Posted on 08/02/2006 3:37:05 PM PDT by nckerr
Survey: Most Obese Claim to Eat Healthy By MIKE STOBBE , 08.01.2006, 11:59 PM
More than three-quarters of obese Americans say they have healthy eating habits, according to a survey of more than 11,000 people.
About 40 percent of obese people also said they do "vigorous" exercise at least three times a week, the telephone survey found.
"There is, perhaps, some denial going on. Or there is a lack of understanding of what does it mean to be eating healthy, and what is vigorous exercise," said Dr. David Schutt of Thomson Medstat, the Michigan-based health-care research firm that conducted the survey.
The survey also found that 28 percent of obese people reported snacking two or more times a day, only slightly more than 24 percent of normal weight people who said they did.
But the survey failed to ask people what - and how much - they ate, noted Dr. Jeffrey Koplan of Atlanta's Emory University.
"The questions leave out quantity," said Koplan, who chairs an Institute of Medicine committee on progress in preventing childhood obesity.
Roughly two-thirds of Americans are overweight or heavier, and nearly one-third qualify as obese, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Respondents to the survey were contacted through computer random digit dialing in January through March. The surveyors relied on the respondents to be truthful about their height, weight and other answers.
Obesity was determined by body-mass index, a calculation based on height and weight. Using BMI, a man 5-feet-10 would be considered overweight at 174-208 pounds, and obese at 209 pounds or more.
About 3,100 of the people in the survey were obese or morbidly obese; an estimated 4,200 more people were overweight; about 3,800 were normal weight and about 200 were underweight, according to the Thomson Medstat.
Those demographics are generally consistent with the federal health survey that actually measures and weighs people, said Schutt, the company's associate medical director.
It was surprising how some responses from obese and overweight people paralleled those of thinner respondents.
For example, about 19 percent of obese people said they always read nutritional labels on food packages, compared with 24 percent of normal-weight people. And about 29 percent of obese people said they eat out at restaurants three or more times a week, compared with 25 percent of normal-weight people.
"The numbers aren't wildly different," Schutt said.
One of the largest differences was the answer to the question: How often do you eat all of the food you are served at restaurants? About 41 percent of obese people said they always did, while 31 percent of normal weight people always did.
Thomson Medstat is a data collection and analysis company that contracts with the federal government and about 20 states, on health projects. The data about eating and exercise are part of a larger package of survey information being marketed to employers, hospitals and other customers. It is not being published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
The survey had a sampling margin of error of plus or minus 1 percentage point, according to the company.
And before someone thinks I'm being defensive, I'm 6'3, 195#.
'I' give a crap. It's becoming America's signature....FAT people.
Also...it increases MY TAXES and HEALTH INSURANCE premiums since people don't eat correctly or exercise and up with bad knees and heart attacks. I PAY for their laziness and gluttony. So there are 2 reasons why I care.
What's the endgame associated with your opinions? If I can't prove I've eaten healthy and I have a heart attack at 42, my insurance won't pay my medical bills?
Who enforces your opinions about people's health? The government? Insurance companies? Or do we just use vitriolic peer pressure and name calling like the brunt of posts on this thread.
Of course they eat healthy.
They just eat way too much of it.
I saw Mike Slobbe
I would hope the people themselves would look at their own conscience....about themselves and for their kids sake.
The normal range of BMI is based on people who are out of shape, or at best relatively lightly muscled as comes from having, say, a sedentary job and doing aerobic exercise which doesn't build large muscles. I'm 6'3" and 190 lbs, and although my BMI is just within the normal range, I still consider myself fat, due to the visible roll of fat around my abdomen. I will continue to watch what, and how much I eat, and try to exercise vigorously more often to see if I can eliminate it, and not worry too much about what the scale says. At least I'm not 230 lbs like I was until June of last year. That weight reduction was achieved mostly through changing my diet, and is an indication that my body type is naturally fairly slender but that my atrocious diet (too much, and too many of the wrong things) had forced my weight up.
Well, it is. It was designed to fatten up Archer Daniels Midland's bottom line. ;)
It's simple - people following that pyramid are eating 300+ grams of carbohydrates a day (many of them disguised as "healthy foods") when they should be eating less than 100 grams to maintain weight, or less than fifty to lose.
True. I'll see a fat person in the company cafeteria and invariably they choose a breadfast of Biskets Slathered in Gravy and a side of Bacon...with water.
This thread is making me hungy. Gotta go.
My friend likes Weight Watchers because she has to write down everything she eats. That helps with DENIAL.
The vegetables and beans are good for you. Most vegetables (and I don't consider potatos or corn vegetables) have pretty minimal calories compared to the fibre and nutrients they claim, and most legumes are chock full of fibre and protein and low in fat, and fairly low in carbs. White rice and pasta, OTOH, are essentially empty carb calories. Tofu I just don't much care for, so it's irrelevant.
People (myself included) are often totally blind to their own hypocrisy until it is pointed out to them. The mark of a true conservative is that he will examine his position upon being confronted and - if found to be hypocritical - he will correct his views and actions accordingly.
BRAVO!!
LOL! I was actually in shock to read the scale last time. I look curvy, but I don't look fat. So did not expect such a high number.
I usually wear skirts and dresses, which are much more forgiving in the waist and hips department than are slacks and jeans. I have adjusted my wardrobe accordingly, stepped up on the exercise (pushups, situps, and exercise bike) and I've cut out carbonated drinks by 90%. Seems to be working-my jeans are now fairly loose instead of almost unfastenable.
I notice the weeks that I don't eat as much are actually the weeks I seem to gain more. I assume it's the body's starvation mode.
I've noticed that, too....And when I switched to water, it seemed that my stomach (not my bladder, my stomach) got much more distended than it ever did from pop . Weird!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.