re: More Fatties Than Ever Before in the United States of Inevitable Diabetes

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I was healthier at 170 lbs then I ever was when I was 155 lbs (my lowest being 135 lbs)

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I was pretty skinny coming out of high school and into my 20s. In a similar way (you're probably just a little taller) - I certainly felt better/was stronger at say, 158 (BMI 24) than 145 (BMI 22). I can't even imagine being 125 (BMI 19), which I haven't been since the 10th grade. And I would likely have been regarded as "too thin" even at 145 (BMI 22) by the average American.

Having said that, ~22 pounds past the 158, I'm could stand to lose 10 to 15 pounds (or 20), no question. Virtually all of that is around the middle, compounding the problem. But, I'm not jiggly or soft - maybe just a little doughy around the middle.

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But it also has France, Italy (non-Sicily ;) ), and Switzerland that aren't suffering from nearly as bad obesity.

Its cultural.

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They don't have fast food chains everywhere either and they have way more regulations on what they can serve people as well. So the fast food you get in France is totally different than the fast food you get in Baton Rouge or Oxford. Plus they know how to portion their meals. Part of the problem that Americans have is that we eat until we are so full that we can barely move. You're supposed to eat at a slower pace because it takes your stomach time to send a signal to the brain saying that it's full. We eat and stuff food in our bodies so fast that it leaves a bunch of waste.

I have had a couple sprites hungover to ease my stomach, but other than that, I haven't had a soft drink in 11 years.

A regular coca-cola grosses me out

But I don't have a big sweet tooth. I drink water, milk, OJ, black coffee, beer, or liquor (with water/club soda mixer).

Drinking large quantities of water at meals really helps me curb my appetite and slow my eating.

And of course coffee to poop the food out after

I think most Americans have such a distorted or just plain wrong view of what is "too skinny". I get too skinny comments from fat people all the time but never people that are actually fit/lift etc. Like I said I'm 5'9" 155/160 but people usually guess 170-175. I have broad shoulders/ back and big legs but my face and waist are skinny and my arms are releatively small so I can see where the comments come from but its the weight guessing that makes me believe people are out of touch with reality.

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But I don't have a big sweet tooth. I drink water, milk, OJ, black coffee, beer, or liquor (with water/club soda mixer).

Drinking large quantities of water at meals really helps me curb my appetite and slow my eating.

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I drink a glass of orange juice every day usually. Whenever my family goes out to a dinner I'll have a beer or liquor drink. Haven't gotten drunk in a good while though

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But when I put my public policy hat on and realize that, in real world America, we actually treat these fat fricks for things like heart disease, diabetes, blood clots, and other weight related disorders and diseases, I also have to confront the fact that the insurance companies and the government are using my money to pay for that shite.

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We also have to pay for people who smoke, destroy their livers by drinking too much and people who drive too fast.

While obesity causes at least as many health problems (likely more) there really does seem to be a disproportionate amount of hatred towards at fat people.

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And you can sit there and blame the insurance companies for not properly pricing their plans, that's fine (there's a lot that goes into that pricing which I won't get into and of which I am woefully ignorant), but if you want to blame the insurance companies, then you will have to expect a higher premium for you and yours. So, even there, you're having to pay for the fatty next to you in your cubicle or on your flight.

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If insurance worked how it should, then an obese person (however that is measured...like you I have no idea what the best way to do it is) will pay higher premiums for engaging in an unhealthy lifestyle, which would offset the higher costs. Someone else's overeating would have little to no effect on you at all.

And even if everything I posted is wrong and we are screwed like you say, what would you suggest we do about this? Every time this thread comes up its "frick fat people I hate them all" with zero solutions.

(no message)

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And even if everything I posted is wrong and we are screwed like you say, what would you suggest we do about this? Every time this thread comes up its "frick fat people I hate them all" with zero solutions.

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Forget the adults. They aren't changing.

Changing the culture begins in early childhood. Educational programs, better instruction of diet in schools and from parents, better education around the importance of personal health and fitness, better foods in cafeterias, more physical fitness required in schools, etc.

There are hints of this happening, but we still have a long way to go.

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Forget the adults. They aren't changing.

Changing the culture begins in early childhood.

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This is a fairly good point - I think we've upped our "morbidly obese" numbers, quite a bit, and we're probably getting heavier, earlier, due to a more sedentary modern lifestyle, but the kids are alarmingly fat. I can count on 2 hands the "fat" kids I went to school with until about the 10th, 11th grade - heck, I remember their names.

But - today, there are whole SCHOOLS full of fat, chubby little frickers.