I was also a 40 lb runt, with diabetes though. I survived PE. I was lighter so I ran faster. :p But seriously... (warning this may get confusing.):
So movies and TV shows generally show the fat kid in school getting made fun of in dodge ball games, PE sports, etc. But if we take away the PE, wouldn't the kid just keep getting bigger? With PE (or some sort of exercise), she/he may be made fun of, but at least it keeps the heart rate going and there is small chance they might burn more calories. I dunno. Maybe because I am not a child or a administrator I don't see the justification of taking away group exercise from children if it would help them in the long run. **shrugs**

And I have come to the conclusion that our society is always looking for a scapegoat. When in doubt, blame someone else.

McFlurrys rule!

I think someone needs to come on and defend overweight people. Anyone?

-Rudey

Wow... this serioiusly does not surprise me.

It's really upseting when some people put the blame on McDonalds for any other fast food place because their fries aren't fried in lower fat oil. I'm no nutrition expert, but I would think it's safe to assume that if you eat a ton of McD's fries every day all week long, it's not going to make much of a difference if they are fried in lower-fat oil or not.

My junior year of college I gained a TON of weight.... and I KNOW it was because of my eating habits... and the lack of my exercise habits. I always went to Wendy's, Whataburger, Chili's, you name it... for almost every other meal, and never really exercised. I am pretty sure if those fries were fried in lower-fat oil it wouldn't have made that much of a difference because of the frequency of me eating fast food.

And I"m not saying all overweight people put the blame on other sources, but by looking at the flurry of lawsuits on fast food restaurants, it seems some do.

Earlier in the thread someone asked if obesity should be made into an actual disability, and I personally don't think it should be.

A disability should be something you have no control over, like if you were in a car accident and you lost one or all of your limbs... you can't really do much about that. Sure you can get prostetics (please excuse my spelling) but you will never really have full use of them ever again. And disabilities like that are black and white... you either have it or you don't.

When it comes to obesity, who's going to decide what's the deciding factor? What's the weight limit... or whatever.

Obesity is largely on the rise in America... we'd have too many people claiming diability!

And many people (please note I'm not saying all) can do something about their obesity, but don't. It would be throwing money into a black hole.

That's just how I feel about it though, I don't expect anyone to agree with me.

On the gym thought, I don't really know too much about what is going on in schools today but kids need exercise and to be outdoors and running around and having fun like that in general. That is what being a kid is all about. Too much nowadays parents let their kids plop themselves down in front of the TV and play video games and computer games. They make them quick meals in the microwave instead of actual home cooking because it is easier in their hectic lives. That's not a healthy lifestyle for anyone, especially growing children. If we don't go outside, socialize and get fresh air regularly every day, maybe we won't necessarily gain weight, but we are not going to be a happy, healthy person overall.

all hail Elle Woods
 

[hijack]
"I just don't think that Brooke could've done this. Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don't kill their husbands, they just don't. "
~Legally Blonde

couldn't resist!!

[/hijack]

Re: all hail Elle Woods
 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ZTAMich
[B][hijack]
"I just don't think that Brooke could've done this. Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don't kill their husbands, they just don't. "
~Legally Blonde

How cute :) Hey I thought you were moving to Manhattan, not the Bronx?!

BOOM!! Right on. McDonalds has been around for close to 50 years now, right? And obesity has really only taken shape over the last 10. It is the lifestyle, not the food. Maybe a combination of both, but people need to be out there moving around and getting exercise.

I think that the rise in obesity was something that was an issue when I was a child in the 70s and 80s. The difference is that more children are obese now.

I was actually talking with someone about this today whose sister is a nutritionist and also works with children and adults with eating disorders so she sees things on both ends of the spectrum. She said a major problem she sees with kids that are overweight is that they refuse to comply with the diets recommended to them and give their parents a really hard time and then the parents give into them. I think people in general would love to eat greasy, sweet, salty foods every day because they taste good. I know I would.

I just read this book Fat Land: How Americans became the fattest people in the world. Good read, I highly recommend it. Anyway, you guys are absolutely right. There is a strong relationship between how much t.v and video games a kid plays and how much they weigh. The book cited a study where kids were limited to the amount they could have a t.v on and the the less they sat in front of that thing, the less they weighed across the board.
There are a lot of other reasons too: The prevalance of high fructose corn syrup, the increase in portion sizes, more meals eaten away from the home, schools having contracts with soda companies, etc, etc.

It is a really good book. :)

I think that there are some lifestyle choices that might be hard to break, even despite the glow of Demon TV. I know that my sister and I (who grew up in the 70s and 80s) played outside a lot more and went to better schools with larger budgets that were able to maintain their PE departments. Neither of us had obesity problems as a child. My niece and nephew--same schools, same general lifestyle of not being allowed to zone out in front of the TV, they eat really good food--don't look like bleeping Sta-Puft...even though they do eat fast food more than we did growing up.

A friend of mine told me that the money that Americans spend annually on weight loss programs is more than the combined GNP of every African country. The bitter irony is that a great many people in these countries are dying from starvation while we are wasting tons of money because we can't control ourselves around some fries and a Whopper. That borders on the immoral.

It's all in the genes and chromosomes...
 

The irony is that the kinds of children that are gaining massive amounts of weight could be from genetic groupings of folks that contain "thrifty genes".

The "thrifty gene" hypothesis is that certain genes have been maintained over the years because of times of starvation and survival. However during times of abundance, the "thrifty genes" do not "turned off"--they pretty much go into overdrive.

Why is that more and more people are having a lower metabolic rates as the "metabolic syndrome" rates are increasing within the past 10-20 years??? It makes one wonder...

It is the processed foods that are somewhat the culprit. The layman just does not know what companies must do to maintain sterility of their food products... It is either "E. coli burgers" or fatty-sugary "french fries" or both... And veggies are not out of the loop either... And organic farms are just not crankin' out the huge demand like GMO farms can with full on carcinogenic insecticides and antibiotics... It's amazing we would want to eat anything at all knowing what is going on...

Then there is addiction issues--you try going off refined sugar. Your withdrawal symptoms will be worse than a recovering heroin addict's...

Then, caffienation... Yeah, not gonna happen...

Then there is something to be said about unclean food--it helps boost up your immune system... Get those neutraphils workin'... Because of the processing of food, we are in an antimicrobial environment causing more autoimmune disorders within a decade...

One of these disorders is Prader-Willi's... These poor kids have a neurological disorder that can been seen with a MRI, sometimes, where the pituitary does not tell the stomach that it is full. So thes kids cannot appetite suppress and never know when they are full--or satiated they say in the business.

Although, I think it is extreme for the government to make Medicare pay for obesity. I also think that this is age driven... It is the baby boomers generation... 'Cuz the folks that are getting the top 3 metabolic diseases, Heart disease, diabetes and stroke are at the age of onset is early to mid-50's... Cancer just skrait kills folks and most morbidily obese folks do not have as high death dealing cancer rates as a heart attack will do them... If the cancer doesn't get them first, the heart failure/stroke will... Believe me, I just got back from an American Heart Association conference with top cardiologists world wide--cancer is barely in their vocabulary... The oncologists don't speak myocardial infarction that much... But there is some research out there that suggests that these two processes are somewhat related... I say it is denial...

It is cheaper to pay a flat rate than the full bed-ridden charges that I experienced as a young teen watching my grandmother and grandfather die a slow death in nursing facilities due to stroke and diabetes... Not cool... Especially if you have to clean out folks bed pans...

If there is some treatment that an old person can do to improve their health is that all our kids need to know, a healthy choice is a lifestyle and it is best started when we are young...

So that smoking, drinking and wild sex parties that I know some of you do or some of your friends do--IT DOES COME BACK TO HAUNT YOU...

Ecstasy causes a heart disease that doesn't have an age onset until 40's...

Crystal Meth causes cancer at an age onset of 30's if not younger...

Binge drinking may be a trigger for Alzheimer's PrP transcription...

I could go on and on...

Nobody told me... But I am telling you all--so now you know...

It is easier to take care of a healthy young body than an old broken down one...

AKA Monet thanks for the informative post. I had the symptoms of withdrawal when I removed sugar and caffeine from my diet. The first two days were fine, but on the third day I crashed. I had headaches and felt really sick. I thought that there was something seriously wrong with me since I rarely feel that sick.

I have heard about genes that cause your body to hold on to your weight as a survival mechanism during times of famine and starvation. I guess that's the "thrifty genes" that you are talking about.

When I was a child, I learned that the things that you do to your body have consequences in your future. It's easier to establish good habits than to break bad habits.