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February 01, 2006
On Epidemics (supposedly)
I hear the term epidemic used to describe the obesity problem in this country a lot. The term concerns me because it's not an accurate term. According to the CDC website an epidemic is (paraphrasing) an occurance of a disease in a certain area that exceeds what is expected. In other words, if in Butte County we expect 100 people to get the flu this winter and 110 actually get it, that's an epidemic. Why I don't like the term associated with obesity is twofold. One I don' t think that obesity is a disease. A scant few people aside obesity is a lifestyle choice or a symptom of a larger (usually psychological) problem. Two I have a hard time believing that nobody saw this coming. Can anyone honestly say that, looking back on America's diet and activity level over the past 20 years, they didn't see this coming? When a population eats a lot, and most of that is high in fat, refined carbohydrates, and low in vitamins, and at the same time spends more time sitting on their butts (typing a blog for instance) they are going to get bigger, and not bigger in a good way. It's simple math. When you consume more calories in a day than you burn off you get fatter. Period, end of story.
So, epidemic is not the right word for what what's happening. We should have seen this coming. How about Pandemic. It's another nice word. It means an epidemic over a wide geographical area. Only in this case it's using the word Epidemic to mean a "generalized outbreak". I like this term a lot better sicne it doesn't give the impression that we didn't see this coming and obesity is definately a geographical problem. But even then when you talk about the "Obesity Pandemic" (Can't you just see that as a CNN tag line) you give the impression that it's a disease, and something you got by not washing your hands enough. This is not the case with obesity, it's a lifestyle problem.
Which leads to why these terms are used. I'm my opinion it's so media can talk about them without offending anyone. It's more friendly to talk about the obesity epidemic like it's something everyone's gotten, and it's not really their fault, rather than talking about the millions of grossly overweight people sitting around with a Bacon Extra Fatty in their hands watching TV. That paints an ugly picture. And it should. Obesity is as deadly a killer as drug addiction, alcoholism, and smoking, though interestingly the four are found together a lot. Poor circulation, heart disease, diabetes, joint problems, lung problems, and gastrointestinal problems are all things that obese people can look forward to, and all things that the rest of the population gets to pay for in the way of higher insurance premiums and higher taxes for those without insurance.
I don't mean to be insensitive. I know a number of people who are over weight, I myself could lose 20 pounds comfortably but I don't delude myself into thinking that it's society's fault, or the burger maker, or anything else. I'm over weight because I like food and need to be more physically active, and for the most part so is everyone else.
Posted by at February 1, 2006 10:50 AM
Comments
What amazes me most about this whole issue is that Americans, according to a recent survey, spend more money on diet foods, books, videos, plans, and gimicks than every other country in the world combined and yet we are still the fattest country in the world. I dont know where the simple equation of Eat Less + Move More = Lose Weight got lost but somewhere along the lines it did.
Sadly it has gotten so easy (and inexpensive) to eat an unhealthy lifestyle. It costs less to buy a 44oz Coke than a 20oz bottle of water. Fruit costs more than burgers. Pay attention next time you go to the grocery store. You'll be surprised
Posted by: Cris at February 4, 2006 06:45 AM