While I did not want to revisit this topic (or were we talking about art?) I did want to clarify my position on overweight people (a category I belong to – I also belong to the short and angry categories).
While I do agree obesity can occur due to physical or mental issues which can stem from childhood abuse or other relationship problems, I still DO NOT categorize all obesity occurs due to these issues. I believe most people are overweight due to lack of self control, lack of exercise, stress and diet.
It is easy for people to find ‘comfort’ in food. Like I have said in the comments section, I have worked in restaurants long enough to see the same people, week after week eat large amounts of food for no apparent reason accept to eat large amounts of food.
The most harmful thing about obesity is the effect it is having on our healthcare costs;
In 2008, medical costs associated with obesity were estimated at $147 billion; the medical costs paid by third-party payors for people who are obese were $1,429 higher than those of normal weight.
It also doesn’t help we made it in this top 10 list;
Known for its Restaurant Report Cards that rate quick-serve restaurantsaccording to their most and least healthiest menu items, Men’s Health magazine’s September issue includes a list of 100 U.S. cities graded by their number of QSRs.
Arlington, Texas, was given the title of Fast Food Capital of America, followed by Anchorage, Alaska, Charlotte, N.C.; Sioux Falls, S.D.; Raleigh, N.C.; Indianapolis; Fremont, Calif.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Lexington, Ky.; and Wichita, Kan., according to a blog by Dermot Cole in Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. The cities were ranked based on the number of fast-food places per capita and research data on the popularity of those dining establishments.
I once heard that although annual healthcare costs for obese people were higher, the total lifetime costs were lower because many obese people die much younger due to increased risk associated with diabetes, heart disease, and other weight related medical conditions.
Therefore if someone who is morbidly obese dies in their sleep at age 58, the costs associated with end of life care (which are a very large portion of overall healthcare costs) are much less combined with the fact that person isn’t collecting benefits for an additional 20 years as a more average weight person might.
Not sure if that is true or not, but I could see it making some sense.
Craig, with this logic now stuck in my mind, I recall reading recently how the insurance industry is preparing to have an obesity based rate increase or fee. Obamacare mandate is supposed prevent this from happening so it must be in place before the full power of the act is in place.
It doesn’t surprise me. You can’t walk anywhere useful in this town. The nearest “thing” I can walk to from my home is 1.5 mi away and that’s just up to the gas station/convenience store. The only people who seem to walk or bike are homeless. People who walk or bike are swerved at by rednecks in Ford diesel pickups who “hate hippies.” TV is a pastime here. Public transit doesn’t seem very useful here. But really big in my mind there is a huge shortage of healthy food options. Lots of fast food. And I’m not saying all this to rip on Sioux Falls, I’m saying this because we need to do better!
As far as insurers charging more for health insurance, it’s about time! This is something we can control but many people choose not to and instead feed their face with fast food and endless soda beverages. A cheeseburger at lunch everyday will eventually put you in the grave. The ingredients that go into fast food are often subsidized (directly or indirectly). Healthier options, not as much. This is killing America as a whole. If cost rating gets more people to lose weight and be healthier, good! If this forces more people to start asking for better food options the marketplace will eventually have to deliver, shoving the less desirable options aside. If this gets more people to demand communities that are walkable and bikeable excellent! I will be glad when I go down 12th St. and every food option isn’t something greasy and unhealthy. I will be glad when I can hop on my bike and ride to work and it will be an accepted practice like it is in many larger cities.
Other forms of insurance are able to rate on risk (auto, homeowners, commercial, life). Why should I pay the same auto insurance rate as someone who has several DWIs? That is a choice. I sell insurance. When someone smokes (hard to quit but completely your choice) their life insurance premium tends to DOUBLE! Overweight? The same thing can happen. They don’t just do that to be mean – they raise the rates because that insured is that much more likely to die! Fortunately you can lose weight. And you can quit smoking. And I often use this as a tool to encourage my insureds to start working out. I’m always glad to have an insured reevaluated after they lose weight or quit smoking so that we can reduce their rates. At the end of the day costs shape behavior. And insurance is just another cost that people don’t want to pay for.
The obesity epidemic in this country is not primarily caused by too much fast food, or poor quality food, or anything else relating to nutrition or consumption. Most other Western countries have fast food restaurants and snack foods, yet they don’t experience the same obesity levels that we do. Why?
The answer is simple: Cars. After WW2, the United States made the conscious decision to rebuild our entire urban landscape into automobile-orientation. Automobile use, which began as a luxury, quickly became necessary to perform nearly every task for most people. People stopped walking to work, to the store, to school – because these things no longer existed within walking distance anymore. Old cities crumbled, and were replaced by our shining new suburbs.
No other country did this. In Canada, for instance, many national highways were built, but they didn’t continue into the inner cities (compare, for example, Vancouver to Seattle). European countries continued to build their cities in traditional urban style, with thriving passenger rail and public transportation systems. We are truly unique in our whole-hearted embrace of the Suburban Experiment, and our ‘least physically-active country’ ranking can be explained similarly.
Think about it. How many everyday amenities (bank, post office, grocery store) are within walking distance of your house or apartment? How dependent are you on your car? We’ve even built drive-thru lanes at banks and restaurants (and grocery stores!) so that we don’t have to walk from our car to the door!
As a final note, you can really tell that the “urban” planners in SF really don’t think about pedestrians when they’re designing major roads. Have you ever walked on the sidewalk of a major arterial, like Minnesota or 41st or 10th? The sidewalk is so unpleasant and rarely used, some businesses (like, for instance, Last Stop on 10th) don’t even use their front doors.
I can speak from personal experience. After being overweight in my early 20’s to obese in my mid 30’s, I can tell you I ran up a pretty penny on health expenses.
While nothing drastic like a heart attack, the expenses still added up. I was getting a lot of “old man” problems: pre-diabetic, high blood pressure, multiple bouts with gout (worst pain ever!). I had no one to blame but myself. Too much bad food, too much alcohol, no exercise. The shit will catch up with you over time, trust me. Thankfully, I’ve never smoked.
I wised up about 4 years ago and invested in a treadmill and a weight set. I lost 60 pounds and have kept the weight off thanks to regular exercise 4-5 days a week, a better diet, and cutting down on the beers. While nowhere near being a fitness model, I’m in the best shape of my life. If I stopped drinking altogether I could probably ditch what is left of the beer gut. I turned 40 a few weeks ago and am in better shape than most people 15 years younger than me.
Make time to exercise. If you can’t afford equipment or a gym, walk in your neighborhood or go to somewhere like a mall and do laps indoors. Several schools or rec centers will have open gym nights–take advantage. A large part of wanting to lose weight is your “genuine want” and will power to make it happen.
Would you rather spend your prime years in and out of hospitals or stylin’ and profilin’?
BJ, thanks for sharing, even though you would never share your mom’s pies with me 🙂
I’m sure you lost 20 pounds just cutting off your Pompadour.
“Your’e not rockabilly!” FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCK!!!
Anybody think it’s crazy that we pay thousands of dollars, or drive to gyms, just to use a treadmill to walk?
Tom I do think it is crazy. If we simply had things that we could walk to in order to handle the basic things we need to do in a day we wouldn’t need to go exercise! I found a study that regular users of public transit tend to have less obesity problems (I need to find the cite, it was a neat study). They have to walk more, they probably bring less food home at a time (can only carry so many groceries in one bag).
All I want within walking distance is a good coffee shop, a small grocery and a corner bar/restaurant. But like I’ve said before only homeless people seem to walk or bike anywhere. Some redneck in a diesel pickup will gladly mow you down because they think you are a hippie for not driving somewhere.
I often chuckle when I ride by the parking lot at Yankton trail and I see people taking their bikes off of a bike rack on top of their car and they have a SF license plate. How far could you possibly live from the bike trail?
(Just a reminder – My complaint regarding the art post was chiefly about the name-calling. Glad to read that it is absent here.)
So many good comments. I’ve worked in the area of weight management part-time since 2006. One of the things I learned, and Muqhtar probably knows this, is that insurance will often pay for eating disorder treatment. It doesn’t matter if you think it’s a disorder or not, the treatment centers are helpful.
There is a pretty good infrastructure here, MSP, MN, for biking and walking, and it does make a difference. Being able to ride out of my garage and down streets with bike lanes is so much better than having cars pass by just inches from the left handlebar. There are bike lanes and trails all the way from the eastern ‘burbs to the west. Rapid City has a lovely bike trail along Rapid Creek from the western edge all the way to Rapid Valley in the east.
Another thing that helps immensely is healthier choices in the schools. If children get used to the taste of healthier foods when they are young, they are more likely to stay with it.
I believe that eating disorders/obesity begins as a choice, (except for the illness and medication exceptions) just like alcohol, drugs, etc.
One of the things that makes eating so hard is that, unlike drugs or alcohol, they can’t just stop eating. Eating is socially acceptable and strongly encouraged at all kinds of functions and in all kinds of situations.
At an eating disorder clinic I learned that the anorexics/anyone who sharply restricts food intake, die first, often in their teens. Next are the drug addicts, in their 20s. (These are averages.) Alcoholics and compulsive/binge/over eaters are at about the same time, in their 50s.
All that being said, I also believe people can change, as others have stated, and that there is hope for them. It is a multi-faceted problem.
Tom raises exceptional points about exercise and the US lack of meaningful urban planning. Yet, under estimates the affect of diet.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7ijukNzlUg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPJbYAYzP04&feature=relmfu
http://www.hulu.com/watch/279734
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0053ZHZI2/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1615190457&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1HF17Q3C1YPHPB5R4X20
Bishop – Thank you for finally telling us the field that you work in . . .
That, and chaplain for crazy people.
I though we were beyond name calling, Bishop. Just because someone has a mental disorder doesn’t give you the right to belittle him or her with labels, like “crazy.”
Let’s not open that can of worms again.
No belittling here Bond Perilous. It’s just short hand for a variety of mental disorders. I love my clients and I have my own mental disorder. Like so many folks.
It’s sort of like African-Americans calling one another ni**er.
I know where you are coming from Bishop, I have yet to meet another Fartist.