Thursday, February 12, 2015
RANT
Nothing annoys me more than when people blame their overweight bodies on anything else but themselves. I can't stand it when overweight or obese people try to point fingers at genetically modified organisms and/or artificial sweeteners in an attempt to justify how unhealthy they have become. In high school, my senior year physics teacher, Mr. Sean Richards, felt the same way about this topic. In fact, he took up an entire class period and dedicated it to presenting various slideshows and videos that proved two very controversial assumptions. 1.) There is no concrete evidence that shows maintaing an organic diet has any affect on weight apposed to the typical one. Ever been to Trader Joe's? Whole foods? Both organic grocery store, correct? They still sell candy, chocolate, ice cream, brownies, cookies, so on and so fourth. Just because these items are organic it does not mean they do not contain FAT and SUGAR, the real causes of obesity. 2.) There is no logical, concrete evidence that directly proves the correlation between the consumption or GMOs or aspartame and weight. The body is not conscious of either, in fact, it does not recognize them to be anything beyond waste. In order for the body to soak in nutrients, carbohydrates, proteins, ect. must have a chemical reaction it. Neither GMOs or aspartame do such thing. In other words, they go in, and they go out. That's it. So if you're buying the more expensive milk because it says "organic" or "GMO free", then congrats, you have been tricked by a well played advertisement technique. These items are no healthier than the original ones. There is absolutely no concrete evidence of the correlation between artificial ingredients and obesity. Unconsciously, however, we continue to believe what we want. Yes, if you google this topic several talk shows and interviews will show up bashing GMOs and aspartame. But think, how many of these people are doctors? In fact, Mr. Richards showed us a talk show where their sign spelled aspartame incorrectly. This leads to to question, do these people really know what the Hell they're talking about anyways? Where are the statistics? The lab results? The studies? But no, we see this crappy talk show and then mark another tally in our brains as evidence of why we think we are fat. This absolutely outrages me.
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I agree with you over weight people have nobody to blame but themselves. They need to make the conscious decision to eat healthier and workout on a regular bases. People that have weight issues need to take it upon themselves to fit the problem and not blame it on other things. Just because things appear in a "Healthy Store" does not necessarily make them healthy.
ReplyDeleteI think people have the most responsibility when it comes to their weight. Obesity is normally a result due to lack of exercise or poor diet and that responsibility falls on the individual. But I know there is one situation where the thyroid gland can be hypoactive and can cause you to gain weight even if you don't eat at all. I can see how this responsibility would not fall on the individual, but instead on their actual body itself.
ReplyDeleteIt is up to obese people to get to that point. They have the chance to workout and eat healthy foods. They shouldnt complain about being obese if they dont do anything to lose weight. There are people that have no control over how much weight they gain, those would be people with a disease. People with a high metabolism have it easy but they also can gain weight so they can end up staying really skinny.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many problematic questions here, I don't know where to begin! I wonder if part of the inquiry could involve questions about dieting, altogether. My parents were so hell bent on keeping their kids thin, but they were themselves quite confused about their own choices. This translated into "diet on/diet off" behaviors at our house. So, one day I'd get a thermos full of chicken broth in my lunch bag, and the next day, Dad was taking us to Wendys. Confusing?! Yes. These days, the annoying thing for me is that so many people want to freak me out about aspartame, when I'm just fine with my choices. So, it's not bothering me, so I have to wonder: Why do they feel compelled to call me out? Why not move on? Is it SO interesting? LOL.
ReplyDeleteI can see so many ways this could turn into a researchable topic. I, myself, am more interested in the sociological aspects -- like, Why do we do what we do? And What are the consequences of these choices and behaviors. You'd probably want to argue something more overtly. Either way, I appreciate the range of this rant and the responses from Josh, Bryan, and James!
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ReplyDeleteI agree that both of our rants go together. People jump on different topics and just run with them. People are not interested in the facts. Unfortunately, most people just believe what they hear.
ReplyDeleteI agree! People who are obese try to blame everybody but themselves. The leading cause of obesity is the lack of self control of those individuals not necessarily the quality of food they are ingesting. In most cases of obesity the quality of the food is not the problem but the quantity is.
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