Are Your Friends Making You Fat?

[Polly]

http://health.yahoo.com/news/177766

So that's why CJ gained weight after we got married! It's not because I like to cook! :giggle

Polly

[Lori]

I heard this this morning. I don't know why we always ignore what is probably the #1 reason for rising obesity rates: more dieting. Not fat friends, not fast food, not even lack of activity, but a multi-billion dollar industry that nobody is ever critical of, despite the fact that 98% of dieters gain back everything they lost, and 95% gain back more. We have kids dieting at younger and younger ages and higher and higher rates, and wonder why rates of youth obesity are on the rise.

I become more and more convinced that the "obesity" epidemic can only be solved by not making such a big deal about it. The only "solution" ever offered is dieting, and dieting fails for all but 2% of the people who do it, and makes 95% of the people who do it fatter than they were before. If we didn't make fat out to be so bad that people make the diet industry so enormously profitable, then maybe the rates of obesity wouldn't be as high as they are, even if people weren't as skinny as the media would like us all to be.

[Jo]

Does the opposite work as well? Can friends thousands of miles away motivate each other to lose weight?

Lori-I disagree with the way to make it better it to act like fat isn't so bad. I do agree that dieting is wrong if that is all people are doing. But people do need to be educated about portion sizes, calories, healthy fats and carbs, the need for good protein, fruits, veggies and yes, that is more than OK to treat yourself to something and not feel guilty. American diets mostly suck as far as I can tell. I read articles about how some children are deficient in some vitamins and that is insane with the foods we have available. I think people need to be empowered so they can understand the overall health aspect. It isn't about being a certain size or looking a certain way because we are all different. But until people choose to educate themselves, accept the information, and do something about it for themselves all other aspects for explaining why people are obese are just excuses.