3 ms·

It's sadly ironic you're being downvoted for suggesting prevention. It could be effective but there is no way to patent it. There's simply not enough profit in

It's sadly ironic you're being downvoted for suggesting prevention. It could be effective but there is no way to patent it. There's simply not enough profit in prevention. To your point, a high percentage of physical health, as well as some memtal health, could be prevented with changes to dirt and lifestyle. Americans have been (falsely) led to believe their diseases are common everywhere. That's simply not true. We increase demand and yet expect healthcare costs to fall. Not doubt, the healthcare system could use a makeover, but it's not the HC system's fault the American diet and lifestyle are so pro-ill health.

ramraj07 3y ago
We never had a drug to treat obesity so y’all were “there’s no medicine so it’s not a disease, you just have to eat less and exercise and stop being lazy!” Now there’s a drug and “diet was not a marketable thing anyway!”
rcxdude 3y ago
I suspect it's because they've shoehorned a vegan slant to it, which is unnecessary for and to some extent counterproductive to improving diet overall.
- pxmpxm 3y ago
  Bingo. The vegan thing is orthogonal to the topic at hand - a vegan diet made of HFCS held together by soybean oil will get you obese in no time.
woodruffw 3y ago
I don’t think they’re being downvoted for suggesting prevention; people overwhelmingly agree that eating healthy is the first step in weight control. Instead, they’re being downvoted for performing a dimension reduction from “unhealthy weight” to “overeating junk food.” This isn’t the reality for many people, and that assumption (including by doctor) does more harm than good.
- krisoft 3y ago
  > people overwhelmingly agree that eating healthy is the first step in weight control. It is an interesting thing. I know it is anecdotal but if you ask my mum how to loose weight her mental model is that you have to do more sports. That is her first reaction. And when asked what kind of sports she overwhelmingly defaults to ab crunches. (because your tummy is where you want to lose the weight, obviously that is what you need to exercise) Now of course we know that you are not going to ab crunch your way to a healthy weight if you are eating too much. And if you try, you are most likely won't do enough exercise consistently enough to make a dent. And if you somehow do, most likely you will unconsciously adjust your caloric intake to maintain your current weight. And lo and behold my mum struggled to maintain a healthy weight all her life. What I'm saying is that while it is indeed the consensus that eating healthy is the first step in weight control, maybe not everyone has internalised it quite yet? Of course one anecdote is not enough to say anything, but I would not be surprised if my mom is not alone in having unhelpful mental patterns about weight loss. In fact, just the fact that you said "eating healthy" is tricky in itself. Because my mom would have said she is eating healthy! She read in an article that white sugar is bad, so she replaced it with brown. She heard that red meats are bad, so she only cooked with poultry. She heard that fats are bad, so she only used oil. Now of course we know that in this context "eating healthy" is mostly about portion sizes. Doesn't matter what kind of sugar your pie is made with if you are eating too much of it. What I'm saying with this is that even if "people overwhelmingly agree that eating healthy is the first step in weight control" they might have very different notions in their head what it means to "eating healthy". For example my mum would have professed that she is indeed eating healthy, after all there is plenty of vegies under all that cream sauce. (Doing this while serving you a manifestly unhealthy portion, and not even flinching.) So we just have to be careful what it means when "people overwhelmingly agree" on this or that.
- chiefalchemist 3y ago
  > people overwhelmingly agree that eating healthy is the first step in weight control. A small percentage of people do, and you see that just walking the streets. The rest are eating and lifestyle'ing themselves to an early grave.
NovemberWhiskey 3y ago
No; the downvoting comes because of the suggestion - which runs counter to much of the evidence at this point - that obesity is caused by "bad habits" rather than have real biological causes that can be treated medically.
- chiefalchemist 3y ago
  Of course there a biological cause...intake more calories than you use and your biology will store that excess as fat. That's it. It's been that way since the beginning. What you're parrotting is the normalizing of the idea that an individual is not responsible for their own choices for diet, lifestyle and exercise. Outsourcing such basic and foundational aspects of being human is a *very* dangerous direction. Be careful of the false gods you're buying; be mindful of who is selling that (and how they profit from that sell).

ramraj07 3y ago

We never had a drug to treat obesity so y’all were “there’s no medicine so it’s not a disease, you just have to eat less and exercise and stop being lazy!” Now there’s a drug and “diet was not a marketable thing anyway!”

rcxdude 3y ago

I suspect it's because they've shoehorned a vegan slant to it, which is unnecessary for and to some extent counterproductive to improving diet overall.

pxmpxm 3y ago
Bingo. The vegan thing is orthogonal to the topic at hand - a vegan diet made of HFCS held together by soybean oil will get you obese in no time.

woodruffw 3y ago

I don’t think they’re being downvoted for suggesting prevention; people overwhelmingly agree that eating healthy is the first step in weight control. Instead, they’re being downvoted for performing a dimension reduction from “unhealthy weight” to “overeating junk food.” This isn’t the reality for many people, and that assumption (including by doctor) does more harm than good.

krisoft 3y ago
> people overwhelmingly agree that eating healthy is the first step in weight control. It is an interesting thing. I know it is anecdotal but if you ask my mum how to loose weight her mental model is that you have to do more sports. That is her first reaction. And when asked what kind of sports she overwhelmingly defaults to ab crunches. (because your tummy is where you want to lose the weight, obviously that is what you need to exercise) Now of course we know that you are not going to ab crunch your way to a healthy weight if you are eating too much. And if you try, you are most likely won't do enough exercise consistently enough to make a dent. And if you somehow do, most likely you will unconsciously adjust your caloric intake to maintain your current weight. And lo and behold my mum struggled to maintain a healthy weight all her life. What I'm saying is that while it is indeed the consensus that eating healthy is the first step in weight control, maybe not everyone has internalised it quite yet? Of course one anecdote is not enough to say anything, but I would not be surprised if my mom is not alone in having unhelpful mental patterns about weight loss. In fact, just the fact that you said "eating healthy" is tricky in itself. Because my mom would have said she is eating healthy! She read in an article that white sugar is bad, so she replaced it with brown. She heard that red meats are bad, so she only cooked with poultry. She heard that fats are bad, so she only used oil. Now of course we know that in this context "eating healthy" is mostly about portion sizes. Doesn't matter what kind of sugar your pie is made with if you are eating too much of it. What I'm saying with this is that even if "people overwhelmingly agree that eating healthy is the first step in weight control" they might have very different notions in their head what it means to "eating healthy". For example my mum would have professed that she is indeed eating healthy, after all there is plenty of vegies under all that cream sauce. (Doing this while serving you a manifestly unhealthy portion, and not even flinching.) So we just have to be careful what it means when "people overwhelmingly agree" on this or that.
chiefalchemist 3y ago
> people overwhelmingly agree that eating healthy is the first step in weight control. A small percentage of people do, and you see that just walking the streets. The rest are eating and lifestyle'ing themselves to an early grave.

NovemberWhiskey 3y ago

No; the downvoting comes because of the suggestion - which runs counter to much of the evidence at this point - that obesity is caused by "bad habits" rather than have real biological causes that can be treated medically.

chiefalchemist 3y ago
Of course there a biological cause...intake more calories than you use and your biology will store that excess as fat. That's it. It's been that way since the beginning. What you're parrotting is the normalizing of the idea that an individual is not responsible for their own choices for diet, lifestyle and exercise. Outsourcing such basic and foundational aspects of being human is a *very* dangerous direction. Be careful of the false gods you're buying; be mindful of who is selling that (and how they profit from that sell).