Comments on: The Big Oversight In Our Obesity Conversation

By: PeterNZ

PeterNZ — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 18:40:32 +0000

I am sorry (or not) but statements like this do get me a bit upset: “[...]carrying extra weight decreases the risk of death (those in the “overweight” category were six percent less likely to die than individuals at a “normal weight”).”
That’s pretty shoddy writing to me. Because what you say is that overweight people are 6 % less likely to die! That’s actually really cool, if I am overweight I have a 6% better chance will live forever? Doh!

Another statistic proofs that breathing during pregnancy is causing Alzheimers. It was found that 100% of people who suffer from Alzheimer had mothers who were breathing at any one stage during their pregnancy.

Cheers

Peter

By: Kay-Lynne

Kay-Lynne — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 11:35:25 +0000

Terrific article and valuables comments. I work on what I consider to be the front line of this issue…I teach “Healthy Foods” at the Junior High level. This is the age where many kids are open to new ideas if presented exactly right, that is, geared to their cultural perspective. In teaching this course (in many incarnations) over 15 years, I’ve evolved, and so have my students. This past semester, I’ve done more with whole (plant) foods than ever before, and honestly am surprised at just how receptive my students have been.

By: Marc Brazeau

Marc Brazeau — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 00:02:53 +0000

My view is that we should be talking about a Metabolic Syndrome Epidemic. This deals with the normal weight people who have the symptoms of metabolic syndrome and high weight people who don’t. It also points to clearer solutions as we understand better how to reverse metabolic syndrome than we understand how to generate long term weight loss, especially on a population level.

I see the population wide weight gain over the last few decades as a symptom of the Metabolic Syndrome Epidemic rather than the other way around.

By: Ryan Andrews

Ryan Andrews — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 23:35:31 +0000

I would also add that there are environmental consequences to overconsumption. No matter how overconsumption influences our personal health, there are global repercussions we cannot ignore (to animals, farmers, water, air, land, etc).

By: Ryan Andrews

Ryan Andrews — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 23:33:55 +0000

Excellent. I agree. Thanks for the article.

By: Jim Smoot

Jim Smoot — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 17:24:49 +0000

I haven’t read this study, so I can’t comment on it specifically, but I do see a problem with many of the diet/health related studies being done. Too many of them isolate 1 issue, while ignoring the big health picture.

Diet, activity levels, stress levels, and much more play into how healthy an individual is. To pin-point just aspect, like BMI, doesn’t do much other than generate controversial headlines. It gets too easy to pick and choose the studies that make excuses for questionable life choices.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 16:39:41 +0000

I hate to play devils advocate, because I certainly agree with everything you discuss, but we are not all health/nutrition enthusiasts and it is necessary to frame the obesity discussion with something that is easily understood (weight, BMI) for the rest of the population. I know BMI and similar measures are not perfect, but they provide ‘tangible’ measures of our health and allow the large majority of the population to understand the potential consequences of their eating behaviors and the potential benefit of lifestyle modifications. I also recognize that improving our food environment is probably the best way to encourage change and improve the health and nutrition of the most people, but who should be in charge of such a task and at what point do regulatory agencies become too big and start infringing upon our basic freedoms?

I honestly believe that changes to our food environment need to be accompanied by measures to educate consumers on the impact of their food decisions while encouraging them to make the best choices for the physical and mental health. Empowering consumers with a better understanding of nutrition is probably the most important measure we can take in creating sustainable, healthy change.

By: Terri

Terri — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 19:27:34 +0000

One problem with the attack on obesity instead of promoting healthy eating is the reduction of portion size in school lunches. I have a skinny and very active grandson and those portions are just not enough!

By: Valerie Ward

Valerie Ward — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 14:01:23 +0000

An excellent article that provides much-needed perspective, shifting the focus from weight management as an end in itself to the sickness of the industrial food system.

By: Casey

Casey — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 21:45:03 +0000

I’ve found the focus on obesity leads many people (like me) to learn about these other issues. I would also add food addiction as another important issue that needs to be part of the conversation.