3 ms·

The topic of obesity somewhat reminds me of a joke I once heard from a stand-up comedian whom I cannot remember the name of, but it went something along the lin

The topic of obesity somewhat reminds me of a joke I once heard from a stand-up comedian whom I cannot remember the name of, but it went something along the lines of, "People always ask you why you quit drinking, but you know... People never ask you why you drank in the first place." I do not believe that there is a significant portion of the human population that wakes up each day and decides to actively diminish their long-term health by overeating sheerly because he or she lacks the willpower/motivation to improve themselves. I feel that the minor, medium, and major stressors in life are what subconsciously steer one down this path. It's not like people who abuse substances[1] are completely oblivious or ignorant to the negative consequences of the substance. I think most people understand living an active lifestyle and eating a healthy diet is beneficial, but it's just not plausible for many. Be it time, money, or energy -- I do not think the average person has enough of all three at the end of any given day. Educating people on how to better take care of themselves is not enough. Obesity is a symptom not a disease in my eyes. I am starting to believe onus of responsibility is less on the individual than we might think for when many of the rats in this rat race are dropping like flies, then perhaps the issue the with the race and not the rats? [1] I consider food, especially junk food, to be a substance which can be abused.

uptownfunk 4y ago
This seems to try and give people a way out which is the exact opposite of what is needed to deal with this. There has to be a commitment and a no-way-out approach. It quite literally can be life or death. If individuals are not responsible for their own health then who is? How hard is it to eat chicken/tofu + veggies for one meal a day and cut out pizza/pasta/rice/wheat?
- hirvi74 4y ago
  > If individuals are not responsible for their own health then who is? I view the issue much like burnout. Who's fault is it for burnout? The employee or the employer? To be honest, just like obesity, it's probably a bit of both (not claiming employers are causing obesity). > How hard is it to eat chicken/tofu + veggies for one meal a day and cut out pizza/pasta/rice/wheat? It depends on how much one earns. It's a lot easier for someone making a HS salary than minimum wage which in my state, is still $7.25/hr. I am not saying individuals are not responsible, but I do not agree that individuals are solely responsible. There are other factors at play. I think we have a societal issue -- people are overworked and overstressed on average. Hell, depending on the source of information, around 20%-25% of Americans are prescribed psychiatric medication. That signals we are facing systemic issue within our society. Why are people so depressed, anxious, and or flying off the rails? Another issue is that our society has become more sedentary as a whole -- especially in the work place. I imagine there were much less sitting/standing at a desk all day in 1923 than there is in 2023 on average. I think a lot of people were able to fulfill their minimum exercise needs without much effort -- be it factory work, more walkable cities, etc.. Is the increase in sedentary jobs, lack of walkable cities, etc.. an individual's fault or society's? Maybe I am just talking out of my ass, but I would like to see any kind of research, if it even exists, on if there is a correlation between hours worked in a sedentary job and obesity.
kaba0 4y ago
Or Big Sugar not actively lobbying and promoting their propaganda would help greatly — it really is unbelievable that due to having loads of corn, the US decided to slowly kill their populace by forcing them onto an over-sweetened diet, purely for profit. For foreigners, plenty of food is simply not edible they are so sweet, like who puts sugar into bread?! And it being the way people grew up with, it is exceedingly hard to change. And it does show up very well on statistics between different first world countries.
- hirvi74 4y ago
  Wonderful contribution that didn't even cross my mind, but I completely agree. Again, this still is not the fault of an individual which was I the point I was trying to make. Thank you for this bit, I will try to add this to my opinions next time I have a discussion about obesity.

uptownfunk 4y ago

This seems to try and give people a way out which is the exact opposite of what is needed to deal with this. There has to be a commitment and a no-way-out approach. It quite literally can be life or death. If individuals are not responsible for their own health then who is? How hard is it to eat chicken/tofu + veggies for one meal a day and cut out pizza/pasta/rice/wheat?

hirvi74 4y ago
> If individuals are not responsible for their own health then who is? I view the issue much like burnout. Who's fault is it for burnout? The employee or the employer? To be honest, just like obesity, it's probably a bit of both (not claiming employers are causing obesity). > How hard is it to eat chicken/tofu + veggies for one meal a day and cut out pizza/pasta/rice/wheat? It depends on how much one earns. It's a lot easier for someone making a HS salary than minimum wage which in my state, is still $7.25/hr. I am not saying individuals are not responsible, but I do not agree that individuals are solely responsible. There are other factors at play. I think we have a societal issue -- people are overworked and overstressed on average. Hell, depending on the source of information, around 20%-25% of Americans are prescribed psychiatric medication. That signals we are facing systemic issue within our society. Why are people so depressed, anxious, and or flying off the rails? Another issue is that our society has become more sedentary as a whole -- especially in the work place. I imagine there were much less sitting/standing at a desk all day in 1923 than there is in 2023 on average. I think a lot of people were able to fulfill their minimum exercise needs without much effort -- be it factory work, more walkable cities, etc.. Is the increase in sedentary jobs, lack of walkable cities, etc.. an individual's fault or society's? Maybe I am just talking out of my ass, but I would like to see any kind of research, if it even exists, on if there is a correlation between hours worked in a sedentary job and obesity.

kaba0 4y ago

Or Big Sugar not actively lobbying and promoting their propaganda would help greatly — it really is unbelievable that due to having loads of corn, the US decided to slowly kill their populace by forcing them onto an over-sweetened diet, purely for profit. For foreigners, plenty of food is simply not edible they are so sweet, like who puts sugar into bread?! And it being the way people grew up with, it is exceedingly hard to change. And it does show up very well on statistics between different first world countries.

hirvi74 4y ago
Wonderful contribution that didn't even cross my mind, but I completely agree. Again, this still is not the fault of an individual which was I the point I was trying to make. Thank you for this bit, I will try to add this to my opinions next time I have a discussion about obesity.