Step away from the treadmill!

[sassafras]

This reminds me of how I've been trying so hard to avoid eating any deli meats. Problem is I work in a deli and I am working witgh it and around it all day long, so sometimes I just snap and scarf a whole bunch of it. More than a bunch of it lately. I know that nitrates are carcinogens and eating all that sodium will kill my heart and liver, so I am desperate to kill the urge. It's really hard though. We are not all built with the same urges, btw, so I understand if you do not understand.

lol, no I understand. I like deli meats. Although my equivalent scenario would be a bakery. If I was suddenly overcome by a craving and had no way of dealing with it, no cupcake would be safe!

 

[DoveAlexa]

lol, no I understand. I like deli meats. Although my equivalent scenario would be a bakery. If I was suddenly overcome by a craving and had no way of dealing with it, no cupcake would be safe!

HAHAHA, yeah I made a point of avoiding working in a bakery for that exact reason XD.
I was thinking though, although gum is a no-no while working, I could suck on a Halls while working so eating anything would be all manner of gross, and I wont do it. Also, brushing my teeth during my breaks so its all minty. I'm willing to do anything up to the point of wiring my jaw shut XD.

 

[Quinlan]

I agree that the focus should be on more telling measures of health than the flawed BMI. To begin with, I don't understand why-- if we are going to be looking at body size and composition in the first place-- we don't look to the hip-waist ratio and body fat percentages instead.

True, although I have also heard that statistically, body fat and waist to hip ratio aren't all that much better than BMI at predicting mortality etc. and that the health risk relationship exists regardless of whether the high BMI is from fat or muscle, maybe something about the actual mass of the body and strain on the heart? but I don't have the links at hand.

Still, even if people were comparing their blood sugar levels instead of their pant sizes, I still don't see it working any differently than having an emphasis on weight loss alone. The biggest issue is people don't pay attention to their health if they have it; or if they feel they can still get along at the level they're at. Usually, the majority of people can go on ignoring the smoke until they feel the heat of the fire.

The difference to me is that blood sugar levels aren't as tightly regulated by the body as body mass is it is relatively easy to manage for most people with moderation, getting an obese person down to the normal weight category however seems to require much more than moderation.

I think weight-loss is more socially emphasized over all because its something that you can visually track and other people can notice. You get more of a voluntary reaction from someone after gaining or losing ten pounds than if you've spiked or lowered your blood pressure, for example. But that's a whole other thread.

If we really care about overall health that's exactly where we need a cultural shift, the focus on weight is doing more harm than good. People engage in dieting behaviours and end up weighing more in the long run than if they'd never restricted their calories to begin with.

 

[sassafras]

True, although I have also heard that statistically, body fat and waist to hip ratio aren't all that much better than BMI at predicting mortality etc. and that the health risk relationship exists regardless of whether the high BMI is from fat or muscle, maybe something about the actual mass of the body and strain on the heart? but I don't have the links at hand.

Cool. I'd like to see them if you get a chance.

The difference to me is that blood sugar blood sugar levels aren't as tightly regulated by the body as body mass is it is relatively easy to manage for most people with moderation, getting an obese person down to the normal weight category however requires seems to require much more than moderation.

I see what you mean.

If we really care about overall health that's exactly where we need a cultural shift, the focus on weight is doing more harm than good. People engage in dieting behaviours and end up weighing more in the long run than if they'd never restricted their calories to begin with.

And that's the problem: I really don't think people care about their health.

As for this being a weight-conscious society, yeah, crash diets and the psychological backlash of being overweight are a part of the problem ... but I think it's an issue that is more socially complex than the need to be skinny alone. Our increasingly sedentary life style and the chemical make up of our food are the problems that, if naturalized out of our lives, would have a much more significant impact.

 

[NeverAmI]

Societal emphasis on instant gratification is a MAJOR concern I think too.

Makes people think they don't have to work for anything, and it shows.

 

[magister343]

Correlation does not mean causation. I suspect that many terminal illnesses cause significant weightless before death. Crash diets also tend to be quite unhealthy.

 

[Quinlan]

Correlation does not mean causation. I suspect that many terminal illnesses cause significant weightless before death. Crash diets also tend to be quite unhealthy.

That's true, but I'm curious if you would have thought as critically about the findings if the 15% weightloss had decreased mortality. Most people would blindly accept that it's a causal relationship.

I'm tired of this constant flow of epidemiological studies that the authors and the media blindly present as proof of causality.

I'm tired of the idea that we should slide our BMIs up and down the scale at the whim of the latest data dredge.

 

[Paixlune]

Let me get this straight, are you saying that the article is a joke, or that it is so stupid that it portrays itself as a joke without the intention of being one?

You better tell this woman that she is going to die,

I dare you.

Please say that's photoshop. Please.