4 ms·

300,000 people die every year from Obesity. It's our #1 killer. And it can be solved by eating less. See this study in the NEJM: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/

by DHJSH 11y ago

300,000 people die every year from Obesity. It's our #1 killer. And it can be solved by eating less. See this study in the NEJM: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199212313272701 http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199212313272701 Discrepancy between Self-Reported and Actual Caloric Intake and Exercise in Obese Subjects Of all the "diet resistant" subjects studied, ALL of them (100%) were grossly underreporting actual calories consumed and overexerting physical activity. Some of the people in this study were on medication because doctors had believed their self-reported numbers and believed they may have had thyroid or other metabolic problems. Remember that "bariatric surgery" is just a way to get people to eat less by making it physically impossible to overeat. (Of course, people still manage.)

thatswrong0 11y ago
Except _what_ you eat has a big factor in how much you eat. Some foods are more satiating than others. Some are more addicting than others. So eating less may also require eating different.
- cookiecaper 11y ago
  Yes, and the problem is that our food supply is optimized to be more addictive, because it allows everyone in the supply chain to make more money. Quite literally every commercial entity is against an individual eating filling, low-calorie foods, because it means they're spending less money on food in general. This is on top of the evolutionary forces that already make our bodies crave super-high-calorie food. It's a lot for someone to fight. Experiment: go to Wal-Mart and try to buy maple syrup (actual maple syrup; mostly what they call syrup at Wal-Mart is literally just water, corn syrup, and dye). Now try to buy canned pears without any added sweeteners (if you find one without sugar, it has Splenda). Now try to buy a loaf of bread without any added sugar (most loaves contain brown sugar). Almost everything in almost every conventional grocery chain in the U.S. is loaded with sugars, sweeteners, and other addictive substances. Even if you try really hard to buy healthy foods at a normal grocer, you are going to have a hard time. Not everyone with a weight problem is shoving 50 Snickers down their gullet every day, and that characterization has to stop if we're going to realistically address the issue.
  - DHJSH 11y ago
    Nobody with a "weight problem" eats fewer calories each day than their body burns. Nobody.
    - cookiecaper 11y ago
      I didn't say they did.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - DHJSH 11y ago
    1. Organic, Pure, Maple Syrup at Wal*Mart http://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Pure-Maple-Syrup-12.5-Oz/13925187 http://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Pure-Maple-Syrup-12.5-... 2. Pears in pear juice (no other sweeter). WalMart's own brand: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Fruit-Pear-Halves-Bartlett-No-Sugar-Added-Prepared-Food-15-oz/10415589 http://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Fruit-Pear-Halves-Bart... 3. Organic sprouted whole wheat bread: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Alvarado-St.-Bakery-Sprouted-Whole-Wheat-Bread-24-oz/36647758 http://www.walmart.com/ip/Alvarado-St.-Bakery-Sprouted-Whole... (All bread needs some "sugar" for the yeast to work on. Some that say "sugar free" get sugar from milk or fruit juice.) "Healthy Life Sugar Free 100% Whole Wheat Bread" http://www.walmart.com/ip/Healthy-Life-Sugar-Free-100-Whole-Grain-Wheat-Bread-16-oz/10318687 http://www.walmart.com/ip/Healthy-Life-Sugar-Free-100-Whole-...
    - cookiecaper 11y ago
      It's not that they always don't carry it, and I should note that Walmart's online selection contains practically every product possible, and is not necessarily analogous to what you can find on the shelves at your local store (that's why I said go to your Walmart). Even if a healthy alternative is on the shelves at your local Walmart, and it sometimes is, virtually all of the shoppers are going to come back with an unhealthy option thinking it's healthy. The one or maybe two items that are actually healthy (and by "actually healthy", I just mean real food; something you can make from a plant or animal without a chemist's involvement) have to be picked out from dozens of nearly-identical SKUs that are deceptively labeled. Try this on someone who doesn't know you're going to try it on them: check the ingredients and values on someone's healthy food item that they got at a mainstream grocer (Target is almost the same as Walmart, they just have a more prominent nut section) and see how much sweetener was added to it. My health-conscious buddies usually find out that their premium "super-healthy" green band 100% whole grain wheat bread has added sugar. I actually have bought real maple syrup at Walmart. It was tucked in the very top corner of the shelf and there were only three units stocked. By contrast, there was a whole section of thickened, dyed sugar water syrup on the wall, probably 25 SKUs. Again, the issue is not that it's hypothetically impossible, the issue is that 99.9% of the patrons, even those who are intentionally trying to buy a healthy option, are not going to be able to do it successfully. There's a reason for that, and that reason is that the grocer, the distributor, the manufacturer, and all the rest of the way up the supply chain, they don't want you to be able to buy healthier, because access to more filling, low calorie options means not only that you'll be healthier, but that ultimately you'll buy a lot less food.
rtl49 11y ago
You haven't written anything I can show to be factually inaccurate. But the trouble is with one word: "simply." Unless you subscribe to a metaphysical interpretation of human behavior, the fact that obesity is such a widespread health problem is ipso facto strong evidence that some set of environmental factors is at play. The insistence that this large population of people bear some kind of personal responsibility for their condition completely misses the point and is, in my opinion, an obviously useless suggestion to make. I'm not aware of any evidence that instilling a sense of shame in people who are obese is likely to ameliorate their condition, and the experience of many would seem to suggest it is likely to have the opposite effect.
- DHJSH 11y ago
  Eating fewer calories than your body needs every day will always lead to weight loss. Certainly it's easier if you rearrange your diet, but that's a secondary point.
  - rtl49 11y ago
    You're not engaging with what I wrote. The trouble is with refraining from consuming so many calories. The fact that so many people find this so difficult is proof enough that it is not "simple" in the sense of being easily accomplished, and that environmental factors likely contribute to its difficulty. Thus attention should be focused on discovering and addressing these factors, instead of applying social pressure to the obese to eat less.

by DHJSH 11y ago

thatswrong0 11y ago

Except _what_ you eat has a big factor in how much you eat. Some foods are more satiating than others. Some are more addicting than others. So eating less may also require eating different.

cookiecaper 11y ago
Yes, and the problem is that our food supply is optimized to be more addictive, because it allows everyone in the supply chain to make more money. Quite literally every commercial entity is against an individual eating filling, low-calorie foods, because it means they're spending less money on food in general. This is on top of the evolutionary forces that already make our bodies crave super-high-calorie food. It's a lot for someone to fight. Experiment: go to Wal-Mart and try to buy maple syrup (actual maple syrup; mostly what they call syrup at Wal-Mart is literally just water, corn syrup, and dye). Now try to buy canned pears without any added sweeteners (if you find one without sugar, it has Splenda). Now try to buy a loaf of bread without any added sugar (most loaves contain brown sugar). Almost everything in almost every conventional grocery chain in the U.S. is loaded with sugars, sweeteners, and other addictive substances. Even if you try really hard to buy healthy foods at a normal grocer, you are going to have a hard time. Not everyone with a weight problem is shoving 50 Snickers down their gullet every day, and that characterization has to stop if we're going to realistically address the issue.
- DHJSH 11y ago
  Nobody with a "weight problem" eats fewer calories each day than their body burns. Nobody.
  - cookiecaper 11y ago
    I didn't say they did.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- DHJSH 11y ago
  1. Organic, Pure, Maple Syrup at Wal*Mart http://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Pure-Maple-Syrup-12.5-Oz/13925187 http://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Pure-Maple-Syrup-12.5-... 2. Pears in pear juice (no other sweeter). WalMart's own brand: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Fruit-Pear-Halves-Bartlett-No-Sugar-Added-Prepared-Food-15-oz/10415589 http://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Fruit-Pear-Halves-Bart... 3. Organic sprouted whole wheat bread: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Alvarado-St.-Bakery-Sprouted-Whole-Wheat-Bread-24-oz/36647758 http://www.walmart.com/ip/Alvarado-St.-Bakery-Sprouted-Whole... (All bread needs some "sugar" for the yeast to work on. Some that say "sugar free" get sugar from milk or fruit juice.) "Healthy Life Sugar Free 100% Whole Wheat Bread" http://www.walmart.com/ip/Healthy-Life-Sugar-Free-100-Whole-Grain-Wheat-Bread-16-oz/10318687 http://www.walmart.com/ip/Healthy-Life-Sugar-Free-100-Whole-...
  - cookiecaper 11y ago
    It's not that they always don't carry it, and I should note that Walmart's online selection contains practically every product possible, and is not necessarily analogous to what you can find on the shelves at your local store (that's why I said go to your Walmart). Even if a healthy alternative is on the shelves at your local Walmart, and it sometimes is, virtually all of the shoppers are going to come back with an unhealthy option thinking it's healthy. The one or maybe two items that are actually healthy (and by "actually healthy", I just mean real food; something you can make from a plant or animal without a chemist's involvement) have to be picked out from dozens of nearly-identical SKUs that are deceptively labeled. Try this on someone who doesn't know you're going to try it on them: check the ingredients and values on someone's healthy food item that they got at a mainstream grocer (Target is almost the same as Walmart, they just have a more prominent nut section) and see how much sweetener was added to it. My health-conscious buddies usually find out that their premium "super-healthy" green band 100% whole grain wheat bread has added sugar. I actually have bought real maple syrup at Walmart. It was tucked in the very top corner of the shelf and there were only three units stocked. By contrast, there was a whole section of thickened, dyed sugar water syrup on the wall, probably 25 SKUs. Again, the issue is not that it's hypothetically impossible, the issue is that 99.9% of the patrons, even those who are intentionally trying to buy a healthy option, are not going to be able to do it successfully. There's a reason for that, and that reason is that the grocer, the distributor, the manufacturer, and all the rest of the way up the supply chain, they don't want you to be able to buy healthier, because access to more filling, low calorie options means not only that you'll be healthier, but that ultimately you'll buy a lot less food.

rtl49 11y ago

You haven't written anything I can show to be factually inaccurate. But the trouble is with one word: "simply." Unless you subscribe to a metaphysical interpretation of human behavior, the fact that obesity is such a widespread health problem is ipso facto strong evidence that some set of environmental factors is at play. The insistence that this large population of people bear some kind of personal responsibility for their condition completely misses the point and is, in my opinion, an obviously useless suggestion to make. I'm not aware of any evidence that instilling a sense of shame in people who are obese is likely to ameliorate their condition, and the experience of many would seem to suggest it is likely to have the opposite effect.

DHJSH 11y ago
Eating fewer calories than your body needs every day will always lead to weight loss. Certainly it's easier if you rearrange your diet, but that's a secondary point.
- rtl49 11y ago
  You're not engaging with what I wrote. The trouble is with refraining from consuming so many calories. The fact that so many people find this so difficult is proof enough that it is not "simple" in the sense of being easily accomplished, and that environmental factors likely contribute to its difficulty. Thus attention should be focused on discovering and addressing these factors, instead of applying social pressure to the obese to eat less.