Wanna hear something I think is rediculous?

[Pam_C]

Ok. My husband works construction and we travel the USA most of the year. I am currently at home in Tennessee and he is in Texas. He has sirius satelite radio. Yesterday he heard something I think is just plain dumb. I ask if he was gorging himself on junk food and he said "On the radio today they said that there was a study done and people 40-60 pounds overweight live longer than"skinny" people" So he is going to out live me. Can you believe what people come up with? I wonder where there info. came from? I wanted to share this with everyone because it is almost funny. We are all here to get healthy and that means for some of us a lot of weight loss. Just one more example that the media has run out of news to tell. I was told I would die if I didn't lose weight now they say I am gonna die because I am getting skinny? Yea ok. Well I better go before I kill over. ha ha ha
KEEP GOING EVERYONE
Pam

[Fluffynomore]

Yes, this was big news this week. There was a study that showed that mildly overweight people lived longer than thin or obese people.

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/health/4394971/detail.html?rss=bos&psp=health

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4468001.stm

[Pam_C]

ok weird. I remember when doctors said eggs were bad don't eat them, then they were good, then bad, then good,etc. It just makes me want to say ughhhhhhhhhh. What am I supposed to do or eat? If I eat this today then it may be bad tommorrow. Well I guess I'll die earlier because I am still gonna lose weight and maybe by that time it will be good for you again. It's like bell bottoms in the 60's they were cool then in the 80's it was M.C. hammer pants and now the bell bottoms are back just called "bootcut" style. Sooner or later it will catch back up and you will be un healthy if you are 60 pounds over weight. I'll just wait for it to come back around! It becomes totally confusing.

[Fluffynomore]

I don't know if you are old enough to remember the Woody Allen movie "Sleeper". It was about this guy who was frozen and thawed out in the future. Part of the humor was that they found out that all the stuff we thought was bad turned out to be good for us.

What I heard on one news show this week is that the study was done with a lot of very old people. I think it is probably true that if you have a bit more meat on your bones when you are really old you can fight off diseases, etc. instead of being very thin.

[ttdriver]

I think it is probably true that if you have a bit more meat on your bones when you are really old you can fight off diseases, etc. instead of being very thin.

I disagree. Its not the amount of meat on your bones, but how well nourished you are. Nourished with healthy vegetables, fruits, meats, eggs. Not twinkies, ding dongs or oreos. I am thin, but I am strong and healthy. I don't drink, smoke, or do drugs. I eat well-balanced meals and exercise alot.

If you are overweight, your health is at risk, that's a well-documented fact. Being a healthy weight and staying active physically & mentally are the keys to longevity. And good genes help too.

Betty

[AllieCat0817]

I heard that mess on the news. All the more reason for OBESE AMERICA to continue on being OBESE AMERICA.

[not2late]

I think it is probably true that if you have a bit more meat on your bones when you are really old you can fight off diseases, etc. instead of being very thin.

I disagree. Its not the amount of meat on your bones, but how well nourished you are. Nourished with healthy vegetables, fruits, meats, eggs. Not twinkies, ding dongs or oreos. I am thin, but I am strong and healthy. I don't drink, smoke, or do drugs. I eat well-balanced meals and exercise alot.

:nod

I briefly worked for an OB. He used to pull his hair out (and he didn't have much to begin with) because some of his pregnant patients thought being pregnant gave them license to eat cakes, cookies, pies, potato chips, etc. non-stop until they gained 100 pounds. He got into an argument with one woman because she told him that this was her time to enjoy eating things she normally couldn't and if she felt like eating a dozen jelly donuts or two bags of Cheetos she would. I remember him screaming at her that her baby was living off that garbage and if eating dozen jelly donuts was more important to her than her baby's health she needed to reassess her priorities and needed to find herself another doctor.

[SanSSanity]

Thats why I dont really believe anything the media says, and I dont really believe most doctors after being misdiagnosed for a few things that will have a lifetime effect on my health and wellbeing.

Its pretty easy. Take care of your body...live longer.

[ttdriver]

All the more reason for OBESE AMERICA to continue on being OBESE AMERICA.

Yeah, its like we're conditioned to see obesity as the rule instead of the exception. And we're paying for it in terms of obesity-related ailments.

Betty

[spazzyhilo]

Personally, I think id rather risk being thin but die younger then be old and die obese. I don't want to spend the rest of my life carrying around the extra pounds - especially if doing so will cause me to live longer!!

[AllieCat0817]

I just read this similar CRAP on LCF and it makes me want to barf. The US is h*ll-bent on finding any and every reason to be and stay fat:
Orthorexia on Psychology Today

"The term orthorexia is used by some eating-disorder specialists to describe an unhealthy fixation with healthy eating. While not an officially recognized disorder, it is similar to several serious diagnoses. Like anorexia, it often involves severe weight loss, but so-called orthorexics are obsessed with food quality, rather than quantity, and strive for personal purity in their eating habits rather than for a thin physique.

The word orthorexia was coined in 1997 by Colorado alternative medicine specialist Steven Bratman. Implicit in the description are traits that resemble obsessive-compulsive disorder, since sufferers devote excessive attention to their own strict rules an often spend hours each day worrying about tomorrow's meals. Such a person may find himself socially isolated because he doesn't indulge in everyday dishes. "If your focus on healthy eating is interfering with your happiness and social life," says Bratman, "you might have a problem."

Although many experts believe orthorexia may be a genuine concern, some think it's not a clinically useful diagnosis. "I've had many patients who are bent on absolute purity, down to the last little vitamin," says Joel Jahraus, medical director of Remuda Life Programs in Phoenix, Arizona. "But there's already a name for it: anorexia." Douglas Bunnell, president of the National Eating Disorders Association, agrees that while orthorexia may be important as a lay concept, in terms of treatment it differs from anorexia only in the finer points.

With almost 65 percent of Americans overweight, the hazards of eating too healthfully may seem like nit-picking. But Bunnell sees a hidden danger in the recent public focus on obesity: undue anxiety. Whether or not you label them orthorexic, certain people are psychologically vulnerable to becoming too rigid in their eating, he says.

(Psychology Today, Sept/Oct 2004; Erik Strand, pg 16)

[Pam_C]

I agree that it is just another way for people to say hey I'm obese and don't want to do anything about it so we will just go with the trend and say it is healthy. Why are we having to fund money for research like this? Someone needs to step in and say look use this time and money for research on cancer or AIDS. Do they have that much spare time to say hey lets see how many obese people died vs non obese individuals? What will they do next? Research wich type of dog lives longest? We all know how obesity has affected our health. They ought to ask us our opinion!

[cleochatra]

I heard more about the discussion and this is what I'm hearing as regards Pam's hearing tell of the possibility that weight charts are flawed in the US.

1) People weigh more now because we exercise more, and muscle weighs more than fat

2) BMI is flawed

Based on those 2 premises, it isn't saying that it's all right to be unhealthy and overweight... it's just an assertion that based on Americans exercising more and noting that BMI can be incredibly flawed, there is more to health than a mere weight.

That's what I heard as clarity regarding the issue recently.

:joy

[AllieCat0817]

Cleo I still don't buy it. I see it as an excuse.

[ttdriver]

it's just an assertion that based on Americans exercising more

THEY ARE??????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????

I think we as a society have become comfortable with the FACT that being overweight is common place .. so much so, that thin people stand out to us as being anorexic.

Betty