state/national forests/parks that are also close to me.
I agree that if one lives in a ghetto, it can be scary to "get outside". Maybe as a society we need to do what some of the formerly larger cities (like Flint), as well as Detroit, are doing: razing abandoned buildings and turning the land into urban farming plots. Planting, tending and harvesting crops is also excellent outdoor exercise.
I remember the 70s and people used to be outside more then, what happened? I remember people heaving much more leisure time. I spent literally hours outside and in the park and lived in an urban area. I know today parents wouldnt let kids out. Here are the reasons I bleieve its lessened.
1. People are far more stressed out, bunker mentality, the ghetto neighborhood--glad you understand that, I can at least walk around where I live in the immediate area, pretty safely but 5 miles down the road this would not true, I felt pretty safe in my last small town. But I have lived in ghettos where it was so bad, walking even alone as a woman, you were asking for it.
2. Less leisure time? Im disabled and notice people are always "busy" When I was a kid I remember mother having coffee with neighbors. I think Americans have far less leisure time now. They got kids chained to the desk, for 7 hours a day and want to chain them for more with no recess or gym. The adults they want slaving away who happened to be employed for 12-14 hour days, with no leisure, and the rest with no jobs are broke and depressed.
3. More Toxins overall MORE ILL health. When people feel sick exercise gets thrown out the window. Exhausted and stressed out when people say go for a walk, thats just another task. So many autoimmune diseases, cancers, disability, I am in my early 40s, disabled and feel like people are dropping like flies around me, [Ive outlive far longer then what they said] and know several people the same age with cancer. This is some of the unknown news out there. One thing exercise does NOT prevent all health problems. Before I became disabled I used to walk 4-5 miles for FUN [in safe areas], people are literally getting sick, and lethargic. The bad food, toxins and this way of life and stress are killing everyone earlier. I have theories even about the social disconnection and having plcaes like Facebook, be poor substitutes for an active and thriving social life.
4. Glad you live in nice area like Alpena, I felt moving to a small townm I have praised on this board but sadly had to move out saved my life, moving there out of a more high stressed urban area. Where I live now is too modern, stressed and high paced living and wish I had never left in many ways, thought economically it was forced. I want to go back to that small town or a place like it, but circumstances havent worked out yet.
5. I think a whole rehaul of society needs done, where we need to return to more old fashioned ways of life, people don't move away from family, grow some of our own food, more slower pace of life. We will all be healthier, some of this may be forced due to the Greater Depression II, b but that will make most sicker via stress, and lack of money.
lack of money does cut pple off from doing many things, but think of pple in poorer countries that dont have money, they generally arent overweight. they may be working low end jobs such as in call centers that also require alot of sitting. most of the them have to use the internet cafes, and that cost money, so thats not something they can spend all their spare time doing. they tend to eat less fast food and junk food because they cant afford it.
it is possible to make changes to habits without lots of money or having fancy stuff for expensive weekend trips. i do think having friends and or family to do things with is a big factor in getting out and having motivation for positive change. making a picnic lunch, walking in a pretty park on a saturday afternoon can be a fun, low cost day. without friends, yes, a walk around the park can seem lonely and sad. pple that are very lonely, sad and stressed often give in to their will power and eat comfort food. i can certainly understand how that can happen. and old habits can be hard to break without some positive new stimulus in life.
here where we certainly have much more, i do see lack of personal responsibility as a large factor. in the midwest, the majority i see when out and about are overweight. many are middle to upper middle class types with nice cars and houses, so it cuts across income lines. pple dont need an expensive gym membership to walk and improve cardio health, or cut back on snacks. but sometimes alone, self motivation can be very hard to develop. over worked and over stressed pple do whats easy, grab some fast food, relax in front of the tv and computer, and poof the evening is gone. another day and the same routine, so its habits and choices. the weekends, pple play catch up, grocery store and shopping, household chores, kids and their activities and before you know its sunday night. pple may really want to try to take better care of themselves but its the i'll start tomorrow syndrome.
there are groups that go walk in the malls very early to get some exercise, no matter what the weather outside. they have motivation from a group, all trying to do something positive for their health. taking steps toward eating better and getting more exercise, and working toward small goals so one doesnt get to discouraged early on and give up. and in the end its sticking to better choices thats important.
How many kids "burned it off" by playing outside in the 1970's? Those kids in 2010 are now medicated with Ritalin, Prozac, etc.
I bet those drugs make the kids more fat, think about it, they take them to have more "focused attention" and be "more calm", they are stoned out. The antidepressants make adults a lot fatter.
lack of money does cut pple off from doing many things, but think of pple in poorer countries that dont have money, they generally arent overweight. they may be working low end jobs such as in call centers that also require alot of sitting. most of the them have to use the internet cafes, and that cost money, so thats not something they can spend all their spare time doing. they tend to eat less fast food and junk food because they cant afford it.
These countries though they hvae much more cemented social networks in most cases, ie family togetherness, there is less competitiveness in someone having to succeed. Of course places like China, I predict they will be having their health sink like a rock from the pollution and sweat shop factories.
Quote:
it is possible to make changes to habits without lots of money or having fancy stuff for expensive weekend trips. i do think having friends and or family to do things with is a big factor in getting out and having motivation for positive change. making a picnic lunch, walking in a pretty park on a saturday afternoon can be a fun, low cost day. without friends, yes, a walk around the park can seem lonely and sad
.
There are some changes people can make, but how many in America are of the lonely and sad ilk? Everyone's friends and family moved away to go get differnet jobs. I think there is a total link between stress, the obesity epidemic and social disconnection in society. I do think we should all make changes we can, but there are real problems in this society, that personal responsiblity is not going to take care of, if the whole thing is broken then its all going to trinkle down. Why are people being led to eat so much comfort food? Could it be all the stress? Im glad you recognize that part of it, but there hsa to be some reasons people are not motivated. They do see it as another "chore" It seems in the 70s exercise was fun and activity, even the 80s seemed a happier time, everything in this society seems to be about fulfilling some huge standard so few reach, perfect bodies, perfect lives, maybe everyone has just given up knowing they will never measure up. Whatever happened to FUN? Goals and numbers on a scale really do not motivate, FUN and FEELING ALIVE does. Why are people feeling so "dead" and forgetting what fun and living is about?
.
I bet those drugs make the kids more fat, think about it, they take them to have more "focused attention" and be "more calm", they are stoned out. The antidepressants make adults a lot fatter.
And how many people ask for prescription drugs by name from their doctor because of ads they saw on TV? It's disgusting that BigPharm is allowed to advertise their drugs directly to consumers when they cannot legally purchase them without a prescription. It's a vicious cycle. BigPharm has to sell more product, so we have mroe and more medicated kids.
One in 150 kids are born autistic. 40 years ago, who had even heard of autism? These drugs and pesticides are messing with our genes.
A recent trip to the dentist: They were shocked, SHOCKED that I don't take any medicine regularly.
It's high time to get over the genetics BS. 2 generations ago, the % of Americans who were overweight/obese was MUCH lower than today.
Genetics don't change that fast.
The genes didn't need to change, when we already know our environment did.
We may always have been genetically prone to environmentally triggered inflammatory diseases, but the all-out assault on the human body is only a few generations old.
Cholesterol is an interesting example. For years, they've told us that cholesterol means we eat too much saturated fat, and we need to cut the eggs and big breakfasts. There was a correlation between high cholesterol and cardiovascular disease. But guess what? They've tried 12 ways to Sunday to fix that problem. They thought it was a dietary problem, but it turns out it's an inflammatory problem, which is why CRP is a better predictor of cardiovascular disease than cholesterol. Why? Because cholesterol is the glue (along with various minerals) that the cardiovascular system uses to repair itself. What causes that damage? Inflammation. What causes the inflammation? Not eating enough anti-oxidants, stress, lack of exercise. People 40 years ago lived very differently than we do now. Even 20 years ago. There were more stay-at-home Moms, people who worked outside the home worked less and got more in return, there was this quaint little concept called job security, there were more social supports, fewer "modern" pesticides, artificial or processed ingredients, and so on....
When you take into consideration the changes in the modern American lifestyle, we're exposed to probably 10 times the free radicals we were 40 years ago.
Our genes didn't have to change, our environment changed.
The genes didn't need to change, when we already know our environment did.
We may always have been genetically prone to environmentally triggered inflammatory diseases, but the all-out assault on the human body is only a few generations old.
Cholesterol is an interesting example. For years, they've told us that cholesterol means we eat too much saturated fat, and we need to cut the eggs and big breakfasts. There was a correlation between high cholesterol and cardiovascular disease. But guess what? They've tried 12 ways to Sunday to fix that problem. They thought it was a dietary problem, but it turns out it's an inflammatory problem, which is why CRP is a better predictor of cardiovascular disease than cholesterol. Why? Because cholesterol is the glue (along with various minerals) that the cardiovascular system uses to repair itself. What causes that damage? Inflammation. What causes the inflammation? Not eating enough anti-oxidants, stress, lack of exercise. People 40 years ago lived very differently than we do now. Even 20 years ago. There were more stay-at-home Moms, people who worked outside the home worked less and got more in return, there was this quaint little concept called job security, there were more social supports, fewer "modern" pesticides, artificial or processed ingredients, and so on....
When you take into consideration the changes in the modern American lifestyle, we're exposed to probably 10 times the free radicals we were 40 years ago.
Our genes didn't have to change, our environment changed.
Too much sugar and bad carbohydrates in the typical american diet. Ramps up insuline production which makes people fatter and leads to all the bad stuff, such as diabetes and the other stuff. We were fed a line of bull about what constitutes a healthy diet beggining in about the 1960's moving forward.
The low-fat diet craze was very harmful to our society. Sure, they took fat out of the foods, but put in sugar. Look at the stuff in the supermarket that has the little heart lable on it suggesting our government thinks it is heart healthy. Sugary cereal? You think we are better off eating that because it is "low fat" rather than two eggs? No way. My generation began slamming diet cokes because they had no fat and virtually no calories. Why not?
People thought/think Atkins was a quack but he was on to something, and he wasn't the first one, just the most controversial. Now I see diets touting a low glycemic-index diet, such as Nutra system, which is really a low carb diet.
I recommend reading Gary Taubes books on this subject. There has been a lot of quesitonable research over the last several decades into what constitutes a healthy diet. This coupled with the profit motive of food companies and political motivations have contributed to bad outcomes.
I've been to many foreign countries and they are thinner and what do I see them eat? Meats, fish, fowl, cheese, hearty foods with natural, healthy fat. Not all the crap out of boxes that pass for healthy in the U.S.
salt, fat and sugar in extreme amounts. chemicals, dyes, and mechanical separation.
that's what we eat. and that's why we are fat and unhealthy.... you can also add stress, lack of exercise and sensory overstimulation. but if you really want to get to the heart of it all? uninvolved parents who don't care about raising their children, who eat that crap and let their kids eat that crap. and here we are.....
i wouldn't want to cover health care in america either....doesn't matter what the plan is, its going to be expensive, and we deserve it.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
