The rise in obesity is due to two things, in my opinion.

1) The rise of shitty food. There has always been bad food, and there has always been fat people. But the influx of shittier, and admittedly tastier, food options has allowed people to really get out of hand with every meal. It allows them to shut their kids up with some Burger King, or appease them with some Ho-Ho's. Don't get me wrong, that shit tastes good. But it has to be in moderation.

2) Lack of discipline. No one is forcing us to eat anything. My first year of college I realized I wasn't happy with my body. I also wanted to get laid more. I lost 45 pounds in 3 months, and it is still off 4 years later. All because I ate better day to day and played a little bit of basketball. Personal responsibility and self-discipline can really improve our lives.

Don't forget that education plays a big role. Nutrition is barely taught in schools. Most adults don't pay attention to ingredients lists and have no idea what nutrition labels mean. Michelle Obama was going to start an anti-obesity campaign aimed at nutrition education until junk food lobbyists bought her out and it became focused on 'light exercise'. Not to mention the disinfo propagated by the Fat Acceptance movement and the media regarding obesity being genetic and diets not working.

Like you said, it's up to personal responsibility at this point. We can't trust the government to have our best interests because junk food companies are buying them out. I honestly think it's in the government's interest to fatten people up so they're impotent and dependent on the system. Like you, in college I cleaned up my diet and took up gymnastics to improve how I looked as well as general athleticism. Once you break free from all the processed foods you see how badly it affects your body and mind.

And if schools did teach nutrition, what would the lessons be? That's the problem.

Would they get the same schpeel of low calorie, low fat, high in grains and dairy (because dairy is good for bones!) bullshit that has made our country fat, sick, and diseased?

We are one of the top consumers of dairy on this entire planet yet have the highest instances of osteoporosis. But... but... I thought milk was good for our bones, that's what the government, my doctor, that commercial... that's what they all said, right?

The fact that the medical community has been wrong about dietary fat for fifty fucking years and still hasn't changed its guidelines, heart disease is still a number one killer, and everyone is more overweight and obese than any time in history, I really don't know how much faith I have in schools to teach nutrition.

Adding to this. I didn't learn shit for nutrition in high school. In my culinary class, we covered it for about a week for maybe an hour a day. There's not nearly enough taught about nutrition these days.

Michelle Obama was going to start an anti-obesity campaign aimed at nutrition education until junk food lobbyists bought her out

What bullshit. Did you just make that up or was that bullshit fed to you by someone?.

I'll see if I can find the articles. I read about that back when FPH was still around. The documentary "Fed Up" lays it out as well.

Remember: you're looking for sources showing that she was "bought out." Good luck; you'll need it.

Sorry for any typos or errors, I'm on mobile, but....

Your two primary reasons are wildly incorrect. As a medical professional, someone who has studied dietetics and nutrition for the past several years, and someone who has worked on the hill to influence medical policy, I can tell you the primary reason for the obesity epidemic in America lies with whoever is making the most money off of it - and that's a lot of fucking people.

Almost 50 years ago, when heart disease was on the rise, doctors and scientists alike sought out to find out why. Their result? A study with fabricated outcomes, which gave birth to low fat dieting and low fat hysteria. Food companies started replacing fatty ingredients with sugar. Big Corn started producing HFCS to add to these products, and everyone just kept getting bigger.

Poor people are more likely to work labor intensive jobs, but they are also equally as likely to be overweight and obese. How can those two statements coexist when we, as a society, put so much emphasis on calorie expenditure? Because CICO is a flawed science and the true cause of obesity is primary food and not "laziness." Keep that in mind when you're thinking about people who are trying to eat and be healthy.

The influx of sugar in the SAD is toxic, but it's all everyone knows. Now you've got a billion dollar pharmaceutical industry, billion dollar food industry selling "low fat" foods - which (surprise!) cause obesity instead of helping it, Big Corn, Big Dairy, doctors literally getting away with treating people for hypertension and high cholesterol while their patients are still dying of heart disease, and no one thinks... Let's go back to the drawing board here!

Companies lobby our government to stay relevant. Food companies buy themselves a spot on our food pyramid. The American Heart Association, the one that puts cute little labels on sugary shit cereals, takes money from General Mills, ...

... and the public buys into this idea that we, the people, are 100% at fault for the state of our health. It's our fault if we are obese... we must eat shit and not move enough while we are quite literally being sold disease and death.

I'm 5'8" and 125lbs, btw.

Sorry for the rambling and no links.

you might actually want to try and gain weight. Sorry for the off topic drivel but that is quite underweight.

Not at all, actually.

http://imgur.com/WhnYAym

I have perfectly normal body composition.

I was 150lbs 8 months ago with an elevated hbgA1C. I was instructed to lose weight by my internist. At my last check up, which was a couple weeks ago, all my blood work was normal and my weight was perfect.

My doctor is pleased with my efforts but thanks for the medical advice!

I think there are plenty of fiscally capable people who can afford healthy eating and choose not to. I'm nowhere near well off still and was able to make simple changes during college (a time when I had even less money) and still drop 45 pounds. A lot of bad choices are still made and are avoidable, regardless of the monetary situation of an individual.

The problem is people don't even know what's healthy to begin with. They think processed sugary cereals are healthy because it has an American Heart Association logo on it. Cereal is cheap as fuck. People skip over eggs to buy that crap while wholeheartedly thinking they are doing the right thing.

Affordability is a small part of the problem. Misinformation is the majority of it.

No one is forcing us to eat anything.

Choice is an illusion my friend. Marketing, advertising, and the ease of access makes the choice for us.

There are easy choices, and hard choices. The choice is still there to be made. Is it easier to get a super sized, mega-caloried McShitburger combo, with a pound of salty carbs and a 2 liter sugar bomb to drink? Yes. Its that the only choice? Absolutely not.

But that's not where the problems lie. Terrible food masquerading as healthy is our problem - fucking fruit juice and yogurt. People buy that stuff trying to be healthy and they are still obese. They don't know what the fuck to do because they are set up to fail at every corner.

Yes we all technically have choice, but that does not reflect reality. Why on Earth would so many people "choose" to be in thousands of dollars of student debt when there are alternatives? Why would so many people work such long hours, neglecting their family? Why would people continue buying things they don't need with money they don't have? Why would people continue to elect criminals into our government year after year after year when they know very well that all the choices are shitty?

When they make the McShitburger combo cheaper, easier and tastier than the healthier alternatives, do we really have a choice?

do we really have a choice?

Yes.

Respect for the weight loss.

I know taste is subjective and all, but fast food/junk food is not even remotely tasty. Stop eating it for 6+ months and then go back and order anything from McDonald's or Taco Bell... you can literally taste the cocktail of chemicals they put in it. I suppose some people might find the taste of artificial ingredients more palatable though. IMO fast food is the most vile and disgusting thing that has ever stimulated my taste buds ever. This is coming from a cigarette smoker too (trying to quit lol). Not too mention, I don't know how regular eaters of it go #2 without a daily supplement of MiraLAX.

A lot of it's in your head, though. ;)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25811308

http://time.com/3962796/restaurant-calories-fast-food/

Too much of anything is bad for you.

I only drink water and I don't eat restaurant food... Or meat. What is your point?

Good for you not eating meat! I don't know why you don't but either way it's good for you and the animals :)

I doubt that.

My point is that your entire post is just that, an opinion, and has no basis in reality as far as those food being better or worse for you than others, and was snarky and did not add anything to the discussion.

don't really care if you doubt it :) thanks for giving me your opinion, bro!

You obviously do if you responded over a day later with that.

Nah, bro

I also wanted to get laid more.

did you get laid more?

I can confirm this.

http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/newscience/2013/01/2013-0212-prenatal-tributyltin-obesogen-mice-three-generations/

Look into epigenetic programming, it's possible.

The rise of obesity rates in our nation began long before subreddits were first conceived.

Welcome to High Fructose Corn Syrup

Wasn't fat people hate just laughing at fat people?

Certainly in Britain there have been lots of things to try and reduce obesity

Things like:

"Eat healthy grains"
"Lots of cardio"
"Reduce fat intake"

amirite?

Sort of, the whole 5 a day thing (though that wasn't based on anything solid) was also government created

Even things such as reducing saturated fat were done by the government. Also reducing salt in ready meals

Yeah. OP makes it sound like FPH was some noble attempt to shift public policy towards better health. It was a forum for sociopaths who got pleasure from raiding, tormenting, and bullying fat people. They were a blight on reddit and humanity.

That's what I thought.

I still don't think it should have been banned though.

We wait until they get so big, they can barely move.

look up the documentary from the BBC called the century of self. it explains corporations use of Sigmund Freud psychoanalysis in marketing and advertising. it follows Edward Bernays who is Sigmund Freud's nephew who is the father of public relations he said that propaganda work so well during wartime the wanted to see if it would work during peacetime but propaganda was a dirty word because the Soviets were using it so he invented the word public relations. he staged a PR event to get women to start smoking cigarettes. . anyway they use these techniques to dumb us down and control us

here is a link to the imdb

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0432232/

Grains are the base of the food pyramid. Grains are heavily subsidized by the government. Grains cause obesity, diabetes, among other health issues. The FDA is a revolving door for big ag and big pharm. any more questions?

Well being overweight certainly makes you stupider. http://www.menshealth.com/weight-loss/being-fat-makes-you-stupid

Two reasons: psychoactive drugs can put 40 pounds on a person in less than a month, and an enormous number of Americans are taking them; every other woman in American is taking a dose of horse estrogen every day and pissing it into the water supply. Fat, feminine men are everywhere. NO ONE is going to discourage birth control pills or the legal drug industry

I thought sugar was proved to turn people docile?

I try to avoid going out in public as much as possible but when I do it seems as if I am surrounded by duck walking heavies. Everyone just seems so fat and stupid just as corporate governance wants.

[deleted]

When the Mothership arrives it will all make more sense, those guys will be pretty hungry after a thousand year deep-sleep. /s

Ive said this for quite some time.

/r/fatpeoplehate was literal hate speech though. There was nothing conducive, or helpful on that sub. Their only discussions were about how overweight/obese people are inferior to everyone else.

I'm going to disagree with you. one time someone posted a picture of a fat person jogging and tried to make fun of them.... everybody else in the sub yelled at OP saying this person is trying to help themself and that making fun of fat people trying to help themselves is the not the point of the sub. the point of the sub was to make fun of body acceptancethat fat people should not be happy being fat. in fact fat people would make self-posts saying thank you this is motivation for me to get in shape and change my life

The rise in obesity has lead previously plain-looking girls to feel a lot more self-confident. And much more willing to get naked. It's win-win!

Until you travel to, say, Minsk, Belarus and every girl is a supermodel. And that's just normal, so they don't have attitudes. Oh and they loooove American guys for some reason.

K

Sort of, the whole 5 a day thing (though that wasn't based on anything solid) was also government created

Even things such as reducing saturated fat were done by the government. Also reducing salt in ready meals