TheDarkMan
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Of course you didn’t, heck you didn’t even know there was one, right? Unsurprisingly, it has its own website; World Obesity Day was launched in 2015 and was celebrated this year on March 4. Celebrated isn’t quite the word, because there is nothing to celebrate about being obese, and certainly not morbidly obese, even though there are some people who do indeed celebrate it. One person who did was Catherine Oakeson who died from a heart attack aged just 49. Okay, so do a lot of people who are in no way overweight, but any doctor will tell you that being grossly overweight puts a strain on the heart big time.
According to its website, World Obesity is a charity based in London. Its accounts reveal some heavy funding by the European Commission but nothing sinister, and its goals are admirable although it does talk about something called “weight stigma”.
It is also worth pointing out that the popular meaning of obesity if not its actual definition has changed markedly over the years. At one time it meant being grossly overweight. Leaving aside technical definitions relating to body mass index, people are now branded obese for being a few pounds overweight.
People can become obese for a variety of reasons, all human beings are different, but the main reason is simply eating too much. Anyone can lose weight by eating less, though it isn’t that simple because after resuming “normal” eating they tend to put on more weight, but eating less and exercising more are easily the best ways.
Unfortunately, obesity has long been classified as a disease; this goes back to 1997 and a precursor of World Obesity. Fortunately, help is at hand. What better way to tackle a disease than drugs? Last year, Pfizer began testing one such drug to help with diabetes and obesity. Obesity is of course a major cause of diabetes while Pfizer is a major manufacturer of covid-19 vaccines. Doesn’t that just make you want to hit the gym?
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
I celebrated World Obesity Day by eating a large bag of potato chips. Since I am not obese, I thus deprived an obese person from those chips. If all of us skinny people would do our part, obese people would be forced to eat sensibly. Of course, I understand that genetic issues play a big role too.
What a nonsense. Do drug addicts stop doing drugs when there is a drug shortage?
As a communist, I believe in productive labour healing all kinds of degeneracy. Be it obesity, LBGTQ, drug addiction, alcoholism, promiscuity. Send them to labour camps with a modest meal once a day. They will be thankful to you for giving them self respect.
As for those who promote obesity as something to be proud of, they have to face a wall.
“As a communist,…… Send them to labour camps with a modest meal once a day” If you had read Volumes 1, 2 and 3 of The Gulag Archipelago, by the great Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, you would never have made such an imbecilic comment. I doubt you ever lived within a communist system. If you did, you would have to have been a member of the Politburo, to say anything positive about such a demonic system. I know all about the evils of communism, as my wife, her family and many of my friends, lived through the horrors of communism. I would… Read more »
Solzhenitsyn changed his views once he saw capitalist America.
Decent people lived well under socialism.
No, he just changed his views on capitalism.
“Decent people”. If you call the Politburo, Decent! I call them demonic.
I read Penrose’s comment and laughed. I assume it was intended to be funny and not to be taken seriously..
Do you really think I ate a large bag of potato chips? Apparently you’re clueless when it comes to humor. Yes, your proposed solution of putting 95% of the population into labor camps eating one modest meal per day is sure to create a communist utopia. Not!!! What nonsense.
Did I celebrate World Obesity Day, no, fat chance…🤣
I have a heavily-obese grand-daughter (Yes, alright, I know: a sample of one isn’t big enough to reach even a tentative conclusion. But still…) I know how she eats, and how she works out. Watching the curse come over her in her later teens, and watching her efforts to do something about it since, I’ve come to the guess that whatever heavy obesity is, we don’t really understand it. It seems to be some sort of handicapping propensity in a minority, which modern hitech lifestyles promote in some still-not-really-understood way. One thing that is clear: just telling the unlucky ones… Read more »
Start out with this question. What role does genetics play in this? Casual observation suggests to me that it does.
Rather than genetics, couldn’t it be that children learn their eating habits from their parents, as they grow up eating the same unhealthy, fattening foods as their parents?
Just eating less can, but usually does not solve the problem of obesity. Change WHAT you eat, which is more important than the quantity. The American diet is based on high amounts of sugar and refined carbs (as in Wonder bread). I lost 30 pounds without any effort on my part, just by following Keto principles of eating as little as possible of foods containing sugar and carbs, but high in fiber and fat (and, of course, fruits and vegetables. It causes the body to take energy from fat, which is totally non-addictive, rather than sugar, which is highly addictive,… Read more »
Basically all the world diet is based on bread. Maybe the problem is not the bread part of American diet. The amount matters.
Recommending people to eat more fat should be classified as murder.
Rice is a food staple for more than 3.5 billion people around the world, particularly in Asia, Latin America and parts of Africa. The problem with the bread in the North American diet is the bread itself. It is pretty tasteless stuff. People do seem to eat a lot of it wrapped around hamburgers and hotdogs and other greasy things. Doughnuts too. The amount one consumes always matters. As for fat, it is an essential part of a healthy diet, but it depends upon the type of fat. Some fats and oils are good for you, some not so good,… Read more »
The thing is, drastic diets promoted by Hollywood people usually work on principle of causing serious digestion problems, losing weight is sideffect. It is like telling an alcoholic to stop drinking beer, drink only spirits. All plant and animal cells contain some fats. Usually you get sufficient intake by just vegetables and grains. There is absolutely nothing unhealthy on bread. By bread type you mean wheat bread? Some people say rye bread is healthier I don’t think it matters much. In Europe, countries that eat light wheat bread tend to have healthier population than north Eastern countries that eat mostly… Read more »