Look How Quickly the US Got Fat? (1985-2010)

[Midpack]

Look How Quickly the U.S. Got Fat (1985-2010 Animated Map) - James Hamblin - The Atlantic

The Official US Obesity Rates Timeline - YouTube

 

[omni550]

It looks like Colorado is 'bucking the trend'. What is different there?

 

[FinanceDude]

Sad.........

 

[braumeister]

It looks like Colorado is 'bucking the trend'. What is different there?

An interesting study a couple of months ago noticed that:

Americans who live where the air is thinnest are less likely to be obese than those in low-lying areas.

About 36 percent of American adults are obese, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Rates vary across the country, however, with a higher percentage of obese adults in southern states. Western states, such as Nevada and Colorado, report the fewest obese adults.

Meaningless coincidence?
Very possibly. I seem to remember another study a few years ago that found high levels of obesity among people living in the Peruvian Andes, way higher than most places in this country.

 

[DeborahB]

I vaguely remember reading that it takes more calories to breathe if you live in a high altitude. No claim that my memory is working well, though!

 

[haha]

Most likely the biggest reason for the relative leanness of states like Colorado and Nevada is the youth of their populations. People immigrate into these states from other states and abroad. Immigrants are young, relative to the other residents. (Not including Florida, which is a retirement state that attracts older people.)

Ha

 

[someguy]

From the Economist: "The World Health Organisation (WHO) blames excess fat for 44% of cases of diabetes, 23% of ischaemic heart disease and over 40% for some types of cancer. This is already testing rich countries’ capacity to provide and pay for care." The same issue also cites that 20% of health care costs in the US are directly due to being overweight.

 

[heeyy_joe]

I enjoyed eating potato chips while I watched the youtube. Thanks!

 

[Chuckanut]

Here's a British take on why we are getting fatter:

Warning! It's three one hour videos.

And, of course, we have our own local hero whom you can find on Youtube:

Dr. Lustig: Sugar Pandemic Part 1


The above one is big on science.

 

[haha]

I think the best defense against this kind of manipulation is to realize that you are being manipulated ruthlessly by persons and institutions that hate you. Thus you are completely justified in hating them back. I not only am not tempted by their disgusting offerings, I detest even the sight of them.

There is a psychological mechanism called reaction formation that usually operates unconsciously whereby the person finds himself strongly opposed to things that perhaps attract him on some level, but are frightening.
A similar thing can be used consciously to turn the food manipulators nasty tricks into obvious and also amateurish ploys. If strawberry shortcake is your weakness, imagine the surface wriggling with maggots. It won't be long until strawberry shortcake almost makes you vomit.

On a society wide level, the trouble is that all the most clever actors in these plays gain from our obesity and poor health. Seeing those poor women jumping around in exercise classes just brings to mind what gigantic and profitable industries have been created downstream of food manipulation and weight gain. Bariatric surgeons, Jenny Craig, gyms on every corner, every young woman who isn't a barista a personal trainer, on and on.

If we wait for the government to solve this, the average weight in advanced countries may soon be 300 pounds.

Ha

 

[palomalou]

If strawberry shortcake is your weakness, imagine the surface wriggling with maggots. It won't be long until strawberry shortcake almost makes you vomit.

Ha

Ha, how I only wish that this approach worked for me! Tried it for years.

 

[haha]

Ha, how I only wish that this approach worked for me! Tried it for years.

Oh, I am sorry. Struggling with weight is a very hard road.

I have never before written or spoken about this technique, so I don't have any previous feedback from others who have tried it. It works well for me, though by now I really don't have any food cravings. It also worked well for my former wife.

Ha

 

[ERhoosier]

US obesity rate also tends to correlate with sedentary lifestyle. Very hard to loose weight without at least some exercise. But sugar (inc fructose) is an issue too. Exercise don't help if you are downing sugar-packed soft drinks to re-hydrate. That's why many personal trainers preach "don't drink your calories".

BTW- Obesity has increased in Colorado along with rest of US. According to CDC (ppt from link below), no state had a prevalence of obesity ABOVE 15% in 1990. In 2010 no state had a prevalence of obesity BELOW 20%.

Obesity and Overweight for Professionals: Data and Statistics: Adult Obesity - DNPAO - CDC

 

[Khufu]

I think the best defense against this kind of manipulation is to realize that you are being manipulated ruthlessly by persons and institutions that hate you. Thus you are completely justified in hating them back. I not only am not tempted by their disgusting offerings, I detest even the sight of them.

There is a psychological mechanism called reaction formation that usually operates unconsciously whereby the person finds himself strongly opposed to things that perhaps attract him on some level, but are frightening.
A similar thing can be used consciously to turn the food manipulators nasty tricks into obvious and also amateurish ploys. If strawberry shortcake is your weakness, imagine the surface wriggling with maggots. It won't be long until strawberry shortcake almost makes you vomit.

On a society wide level, the trouble is that all the most clever actors in these plays gain from our obesity and poor health. Seeing those poor women jumping around in exercise classes just brings to mind what gigantic and profitable industries have been created downstream of food manipulation and weight gain. Bariatric surgeons, Jenny Craig, gyms on every corner, every young woman who isn't a barista a personal trainer, on and on.

If we wait for the government to solve this, the average weight in advanced countries may soon be 300 pounds.

Ha

The leave-it-to-the-individual approach has already been tried and has failed spectacularly. The trouble is that an advertiser can easily and consistently manipulate a viewer into behaving against his self-interest, even to the point of smoking cigarettes, for instance. The individual, on the average, has no chance against the onslaught of saturation advertising. The fact that some people manage to avoid obesity does not change the fact that obesity can and has been sold effectively to the public as a whole.

The only possible solution is for the govt to deal with it. After all, the anti-smoking campaign by the govt beginning with the Surgeon General's report in 1964 has met with success in that smoking rates have been declining ever since. Had advertising for cigarette smoking not been restricted and public education campaigns not been launched, the rate of smoking would have increased as it has in places like Korea and China. As far as I am aware there is no example of a reduction in smoking in any country that was not the result of a govt program against it. The fact is there is no other agent with the capacity and the stake in the public good to run such a campaign except the govt.

In my opinion the best approach would be for the govt to restrict levels of sugar and fat in processed foods, restrict or eliminate food and restaurant advertising, impose a national tax on the caloric content of restaurant meals , increase physical education in the school system and launch public awareness campaigns to stigmatize overeating in the way that smoking has been. The alternative is that by mid-century as many as a third of Americans could suffer from preventable diabetes, a treatment load that would be likely to swamp the health-care system.

Of course, such a comprehensive approach to the leading public health issue of the day might offend those who believe in a individual's Right to Diabetes.

 

[Sittingduck]

Here's a British take on why we are getting fatter:

Warning! It's three one hour videos.

And, of course, we have our own local hero whom you can find on Youtube:

Dr. Lustig: Sugar Pandemic Part 1


The above one is big on science.

Oh no! All the weight I have lost and my kidneys can still be swimming in pools of fat ... Good grief. >-----(00)--->

 

[obgyn65]

I have news : losing weight is not as difficult as it sounds. It requires discipline, motivation, and effort. Any takers ?

 

[HFWR]

I have news : losing weight is not as difficult as it sounds. It requires discipline, motivation, and effort. Any takers ?

Precisely why it isn't happening (on a macro level)...

 

[omni550]

I have news : losing weight is not as difficult as it sounds. It requires discipline, motivation, and effort. Any takers ?

Sounds a lot like saving for retirement.

 

[Koogie]

Sounds a lot like saving for retirement.

I've done a fair bit of both. The doing of it sucks. The end result is great.

Embrace delayed gratification. Not the gravy boat and credit card !!

 

[Aruba50]

It's the low fat preachers that made us fat.

The west is getting increasingly fat and suffering all sorts of metabolic disorders including diabetes. This, in spite of the mantra that has been drilled into us regarding fat in our diets. As a society we have been heeding that advice. Our consumption of fat is down considerably since the seventies and yet our obesity rates are way up and type 2 diabetes is almost epidemic.

Why? Carbohydrates. When people shunned fat in their diet they replaced it with carbs and we were told that was the right thing to do. Now the studies that told us that dietary fat was bad and carbs are good turns out to have been wrong on both counts.

Look up Gary Taubs and take it from there. You will be surprised by just how far wrong we have gone.

 

[haha]

The west is getting increasingly fat and suffering all sorts of metabolic disorders including diabetes. This, in spite of the mantra that has been drilled into us regarding fat in our diets. As a society we have been heeding that advice. Our consumption of fat is down considerably since the seventies and yet our obesity rates are way up and type 2 diabetes is almost epidemic.

Why? Carbohydrates. When people shunned fat in their diet they replaced it with carbs and we were told that was the right thing to do. Now the studies that told us that dietary fat was bad and carbs are good turns out to have been wrong on both counts.

Look up Gary Taubs and take it from there. You will be surprised by just how far wrong we have gone.

Too bad the government stopped at preaching. They could have outlawed butter and bacon and porkchops, then we might be able to be even fatter.

The government has never got anything wrong.

Ha

 

[ls99]

Elect a North Korean style gummint. We'll all be starving and at less than 20 BMI. WIll also have a fat dear leader.

Just kidding.

Today on my way home from skating around 1 PM, for some odd reason I actully looked at drivers of cars, usually just look to at the cars and automatically avaluate threat ot no threat.

Most car's drivers were morbidly obese. Of those roughly two thirds were stuffing their faces.

 

[Sun456]

I think Colorado is bucking the trend for the following reasons:

We have good weather that is conducive to out door activity all year long. There are bad weather days but no long streaks that keep you indoors.

We have access to tons of trails and parks no matter where you live, in the city or out in the country.

We have access to the mountains and tons of national forest that you want to go explore and as a result end up getting exercise.

With the altitude baking is hard. Things don't turn out well and don't taste very good.

There is alot of peer pressure at all ages to be outdoorsy and athletic.

Donut shops generally don't do well here. Healthy eating is more popular. Goes back to the peer pressure thing.

We have a healthy grocery store here, Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, that is very cheap. Is is cheaper to shop there than any main stream store and way cheaper than Whole Foods. They also monitor all the ingredients in every product they sell so you can buy anything in there and not get bad chemicals or sneaky bad ingredients. Makes it easy to eat healthy if you only go there and you will be saving money.

Edit: Forgot to add that it is generally very safe to be out and about exercising. We don't have alot of crime.

 

[haha]

Elect a North Korean style gummint. We'll all be starving and at less than 20 BMI. WIll also have a fat dear leader.

Just kidding.

Today on my way home from skating around 1 PM, for some odd reason I actully looked at drivers of cars, usually just look to at the cars and automatically avaluate threat ot no threat.

Most car's drivers were morbidly obese. Of those roughly two thirds were stuffing their faces.

A lot depends on where you are. If I stay near home, I can go a few weeks without seeing anyone any heavier than maybe 10-15% overweight. I live across from a bus stop. A fat person waiting for the bus is uncommon, and the bus is not for the elite. If I get on some buses downtown, there may be some very fat people taking up a lot of seat space. I notice that if I want to sit down.

It may also be that when I am walking I just tend not to notice, like I notice but avoid possibly troublesome situations, then I don't remember them or the people involved. Our eyes are naturally drawn to those who most interest us.

Ha

 

[ls99]

A lot depends on where you are. If I stay near home, I can go a few weeks without seeing anyone any heavier than maybe 10-15% overweight. I live across from a bus stop. A fat person waiting for the bus is uncommon, and the bus is not for the elite. If I get on some buses downtown, there may be some very fat people taking up a lot of seat space. I notice that if I want to sit down.

It may also be that when I am walking I just tend not to notice, like I notice but avoid possibly troublesome situations, then I don't remember them or the people involved. Our eyes are naturally drawn to those who most interest us.

Ha

My experience base is around Baltimore whre DW has family and we visit at times. Nowaday mostly the 50 mile radius of where I live. Don't know about Pittsburgh, the nearest big city. I avoid it like the plague.

As for my eyes drawn to people of interest, well there were none of poisitve nature on this prticular trip.

At the skating rink, where I am the second oldest regular, everyone is in splendid shape. There are several females that do draw my positive attention