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> How long til we're all on Ozempic? It's genuinely quite depressing that so many people in the United States have a weight problem that the overwhelming major

by lol768 2y ago

> How long til we're all on Ozempic? It's genuinely quite depressing that so many people in the United States have a weight problem that the overwhelming majority of the population would benefit from this and headlines including "we are all" are not inaccurate. I don't think other countries are necessarily perfect here, but 74% of Americans don't have a healthy weight when you look at their BMI. That's a staggering statistic. Something is seriously wrong societally, and the priority should absolutely be non-pharmaceutical interventions.

beezlebroxxxxxx 2y ago
I agree. I think the conversation has unfortunately been dominated by an individualistic strain of moral judgement. Whether so and so, this person or that person, should take Ozempic-like drugs is often discussed in binary terms of near moral and personal failing or not. I think the drugs are helpful to people who really need them --- so long as the people really need them. The problem is that conversation overshadows the much more important big picture conversation: An entire nation is now becoming synonymous with poor health from obesity and we're not addressing many of the core nationwide reasons for that. America was once proud of and eager to prove how fit and able its people were. Now the very idea of proper nutrition and exercise is deemed a nonstarter, "impossible", or an imposition on personal liberties. The existence of Ozempic-like drugs should not absolve us from the imperative to change how we live as a nation for the sake of our health.
downrightmike 2y ago
We're all depressed and overworked and have been for decades. Food is an escape
- marcosdumay 2y ago
  Add forced sedentarism into that set. This is not exclusive to the US. The world is trending towards those, and different countries seem to only be at different distances from it, but the same velocity. Also, industrialized food seems to be much more effective in causing dependency. Food preparation has overwhelmingly shifted into less healthy alternatives (even when they sound healthier in a naive review)... And there's a multitude of low probability high impact possible contributors that nobody knows if are important or not.
- gklitz 2y ago
  I have always and continue to feel this view of “food is an escape for cuz” model is wrong in line with the the “it’s about lack of will power” we are seeing with all these glp-1 drugs that are helping people that a big proportion of our population have what amounts to a hunger/craving defect and are just living how we all naturally do when listening to our body, but because something has messed up their balance they end up overweight instead of just maintaining their weight. I’m hoping we at some point have a “lead in gas” moment and discover some culprit in softening agents in plastics or preservatives in foods that we find out is messing up peoples systems. I could imagine that there is something that has a minute effect on the short term and doesn’t show up if you only look at people for 1-2 years but causes significant disruption on the timescale of 5-10 years of exposure. The obesity epidemic seems to have started in the 1960-1970, so the sedentary lifestyle of computer focused work came later, but it is still recent enough that culprits in the mass produced uniform product market could be a cause, or the advent of one type of fertilizer or antibiotic given to animals etc.
  - pas 2y ago
    important to note that food intake increased linearly over the century, but then people started to cross the diagnostic threshold and so the percent of obese people started to shoot up unfortunately it seems the problem is a lot more prosaic than mystical contamination in the environment, it seems evolution never had to worry about this, and here we are.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
pixl97 2y ago
>I don't think other countries are necessarily perfect here, America first... the rest of the world is playing catch up as quickly as possible. >In March of 2023, the World Obesity Federation (WOF) released a report(Link downloads document) stating that by 2035 over 4 billion people – more than half the world’s population – will be obese. >and the priority should absolutely be non-pharmaceutical interventions. Illegal. Or is should say Coca Cola can and will fight you to the death the moment you try. If you stand between the junk food companies and advertisers you will have an army of lawyers fighting you 'tobacco industry' style for the next 50 years. Until the shit is off our shelves and out of our ads nothing will change.
jspash 2y ago
It really is a sad situation. As an American who spent the first 30 years of life in the US and over 20 in Europe, the difference is striking. However... here in the UK I see more and more "American-sized" people every year. _Something_ is changing. In the food and/or habits of the average Brit. Anecdotally I would say Europeans as whole are getting ever so slighty larger. But just not at the rate as Americans. Ozempic seems like a god-send.
- rootusrootus 2y ago
  > But just not at the rate as Americans The rate is probably comparable, it's the offset that's different. Won't be long until Europe is where the US is today (though I need to mention, this is regional, for example Colorado is at about 25%, and some European countries are already there). Even Japan is getting steadily fatter, though they are way, way behind Europe and the US.
TacticalCoder 2y ago
> It's genuinely quite depressing that so many people in the United States have a weight problem I agree. I'm 51 y/o and still totally fit. Always have been. I am completely in control of what my body intakes. I can fast for 12 hours from waking up until dinner: I do it regularly (as in at least five times a month, probably a bit more). I did do sport like crazy when I was young but don't even bother that much. Some walking, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, some bicycling, some tennis. But at a gentle pace. "More haste, less speed" (thousands of years old saying). It's crazy to poison oneself to the point where another poison (that Ozempic drug) is needed to counter the first poison. I'm not saying it cannot help but sadly there's no way to say it nicely: if you need that, your body controls your mind. It should be the contrary. > Something is seriously wrong societally ... The biggest issue to me is we live in societies (not just in the US) where we victimize everyone. Nothing is never nobody's fault. We find excuses for just about everything. We should go back thousands of years and read the classics: "healthy mind in a healthy body". Greek philosophers had already figured that in the Antiquity. Mind over body.

by lol768 2y ago

beezlebroxxxxxx 2y ago

I agree. I think the conversation has unfortunately been dominated by an individualistic strain of moral judgement. Whether so and so, this person or that person, should take Ozempic-like drugs is often discussed in binary terms of near moral and personal failing or not. I think the drugs are helpful to people who really need them --- so long as the people really need them. The problem is that conversation overshadows the much more important big picture conversation: An entire nation is now becoming synonymous with poor health from obesity and we're not addressing many of the core nationwide reasons for that. America was once proud of and eager to prove how fit and able its people were. Now the very idea of proper nutrition and exercise is deemed a nonstarter, "impossible", or an imposition on personal liberties. The existence of Ozempic-like drugs should not absolve us from the imperative to change how we live as a nation for the sake of our health.

downrightmike 2y ago

We're all depressed and overworked and have been for decades. Food is an escape

marcosdumay 2y ago
Add forced sedentarism into that set. This is not exclusive to the US. The world is trending towards those, and different countries seem to only be at different distances from it, but the same velocity. Also, industrialized food seems to be much more effective in causing dependency. Food preparation has overwhelmingly shifted into less healthy alternatives (even when they sound healthier in a naive review)... And there's a multitude of low probability high impact possible contributors that nobody knows if are important or not.
gklitz 2y ago
I have always and continue to feel this view of “food is an escape for cuz” model is wrong in line with the the “it’s about lack of will power” we are seeing with all these glp-1 drugs that are helping people that a big proportion of our population have what amounts to a hunger/craving defect and are just living how we all naturally do when listening to our body, but because something has messed up their balance they end up overweight instead of just maintaining their weight. I’m hoping we at some point have a “lead in gas” moment and discover some culprit in softening agents in plastics or preservatives in foods that we find out is messing up peoples systems. I could imagine that there is something that has a minute effect on the short term and doesn’t show up if you only look at people for 1-2 years but causes significant disruption on the timescale of 5-10 years of exposure. The obesity epidemic seems to have started in the 1960-1970, so the sedentary lifestyle of computer focused work came later, but it is still recent enough that culprits in the mass produced uniform product market could be a cause, or the advent of one type of fertilizer or antibiotic given to animals etc.
- pas 2y ago
  important to note that food intake increased linearly over the century, but then people started to cross the diagnostic threshold and so the percent of obese people started to shoot up unfortunately it seems the problem is a lot more prosaic than mystical contamination in the environment, it seems evolution never had to worry about this, and here we are.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

pixl97 2y ago

>I don't think other countries are necessarily perfect here, America first... the rest of the world is playing catch up as quickly as possible. >In March of 2023, the World Obesity Federation (WOF) released a report(Link downloads document) stating that by 2035 over 4 billion people – more than half the world’s population – will be obese. >and the priority should absolutely be non-pharmaceutical interventions. Illegal. Or is should say Coca Cola can and will fight you to the death the moment you try. If you stand between the junk food companies and advertisers you will have an army of lawyers fighting you 'tobacco industry' style for the next 50 years. Until the shit is off our shelves and out of our ads nothing will change.

jspash 2y ago

It really is a sad situation. As an American who spent the first 30 years of life in the US and over 20 in Europe, the difference is striking. However... here in the UK I see more and more "American-sized" people every year. _Something_ is changing. In the food and/or habits of the average Brit. Anecdotally I would say Europeans as whole are getting ever so slighty larger. But just not at the rate as Americans. Ozempic seems like a god-send.

rootusrootus 2y ago
> But just not at the rate as Americans The rate is probably comparable, it's the offset that's different. Won't be long until Europe is where the US is today (though I need to mention, this is regional, for example Colorado is at about 25%, and some European countries are already there). Even Japan is getting steadily fatter, though they are way, way behind Europe and the US.

TacticalCoder 2y ago

> It's genuinely quite depressing that so many people in the United States have a weight problem I agree. I'm 51 y/o and still totally fit. Always have been. I am completely in control of what my body intakes. I can fast for 12 hours from waking up until dinner: I do it regularly (as in at least five times a month, probably a bit more). I did do sport like crazy when I was young but don't even bother that much. Some walking, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, some bicycling, some tennis. But at a gentle pace. "More haste, less speed" (thousands of years old saying). It's crazy to poison oneself to the point where another poison (that Ozempic drug) is needed to counter the first poison. I'm not saying it cannot help but sadly there's no way to say it nicely: if you need that, your body controls your mind. It should be the contrary. > Something is seriously wrong societally ... The biggest issue to me is we live in societies (not just in the US) where we victimize everyone. Nothing is never nobody's fault. We find excuses for just about everything. We should go back thousands of years and read the classics: "healthy mind in a healthy body". Greek philosophers had already figured that in the Antiquity. Mind over body.