THINQon : Is obesity an issue?

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Clark Thomas, I am an Elementary School teacher though I...

Is obesity an issue?

Latest Post: April 5, 2010 at 5:14 AM

3 followers

It feels as if every week I read another article predicting an obesity apocalypse. Everyone is so fascinated by covering the fact that obesity percentages rise every year and our children are putting on pounds at the rate our economy is losing money. But is this all hype? Are we in the west (Read:America) really facing a dietary epidemic? One that is being injected directly into our veins by big-money corporate types who would never dream of eating their own food.

And yet for every article I read that makes a claim about obesity being a mountain public hazard, I haven't seen many practical confrontations to the matter itself. All I see are words. At what point does an issue evolve beyond the words and implant itself in our nervous systems? Are we waiting on congress to act to curb our eating practices? And what are our eating practices? Are they as bad as everyone says? If obesity is as bad as everyone insists, maybe it's time we begin rallying the troops and fixing it.

But that of course should only happen if it is an issue. Which I am not entirely convinced. Certainly the statistics don't lie. And certainly above average weights cause health problems that eat away money as much as junk food. But whose responsibility is it to fix life habits? Would it be fair if the government induced health sanctions to combat obesity? Or should it be the responsibility of individuals and families? When is something a life choice and when should the government step in to protect us from ourselves? In the case of cigarettes the Government basically says they know better. In same places around the country it is illegal to smoke on sidewalks. If that can be a law why shouldn't the government monitor school lunches and put more and more health sanctions on fast food restaurants and manufacturers?

Is this an issue of privacy or the greater good? Where should the line be drawn, if at all? And if we do decide to make a calculated effort against obesity, what sort of system should be set up? Taxing like on cigarettes or more health codes or more school education? Eating healthy is already in a lot of school curriculums, so maybe rather than teaching by method we should teach by example.

What do you all think?

Reply to:

Betsy Cromwell

August 21, 2009 at 3:14 PM

0 followers

An area of obesity and eating disorder that is rarely recognized is food addiction. There is serious scientific research which shows that the brains of people who are predisposed to food addiction have the same chemical reaction from ingesting certain foods, usually sugar, flour, transfats, as those who are addicted to cocaine. The receptors actually light up as they do in a cocaine addict. So far the only successful way of treating addiction of any kind lies in 12 step programs - science has not found a cure for addiction.
Perhaps society should be looking at using the 12 step model for treating children with obesity. If so, we'd have more compassionate, responsible children growing into better adults.

This post is referenced by the following other contributors:

Patrick Renfield	in "Cigarettes and Policy"	(The Living Room)
Patrick Renfield	in "MMORPGs - Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games"	(Computer Room)

Reply to: or

Esther White

August 24, 2009 at 12:43 AM

1 follower

I would add that there is a societal question but also a personal question. On the broader level, it is difficult to travel around the developed world without being quite astonished at the significant number of large young people. The evidence is there that something is radically different; the way the average person in the West will experience their body during their adult life is changing dramatically. On the other hand, what does this mean for individual people? The issue of obesity raises a lot of very strong emotions, as well as guilt, shame and judgment. How to separate the potential public health issue of many people eating unhealthy diets, from the question of an individual person's quality of life? It is not always the best thing for a person to go through the emotional wringer of a very restrictive reducing program, even if it would statistically be better for their health; perhaps one would be much happier simply trying to really accept and delight in one's body. On the other hand, certainly there are many studies estimating huge rises in health care costs due to the growing weight of the general population, so simply pretending there is no problem on a general level is naive. I don't think we can begin to seriously address the number of obese children, for instance, until we as a society begin to think of our relation to food and to exercise in a different way, as Betsy also suggests.

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Morgan Milford, young

August 24, 2009 at 3:51 PM

22 followers

Should the responsibility be placed on the schools or the parents I wonder? Probably both. It certainly seems that adult unhealthy eating and exercise habits are leftover from a childhood where healthy habits weren't enforced or taught. And there is definitely nothing wrong with being overweight, but there is something wrong that a child should be more susceptible to health risks because of a faulty diet. It does seem unfair that children become firm in their unhealthiness at such a young age and have a harder time breaking out of it later.

So should there be laws put in place to protect obesity in children? Unfortunately I don't think that is possible. It's a side effect of the ease by which we live these days. We're at a point where technology is now doing labor for us, and recreation is now spent playing video games and twittering rather than spent outdoors. For obesity to start decreasing we would need a societal shift back in time, but we're obviously only moving into the future faster. I'd like to see responsible technology that encourages exercise and healthy eating and active living. Health classes about the food pyramid isn't a viable solution for childhood obesity. There needs to be a calculated assault from multiple levels and jurisdictions. The schools, the parents, the state, the market, the supermarket, etc. I fear that we are past an easy solution. So it goes...