obesity, how to stop it?

how are we going to stop the obesity epidemic? if there a problem with childhood obesity?

Personally I don't like the use of the word 'epidemic' in reference to obesity, considering it's not strictly infectious. It's similar to using the word epidemic in reference to teen swearing. I think there are three problems at fault for obesity.

1. Diet & exercise.
I'm lumping these together, as these are the simple health concerns that lead to and cause obesity and other health concerns. This has a lot to do with the easy availability of unhealthy food and indoor entertainment. The best thing you can do here is have parents intervene and restrict both. A home-cooked meal each night is a good start.

2. Stress & Lifestyle
This is a factor that starts in childhood. Once attending high-school students attend classes all day with precious little time for outdoor entertainment. Following this they are often forced to face mountains of homework that will keep them busy until well into the evening. The stress of this work and exams will often lead to increased consumption of sugary foods and caffeinated drinks.

This continues as adults where personal auto-mobile is the most common form of transport and people most commonly work in offices in the city, which restricts any exercise options. Work hours that take up most of the daylight mean that after-hours exercise is hard to come buy without a hefty investment in either a gym membership or home equipment.

3. Lack of Community
As settlements grow and become more multi-cultural, with people rarely home, and even less commonly outside, people connect less. Children especially tend to enjoy exercise more when it's with a neighbourhood friend. Even adults don't mind a good friendly soccer match or some time in the pool when they're with friends. Local friends can also provide reasons to walk earlier in the morning or later in the evening, with the prospect of conversation and good company.

These are deep social problems that are difficult to effectively counter. Just being nicer to neighbours and making an effort to get to know them is always nice. This can help to motivate you to get outside and do something. A home-cooked barbeque shared with the folks next door, accompanied by a delicious potato salad and some corn is definitely a lot healthier than McDonalds any day of the week, even if that pork is calling your name.

Over the weekend I went to one of those all-you-can-eat buffets. I had a salad, omelette and coffee. The lady at the table next to me (who was about ten years older) had a heaping plate of bacon and toast plus another plate of hash browns and sausage. She then got an omelette after watching me eat mine. What was the question again? Oh yeah! Obesity, how to stop it.

A chief hormonal proponent to obesity is an underactive thyroid gland. This slows the metabolism down. A common treatment is to get a prescription for synthroid in order to boast metabolism. Aside from this and other physiological issues obesity could be managed by diet, excersize and good habbits.  

I'm not blaming immigration Mararbbal, and I approve of multi-culturalism. I have friends from a great many cultures. It is, though, an unfortunate fact that traces of 'xenophobia' or simple indifference still exist in society. People tend to socialise more with people of their own cultural groups. I feel eventually people will become more used to the idea and will interact more commonly with other social and cultural groups. Rather than blaming immigration, I am instead blaming a lack of cultural understanding and the tendency for people to exclude.

@ Z

I am afraid you are quite wrong, very homogeneous neighborhoods have high rates of obesity: native reservations, black ghettos, Mexican areas, trailer parks… all united in fatness

Originally posted by Maharbbal I am afraid you are quite wrong, very homogeneous neighborhoods have high rates of obesity: native reservations, black ghettos, Mexican areas, trailer parks… all united in fatness

The important common factor there, however, is not the racial unity. The important factor is the low socio-economic standing of those areas. Areas with a lot of poor and poverty tend to breed a lifestyle of welfare and unemployment. This in turn often leads to excessive drinking, eating and a sedentary lifestyle.

@ Z

That's my point precisely. Poor people are more likely to be fat. The multicultural factor that you introduced is at best marginal and likely totally unrelated. Poverty and (to re-direct your argument) culture are causes.

Originally posted by Chilbudios Many poor people work from dawn to night. Many poor people are so poor they barely can eat to survive (how could they eat excessively)? Excessive alcohol consumption correlated with hard work and hunger does not result in obesity. Your observations may be true for some neighbourhoods in some (sub-)urban areas, for cases when there's such thing as welfare, but not for poor people, in general.

Agreed. It was th culture of welfare that sometimes develops that will lead to obesity, not poverty itself. Examples for this 'welfare culture' include the previous inhabitants of Redfern and Macquarie Fields in Sydney.

Originally posted by Zaitsev Originally posted by Chilbudios Many poor people work from dawn to night. Many poor people are so poor they barely can eat to survive (how could they eat excessively)? Excessive alcohol consumption correlated with hard work and hunger does not result in obesity. Your observations may be true for some neighbourhoods in some (sub-)urban areas, for cases when there's such thing as welfare, but not for poor people, in general. Agreed. It was th culture of welfare that sometimes develops that will lead to obesity, not poverty itself. Examples for this 'welfare culture' include the previous inhabitants of Redfern and Macquarie Fields in Sydney.

are you both for real? People are hardly starving any more, at least in the West. Well off people are ready to put a lot of money on the table for good healthy food, this leaves the poor with the fattening stuff such as Mars barre and chips and soda. Usually poverty takes away your drive to care for yourself and your children, a prefect field for obesity to spread.