Unhealthy Lifestyle = Greater Risk

[SVTatia]

Originally Posted by Delancey

Dude there is no way only 42% of Americans are overweight! Maybe obese, but not overweight. No way!

I think theres a big difference in being overweight (fat) and being obese.
Most everyone is overweight, but I still dont know who classifies the limit.

On the flip side, what about the fashion industry that promotes being skeletical leading to eating disoders?

[Bill Seal]

I would think somebody 5"9" and 125 lbs should be considered borderline anorexic

[carlosproa]

This topic can open a can of worms.

I can only give an opinion, facts can be found for those who want to do the exercise.
I spent most of my career in the medical field, selling equipment mostly for the greater good but also some that could extend life for 3 to 6 months with devastating economical consequences to the surviving family members….

But I digress, only speaking on USA trends since 1978 to today. Sugar and its other many names and forms are part of everyday life for most Americans, from unnecessary sweetened buns for hamburgers or deli sandwiches, to the so called multigrain breads. That alone taxes the liver and it’s ability to manage these sweet carbs into energy. Too much sugar in the system is turned into fat. So this topic of sugar alone can spur pages and pages of discussion.
Substitute sweetness are even worse as they have up to 1,000 times more intensity ithan sugar in our pleasure receptors. Thw brain gets hooked on this high release of dopamine and so it leads to “cheat” on sugary snacks at a higher quantity to satisfy the urge.
Then there ID the whole issue of our affordable beef, chicken, and pork. Very good friend of mine since college worked in that industry and the amount of antibiotics given, the feed given, and growth hormone to plump these animals faster to slaughter is concerning. So we eat this toxic cheap protein that of course have effects on our bodies.
If you look at vegetables, they are genetically modified, from non-rotated fields, providing little to none of the original mineral value.
Last one in my rant ID fish… just going to touch on one type of fish right now - the very beautiful in the grocery store super orange color farmed salmon…most people do not know the sea cages these fish are raised are too small, they are so close to each other to pass all kind of bacteria, and their food includes colorants so they look beautiful and appealing at the grocery. Nutricional value is almost none, omega3 is almost none. If you buy salmon, spend more money and get wild caught.

Enough of ranting - I will not convince people set in their beliefs, not ID my intention.
If you are courious - there are many people out there that can explain these things much better than me. One that comes to mind is this guy:

https://youtu.be/UmRH6sv9rnA

[Delancey]

Well according to the CDC 3 out of 4 are overweight and 4 out of 10 are obese. Now consider we are approaching 900k deaths of which fully 300,000 are obese people.

[poiu]

Originally Posted by Delancey

I’ve heard a lot people say the citrus fruits referred to in the video are good natural sources for vitamin C. These are smart people who say this. They also say oranges are an export crop for the country.

In the video they talk about things like exercise to promote good health besides a just eating a good diet. Did you watch it?

Since I already know what it’s like here in the US, my question was about places outside of my realm of experience and was kind of specifically directed at people outside of the US. Sorry

I did watch it and exercise is fine, but if you weigh 250lbs (and most of the obese covid patients weigh more) it's mostly about food, not exercise You will need to run 4,000 miles to get rid of the excess 100 lbs and you will break you knees doing so. The obese ones can't do it.


It's like the US in most Western countries and developed countries. Everyone inherited the US dietary regime and obesity from Europe to developed Asia is on the same upward obese path.


You can get all the vitamin C you need from veg. Fruit is not needed or good for you because of the sugar. Especially so with fruit juice. Some even have added sugar, because it's not sweet enough.

[SVTatia]

Originally Posted by Delancey

Well according to the CDC 3 out of 4 are overweight and 4 out of 10 are obese. Now consider we are approaching 900k deaths of which fully 300,000 are obese people.

The bold was mine - this by itself brings another industry side-effect - check the size of most coffins being made today, it is disturbing.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by LakeSuperior

While cruising through Europe 10 years ago I was taken back by two separate independent cockpit happy hour discussions where it was strongly put to me that the British Government should pass a law that limited how much each person could weigh.

Did you think that there were less over weight people in Europe compared to the US?

My second visit to the US and Canada was in 1988 skiing. Despite ripping up those slopes flat out as young fit soldiers were want to do, we were all shocked at the size of portions in restaurants, which despite burning a lot of calories each day we often couldn't finish.

Originally Posted by poiu

You can get all the vitamin C you need from veg. Fruit is not needed or good for you because of the sugar. Especially so with fruit juice. Some even have added sugar, because it's not sweet enough.

But I like eating fruit.

[hpeer]

When in certain East Carib countries the health style is surely better. Dominica comes to mind, lots of Rastifarians. Not many obese. More women than men.

[dannc]

Western governments follow western medicine which is take a pill, a shot, surgery, etc., to "fix" a health problem.

The many studies show that if you have the correct level of vitamin D, and zinc will help too, one's chances of going to the hospital and/or dying from the virus is zero. Yet not one government is pushing vitamin D.

Ireland published a paper early in 2020 stating that it should be government policy to encourage and subsidize vitamin D supplements in the population. This was to increase mental and physical health. Furthermore, a doctor taking part in the paper, said that the common factor in the virus patients was lack of vitamin D. Every patient they looked at had low levels of vitamin D. The paper mentioned this, yet I have seen nothing in the Irish news papers indicating the Irish government is telling people to take vitamin D.

Finland an Ireland have similar populations 5 and 5.5 million people. Finland has had a national policy of vitamin D supplementation since 2000. The number of cases in Ireland is THREE times as much as Finland and the number of deaths is FOUR times. I wish people dying of the virus had their vitamin D levels checked....

Obesity and vitamin D level are linked because the supplement is fat soluble. The more one ways, the more vitamin D you will need. The CDC said that 75% of the people in the US dying from the virus have FOUR or MORE comorbidities. Looking at those comorbidities many of them are weight related.

Three years into this mess, you would think Fauci would recommend weight loss to prevent death and illness but that would insult people. We can't have people take responsibility for themselves. People expect THEY?THEM to help them.

TV and movies really are history. Watching Barney Miller from the 70s is not only fun but educational. Notice how everyone on the show is thin. Kinda hard to say any of the actors are obese at all and they had many different actors each episode. Really interesting to hear them talk about vaccinations and the Swine Flu during that time.

We have been watching old episodes of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Again, historical and educational. No many fat people on the episodes from the 70's and 80's. You can see this pattern over and over on the early TV shows.

So why did Americans, and it really applies to many other nations as well, get fat in the last 30-40 years? In the US, it certainly is the addition of High Fructose Corn Syrup(HFCS) into soooo many of our foods. Read the labels and see how much HFCS has been added to food. Many of the sausages I see in the market have HFCS. HFCS is in so many foods....

Then it is the Super Size mentality pushed by the food industry. Food is cheap by historical standards so pushing larger portions does not cost a company much money and the consumer sees they are getting more for the money. What could be wrong with this? Well, obesity.

I remember going to McDondalds as a kid and just getting a hamburger and what would be a small fry and soda. Now, one would get one or two Big Mac's, a huge order of fries and soda. Advertising works....

I have been exposed twice to the virus, both times I was not sick at all. Nada. Zilch. Nothing. The first exposure was the Italian variant and everyone in the house got sick except me. There was not jab back then but I was not sick. The second exposure was last year and one person in the house got sick and they had been vaccinated but nobody else was sick. Why?

Vitamin D levels.

My vitamin D levels have been where it is supposed to be for years. I get blood work to check. After the first exposure to the virus, two of the other family members made sure to increase vitamin D levels that were checked. They did not sick either and they are not vaccinated. The person who was sick both times, with and without the jab, and who likely has low vitamin D levels, got sick.

None of us have any comorbidities, and most of the family have high vitamin D levels so we have an all but zero chance of being hospitalized or dying from this virus.

Later,
Dan

[Shanachie]

BMI is an extremely inaccurate way to measure fitness and health. Skinny does not equal healthy.



Think about how many skinny smokers there are. Also think about all of the muscular athletes who have 3 percent fat, but would measure out at 28 or 30 in a BMI exam.


At 68, I can bench press sets of 10 with 180 pounds and cycle 50 miles in a day. My BMI is 28. I would have to weight 160 pounds to have a BMI of 20.


Ha. I passed that at age 16.

[Tetepare]

Europe has a mindset and infrastructure to suit walking. In most towns, and certainly cities, one can walk around the corner and find a pub and grocery. My nearest pub is 5km.

We went out hiking today at -15c with a frigid wind. There was nobody else. Meanwhile, any time it gets above 28c, all the Americans around here have to be in aircon.

You can eat as much of anything as you want. There have been times I’d eat over 12,000 calories a day. You just have to burn it off. Hiking the mountains of Tahiti or Guadalcanal will take off calories real fast.

[poiu]

Originally Posted by Pete7

But I like eating fruit.

Don’t we all.

It’s because of the high sugar content. We love food with sugar in it, that’s why they put it in everything.

Just a step behind that addiction is our love of glucose. It’s why we eat so many fries and potato chips and pizza.

And that’s why we are fat.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by poiu

Don’t we all.

It’s because of the high sugar content. We love food with sugar in it, that’s why they put it in everything.

Just a step behind that addiction is our love of glucose. It’s why we eat so many fries and potato chips and pizza.

And that’s why we are fat.

Table sugar is about 50% glucose and about 50% fructose.

Fries and potato chips and pizza don'y have a lot of glucose (or fructose) but do have high levels of fat.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucrose

[capn_billl]

Originally Posted by LakeSuperior

While cruising through Europe 10 years ago I was taken back by two separate independent cockpit happy hour discussions where it was strongly put to me that the British Government should pass a law that limited how much each person could weigh.

The extra medical care for the overweight was driving up the cost of healthcare paid by the taxpayers, and they were tired of footing the bill. They felt that government should step in and fix the problem.

AND there we have it.

It seems paying for something gives one power over the recipient, exactly what wiser heads warned would happen with Socialized (Government) healthcare.

Want to give the government control over EVERY single facet of your life?

Give them control over your Doctor.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Wotname

Table sugar is about 50% glucose and about 50% fructose.

Fries and potato chips and pizza don'y have a lot of glucose (or fructose) but do have high levels of fat.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucrose

Carbohydrates.. the pathway to obesity..
Proteins for lean and mean..

My surprise during my time in the US was not just the large portions served but also the amount of garbage called food served in places like Taco Bell.. vomit in a wrap.
It's true that eating too many carbs can make you gain weight, especially if they're low-fiber, high-glycemic carbs. Glycemic load describes the way your blood sugar levels are affected by the carbohydrates you eat. High-glycemic carbohydrates move through the digestive system quickly and spike blood sugar and insulin.
Carbs make you gain weight for a variety of reasons. In the simplest explanation, many foods that are high in carbs are also high in calories, especially sugary sodas, pizza, muffins, cakes, ice cream and other desserts.
The amount of carbohydrates in a meal is the key to losing weight and keeping it off because, unfortunately, the wrong types and too many carbs make you gain weight. Eating too many (and the wrong types of) carbohydrates can make you gain weight by disrupting your glucose and insulin levels and promoting fat storage.