firecat

And not only because it uses my favorite example of confusing correlation with causation:

Killing Turkeys Causes Winter by Sandy Szwarc

(Those of you participating in the current LJ fat flame war, feel free to use this as ammo.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

ailbhe

I have many reasons to dislike fast food restaurants, but "making people fat" isn't one of them. "Selling people nonfood" and "lying about the nutritional content of the food" and "treating workers, especially teenage workers, like shit" and so on...

However, I do believe that a lot of people could avoid becoming fat by eating well, exercising regularly, and staying otherwise healthy. The third clause is the one that bites, I think. Fellow who lives near me doubled his weight after an accident rendered him bedridden, and now that he's up and about again, the weight is staying exactly where it is. Other people I know have thyroid problems, a family history of suddenly gaining weight in their 30s, eating disorders . . . The list goes on. It doesn't seem to matter a damn how well you eat or how often you exercise if something else happens.

And what about people who are too thin, eh?

From:

pir-anha.livejournal.com

"a lot of people" -- maybe so. a lot of people seem to manage it, in any case. but a lot of people don't seem to, on the other hand. so i don't know what such a belief gains one. IMO the first clause also bites because it's hard to define, and doctors do by no means agree on it. i grew up eating well (certainly nobody, including no doctor and no food pyramid ever disagreed), working a lot physically (which is what people did before "exercise" swept western civilization), and i was healthy alright. and yet i have always been fat. it's my metabolism, baby. it's very efficient. it's in my peasant genes. i'd have to starve myself to be at a weight western society seems to consider "healthy" these days. which wouldn't be healthy for me at all. and i am not a freak of nature. if that's true for me, it's likely true for millions of other people.

and really, it doesn't matter. i don't quite understand why so many people focus on weight over other health risks -- maybe because weight can be seen relatively easily. i don't smoke, i don't do drugs, my last tests looked good, my cholesterol is fine, aside from this pesky mental illness i am still healthy as the proverbial horse. i don't let stupid-ass LJ flamewars get to me (less stress), and i am working hard on not letting clinical depression kill me. all the while i stay fat. and anyone who tries to tell me that it's ever-so-unhealthy can go tie zirself in a knot because i just Do Not Care. i am coming to believe that caring what others try to tell one about almost all "average" and "normal" things is not healthy in itself. besides, i don't want to be average anyway, *grin*.

From:

firecat

i am coming to believe that caring what others try to tell one about almost all "average" and "normal" things is not healthy in itself.

I {heart}

pleonastic.

From:

ailbhe

I did say "avoid becoming fat" rather than "not be fat". I see no reason why people's natural born-with bodyshape would be changed by being healthy all the time. And I didn't say "could have avoided", either, because how the hell would I know?

From:

firecat

A theory I believe, although I don't have citations for it in front of me, is "set point theory." It says that most people have a natural weight range of about 30 pounds. If they eat a lot and don't exercise, they'll hang out at the higher end of the range. If they don't eat a lot and do exercise a lot, they'll hang out at the lower end.

This doesn't seem to apply to people with Syndrome X (a condition that includes insulin resistance and sometimes leads to diabetes). But these people tend to be fat to begin with.

From:

firecat

I agree with your reasons for not liking fast food restaurants.

I don't agree that eating well, exercising regularly, and staying otherwise healthy (whatever all those things mean) make very many people not-fat. It's a popular myth, but in fact lots of people who are fat do all three.

People who are very thin are largely ignored because of all the screeching about how so many people are getting fatter, even though there's substantial evidence that being very thin is associated with (but not necessarily in a causal way, in either direction) worse health than being fat is.

From:

ailbhe

IME, the people who are fat, fit, and healthy tend to be people who have always been fat, fit and healthy, rather than people who "could avoid becoming fat". I really wasn't saying that people who are naturally fat can just choose not to be. I said that lots of people could avoid becoming fat. I did mean there to be a clear distinction between the two.

Then there's people like me, with big fat wobbly bottoms and thighs, and slightly concave stomachs [0]. I'm fat _and_ preternaturally thin, at the same time! (No, not really, but the clothes manufacturers think so).

A.
[0] The stomach is gradually becoming convex, now. Bottom still wobbles though.

From:

firecat

I'm sorry I misunderstood what you were saying about "becoming fat."

Then there's people like me, with big fat wobbly bottoms and thighs, and slightly concave stomachs.

Glenn Gaesser's book Big Fat Lies says that fat on the bottom and thighs protects against heart disease. So it's a good way to be, even if it makes it harder to buy clothes. :-P