Comments on: Preschool Obesity – WTF!

By: JJG

JJG — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:28:18 +0000

I take issue with the whole thing Ross. First off, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans, Africans and many Hispanics tend to be more massive naturally in lean tissue. This has been pointed out by many of these communities when they are denied such things as health care based on their supposedly high risk factors.

On top of this, the definition of obesity used is highly suspect. As an athlete are you obese? I am — at roughly 7.5% body fat, simply because my BMI is slightly above 25. The definitions used have varied considerably in the last 20 years and am uptick in the national fatness index usually means some bureau someplace redefined it. The baseline for “normal” is gradually devolving to middle-aged, highly sedentary office workers. This should be resisted, especially by athletes who have pretty outrageous nutritional requirements at times.

Poverty does not cause obesity. This is pretty much claptrap — go ask anyone, any place else on earth about how fat the poor are and they’ll look at you like you are a Martian. If food has gotten cheaper in the US it is precisely because market forces have kicked in and made it so, meaning low price reflects demand. This is the first time in human history that famine is not a normal part of life. It does take a bit more work to eat healthy at times when there are far too many choices, but who do you know will own up to being an idiot about eating? Most people will tell you they (and they alone maybe) try very hard. The ones I know who fail generally are either relatively new to living independently (as in fresh out of High School) or are trying to follow nutritional guidelines that are highly questionable. (For instance, an all vegan diet that ends up having far too many calories to get basic nutrition.)

As I see it, people are mostly unhealthy because they are very inactive physically. There is *no* good solution to this, short of forced labor. A services-based economy and lots of machines give us the free time to do whatever we want (this is why I have time to head to the gym and visit with my family. How ’bout you?) and for some people that means watching TV or playing wii all night. ok. Readjusting nutritional guidelines to accept high levels of inactivity as normal, then trying to fix the health issues they cause is really, IMHO, the issue. No animal evolved to be sedentary. Obesity statistics just reflect bureaucratic shenanigans trying to support this and shouldn’t be taken too seriously.

By: Karen

Karen — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 02:52:13 +0000

Re: “Buying a pizza pie at 10 bucks for a family of 4 is cheaper than feeding each person separately with healthy alternatives.”

Beans, rice, and potatoes don’t cost that much. Neither does chicken. I agree that organic fruits and vegetables can be expensive, but non-organic fruits and vegetables are affordable.

I think people just like the convenience and taste of fast food.

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 17:52:58 +0000

Ross, AWESOME my friend…absolutely awesome. As a father of a sweet 3 year old baby girl it is conforting to know that there are other sane, like minded,indivuals out there who believe in good ol’ fashion common sence!!! For a minute I was starting to believe that I was the only one out there. This problem starts with lazy parents and filters down to their children, it disgusting to say the least. Keep up the good work maybe one day we can get together and start a revolution!!!

P.S. Love the workouts…F#$%in’ AWESOME!!!

By: warrior

warrior — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:24:04 +0000

I must say that I am extremely intrigued by this conversation. I think everyone has a valid point and I just want to shove my 2 cents in….As a mother, business owner, and personal trainer:
1. mothers ARE different in 2010 than they were in 1910. They HAVE to be. They usually need to work to help support they family leaving very little time to devot to their children and family needs, ie, healthy cooking and exercise.
2. It is EASIER and lower stress for SOME mothers to plop their child in front of the Wii or what have you instead of sit and READ to them or play outside.
3. PRIORITIES are the key to life. Some systems differ greatly from what we on here consider priority numero uno; HEALTH. Instead of spending money on healthy foods and exercise, they spend money on cars, games for their Wii and what not, and on clothing and shoes and hair and beer and smokes….I will stop there.

Parents need to start taking responsibility for their own children. I have started my own training business that focuses on children; teaching group classes to parents WITH their children and teaching the kids and the parents how to work together. They are VERY successful. Unfortunatly I live in a very welathy area and most are stay at home moms that workout all the time and tan and whatnot…BUT, they do NOT spend quality time with their kids which is part of my focus.

There are plenty of healthy snacks that we can feed our children. Schools need to get on board as well as offer more and maybe ONLY healthy foods to our children in school to set them in the right path.

It really comes down to the priorities and what is easiest, not what is the best…..

By: Daniel

Daniel — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:49:21 +0000

Did anybody consider the fact that buying kids the xbox, wii and the other gaming systems cost quite a bit of money which could have been used for feeding the kids healthy food? If you have the money to buy your kids gaming consols and the games then you definitely have the money to feed them healthy food. The economy is getting worse, kids are getting obease and people are complaining that they don’t have any money to buy healthy food. Yet people somehow manage to buy junk food and snacks which almost cost the same amount as three healthy meals. Is there something wrong with this picture?

By: mark

mark — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 20:55:47 +0000

Look for Professor Robert Lustig’s lectures on sugar. Sugar may not be the only reason for obesity, but then again, it -may- be: Fat satisfies the appetite without overeating, UNLESS it’s mixed with sugar. Even real fruit juice is fattening, so parents often -think- they’re doing the -right- thing, while -fattening- their kids. This is a tough realization: KIDS SHOULD NOT BE GIVEN JUICE! They should drink water or milk, -only-, and -eat- fruit. Blaming the obese, or their parents, doesn’t help : Wrong choices are omnipresent, too-affordably on the shelves & in millions of dollars of ad campains. The less educated have no way of comprehending what’s happening to them. Sadly: Advertising IS their education.

By: Evan

Evan — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:19:52 +0000

I agree, the economy isn’t really an excuse, to be honest, it probally is cheaper to feed them unhealthy food, but even so, a good healthy meal would only cost a tiny bit more, and even if you have 3-4 bad meals a week, and then 3-4 good meals a week, the kids shouldn’t be obese. Even with 7 bad meals a week they won’t be obese, the only way they can be obese is if they snack too much or eat big meals, either way is no excuse since cutting down on meal size and snacks can easily save money.

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 01:31:06 +0000

Low income is no excuse for buying junk. I’m not sure where the idea that ‘fast food is cheap food’ comes from – that might be the case in the States, but I doubt it considering your supermarket chains are even bigger than ours (the UK). You can buy enough to feed four family members a good round meal of ‘meat & two veg’ for under five pounds here – about ten dollars. It costs more (or about the same at certain places) to buy a family meal at KFC or McDonalds. To the guy who said ‘the ignorance thing is bullshit’ – the majority of people know that a burger is worse for them than a stick of celery, but how many people know how to cook a family meal properly? It’s a lot easier to just go out and make Burger King cook it for you. And if you work a shitty full-time job it takes a fair bit of effort to get home and oook your kids a healthy dinner. Education needs to come in the form of ‘how to make cheap, easy, healthy meals – here’s a step-by-step guide’ not ‘these foods are healthy; you work out the rest!’ It’s not patronising – it’s just that many people never get taken through basic cooking by their parents/schools and need to learn it later in life. (Great site btw!)

By: Mid Week Links « ZFIT Blog

Mid Week Links « ZFIT Blog — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:09:03 +0000

[...] Obesity – WTF!, Ross Enamait, Ross Training: “The study is an analysis of nationally representative height and weight data on 8,550 [...]

By: Crystal

Crystal — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 01:50:27 +0000

I discussed this via email with my Mom and this is what I go back.

Women who are poor are more likely to be overweight, and men who are wealthy are more likely to be overweight. Headscratcher, huh? You’d think poor men would fit in there as well, but it does not seem to work that way … my only guess on that would be perhaps that they tend to work labor intense jobs. Wealthier women do appear to take better care of themselves. I haven’t seen family income stats on obesity in children.

The other thing that is interesting is that this is the very lesson we are trying to teach our women. We generally feed them for well under $2 per person, most often around the $1.15 mark per person for a healthy lunch which includes milk. We always have vegetables, fruit, a protein source, and a grain source. It comes down to shopping wisely. I don’t think we are even teaching them enough about shopping economically. We used to do a session about shopping dollar wise every few months but we haven’t done one in years. It is interesting that so many of them seem to be able to find money for cigarettes …