Posted on 09/03/2006 5:56:04 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
Obesity has reached pandemic proportions throughout the world and is now the greatest single contributor to chronic disease, an international conference was told here.
"This insidious, creeping pandemic of obesity is now engulfing the entire world," Australia's Monash University professor Paul Zimmet, chair of the 10th International Congress on Obesity, said on the opening day of the conference.
The spread of the problem was "led by affluent western nations, whose physical activity and dietary habits are regrettably being adopted by developing nations," Zimmet told more than 2,000 delegates.
The world now has more fat people than hungry ones, according to World Health Organisation figures, with more than a billion overweight people compared to 800 million who are undernourished.
The congress on obesity is held every four years, with the last three staged in Toronto (1994), Paris (1998) and Sao Paulo (2002).
"The conference will treat obesity as the keystone of all health priorities because it is the single greatest contributor to chronic disease throughout the world," said University of Sydney professor Ian Caterson, the event co-chair.
"There are now more overweight people in the world than undernourished and we are seeing the double burden of the extremes of malnutrition -- undernutrition and overnutrition -- in many developing countries.
"We know this is not about gluttony -- it is the interaction of heredity and environment. We know that small changes can make a big difference in peoples weight and health."
Zimmet said the problem needed urgent solutions -- not just widespread changes to diet and exercise but the rethinking of national policies on urban and social planning, agriculture policy, education, transport and other areas.
He also warned in an opening address that the growth of obesity-related diabetes, or so-called "diabesity", was set to bankrupt health budgets all over the world.
Around 370 speakers and presenters at the six-day congress will discuss a range of issues, including scientific research on how the brain regulates energy and advances in the prevention and clinical management of obesity.
The conference is being attended by academics and health professionals from Australia, Japan, the United States, Britain, Canada, Sweden, Indonesia and New Zealand.
Sometimes, it seems, if you merely mention a widespread problem and its ramifications, you are assumed to be advocating for government intervention.
I'm not going along with it! I'm not so easily swayed like most people in here!
Believe me, I do my best to go beyond looks when talking to women (it opens up more possibilities), but there is no way in HELL I'm dating some grossly FAT waddler, unless I know she has a glandular problem! Then, I'm willing to negotiate.
What color is our ribbon...
Haven't worked that out yet, but yellow is definitely out....
He's not an offensive lineman, he's merely offensive.
Besides that, lots of FReepers are blaming their fellow smoking FReepers for their higher health care costs.
Now it's time for these same FReepers to get off the backs of smokers and go after someone else for a change.
The real truth of the matter is: it's all the illegals we have in this Country using our hospitals that are driving up our health care cost.
It was reported on Fox News last week that one illegal had to go to a NYC hospital and it cost over $57, 000 dollars that the taxpayers have to fork out. So...........one cannot blame smokers or the obese. How about putting the blame where it really should be? The millions of illegals we have walking around our streets?!
There is a much better plan than that one. Really.
1. Eat what you want.
2. After eating, take a short walk
(Don't sit down right after eating, that includes sitting in a car).
3. Eat whatever and how much you want to eat.
4. After eating, take a short walk
(Don't sit down right after eating, that includes sitting in a car).
I don't think most Hall Monitors of Life are really interested in how the vast majority of people recoil from their crusades.
Yes, we must never do those eeeeeeeeevil public service commercials. Heaven forbid we have public awareness about a problem.
He is also one of the biggest anti-smokers we have in Free Republic! He made my list months ago!
The article itself states that is what this "conference is calling for."
Zimmet said the problem needed urgent solutions -- not just widespread changes to diet and exercise but the rethinking of national policies on urban and social planning, agriculture policy, education, transport and other areas.
What the hell! People have known for YEARS the perils of being overweight. What do you think? Everyone is just now coming out of CAVES? Good grief!
Yea!!! I made your list. How come I never get any pings?
What, you don't know whether you and your loved ones are fat or not?
This is one cultural trend we want no part of.
Indeed, if only the government had warned us about lime green liesure suits, we'd all be better off today.
It's on Fox News AGAIN about kids and obesity. They have talked about little else all damn day! Good God, you would think we all have had our heads in the sand all our lives. The media sure must think we are stupid!
Here's a dirty little secret about fashion: you know how Lucy was dieting to fit into a 12?? Well the 10-12 of the 1950's is like today's 6-8. If you want to see for yourself, just go into an antique store or a place that sells vintage clothes. You'll see what I mean. I do agree that women weren't the anorexic size 2's one sees nowadays, but the sizes back then weren't designed to make people "feel good." However, I do recall my mom telling me some 30 years ago that the designer clothes used smaller sizes to make the rich old, fat matrons feel good. So Yves and others would tag a 10 as an 8; an 8 as a 6 and so on.
Okay - you got me. Show me the recipes for those meals.
My experience is also that eating healthy is cheaper - I went lo-carb a couple years ago, and I spend a lot less on groceries than I used to...of course, I eat a lot less, too, which is a factor - back in my fat days I ate a LOT. It used to be embarrassing to talk about but part of getting over it was being able to accept and admit it. My diet back in the bad old days was pathetic - we're not talking one loaf of bread a week, we're talking one a DAY, at my worst. Lets face it, if you're morbidly obese or rapidly approaching it, you're not eating salads and 1200 calories a day. At my heaviest, I had a VORACIOUS appetite!
Take a look at food prices, those Doritos and Pizza Bagels and ice cream and Entemann's and Oreo's and Hershey's and frozen meals and soda and cereal are EXPENSIVE. Throw in someone regularly eating 3-4000 calories minumum per day, and that adds up fast - and then throw in binge eating (which is never veggies, it's snacky type foods), and it's all over.
I can go shopping once a week, and load up my cart with veggies, meat, eggs, nuts, tuna, and other lo-carb foods, and I'll have food left over after a week, and spend less than $100. Before, I'd drop $200 easily, and it'd be gone in less than a week.
Add in weekly specials, coupons, and driving a few minutes further to farmer's markets and buying in bulk at Costco, eating fresh food is cheaper, in my experience.
Just watch at the supermarket, discretely. The morbidly obese with the cart full of frozen pizza and chocolate milk and chips and cake and cookies will rack up a much larger bill than the normal sized person with a cart full of veggies and raw meat, in many, many cases.
Of course, then you have to go home and cook it...I won't go into my adventures in cooking learning how to prepare it all. :)
Now, i like cooking. The best present in the world you can give someone moving out on their own is a copy of Joy Of Cooking - my Mom gave me one, and it was my savior.
*****
"Ridiculous. A can of beans is less than $1.00. Chicken pieces can easily be found for under $2.00/pound. Eggs are $1.00/dozen. And the poor can't afford a high-protein diet?
Excellent points.....it is actually far cheaper to eat well balanced meals than it is to eat junk food/prepackaged foods.
Fresh produce can get a bit pricey when it's out of season in someone's particular area, but frozen is just as good and often less expensive.
Watching for sales is the ticket. Unless I'm splurging and getting boneless chicken breasts, I never pay more than 59cents/pound for chicken parts........and generally even lower than that. For less than $20 dollars I can fix at least 10 dinners for my family of 3."
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