Actually I will say that the problem with Obesity is a societal one as much as anything. Despite the stereotype, it doesn't nessicarly happen because of guys eating massive amounts of food. Sure that CAN be a problem, but at the most it's one factor among many.
The truth is that the problem is largely caused by a combination of depression and sedimentary lifestyles. I mean think about it this way. Schools exist to keep children occupied, more so today than in previous years. The focus isn't entirely on education and self-validation but in keeping the kids off the streets for X # of hours a day. On top of this there is the issue of homework, and what are arguably increasing loads. It's not that teachers can't teach people what they want to know in a class, it's the fact that if you give a kid what they estimate are 45 minutes to an hour of homework per class, that's another four hours of work, keeping the kid occupied for 10 hours a day. This is of course taxing, so in many cases you see kids spending 6 hours in class, who knows how long on a bus, and then multiple hours doing homework. This gives people a couple of hours a day, and honestly
anyone in their right mind is going to want to kick back and do something for escapism (TV, video games, whatever) before bed. The result of things working this way? Fatter kids. Truthfully I do *NOT* believe our education system is failing as badly as many claim (I could explain why in detail, but it would derail the subject). I honestly think (at 34) that less homework, a more competitive school system (where some are gleefully left behind ina retard league) and other adjustments would help the problem.
On top of this, you have problems with society with parents being afraid to let their kids outside. With both parents working, and the stress at the modern workplace, it's not like parents can follow their kids around to do stuff safely. Part of the point of TV and Video games is not that they act as "automatic parenting units" but also that they keep kids inside. Oh sure, many parents might complain about them, but by the same token if their kids were wandering today's neighborhoods they would be complaining about other stuff. Either local laws preventing unattended children, or all the nasty elements crawling around the area. In many cases the kid who goes outside to play unattended, winds up on a milk box, and the subject of a streaming snuff flick (okay well maybe that is too far, but you get the point).
When it comes to being an adult, unless you have an unusually active job (most of which you can't support yourself at, the more physically demanding a job generally the less it pays) you basically get to be sedimentary. So you go from sitting in school and sitting at home to sitting behind a desk, working a computer, or maybe doing light clerical work of some sort in a fancy postion. The bottom line is most jobs involve someone being involved mentally as opposed to physically. You do this for 8 hours (or more) a day, plus travel time, plus coming home to cook dinner, and your totally exhausted.
Like it or not that kind of stuff is what the lifestyle in pretty much all first world countries is like, and why obsesity is a problem. The issue is a civilized society more than anything.
Over time I imagine we'll solve the problem, medically if nothing else. But right now we're basically living in a fat farm. Doctors and such can scream "go out and exercise" all they want, but honestly until society changes to allow for it, it isn't going to happen.
To put things into perspecitve, while my job had it's moments, I started to put on serious weight when I was working Casino Security. 99.9% of the job is simply being a dog and pony show, and standing (or sitting) in various locations, or walking slowly around checking stuff out. When I worked back of the house in a monitor room I was even more sedimentary. I came up in a fairly unusual enviroment (which I've explained before) and as a kid was skinny, but as I got older and did less I simply got fatter.
Oh sure, I like to eat, but it's not really the "chocolate cake covered in bacon" stereotype people seem to get into their mind. It's simply that if I eat ordinary food I don't do enough to burn it off.
Also in my case I take medication where weight gain is a known side effect something which has made me bigger and flabbier than I otherwise would be. Not an excuse since the problem was there to begin with, but trust me, I saw a lot of people that started security the same time I did gradually gain weight due to stress and the way the job worked.
The truth is that the problem is largely caused by a combination of depression and sedimentary lifestyles. I mean think about it this way. Schools exist to keep children occupied, more so today than in previous years. The focus isn't entirely on education and self-validation but in keeping the kids off the streets for X # of hours a day. On top of this there is the issue of homework, and what are arguably increasing loads. It's not that teachers can't teach people what they want to know in a class, it's the fact that if you give a kid what they estimate are 45 minutes to an hour of homework per class, that's another four hours of work, keeping the kid occupied for 10 hours a day. This is of course taxing, so in many cases you see kids spending 6 hours in class, who knows how long on a bus, and then multiple hours doing homework. This gives people a couple of hours a day, and honestly
anyone in their right mind is going to want to kick back and do something for escapism (TV, video games, whatever) before bed. The result of things working this way? Fatter kids. Truthfully I do *NOT* believe our education system is failing as badly as many claim (I could explain why in detail, but it would derail the subject). I honestly think (at 34) that less homework, a more competitive school system (where some are gleefully left behind ina retard league) and other adjustments would help the problem.
On top of this, you have problems with society with parents being afraid to let their kids outside. With both parents working, and the stress at the modern workplace, it's not like parents can follow their kids around to do stuff safely. Part of the point of TV and Video games is not that they act as "automatic parenting units" but also that they keep kids inside. Oh sure, many parents might complain about them, but by the same token if their kids were wandering today's neighborhoods they would be complaining about other stuff. Either local laws preventing unattended children, or all the nasty elements crawling around the area. In many cases the kid who goes outside to play unattended, winds up on a milk box, and the subject of a streaming snuff flick (okay well maybe that is too far, but you get the point).
When it comes to being an adult, unless you have an unusually active job (most of which you can't support yourself at, the more physically demanding a job generally the less it pays) you basically get to be sedimentary. So you go from sitting in school and sitting at home to sitting behind a desk, working a computer, or maybe doing light clerical work of some sort in a fancy postion. The bottom line is most jobs involve someone being involved mentally as opposed to physically. You do this for 8 hours (or more) a day, plus travel time, plus coming home to cook dinner, and your totally exhausted.
Like it or not that kind of stuff is what the lifestyle in pretty much all first world countries is like, and why obsesity is a problem. The issue is a civilized society more than anything.
Over time I imagine we'll solve the problem, medically if nothing else. But right now we're basically living in a fat farm. Doctors and such can scream "go out and exercise" all they want, but honestly until society changes to allow for it, it isn't going to happen.
To put things into perspecitve, while my job had it's moments, I started to put on serious weight when I was working Casino Security. 99.9% of the job is simply being a dog and pony show, and standing (or sitting) in various locations, or walking slowly around checking stuff out. When I worked back of the house in a monitor room I was even more sedimentary. I came up in a fairly unusual enviroment (which I've explained before) and as a kid was skinny, but as I got older and did less I simply got fatter.
Oh sure, I like to eat, but it's not really the "chocolate cake covered in bacon" stereotype people seem to get into their mind. It's simply that if I eat ordinary food I don't do enough to burn it off.
Also in my case I take medication where weight gain is a known side effect something which has made me bigger and flabbier than I otherwise would be. Not an excuse since the problem was there to begin with, but trust me, I saw a lot of people that started security the same time I did gradually gain weight due to stress and the way the job worked.
