Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/03/06
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]And neither of you understand. Notice what has happened to Native American populations with regard to obesity. It's a real problem. Evolution crafted humans with bodies capable of hunter/gatherer existence. Feast and famine was very real. It's very real in many parts of the world. It's not here. As a result humans, a subset of those humans much more than others, have the ability and the desire to both consume and store mass quantities of calories. Back in the ice age this was survival: protein sources were catch as catch can, preservation was difficult to impossible, and you ate what you could when you could. Populations evolved under those conditions and there is a very real portion humanity whose bio-chemical nature is to keep fat at all costs - just as there are other portions of humanity who have just the opposite tendancies - the expend currently consumed calories first and store 2nd. If we were to have a quick-onset ice age I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader about who would survive longer. Unfortunately the US free market has researched, determined and trained many of us to enjoy foods that are high in fats and oils, high in complex carbohydrates, and low in protein. It's a magic bullet for selling food: it taps into a natural human desire for specific types of calories (normally difficult to come by) that, because they do not contain much protein, don't satisfy over time. Wow - can you sell into THAT market! That's what happened to Native American populations when exposed to western supermarket type foods - horrendous problems because they have all the appetites but their behavior has been required to change radically - no buffalo hunting allowed, thank you very much. There are some great programs on Plains Indians that used to be available through the University of Nebraska that touch on these health issues. It's only been in the last 300 years in the West that starvation isn't a routine problem. Clearly over substantial parts of the world it's STILL a problem and inside the US that hasn't changed either although the nature of the KIND of starvation has: cheap calories aren't necessarily "good for you" calories. I submit you need to think of food as a kind of drug. Those "fatties" that Walt so provocatively and snottily called them are dealing with a wealth of issues. It's not just a matter of will power. For Walt it's probably not an issue but for others the issues are vast and complex. I'm wondering if both of have connected obesity with anorexia and other eating disorders? Would either of you make fun of of people who are starving themselves to death? I don't think so. After all THOSE people have near-normal physical appearances - even ones validated by today's media and culture! They don't get in the way with their carts. And sure they're tearing their heart muscles apart to get protein but they don't LOOK bad. Psychotherapists have not labeled obesity as an eating disorder -- but those who I know and talk with see the same issues of control as being present. And one other quick aside. In the 10 years between the mid-70s and the mid-80s US calorie consumption jumped by almost 1,000 calories a week. Want to guess why? I know I had no idea. The addition of Mexican foods into the US cultural diet. 1,000 calories a week is 2 pounds gained without fiddling with the exercise component. And, of course, we DID fiddle with the exercise component: we turned it DOWN. Steve is right: the energy balance is absolute - find a way to exercise off what you take in beyond your subsistence needs are or you're gonna gain weight. As I pointed out earlier that becomes more difficult as one gets heavier until having your innards surgically removed looks like a good option - maybe the only option! Do people make choices about what they eat? Yep. But remember that they are being targeted. And even though Tina hasn't noticed it here, obesity is a rapidly rising problem throughout the Asian nations. Not at the US scale - yet - but it's happening. And lastly I want to apologize to Tina, and to the list, for the degree of stridency in the previous couple of posts. Reading Tina's posts I see that the degree of judgement was not as great as I was reading in - although it's still there. Walt, I think, is just being provocative but if he's not then he's displaying an ugly bigotry he wouldn't consider with other minority groups - even self-selected ones. Adam Bridge On 3/6/07, Tina Manley <images@infoave.net> wrote: > At 10:32 AM 3/6/2007, you wrote: > >I do believe it is life we are talking about, a life that doesn't > >rob the rest of humanity of basic necessities. So many people in this > >unconcerned world never get the chance to eat a decent meal. They > >work like dogs and still their children go to bed hungry, or > >worse. Tina, I'm sure, can testify to what it does to us when we > >see starving children. Couple that with witnessing the disgusting > >overindulgence in America and Western Europe? No wonder she points > >her camera at those who seemingly have no idea of what real suffering > >might be. > > > >Walt > > Thank you, Walt. You said it much better than I could. > > Tina > > Tina Manley, ASMP, NPPA > http://www.tinamanley.com > http://www.pbase.com/tinamanley/dimes_for_hunger > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >