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Does our society push obesity or malnutrition?

johnjohn320

johnjohn320

Diamond Member
Just one of those things I found myself wondering about: We all talk about how awful eating disorders are, how so many teenage girls drive themselves into starvation as a result of unrealistic body images being portrayed throughout the media and whatnot. In answer to this, we cheer on campaigns to educate young girls to be happy with their bodies and who they are..."stop trying to be perfect!" etc

Conversely, we are also the fattest nation on Earth: 127 million adults overweight, 60 million obese, and 9 million "severely obese." The obvious response to this to which we all agree is "DON'T be complacent with your body. Eat less, exercise more," etc.

Now, any logical person can see that the middle ground is what's being fought for here-people shouldn't starve themselves, but they shouldn't weigh over 300lbs, either. But somehow, it just seemed to be a curious occurance to me-if it's really true that the media is truly creating eating disorders by putting unrealistically thin people all over advertisements and tv, why is it that people who presumably sit on their asses watching tv the most (fat people) are unaffected?

(Yes, I understand that some will be affected more than others, yada yada, I'm simply pointing out a curiosity).
 
Society pushes health. Neither of which are healthy. One group eats too little, one group eats too much. No need for a middle ground. You don't average or consolidate the fatties with the anorexics to get a general idea to push, you target them with their specific health problem.
 
Main problem... people are freakin lazy and would rather eat french fries or some boxed up TV dinner over a healthy nutritious meal.

That said, I don't blame them on the food front, if you're on a tight budget, it's hard to eat healthier because fresh foods are inherently more expensive than prepackaged foods. But that's not always the case.
 
My sister is both obese and malnourished. She only eats junk food and refuses to eat any vegetables at all. Recently she was diagnosed with iron-deficiency anemia due to her poor eating. She won't exercise at all either.

Meanwhile I probably eat 3 times the number of calories she does per day, but am still thin because I'm a distance runner. I think if people got out and did some daily exercise they wouldn't have to worry about over eating nearly as much.

My coaches have always stressed eating well, like avoiding fast food, eating vegetables, etc. - but I've never heard them tell us athletes to eat less. Heck, my first time in the decathlon a coach told me to bring some snacks to keep my energy up between all the events.
 
obesity is far worse a problem that any media hyped eating disorder. but i guess the "drama" of self starvation is a better story that people just pigging out. plus for a while feminist groups inflated eating disorder stats😛
 
Originally posted by: ManyBeers
I think the weight of the average American is becoming a tired worn out topic.
Click to expand...

I'll agree with you when my tax money isn't being wasted because too many people without health insurance decided to fuck themselves over and not take basic care of themselves. This is everyone's problem.
 
Originally posted by: johnjohn320
Just one of those things I found myself wondering about: We all talk about how awful eating disorders are, how so many teenage girls drive themselves into starvation as a result of unrealistic body images being portrayed throughout the media and whatnot. In answer to this, we cheer on campaigns to educate young girls to be happy with their bodies and who they are..."stop trying to be perfect!" etc

Conversely, we are also the fattest nation on Earth: 127 million adults overweight, 60 million obese, and 9 million "severely obese." The obvious response to this to which we all agree is "DON'T be complacent with your body. Eat less, exercise more," etc.

Now, any logical person can see that the middle ground is what's being fought for here-people shouldn't starve themselves, but they shouldn't weigh over 300lbs, either. But somehow, it just seemed to be a curious occurance to me-if it's really true that the media is truly creating eating disorders by putting unrealistically thin people all over advertisements and tv, why is it that people who presumably sit on their asses watching tv the most (fat people) are unaffected?

(Yes, I understand that some will be affected more than others, yada yada, I'm simply pointing out a curiosity).
Click to expand...

If you've ever wandered into a fat discussion on ATOT, you'd know that there are a number of Americans who practically praise anorexia.

And don't forget, those 127 million overweight on based on BMI, which is a poor indicator if not combined with other factors. You can be an athlete and have an "overweight" BMI.

This discussion of fat people who are malnourished reminds me of one of the characters from Good Omens (if you like Douglas Adams, get this book - different author, similar style). He's one of the Four Horsemen (Famine). Create meals that make you obese quickly yet contain no nutritional value. Genius!
 
Originally posted by: LtPage1
Originally posted by: ManyBeers
I think the weight of the average American is becoming a tired worn out topic.
Click to expand...

I'll agree with you when my tax money isn't being wasted because too many people without health insurance decided to fuck themselves over and not take basic care of themselves. This is everyone's problem.
Click to expand...

That's such a tiny fraction of the population... generally fat people already have healthcare (typically they have an office job and are thus already covered).
 
Originally posted by: Eeezee
Originally posted by: LtPage1
Originally posted by: ManyBeers
I think the weight of the average American is becoming a tired worn out topic.
Click to expand...

I'll agree with you when my tax money isn't being wasted because too many people without health insurance decided to fuck themselves over and not take basic care of themselves. This is everyone's problem.
Click to expand...

That's such a tiny fraction of the population... generally fat people already have healthcare (typically they have an office job and are thus already covered).
Click to expand...

I disagree. I think obesity is probably higher in the low-income world. Reason? Food that is cheap is not likely to be nutritious.
 
It's all about money. companies that make fast food and junk food are out to make money, not care what you (or anyone else) is doing to your body by stuffing that junk in your pie hole.
 
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