Why Are People Overweight?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Why are so many Americans overweight? If weight loss is just a simple matter of eating less and/or exercising more, why is obesity so common??

Are overweight people not concerned about the serious health risks? Do they not realize what the rest of us are saying about them behind their backs?? Are they not aware that it will cause them to be discriminated against in the workplace, and limit their ability in finding acceptable mates??? Or are they in DENIAL???

Do they lack motivation? Will power?? Self-control???

What makes the food we eat so irresistible that people can’t stop eating, despite the dire consequences? And why is obesity more common HERE than in other countries??

2

As I move behind the heat-shield so that I watch the upcoming flaming safely, let me just ask:

Do you have a list of hot-button topics waiting to be posted? If so, I would skip the one on circumcision, that’s been done to death.

3

The simple answer is that when more calories are consumed than are expended weight gain can occur.

The sensible answer is if you value your sanity you will exit from this thread post haste and put it as far behind you as possible. Go Now!

Let us not speak of this again.

4

Because American companies don’t understand that by allowing employees to telecommute, the employees will have time to work out in the morning! :mad:

Sorry. I hate wasting 2-1/2 hours of my life every day when there is absolutely no need to physically be in an office. (And if I worked from home I would work out for an hour each morning!)

5

For some, it’s a medical condition.

But for the vast majority of us (myself included) it is, as you pointed out, a matter of eating less and exercising more.

This point was brought home to me all the more so by watiching “Frontier House” the last two nights. In this mini-series on PBS (an excellent watch, BTW) three families were put in an 1883 setting and had to live as pioneers did on the frontier in 1883. As expected, all the men lost weight and gained muscle.

Back in the 1800s, there were very few “office” jobs. Most men worked in physical labor. As such, there were very few men who sat on their butts all day (as I do). Women, too, worked much harder than the women of today (a point brought home in ‘1900 House’, the predecessor to Frontier House).

With the advent of modern technology, people didn’t have to do as much physical labor as they did 100 or even 50 years ago. However, people continued to eat the same amount or more. Add in the invention of fast food and most forms of junk food in the last 50 years, and you can easily see why people today are a lot more flabby than the people of yesteryear.

Speaking for myself, it is a lack of discipline.

I find it amazing (to myself) that I can be ravenously hungry, yet if the only food available is not kosher, I don’t have a problem not eating. Yet, I can’t lay off the junk food (provided it’s kosher). It’s simply a matter of willpower, which I seem to lack.

Zev Steinhardt

6

i eat well and drink alot of beer! i don’t want to eat to less and don’t have time to excercise more!

yes, im concerned about the health risks. i’m pretty bummed out that i won’t live past 80 most likely. i don’t give a rats ass what you say about me behind my back or to my face! your opinion is like your wife’s asshole! Shitty and stinky! i don’t have to worry about discrimination in the workplace! i own my own sources of income! one quality of “an acceptable mate” is one who is not so shallow to worry about a few extra pounds and accepts me for who i am. denial? no, acceptance!

i cetrainly lack no motivation. i am motivated to eat like a king at least 2 times a day! no problems with will power (got lots!) or self control, either!

i find large quantities of butter and bacon and blu cheese make food irresistible. we are fat here because we can afford it!

just the way i see it, fatass! :smiley: (see sig, also)

7

Stop it.

Why do people vote? Why do men get married? Why are people overweight?

And then your Vast Doctoral Conspiracy against organ donors.

Enough.

8

Kosher junk food? And how would Doritos or Snickers get a rabbinical certificate of kosher compliance? Junk food is made out of so many ingredients that I find it hard to believe that any of it could measure up to a test of ritual purity. Mixing of milk and animal products, the blood not being drained from cows for jerky or burgers, the lack of separate cooking vessels for milk and flesh, the list goes on.

9

My boy, if there is money to be made by producing Kosher junk food, rest assured that the need will be filled!

10

It tastes good.

11

Meat in a Snickers plant? Do you think that M&M Mars makes McDonalds burgers on the side? :eek:

Zev Steinhardt

12

I’m on a vegetarian diet, myself. I eat two or three a day.

13

I’m obese. … And something changed last December.

I’ve been obese all my life. I ate and ate. It has nothing to do with willpower. I tried again and again to diet and it didn’t work. My brain told me that I needed fat/carbohydrates/sugar/whatever until I had enough, and enough was always way too much. I needed fat the same way you need oxygen. If you don’t have it, you can’t think of anything else until you get it.

Brain: Eat fat now.
Me: I’ve got some fudge here. I’ve eaten 4 pieces. Is that enough?
Brain: No, I need more.
Me: I don’t think so. I’m not going to eat more fudge. I’ll do something else instead.
Brain: No. More fudge. More fudge. More fudge.
Me: Okay, already. There. I’ve eaten 8 pieces now. Is that enough?
Brain: No. I need More.
Me: How about I eat some fruit instead.
Brain: You can eat fruit all day, but I’m not going to stop until you give me all the fudge I need.
Me: 10 pieces?
Brain: Almost.
Me: 11 pieces?
Brain: Okay. Finally. That’s enough. You may continue with your life … for now.

If it wasn’t fudge then it was chocolate, cake or hot dogs or any of several other sources of whatever it was that it thought it needed.

Meanwhile, I’m suffering from extreme depression. My psychiatrist prescribes Wellbutrin. I understand that this drug regulates dopamine levels in the brain or some such thing.

A magical change comes over me. Not only do I stop thinking about killing myself all day, as a side effect I also stop thinking about these foods all day. The cravings are gone.

Now I might say to myself, it would be pleasant to eat some chocolate, but I have absolutely no difficulty deciding not to. Or maybe I’ll eat a piece of cake, and thoroughly enjoy it, and then have no desire to eat the entire cake. And sometimes I get this strange sensation called hunger. Before this year I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been hungry. Now instead, I find that I get hungry because I haven’t eaten for a while, and then I eat an apple or something and then I’m not hungry.

Since I’ve been on the anti-depressant, I’ve been losing weight at a slow and healthy rate, about one pound each two weeks. If this keeps up for a couple years I might even reach a healthy weight level.

I can only imagine that the way my appetite is working now is the way a normal appetite is supposed to work. I can see how someone who has lived like this their whole lives couldn’t imagine that other people are different. I can see how they would think that a person who eats a whole cake is just being gluttonly. But I’ve seen both sides now and I can tell you it’s not like that.

Is it just brain chemistry? Is that all there is to it? Either you’re born with the right neurotransmitter and neural inhibitor levels or you’re not? I don’t know. I’m just relating my experience from both sides of the dinner table.

(By the way, Wellbutrin is also sold under the name of Zyban which is presecribed as a aid to those who are quitting smoking because it blocks cravings. Maybe it works for food cravings too in the same way.)

14

Gelatin, which is plentiful in candy factories, qualifies as meat under kashrut rules, I believe.

15

Thanks, Neptune, for an interesting read. I don’t understand why this is such a hot-button topic. The OP didn’t insult anyone and asked an honest question.

Go google “obesity americans” and you’ll find a ton of articles on the subject. Here is an example. I think if you examine the statistics and refrain from insults, this could be an interesting discussion.

16

Medical conditions. huh???

Medical conditions cannot defeat math:

When you consume 3500 calories more than you burn, you add one pound of body fat.

For most people, it is incredibly easy to consume well over 2200 calories a day, and it is simultaneously easy to burn less than 2200 calories per day.

When the difference is 3500 calories…that is a pound of body fat. Food portions and types make it very easy to eat too many calories.

I live on a calorie restricted diet of 1500 calories. It’s because I give a shit and have self control, in addition to the fact that is understand the math - not the excuses - behind weight loss.
People get fat because they do lack self control and a knowledge of portions and nutrition. They shove 4000 calories down their throats, but buy the top of the line motor oil or dog food when they go shopping.

People just don’t know squat about food. They learn nutrition from losers like Oprah. That tells you ALL you need to know right there.

17

Pssst. Hey Monster, look up [symbol]Ý[/symbol].

18

Phil, I’m going to ignore the rest of your post, but I have to ask: What the HELL does buying motor oil or dog food have to do with being fat? :confused:

19

Sorry, no gelatin in Snickers.

In any event, there is kosher gelatin available.

Zev Steinhardt

20

Dog chow in motor oil has to be a heckuva high-calorie snack! D