Weigh In: America and Weight

[mu_agd]

Originally posted by sigmagrrl
I feel the same way about when thin people say "God, I'm SOOO FAT!!" They say that JUST to hear, "OMG! You are so thin! You are not fat!"

my old roomate used to say this all the time and she was definitely not fat! it pissed me off to no end because i have been struggling with my weight for as long as i can remember. i lost a lot a few years ago but i'm still not where i want to be. to hear her complain bothered me because i would have loved to look like she did and eat all the crap that she did and not gain anything.

[FeeFee]

Originally posted by aggieAXO
I can relate....

I was very thin in high school and some people thought I had an eating disorder. I have never been anorexic or bullemic. I ate very well but I just could not gain weight. I was embarrassed and hurt at times b/c of how some people made me feel- so it does go both ways.

Back in high school, if I had a dollar for everytime someone asked me if I was sick, anorexic, not fed enough - I would be living a very comfortable lifestyle right now. I'm 5'7" tall, which also made me taller than most of my girlfriends. I myself, had no problems woofing down a big plate of food, but my metabolism was still high and I would not gain any weight at all. Today, things are a little different - I need to find an exercise program that works for me b/c I've gain weight, and it all fell into one area of the body (I am a pear shape).

[Dionysus]

I only skimmed through most of the posts, I've might have missed someone saying this.....eating is also emotional. Eventhough people from older generations say that the younger generations are spoiled (which I agree), we are also a depressed and anxious generation. For example, I saw on the news that fast food sales sky rocketed during the war on Iraq. We eat to cope.

[browncat]

I have read the Orbach book as well. I think that what she is saying is true. It is very sad. I minored in Women's Studies, and we had many a conversation on this topic. Although it must be said that the "buckets" of soda and all the "super sizing" should not be blamed on the food industry. Is it their job to police what we want? NO. Is it their job to tell us what size drink to get? no. It is our responsibility to check our own diet. It cannot be blamed on any one else. EVER. If you are under the age of 10 years old, it is up to your parents to make sure they feed you healthful foods. Parents who only feed their kids crap should be drawn and quartered. What about when you want to buy a 20oz soda 5 years down the road and some lawyer caused the government to arrest you b/c your yearly quota was lowered to 5oz after his major tort lawsuit. Sounds great!!??!! Well, quit blaming the industry, and blame yourself. Get out and exercise. That is what we should say to the american "society." How many people out there complaining are drinking every thursday, friday, saturday night and eating Gumby's at 2:30. Thought so.

[absolutuscchick]

Originally posted by Dionysus
I only skimmed through most of the posts, I've might have missed someone saying this.....eating is also emotional. Eventhough people from older generations say that the younger generations are spoiled (which I agree), we are also a depressed and anxious generation. For example, I saw on the news that fast food sales sky rocketed during the war on Iraq. We eat to cope.

SOOOO TRUE!!! I know whenever I feel crappy, stressed, depressed, nervous, etc. I tend to eat and will choose the higher-carb, higher sugar, and higher fat options rather than all of the healthy food all over my apartment because it is immensely soothing. I think that if we all got more therapy and worked on exercising more just in general, we would all feel a whole lot better (but I'm not really one to talk here!)

[AKA_Monet]

Originally posted by sigmagrrl
In your opinion, why is obesity an issue in the USA?

Ever stop and wonder why there is this prevalence of obesity seen in our children to adults?

Well, my observations are as a molecular geneticist studying diabetes, genetics, mitochondria dysfunction and obesity--called metabolomics in some circles--is because of the development of "fat mice" genetically. They are called the ob/ob mice and the db/db mice.

The genes in these mice were genetically altered to generate mice that eat the similar content in food as normal wildtype mice, but are larger body fat and body weight than their wildtype counterparts.

That was when Leptin, a protein that regulates appetite was discovered. The regulation of leptin levels in the body are determined genetically, and by circadian cycle (the sleep-awake patterns)...

Interesting research regarding the circadian cycle. The body has a "master clock" in the Suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the brain. However, the liver, the gut and the lungs have their own internal clock genes. Now researchers have modified these genes, clock, per (period) and dbt (doubletime)--to name a few--in mice and these mutations have ruined these animals sleep, wake and eating cycles. Some animals don't eat and die. Some animals, don't sleep and eat all the time...

What this has to do with type 2 diabetes is, the same dysfunctions are seen in the human body. The human body at the molecular genetic level tries to maintain a sufficient amount of fuel to maintain normal bodily functions. When an environmental stimuli is perturbed at any level--i.e. less food, more food, bad food, no food, poisons, war, famine, more gravity, less gravity, pollution, and etc.--the body inherently as directed by its genetic make up tries to compensate for the discrepancy in some direction.

Spiritualists call it an imbalance. And IMHO, the medical community may have found that the spiritual understanding of how the body regulates itself may have some level of validity...

I myself am battling weight because I have hit 35. I am female with female--called pre menopausal symptoms. Where I use to live, air pollution was rampant. I was unable to maintain breathing properly--so inadvertantly, I ate to keep whatever chemical I lacked up. However, I fooled my body with highly processed food intake because the nutritive value of these foodstuffs were poor and I subsequently gained weight. My choice was to move out of that environment to a wholesome environment to recoup damage I incurred to my body...

Oxidation ruins your heart, brain and lungs... It stops the mitochondria (the cell's powerhouses) from functioning. That atrophies muscle. It promotes an inflammatory response. Adipocytes grow under those conditions. Moreover, once the damage is made, that's it... Aging can occur. Prone to diseases, such as cold or flu like symptoms... All in all, a body is stressed out... And the fact that we can get massive sugars at an instant...

Hence, obesity...

PM me if you want to know more...

[DolphinChicaDDD]

Originally posted by sigmagrrl
I feel the same way about when thin people say "God, I'm SOOO FAT!!" They say that JUST to hear, "OMG! You are so thin! You are not fat!"

Some people might not say it for validation. Yes, many people say it just to hear the "no your not", but they may actually have an eating disorder.
I said earlier that I am in shape, but cannot be mistaken for an eating disorder. I know because I had one. And when I was really bad, I would look at myself and see fat- everywhere. I still do somewhat- and I've been 'fine' for a few years now.
On both ends of the spectrum, its a touchy subject.
I don't think anyone is to blame. Its a personal/faimly situation. Blaming the weight issue on anything other than yourself, and within that your family/upbringing, is just looking for a scapegoat. When you are a child and its your parents responsiblity to make sure that you don't sit in front of the tv 24/7 eating bon bons or whatever. But when you reach about high school- it starts becoming your responsibility. You can start making the decision to make a grilled chicken with a side salad or hop in the car, drive to mcdonalds go through the drive though and sit in the parking lot with the air on eating your greased out dinner (my gym looks onto mcdonald's parking lot- this happens ALOT).

[swissmiss04]

AKA Monet that was so interesting. You know your stuff! I think that the overexposure to nonnatural things like air pollution, etc also contribute to reproductive issues in women and men alike. One of my friends was telling me that her mother (who's in her late 50s and lives in another country) didn't start her period until she was 17. Yeah. When I was in 3rd and 4th grade there were already a considerable number of girls with obvious development. I wasn't allowed to drink lots of sodas or eat fast food and I think that's why I didn't start 'til I was nearly 13. Just some thoughts!

[MoxieGrrl]

What about all of the preservatives put in food? I'm sure all of that cannot be healthy. They didn't have this level of food preservation 50 years ago, which may account for some of the unhealthy food that leads to weight problems.

[juniorgrrl]

Originally posted by swissmiss04
AKA Monet that was so interesting. You know your stuff! I think that the overexposure to nonnatural things like air pollution, etc also contribute to reproductive issues in women and men alike. One of my friends was telling me that her mother (who's in her late 50s and lives in another country) didn't start her period until she was 17. Yeah. When I was in 3rd and 4th grade there were already a considerable number of girls with obvious development. I wasn't allowed to drink lots of sodas or eat fast food and I think that's why I didn't start 'til I was nearly 13. Just some thoughts!

Actually, research has shown that girls are developing earlier because all of the cows and chickens are shot up with estrogen to make them bigger so they have more meat to sell. All that extra estrogen in women's bodies causes early development. It also leads to higher rates of breast cancer.

[nucutiepie]

Originally posted by DolphinChicaDDD
Some people might not say it for validation. Yes, many people say it just to hear the "no your not", but they may actually have an eating disorder.
I said earlier that I am in shape, but cannot be mistaken for an eating disorder. I know because I had one. And when I was really bad, I would look at myself and see fat- everywhere. I still do somewhat- and I've been 'fine' for a few years now.
On both ends of the spectrum, its a touchy subject.

It is true that we live in a society full of gigantic portions and rampant obesity, but there is still a tremendous amount of societal pressure imposed on girls to be thin. I grew up in a wealthy white town just west of Boston. Eating disorders were so rampant that at any given time, one or two girls from my 500 person high school was probably hospitalized for treatment. Most girls stuck to diet coke and salad for lunch, maybe a plain bagel with no butter or cream cheese. It wasn't acceptable to be seen eating anything else in our cafeteria, really. There was competition to be thin and we fed off each other in a sick contest to see who could be the skinniest, who could fight their cravings, who could pass out at play rehearsal or sports practice because they hadn't eaten at all that day.

I also used to have an eating disorder (shocking, considering the high school I went to. At my worst, I was 5'5" and weighed 95 pounds - not bad enough that I was ever hospitalized, but bad enough that one summer my parents gave me an ultimatum - start eating like a normal human being or I would be going to the hospital in the fall rather than going back to school. Even at that weight, I looked in the mirror and all I saw were imperfections and all I could think was that I was FAT. It didn't matter how many times I was called down to see my guidance counselor because a teacher had expressed concern about my weight loss. (Before I got sick, I weighed about 115 pounds). The first day I wore a sundress in the spring, twelve people commented on the fact that I was extremely skinny - and still, I thought I was fat. It's the other extreme for obesity, and I agree with whoever it was who said that our society has become polarized - increasingly, really thin is the ideal, really fat is the reality.

Even now that I am supposedly "recovering" - because anorexia, like alcoholism, is something from which you never really recover - I do not view myself in an entirely normal light. True, I am a normal weight for my frame, and most days, I am happy with my appearance. Yet, every morning when I wake up, I have to make the conscious decision to eat like a normal person that day - and by eating like a normal person, I mean eating what my body tells me to eat, and stopping when I am full. (Something most Americans don't do!)

I don't know what causes eating disorders - personally, I think some of it is societal (otherwise, why would it have been so rampant at my high school) but some of it must be genetic - my mother, my sister, and my father's sister have all also suffered from eating disorders. It's probably the same combination of factors with obesity. It really saddens me though that so many Americans have such a troubled relationship with food - from both sides of the spectrum.

[AKA_Monet]

What is more interesting is what is seen as the genetic drift from a low calorie--or no caloric intake--due to starvation vs. a high fat, high simple carbohydrate, highly processed foodstuff and the development of diabetic phenotypes...

As we age, things don't work like they were suppose to. Maybe, children in developed countries are born obese simply because women are choosing to have children later on in life, when the very enzymes metabolizing fat start to slow down... I dunno... But it would be interesting statistics.

More and more folks will die due to cardiovascular complications, such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and stroke than anything else. That is why being overweight has been deemed detrimental and a risk factor for these diseases by the medical community.

But maybe our whole environment, beyond anyone's control is changing. Maybe the planet is shifting in gravitational pull. The more gravity, the more mass one must have in order to survive... Maybe, there is a natural selection for the those carrying a lot of weight. Because most of the time, by the time obesity plays a role in most humans, it may be well after reproductive years--so it's thought by the medical community... But I dunno--what do I know...

[Sistermadly]

Originally posted by AKA_Monet
But I dunno--what do I know...

A whole heck of a lot!

[AKA_Monet]

So okay, I'ma nerd!!! And I still love me!!!

Anyhoo, I have to start my research on my biological system that I study...

Since diabetes and cardiovascular disease plague my family and myself, I have made a conscience decision to study this disease process and try to find therapies or cures for it. (For those going into grad school, you have write chit like this in a statement of purpose...)

Anyhoo, my most nerdy techie geeky self has just come out... So like when I moved to Texas from California last year, I was at least 130 lbs... Not bad for a 33 yr. old woman... But now, since I have moved outta Texas, I have gained much weight!!! (I ain't gonna say how much, but it bothers me).

So I was thinking, since my paternal side of my family is genetically predisposed to type 2 diabetes and since the onset of the disease is usually when one gains weight and is considered clinically obese and poor diet is a contributing factor, I started to wonder if it was where I on Earth I chose to live that caused my increased and quite voracious appetite opposed to I was just lazy?

So a little "Google" searching and I determined the Earth's geoid--or gravitational pull changes throughout the Earth... That these changes are marked by oceonographic and climate changes. Then I read something about microgravity or weightless and the havoc it wrecks on astronauts' bodies. Then I started thinking:

What if the Earth's gravitational pull--no matter how slight--affects human biology and genetics so much so, that it affects the diabetic/obesity response genes? And what kind of responses are we seeing? Hmmmm...

For those who want to philosophically discuss this, please respond... I welcome the debate... Especially those biologists, chemists, medical doctors, physicists, engineers--anybody with an interest!!!

[Rudey]

I think guys have it worse than any of you girls. I don't know any guy that supersizes or doesn't sit there worrying about his weight lately.

-Rudey