6 ms·

I moved from OKC to SoCal, and noticed the weight difference immediately. When I traveled back to OKC a couple years later to visit some friends, I was actuall

I moved from OKC to SoCal, and noticed the weight difference immediately. When I traveled back to OKC a couple years later to visit some friends, I was actually disgusted by the people I saw there. It's easy to get accustomed to things...

jusben1369 11y ago
I think this is one of the biggest challenges I see in terms of "fat shaming" It would appear there is a direct correlation between how much additional weight people carry and the general tolerance level for obesity in that community. If we remove fat shaming altogether it's likely more people will become sicker and die faster. It's worth noting that my cousin also moved to SoCal. She's now in her 40's and snorts cocaine 2 or 3 times a week in the evening to skip eating to keep herself slim. Apparently it's a very common practise amongst her and her friends.
- birdmanjeremy 11y ago
  Your cousin is a coke head, and likely has an eating disorder. This is not the norm outside of her group of friends.
  - jusben1369 11y ago
    Right. Except she's not that different to the Guatemalan lady in the original story. None of those issues existed until she moved to a new location. That's why it was so shocking to me.
- gorena 11y ago
  > It's worth noting that my cousin also moved to SoCal. She's now in her 40's and snorts cocaine 2 or 3 times a week in the evening to skip eating to keep herself slim. Apparently it's a very common practise amongst her and her friends. This seems insane, if you want to stay thin, just eat at or below your TDEE and... that will happen (or increase your TDEE).
seiji 11y ago
It's really easy to see online too. Just browse online dating profiles for large cities versus suburbs (or walkable/transit cities versus car-only cities). People go from looking like actual people to looking like comical balloons. Obesity is a national (global?) security crisis. It will cost trillions in preventable medical expenses, it causes excess fuel consumption, reduces productivity, and government+industry seems complicit in continuing the trend based on city planning and subsidy allocations. (Not to mention government policies/recommendations probably started the whole obesity crisis by promoting "low fat, high carb+sugar" eating practices ("food pyramid") for two dozen years across an increasingly sedentary population.)
- brookside 11y ago
  I buy 'crisis' but, 'security crisis'?
  - seiji 11y ago
    Where do the trillions of dollars for medical coverage come from? Either increased taxes for everybody or increased insurance payments for everybody. Monetary security. What about lost productivity due to self-induced health issues? Economic security. What about military? We can't have armed forces of obese recruits. National defense security. What about police? What's the use of an overweight police force that can't walk up stairs without getting winded? Local security.
ashwinaj 11y ago
Culture aside, it's an economic issue too. When someone is in a grocery shop and sees beef/chicken/pork/fish at $0.99/lb and sees a bunch of spinach (< 1 lb by weight) for $1+, what are you gonna buy?
- gorena 11y ago
  But you just have to eat less beef - spinach isn't inherently obesity-preventing, if you somehow eat 2500 calories of spinach (I mean, good luck, but...) but only expend 2000 per day, you'll gain weight!
  - msandford 11y ago
    That's almost exactly what cows do. Eat 10-20lbs of grass per day and gain a couple of pounds of weight. Of course, cows are "designed" to do this, while people seemingly are not.
  - logfromblammo 11y ago
    2500 kcal of spinach is... (searching web)... 10.8 kg. That's... that's just... wow. 85 liters of spinach. That's like eating more than half of a short (36") bale of hay. ~So yeah, not inherently obesity-preventing.~ The downside is that you will be consuming about 80 grams of oxalic acid. The LD-Lo is 600 mg/kg, meaning that unless you are 135 kg (300 lbs), that much spinach could possibly kill you. Aside from bursting your guts from the inside from the sheer volume of it, that is. I guess the steaks just kill you more slowly.
  - ashwinaj 11y ago
    I didn't literally mean replace meat with spinach. It was an example to show that vegetables are more expensive than meat.
- shanemhansen 11y ago
  I think you're right about the economics, but I'd hold off on blaming the meat. While the article mentions meat being more expensive, the rest of the article is filled with quotes like "snacking all day on bits of burger and pizza" and "drink lots of atole – a heavily sweetened corn-based drink". All pretty carb heavy. The article mentions that the dietary changes made are: "eats fast food just once a week, cooks more vegetables, has cut down the number of tortillas".

jusben1369 11y ago

I think this is one of the biggest challenges I see in terms of "fat shaming" It would appear there is a direct correlation between how much additional weight people carry and the general tolerance level for obesity in that community. If we remove fat shaming altogether it's likely more people will become sicker and die faster. It's worth noting that my cousin also moved to SoCal. She's now in her 40's and snorts cocaine 2 or 3 times a week in the evening to skip eating to keep herself slim. Apparently it's a very common practise amongst her and her friends.

birdmanjeremy 11y ago
Your cousin is a coke head, and likely has an eating disorder. This is not the norm outside of her group of friends.
- jusben1369 11y ago
  Right. Except she's not that different to the Guatemalan lady in the original story. None of those issues existed until she moved to a new location. That's why it was so shocking to me.
gorena 11y ago
> It's worth noting that my cousin also moved to SoCal. She's now in her 40's and snorts cocaine 2 or 3 times a week in the evening to skip eating to keep herself slim. Apparently it's a very common practise amongst her and her friends. This seems insane, if you want to stay thin, just eat at or below your TDEE and... that will happen (or increase your TDEE).

seiji 11y ago

It's really easy to see online too. Just browse online dating profiles for large cities versus suburbs (or walkable/transit cities versus car-only cities). People go from looking like actual people to looking like comical balloons. Obesity is a national (global?) security crisis. It will cost trillions in preventable medical expenses, it causes excess fuel consumption, reduces productivity, and government+industry seems complicit in continuing the trend based on city planning and subsidy allocations. (Not to mention government policies/recommendations probably started the whole obesity crisis by promoting "low fat, high carb+sugar" eating practices ("food pyramid") for two dozen years across an increasingly sedentary population.)

brookside 11y ago
I buy 'crisis' but, 'security crisis'?
- seiji 11y ago
  Where do the trillions of dollars for medical coverage come from? Either increased taxes for everybody or increased insurance payments for everybody. Monetary security. What about lost productivity due to self-induced health issues? Economic security. What about military? We can't have armed forces of obese recruits. National defense security. What about police? What's the use of an overweight police force that can't walk up stairs without getting winded? Local security.

ashwinaj 11y ago

Culture aside, it's an economic issue too. When someone is in a grocery shop and sees beef/chicken/pork/fish at $0.99/lb and sees a bunch of spinach (< 1 lb by weight) for $1+, what are you gonna buy?

gorena 11y ago
But you just have to eat less beef - spinach isn't inherently obesity-preventing, if you somehow eat 2500 calories of spinach (I mean, good luck, but...) but only expend 2000 per day, you'll gain weight!
- msandford 11y ago
  That's almost exactly what cows do. Eat 10-20lbs of grass per day and gain a couple of pounds of weight. Of course, cows are "designed" to do this, while people seemingly are not.
- logfromblammo 11y ago
  2500 kcal of spinach is... (searching web)... 10.8 kg. That's... that's just... wow. 85 liters of spinach. That's like eating more than half of a short (36") bale of hay. ~So yeah, not inherently obesity-preventing.~ The downside is that you will be consuming about 80 grams of oxalic acid. The LD-Lo is 600 mg/kg, meaning that unless you are 135 kg (300 lbs), that much spinach could possibly kill you. Aside from bursting your guts from the inside from the sheer volume of it, that is. I guess the steaks just kill you more slowly.
- ashwinaj 11y ago
  I didn't literally mean replace meat with spinach. It was an example to show that vegetables are more expensive than meat.
shanemhansen 11y ago
I think you're right about the economics, but I'd hold off on blaming the meat. While the article mentions meat being more expensive, the rest of the article is filled with quotes like "snacking all day on bits of burger and pizza" and "drink lots of atole – a heavily sweetened corn-based drink". All pretty carb heavy. The article mentions that the dietary changes made are: "eats fast food just once a week, cooks more vegetables, has cut down the number of tortillas".