What % do you think obesity contributes to the health problems in our country? (ETA - and why is rucking the best answer? :) )

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B1GTide

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Is it new or has it been this way for centuries?

If not, the obvious question is why is it new(ish) to humans.

Since the levels of obesity we see now are unparalleled throughout history, maybe we recognize that it's highly unlikely to be some sudden biological leap in humans.
IMO, it is not biology for most but environment/nutrition/lifestyle.

ETA - I am not saying that the studies are wrong. I am just voicing my skepticism.
 
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Bamabuzzard

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IMO, it is not biology for most but environment/nutrition/lifestyle.

ETA - I am not saying that the studies are wrong. I am just voicing my skepticism.
I'll add to this by saying when people's environment and lifestyle (which includes more than just diet) is stressful due to family situations (single parent/mom) or a two-spouse working household where both parents have stressful jobs, busy schedules, and little down time, etc., the body's biological response may not be the same for everyone. I know my youngest sister when she gets stressed, her body gives off whatever hormone it is that kills her appetite, so she doesn't have the desire to "stress eat", and will actually lose weight because of stress. Whereas a lot of people's bodies do the opposite, their bodies give off the hormone that induces hunger when they get under stress. So the question is, why does one person's body under stress default to not wanting to eat and another wants to eat?

It seems all of what we're talking about is intertwined, that external factors (that have nothing to do with biology or genetics) does cause a biological and genetic response to everyone's body. No one's body is stagnant through life's situations.
 
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Go Bama

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I'll add to this by saying when people's environment and lifestyle (which includes more than just diet) is stressful due to family situations (single parent/mom) or a two-spouse working household where both parents have stressful jobs, etc., the body's biological response may not be the same for everyone. I know my youngest sister when she gets stressed, her body gives off whatever hormone it is that kills her appetite, so she doesn't have the desire to "stress eat", and will actually lose weight because of stress. Whereas a lot of people's bodies do the opposite, their bodies give off the hormone that induces hunger when they get under stress. So the question is, why does one person's body under stress default to not wanting to eat and another wants to eat?

It seems all of what we're talking about is intertwined, that external factors (that have nothing to do with biology or genetics) does cause a biological and genetic response to everyone's body. No one's body is stagnant through life's situations.
For those of us that work with patients, we see the differences in patients every day. For one patient with an infection, penicillin or amoxicillin may be the antibiotic of choice. The next patient will be allergic so you have to choose a different drug. The line I use with my patients is, "the good Lord doesn't make us all the same.

My hands get burned from the chemo I take. It happens every time, but my oncologist's nurse practioner said she had never heard of it. The oncologist knew about the possibility, but had not actually seen it.

Our bodies do not react the same. I believe the brain does decide what weight it wants us to be. It then adjust how hungry we get and how of much of what we eat to store. This may be wrong as hell. If so, I stand to be corrected, but for most people, it's almost impossible not to eat when food is available and you are hungry. Couple this with the bigger you get, the harder it is to exercise, and most people cave to the instinct to eat.

That's a photo of my burned hand below.

Burned hand.jpg
 

mdb-tpet

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Probably around 50% of our health issues come from obesity. And, I think we've built our country almost in every way to encourage excessive eating and poor nutrition. Then, studies have also shown a multi generational effect of nutrition being passed down through genetics. I think we can do much better as a country, but it will take a lot of soul searching and a complete overhaul of our marketing and taxing systems to bring our food system back to sanity.
 

rolltide_21

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I once told my wife I love her more than a fat kid loves cake. She didn’t appreciate it but being a former fat kid I was expressing my undying love.

Just trying to lighten the mood. Looking through all the posts/articles there is one major common factor-increase of processed food. Not the only one of course but it tracks with the increase of obesity. I assume causation instead of correlation
 

crimsonaudio

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I love that there's research into this.

I also love Michael Easter's book "The Comfort Crisis", where he explains that we're several generations into a lifestyle few humans in all of history ever had the luxury of living - having so many calories available we can eat anytime we're hungry. Hunger itself isn't life threatening - throughout human history people lived in famine/feast cycles and were often more healthy (weight-wise) than the average human today.

The point being that hunger (at least the hunger that we experience today in our first-world countries) is rarely life threatening, and it's actually a healthy exercise in self control to put off eating for a bit when you're hungry. If a person is obese, of course they're going to be hungry when they work to lose weight - it's unavoidable. But we've (our society) so conditioned ourselves into believing we have to eat as soon as we get hungry (or when we do put off eating by necessity we lack the discipline to just eat what is needed to sustain us) that we're getting fatter every day.
 

Bamabuzzard

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I think for many (I won't go as far as to say most), the reasons for obesity aren't singular i.e. "eats too much", "lacks discipline". For many, it is a "cocktail" of things at play that could very well include "eats too much" and/or "lacks discipline". That is why having routine checkups that include blood work and other tests to rule out biological/medical issues such as low T (for men), thyroid, hormonal imbalances, depression/anxiety on top of doing a full inventory of one's lifestyle is paramount to ensure a game plan is in place so you're not spinning your wheels treating symptoms rather than the problems.

"Full inventory" means knowing exactly what is in the food you buy, regardless if it is considered a "healthy option" or not. As already discussed in this thread, when it comes to your/our health, the food industry in this country couldn't care less. KNOW WHAT YOU'RE PUTTING IN YOUR MOUTH!

"Full inventory" means cutting out as much stress as you can in your life. Stress produces hormones in the body that cause weight gain for some, or mimic hunger pains which can cause "stress eating" or binge eating. Overall, stress management is key to health, and in any place in your life where you can reduce stress, do it. It will go a long way in promoting weight loss and just overall better health.

"Full inventory" means knowing how much exercise and caloric intake YOUR BODY NEEDS in relation to YOUR DAILY activity. I have a desk job, so I basically sit for over 8 hours per day. So my game plan to stay healthy will not look exactly like someone who works a manual labor job and has burnt more calories by lunch than I will during my full work day. "Comparison is the thief of joy", so don't compare yourself to others, because more than likely, the people you are comparing yourself to have different circumstances than you do.
 

crimsonaudio

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I think for many (I won't go as far as to say most), the reasons for obesity aren't singular i.e. "eats too much", "lacks discipline". For many, it is a "cocktail" of things at play that could very well include "eats too much" and/or "lacks discipline".
Absolutely. Genetics, family history, stress levels, etc. all play into it.

But for a vast majority of folks it comes down to will power. Self discipline. You determine when and what you eat, so choose wisely. Most do not.

All you have to do is look at the typical America diet which consists of calorie laden processed and / or fast food to see that this is ultimately still a choice. We can make all the excuses in the world, but at the end of the day, we choose whether or not we're going to eat healthy and whether or not we exercise, regardless of the 'life cocktail' thrown at us.

The reason why will vary, but at the end of the day, few are eating carefully and exercising yet still obese. And almost none of them gained the weight while eating properly and exercising.
 
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crimsonaudio

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To test that theory, the authors behind the latest research assessed diet and health data from more than 110,000 people who participated in UK Biobank, a cohort study that collected data between 2006 and 2010 from more than 503,000 adults based in the United Kingdom.People included in the new study participated in two to five 24-hour online dietary assessments, logging their food and beverage intake multiple times within each 24-hour period. After over nine years of follow-up, the researchers found total carbohydrate intake wasn’t associated with cardiovascular disease. But when they analyzed how outcomes differed depending on the types and sources of carbohydrates eaten, they found higher free sugar intake was associated with a higher risk for cardiovascular disease and greater waist circumference.

The more free sugars some participants consumed, the greater their risk of cardiovascular disease, heart disease and stroke was.
Study finds link between ‘free sugar’ intake and cardiovascular disease
 
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