Category: the Rant Board
Last night I was unlucky enough to watcha programme concerning obesity in America .the story focused on one man who had reached 1200 pounds 85 stone thru overeating...why! the reason for his greed and weakness his marriage was going thru a bad patch! I actually yelled out "Christ! is that a worthy excuse for consuming an entire weeks worth of food in one day" while munching on a fruit salad, which after hearing a very detailed description, from my equally disgusted brother, I was unable to finish...If there's 1 thing I cannot stand its greed and weakness of spirit...if these pathetic creatures weren't addicted to food, they would be alcoholics, or drug addicts,
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the prog became more disturbing when they moved onto teenagers and their battle with superficial friends, boys and family...the attitude of those who were meant to support these children just sickened me........it seems america is a land of superficial and deeply unhappy people who turn to food to ease their pain,its a well known fact that fat numbs the emotions just as well, if not better, than prozac!.
lol I agree, and I hate watching shows like that. It's so friggin depressing, but that just proves how lazy and pathetic some people in our country. lol
exactly I mean would you eat 3 pizzas, and drink a gallon of milk twice a day every day, because your marriage was rocky ... I forgot to mention they never interviewed his wife either she's a smart woman...
Yeah, but it's just not Americans, sadly the same problem is more and more prevelent all over UK, France, Italy etc .. so singling out the U.S. here isn't entirely appropriate, sadly that's just where it started but the trend is spreading.
the prog also stated that the average american male consumes 29,000 calories!...
even a climber on k2 who would need a high calorific diet to maintain his energy level and adequate body heat, couldnt hope to consume that much food...
Well it's up to him how he spends his money but I think that people who do things they know will make them ill should be banned from any health care unless they stop behaving in such a way.
There speaks the voice of the third reich once again. shall I tell you what I think? wainderful wangel wants to ban everyone from healthcare until the entire resources of the NHS are at his disposal! then, and only then, will he conduct his further research into freezing experiments on crriminals, people who are overweight, astronauts, and other people of no value to society. Wildebrew I regret to say that you can't really defend the US on this one, although you make a pretty good attempt given the circumstances. The obesity epidemic, if you want to call it that, has spread considerably from its genesis in the US, but the difference between the US and countries like Britain is that we're doing something about it. All I saw in my various visits to the US was an awful lot of food wasted, portions that are unnecessarily voluptuous (a starter of potato skins consisted of eight halves of baked potato, for instance) and proliferation of ridiculous advertising aimed at children and designed to make them eat more of it. In the US you have about six times as many commercials on TV as we do in this country, and I'm afraid that even if the US are doing something about what is a massive problem for them, they are doing much less than the rest of the developed world. Indeed, one American commentator has said that the US has a third-world domestic structure, and whilst this might be too far-fetched, I regret to say that his arguments are not without merit. Still, once the Wainderful Wangel starts freezing or experimenting on all the fat people, we'll be able to thenk them, won't we?
I can remember watching one of these awful chat shows a couple of years ago .. maurie .. someone or other, and they had these overweight kids on there - two year olds weighing 75 pounds and the parents seemed to think it was comical. They followed this child for a day to see what he ate, and the average adult could not eat what this two year old ate in a day. It was scary.
well apperently it seems like this is a growing fad. Well I'm having problems so what will I do? Well I'll tell ya I'll eat 3 pizza's and drink 4 or 5 2 leaders of soda depending on how thirsty I am. If people act like that threw something such as My wife left me then let's put theese people in some problems. And this thing with teenagers I always thaught it was the oppseit. You have theese people that say "I'm fat" Oh really your bearly 90 pounds. "Well that's still fat". Here is an ideaa this may sound farfetched but here goes. Eat in moderation. This may sound hard but you will be much happyer try it some time folks. This isn't hard.
what amazes me is that people actually get into that state. I mean if I put on a couple of pounds I think .. I really need to do something about that, but these people gain hundreds and hundreds of pounds, to the extent they can't leave their houses. how the hell do you get into that state?
LawLord
Yes, well said actually and it is very sad that this is such a large feature of society here. Portions are, as it were, way out of proportion at most restaurants, french fries and onioin rings are standard fair and people try to solve their weight problems by eating only meat and bacon and cutting carbs and even believing in low carb chocolate rather than simply start burningmore calories than they consume which, mathematically at any wait, is the only sensible diet.
This being said there has been a recent movements towards healthier life styles, it really depends where in the country you are, you must remember this is really a continent in and off itself, Houston Texas e.g. has the highest obeasity rate in the country and the situation there is really sad and, having een there, I can testify to the portions being absolutely inhuman whereas Seatle e.g. is the "leanest" city in the country, active people, a lot of interest in the outdoors and the culture is much more European, I've seen moves towards healthier foods in the last year or two, due to the size and the inefficienccy of the government which I shall certainly not defend, this has taken some time but I saw n the news last month the same vegetable requirements you mentioned are being introduced across schools here as well although the soda companies make too much money and seem to have too strong hold on the market for the candy and soda machine to leave the school areas.
Whereas, in Britain, vending machines are no longer allowed in schools, and a jolly fine thing too. Wildebrew all the above is valid and there is nothing I can usefully add.
Anyway Wildebrew I don't know why you or I are bothering, Wainderful Wangel probably regards us as valueless and is probably making room for us in the laboratory now.
I decree that all people who have fallen short of my glory must be shot at sunrise. I, and only I, am judge, jury, executioner and am the one who determines anyone's worth. Carry my orders out immediately, my minions! Time must not be wasted for building my new kingdom! A moral kingdom! A right-thinking kingdom! And a thin kingdom! All hail the thin and beautiful and death to the fat and ugly!
Have you become his press officer? You're not his Goebbels now are you?
Nope I was being sarcastic.
To get back to some sense in this "discussion" if I can even call it that, as it seems to have degenerated into a childish slanging match
...the teenagers interviewed all used 1 disturbing word ..THIN! not 1 of them said slim, slender, or mentioned a desire to reach a healthy body weight..they were obsessed with being THIN and it was obvious that many of them were not that far away from the slippery slope to anorexia and/or bulimia......
There is no doubt that the US has a major weight problem, however, I also know some weight problems are not from over eating or not being active enough. My mother for instants, eats less then I do, works 3 jobs where she isn't always sitting on her ass, and yet weighs something like 200 pounds at 5 foot nothing. I on the other hand am 5 foot 4 and weigh something like 140. It's parcially her metabulism, and something with her thyroid gland. Where as I can eat almost anything I wish...Also, keep in mind that while the rest of the world is doing more about it, for the most part our government is as bad off as we are, they just happen to have more to do something about it...Tummy tucks and so on. LOL. I guess what I'm saying is don't assume all are like this and don't care how we look. I certainly care, and I've got a flat tummy to show for it, but, even those who are over weight may care and simply be unable to do anything about it.
sadly though wc those who have a weight problem which is genuinely down to the fact they have hormonal problems or whatever are in the minority. It's true that such people do exist, however for the most part wiehgt problems are self inflicted. And most do actually "want" to do something about it, it's just willpower they lack, same as those who wanna give up smoking for instance. "yeh,I'll start my diet tomorrow, have another slice of chocolate cake"
And Witchcraft the US government does not put nearly as much money into tackling healthcare as it does into the military. There is something amiss when that is the case, especially when the poorest can't afford the healthcare they need, and possibly can't afford to eat well enough to escape obesity, not being able to afford the contents of a balanced diet.
Witchcraft the doctors did state that in some cases there was a genetic reason for obesity, but even then there is treatment,and much can be done to improve the patient's quality of life.
..I think in some cases the obese become easily discouraged by the slow results of taking exercise and watching their diet,they are too ready to say "its not working I cant lose the excess 15 stone ect!.." they simply become lazy because its easier and less effort...
I disagree to an extent that the poorer can't afford to escape obesity ... if you look at the price of processed foods, ready meals ... etc, they dont come cheap. and yet fruit and vegetables, although not always cheap, tend to go a lot further. a lot of people just simply can't be bothered to cook from scratch, and opt for the less healthy option instead.
Thats not true in Easterhouse a notorious scheme in the east end of Glasgow, a co-operative was set up between residents, a local shop and health workers,the co-operative provided cheap good quality fruit,veg and healthy eating advice,its been going now for over 10 years and is a huge success..all that's needed is a little hard work,self belief, and the drive to get things done....in many cases the poor suffer from apathy and a feeling of abandonment these issues must be addressed before things can change...
It's a mixure of a lot of things actually. They allow advertizing that associates fastfood with low prie and good times and even claim certain fast foods to be healthy, it's very misleading but people actually believe it, donut shops and fastfood places are all over and the fastfood really is inexpensive and convenient compared to making food from scratch. ACtually making food from scratch is much better and it's slightly cheaper, especially if we add up and have a family, for a single person it's questionable, but the probem also is the huge portions that people here associate with hospitality and generosity and making sure no one goes without, and the foods that people love to eat, the ethnic foods in the south e.g. are all deep fried and incredibly unhleathy, yet everyone loves those things. But utlimately I agree with goblin, there are genetic reasons in many cases, people are built diffeently but they are simply too lazy or overcome to fight. The cruelest thing though is when parents let their kids become like that, because once you are 40 or 50 or 80 pounds overweight it's hard to pluck up the courage to even begin to fight back and when you are a kid you don't know better and it's your parents who need to control your cravings, I think it's aa really mean thing to do to your kids not to restrict their candy intake and make them eat healthy.
Hmm, first I did not mean to indicate that the poor had enough for health care. Matter of fact, just the opposite. I siad the government don't worry about it because they don't need to if they're even worried about how they look because they got the money for tummmy tucks and so on. However, I'm quite aware of the low medical care available. To get medical care here you either need to be recieving SSI, have a child or 4, or, tough shit. Even those elegable for Medicare don't get enough. They're forced to pay for medicines that no one living on Social Security or SSD can afford. All children do however recieve Medical as long as their parents meet the required income and work/school requirements. Now as for the food I beg to differ about the healthy food being cheaper...For example, I can buy a box of generic hamburger helper for $.99; where as a head of letus costs $.89, and who wants to just eat letus for supper? Ok, so I forgot to add in hamburger? Well, the leaner you get it the more expensive it is. The cheapest I know of is $1.99 per pound, and that is for the stuff that has not been treated for fat, it is not lean. This same thing occurs with baccon, sausage and other meats. The leaner it is, the more expensive it is. Now, let's look at drinks. Milk is $4.19 a gallon, but a 12 pack of soda is $2.99. Hmm, soda doesn't go bad, 12 cans of it tends to last longer, and it costs less. Hmm. What do you think most people choose? Our cities put chemicals that don't taste good, and I don't think are healthy for us in our water, so, we're suppose to buy destilled water, but why when we got to pay for city water anyways? Real cheese, not the fake stuff is approximate $2.79 for 8 ounces, but a pack of 16 slices; which I believe comes up to 8 ounces is $.99 for the fake crap. Real juice is anywhere from $2.00 to $3.00 a quart, where as you can get 8 packs of coolaid mix for a dollar, which adds up to 4 gallons, and all you need add is sugar, if desired or not already added, and the city water we discussed before. Hmm. Makes me think...