*With all our cheap food and sedentary jobs, the only way poor families can keep in shape is through exercise. Gym membership is easy to put at the bottom of the list of priorities, because it's time-intensive, and it requires finding a babysitter. Also, a lot of small towns simply don't have one. *Public transit is a joke almost everywhere if existent at all, and very few places are both pedestrian/bike-friendly and poor-friendly. *40-45 million Americans don't have health insurance. Of those that do, you get what you pay for. Despite evidence that preventive care is much cheaper in the long run, it's considered a luxury. The notion of something like gym membership or Weight Watchers enrollment being covered is considered socialist and outlandish. *Big pharmaceuticals have lobbyists in DC to buy politicians, as a means of insuring that we are kept alive well into our 80s, but at the same time unhealthy enough to buy their products. Preventive care, contraception, HIV research, why, that all hurts the bottom line. Let's keep everyone fat and diabetic through victim-blaming and stirring shit through right-wing "Christian" organizations /sarcasm *Money >>>> Physical and emotional well-being. People working 30-40 hours a week, especially those with families, living meagerly but healthfully are looked down upon and have less influence in their communities. *Western culture attaches a lot of emotional value to being a certain shape. Rather than being able to look in the mirror and say "Let's work on X, Y and Z" in a detached problem-solution fashion, thick women are made to feel shitty about themselves. This leads to yo-yo dieting, and they gain the weight back during a depressive phase, because they've given up on the rat-race, et cetera. Emotional value is attached to food, it's not called comfort food for nothing. And if you've only got a few pounds you want to shed, people will silumtaneously tell you "Yeah, you'd be so hot if only you lost a few pounds" and "ZOMG be careful be blah blah blah everyone who wants to be thinner MUST be turning anorexic".
I could go on and on, but the point is, obesity researchers never discuss the actual causes, because then we'd have to ZOMG EVOLVE OUR CULTURE.
Re: THERE IS A MOUNTAIN OF SAND IN MY VAG ABOUT THIS TOPIC AND I'M GOING TO SHARE IT WITH YOU NOW
*With all our cheap food and sedentary jobs, the only way poor families can keep in shape is through exercise. Gym membership is easy to put at the bottom of the list of priorities, because it's time-intensive, and it requires finding a babysitter. Also, a lot of small towns simply don't have one.
*Public transit is a joke almost everywhere if existent at all, and very few places are both pedestrian/bike-friendly and poor-friendly.
*40-45 million Americans don't have health insurance. Of those that do, you get what you pay for. Despite evidence that preventive care is much cheaper in the long run, it's considered a luxury. The notion of something like gym membership or Weight Watchers enrollment being covered is considered socialist and outlandish.
*Big pharmaceuticals have lobbyists in DC to buy politicians, as a means of insuring that we are kept alive well into our 80s, but at the same time unhealthy enough to buy their products. Preventive care, contraception, HIV research, why, that all hurts the bottom line. Let's keep everyone fat and diabetic through victim-blaming and stirring shit through right-wing "Christian" organizations /sarcasm
*Money >>>> Physical and emotional well-being. People working 30-40 hours a week, especially those with families, living meagerly but healthfully are looked down upon and have less influence in their communities.
*Western culture attaches a lot of emotional value to being a certain shape. Rather than being able to look in the mirror and say "Let's work on X, Y and Z" in a detached problem-solution fashion, thick women are made to feel shitty about themselves. This leads to yo-yo dieting, and they gain the weight back during a depressive phase, because they've given up on the rat-race, et cetera. Emotional value is attached to food, it's not called comfort food for nothing. And if you've only got a few pounds you want to shed, people will silumtaneously tell you "Yeah, you'd be so hot if only you lost a few pounds" and "ZOMG be careful be blah blah blah everyone who wants to be thinner MUST be turning anorexic".
I could go on and on, but the point is, obesity researchers never discuss the actual causes, because then we'd have to ZOMG EVOLVE OUR CULTURE.