History
All my relatives, especially the female ones, are large. In fact, I might be the skinniest of them and I am borderline between "overweight" and "obese."
I have spent my entire life watching people I love, especially the women, starve themselves, pass up birthday cake, corn, and potatoes, etc to no avail. If they loose, it comes right back on with interest. Most of the time they didn't loose at all.
When they went to the Doctor, all their ills were "because your fat." The doctors never believe they are actually sick.
I have seen the hopelessness and humiliation of being larger than is acceptable to our culture.
And while watching this, I have compared my diet to my relatives. Now, I have seen a few eat massive amounts of food at holidays, but most of my relatives don't, even at celebrations. I know that many of them don't eat more than I did when I was skinny; less, in fact. And active? Often way more active than I was as a young adult.
Because I have studied nutrition I have been asked what to do to help them loose weight. I can only shrug helplessly. They are following all the rules for weight lose (reduce calories and increase activity) already.
I am totally lost.
Results of recent studies on Obesity:
There are many causes of obesity and our society does not help the fat person to be healthier. In fact they often make it worse.
Poverty
We way underestimate the affects of poverty on every aspect of life, especially health. (And lets just say my last name isn't Rockefeller. We are not a bottom-of-the-ladder poor family, but we are not rich either. In fact, my parents both grew up in abject poverty, though they are upper middle now.)
Poor people live in poor neighborhoods. I know this may seem obvious, but it has repercussions we don't often realize. For example, If you are going to live in a mobile home in our area, if you are rich enough you buy in the community on the top of the hill. If you are poorer, you buy at the bottom of the hill. In between are a number of mines, closed and open. So those on the bottom of the hill drink and bathe in water that ran off of these mines, while the rich are above that water level.
The rich live in newer, healthier houses (for the most part). The poor live in 10-30 year old houses where the glues and paints are beginning to deteriorate.
The rich often work in newer offices while the poor work in older, often toxin-filled work places. They are also exposed to more physical labor and, thus, are injured at work more often.
The rich can afford gym memberships, as well as the expense of joining tennis clubs, golf clubs, etc. The poor simply can't.
Studies show that the poor go to doctors less than the rich do, even if they have insurance. The reason is simple; doctors and their staff treat poor people differently than rich. Especially if they are also fat.
All my relatives, especially the female ones, are large. In fact, I might be the skinniest of them and I am borderline between "overweight" and "obese."
I have spent my entire life watching people I love, especially the women, starve themselves, pass up birthday cake, corn, and potatoes, etc to no avail. If they loose, it comes right back on with interest. Most of the time they didn't loose at all.
When they went to the Doctor, all their ills were "because your fat." The doctors never believe they are actually sick.
I have seen the hopelessness and humiliation of being larger than is acceptable to our culture.
And while watching this, I have compared my diet to my relatives. Now, I have seen a few eat massive amounts of food at holidays, but most of my relatives don't, even at celebrations. I know that many of them don't eat more than I did when I was skinny; less, in fact. And active? Often way more active than I was as a young adult.
Because I have studied nutrition I have been asked what to do to help them loose weight. I can only shrug helplessly. They are following all the rules for weight lose (reduce calories and increase activity) already.
I am totally lost.
Results of recent studies on Obesity:
There are many causes of obesity and our society does not help the fat person to be healthier. In fact they often make it worse.
Poverty
We way underestimate the affects of poverty on every aspect of life, especially health. (And lets just say my last name isn't Rockefeller. We are not a bottom-of-the-ladder poor family, but we are not rich either. In fact, my parents both grew up in abject poverty, though they are upper middle now.)
Poor people live in poor neighborhoods. I know this may seem obvious, but it has repercussions we don't often realize. For example, If you are going to live in a mobile home in our area, if you are rich enough you buy in the community on the top of the hill. If you are poorer, you buy at the bottom of the hill. In between are a number of mines, closed and open. So those on the bottom of the hill drink and bathe in water that ran off of these mines, while the rich are above that water level.
The rich live in newer, healthier houses (for the most part). The poor live in 10-30 year old houses where the glues and paints are beginning to deteriorate.
The rich often work in newer offices while the poor work in older, often toxin-filled work places. They are also exposed to more physical labor and, thus, are injured at work more often.
The rich can afford gym memberships, as well as the expense of joining tennis clubs, golf clubs, etc. The poor simply can't.
Studies show that the poor go to doctors less than the rich do, even if they have insurance. The reason is simple; doctors and their staff treat poor people differently than rich. Especially if they are also fat.
