Thanks for the comments yesterday. It sounds like we're all thinking the same thing. While I had that post up, I saw the following story on Fox News and CNN. I sat with my mouth agape:
This is one of those stories that really makes me want to say.... what the hell are they thinking..?
In case, you don't want to click on the link, here's the story in a nutshell.
Your friends are making you fat. If you hang around with fat people, you might become fat.
They are suggesting shunning?
In this day and age? At least we can honestly say the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Take you back to another era?
"Away you scullion! you rampallion! you fustilarian! I'll tickle your catastrophe.
Couldn't resist the Shakespearean insult. Sometime in the recent past, we were sharing Shakespearean insults in someone's comment section.
This is my last post on body image for a while. I just couldn't resist bringing this one to the table though. I'll put up a weekend post this afternoon on a different topic. Check back then. :)
~*
Friday, July 27, 2007
Socially contagious???
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
13 comments:
as always, let's blame someone else. not the real issues that are causing the obesity epidemic.....and let's throw away people in our lives like trash.
Infuriating, isn't it?
I saw a blurb on this in our afternoon paper, but I didn't read it. It reminded me of how husbands often gain weight when their wives are pregnant (although this did not happen in my household). It also made me think of how I've been trying to control / eliminate my snacking, and how hard it is when my husband is munching on peanut m&ms in front of me.
I can believe that a person's concept of "acceptable weight" is influenced by the people around him.
But why does it only go one way? Why can't thinner people induce heavier ones to get more healthy? If they can use this study to find out how to make that work, it would be worthwhile.
I saw that on the news and was fairly incredulous.
We all have our own metabolism and genetic predispositions, to say nothing of differing bone structures and body types generally. This "theory" is a total crock.
Tabba, I will go so far as to say I'm not even buying the idea of an "obesity epidemic". It's been going on for generations. When I was a kid, there were the skinny kids and the fat kids, the skinny moms and the fat moms. We all expected our grandmothers to be fat because.. well... grannies are supposed to be fat and cuddly.
This whole media campaign is nothing more than another way to sell more products.
Just wait... by the end of the year, there will be a "miracle drug" to take care of extra weight.
Me? Conspiracy theorist? Nevuh! Well.. maybe. A little. :)
~*
De, I'm with you. Instead of shaming, why not encourage?
~*
Susan, exactly! It's like "The Secret" on meth.
~*
Peace,
~Chani
oh, well I know when I see MY friends, I know that the first thing I do is shove a cupcake down their gullets.
No nononononononono
As usual the media has (SHOCK! GASP!) mis-reported.
This is about social networking.
The study revealed that social networks can inhibit weight loss or promote weight gain, or vice versa.
The main social network cited was the office. If offices promote lots of eating and snacking, especially unhealthy things such as donuts and candy, the dynamic will tend to promote weight gain.
One person studied was a nurse in a doctor's office.
Social networks and groups can also promote better health. They cited Weight Watchers.
The idea isn't to shun individuals or groups.
The idea is to work to understand that we *do* respond situationally and therefore should ensure that our situation promotes good health.
Honest.
This isn't big news or even new news. I've used this same information for years to promote better health.
And it CHAPS MY HIDE BLACK that the media is reporting this the way they are.
At least on NPR they got it straight.
SB, it DOES go both ways and the study reviewed and reported on BOTH sides.
Part of it, too, is that people choose friends with similar lifestyles; couch potatoes hang with couch potatoes, joggers hang with joggers.
Putting it crudely, people aren't overweight because they're friends, they're friends because they're overweight.
I responded to your last on my blog. Any time you want to hang around my couch it's fine with me.
I'm very dubious about these findings. I'm always dubious when things are attributed to only one cause. Humans might be a little more complicated than that.
Prejudices about Americans: because of their way of life, a third of the people are obese: they are sprawled in front of their TV, watching stupid shows, and, instead of having three solid meals a day, and nothing at all between the three meals,they are constantly eating and drinking something with sugar and fat.
flutter just made me spill my coffee.
awful! shunning anyone is disgusting, and to do it because they may be overweight--bleh!
i do the same as flutter--feed people!
Post a Comment