Is America Anti-Healthy?

Don’t get me started. If I hear one more time that my diet is crazy or I must be naturally ‘skinny’ I might scream. I just ignore it now and embrace my lifestyle.

Hey, I’d watch it… but I think there are enough channels to carry all of them!

Once you accept that most americans are fat, lazy stupid bastards who overestimate their abilities in almost every area of their life, who don’t save nearly enough for their own retirement, and will expect “mother” government to pick up the tab, then everything in life makes sense.

God this thread is like a breath of fresh air. Couple rants of mine:

My little brother is 13 years old and is 6 foot 1 inch. This kid is money. I tell my mom throw this kid in some cyo basketball or something. I yell at him to get his ass off the gamecube and do some pushups. He starts puttin on pouty faces and pulls off some heavy sighs and my mom cracks, of course, says “don’t push him”, he’ll do it on his own then proceeds to buy this kid two triple whoppers with cheese and bacon. But i guess its no surprise since hes the baby of the fam and she thinks my protein powder is legal steroids. that def helps my cred.

I also don’t know if anyone saw this commercial, but it was a commercial for some sort of fat black woman fashion show on some obscure network, run by that really fat black woman from the parkers. The slogan was something along the lines of “big women are beautiful too”. And black women are always complaining about how they lose us black men to other races. Other races take their asses to the gym. nuff said.

New york has some of the highest diabetes rates in the country, it’s killing off our spanish population and working it’s way into the asian population. freaking 8 year old asian kids that are so fat they can barely walk up of a flight subway, even with their parents holding their hands.

To me it’s just another control device. Keep them too fat or too vegged out to get up and protest, keep those medical bills high for the insurance companies, keep Mcdonalds running because its a huge corporation we can tax, and hopefully it can kill off enough people before they get old and start whining for Medicare. I’m just glad i was able to learn how to be so health conscious, and live a better quality life…I owe alot of that to this site, and I am forever grateful to T-Nation for opening my eyes. End rant.

[quote]vroom wrote:
it’ll only be a matter of time until video game championships are replacing the superbowl, BCS and march madness to a national televised audience.

Hey, I’d watch it… but I think there are enough channels to carry all of them![/quote]

Bro it’s already started. I saw a true life on MTV - I’m a professional gamer, it was for the Halo 2 tournament and another game i can’t remember…The kid that they focused on was SUCH a tool that I almost cut myself as punishment for being in the species as him. This guy dropped outta high school to prfessionally play video games. I almost wanna shoot his parents.

Some good points on here. I think a lot of you are right on the money. That said, do you guys have some kind of universal hatred of video games or something? Yeah, playing that stuff to excess is bad, but its a perfectly good hobby as long as its not the only thing you do. Games are fun, they are interactive, take some brain power, and develop hand-eye coordination among other things.

I’m not advocating playing games 8 hours a day day in and day out - but I think you people have some misconceptions. Its possible to be healthy and have non-fitness related activities you enjoy. Most activities are okay in moderation - even TV! And come on - poker as a hobby is bad? I’ve got news, if you think all non physical hobbies are bad, you are flat out one sided. Nothing wrong with that, but you should realize it and not force it on others.

The problem isn’t activities, the problem is modern life. Let me outline an average American’s day:

Spend 10-12 hours working for the man.
Spend 2+ hours in the car commuting.
Stop and grab something to eat on the way home (usually unhealthy) because you are too damn wasted from work to do anything.
Veg on the couch, attend to whatever pressing matters exist at home.
Go to sleep, get up 5-6 hours later, and do it all over again.

This is, of course, the picture of unhealth, yet millions of people do just that every day. Telling your kids “get off the game and go play outside” isn’t going to do it. What does it is if mommy and daddy lead an active lifestyle, and little johnny sees this, and is part of it, from day one. Kids watch you - you have to practice what you preach or they are going to ignore it. Thats a given.

It’s not TV’s fault. It’s not Coca-Cola’s fault. It’s not video games. All these things are fine, in apprpriate amounts. Its the fault of parents who lead inactive, unhealthy lives, and then think they can just tell their kids to “be different.” And its a time thing. I know the big reason I hate cooking is because it takes time. And the healthier the food, the longer it takes to cook (and the more it costs). Its a reliable maxim. I cook it anyway of course. Then of course lifting and exercise take time too. Time’s the killer - if people aren’t willing to spend it, then they are just going to get fatter.

In short, there’s a lot of things that contribute to the obesity problem. All of them have to do with willpower, time, and habits though… not with video games, coke, and mcdonald’s.

[quote]tronn wrote:
vroom wrote:
it’ll only be a matter of time until video game championships are replacing the superbowl, BCS and march madness to a national televised audience.

Hey, I’d watch it… but I think there are enough channels to carry all of them!

Bro it’s already started. I saw a true life on MTV - I’m a professional gamer, it was for the Halo 2 tournament and another game i can’t remember…The kid that they focused on was SUCH a tool that I almost cut myself as punishment for being in the species as him. This guy dropped outta high school to prfessionally play video games. I almost wanna shoot his parents. [/quote]

I think professional gaming is pretty lame myself. But I’ll tell you one thing, games take skill. Why is dropping out of school to play football professionally, for example, more valid than what this kid did? If he can make a living at it, who’s to judge. Personally I think both are kind of stupid, unless you’re the rare athlete who’s signing bonus alone will set you for life. But even then, that’s a money thing, it has nothing to do with some “virtue” of an athletic pursuit over a mental / twitch coordination one. And as for “tools” there are more than plenty in “legit” professional sports as well.

I guess all I’m saying is, evaluate why you think this is nonsense. If its because you think “games are for losers” then you’re an ignorant fool playing a stereotype. Again, its NOT something I’d choose to do, NOT a way I’d choose to spend my time… but hey, if he likes it, and makes a living on it… what’s the problem? I don’t like basketball either, but I don’t see a problem with people playing basketball for a living.

And don’t give me some crap about “games make you fat.” Most people have jobs sitting behind a desk that make games look like an exhilarating workout in comparison. Just because you play games doesn’t mean you don’t also lift, run, etc.

I don’t know why everyone thinks it is a non-issue to be healthy.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m obviously on the right road myself. However, when peoples entire lives are taken up by career, looking after children, running a household and otherwise looking after all their responsibilities, where do they find the time and energy to actually realize that everyone is lying to them about being healthy?

Honestly, I’m not making excuses, but if it was so damned easy, we wouldn’t be suffering an obesity epidemic.

Yes, while I too believe people are stupid and docile and so on, you also have to cut them a little slack. Obviously life has become structured in a way that such issues have become less important, less valued, by society.

The so called “realities” of the world can weigh pretty heavily on you. If you aren’t yet shouldering those burdens yourself, don’t be so quick to condemn those that are.

[quote]James Cain wrote:
Where will it head? Where does this leave us, the T-Men?

I means you’re stronger, healthier, and most likely look better than those people. I stopped worrying about other people getting continually more fat because it means I continually look better.[/quote]

hey man! you stole my avatar!

[quote]vroom wrote:

Obviously life has become structured in a way that such issues have become less important, less valued, by society.

[/quote]

It should be common sense though, that one’s personal health will eventually rule over every issue in our lives.

And who has shaped this skewed value system? I think that the people who push the crap food on society… the makers and the advertisers, they are doing a bang-up job of making their shit appear healthy. They have conned people into thinking that ‘convenience’ is more important than your health.

‘Convenience Kills’

|/ 3Toes

[quote]vroom wrote:
The so called “realities” of the world can weigh pretty heavily on you. If you aren’t yet shouldering those burdens yourself, don’t be so quick to condemn those that are.
[/quote]

This should be the quote of the year! The problem today IMO is that people don’t realize that priorities have changed dramatically in the last 10 years.

Now it is more important to have underwear with someone else’s name than taking the time to actually cook a nutritious meals. Louis Vuitton, Cartier and Hermes have replaced balanced meals, walking and personal responsibility.

This is not only happening in America, but in all countries too. It is a social epidemic. an epidemic of values.

J

[quote]MODOK wrote:
I have recently ran into a pretty serious problem in regards to these stereotypes in my dating life. Started dating this girl who is in great shape, and looks like she hits it hard every day. Well, it turns out, she’s just very genetically gifted, and knows bupkis about working out. Oh she goes to the gym, but its mainly just to socialize. Anyway, she recently told me that I was too extreme with my diet, that I should go out to eat with her every night at restaurants, and she can’t be with someone who doesn’t have most meals as a social affair, trying new ice creams, etc. I told her its very important to me, and a huge part of who I am, to have a fitness lifestyle. Of course, this is unworkable for her and we parted ways. Before she left, and while she was eating a bar of chocolate, she told me how my lifestyle of high protein and training would cause me to die at an early age. All this from a 31 yo woman. Strange how society embraces normalcy, and extraordinary people nowadays, instead of being lauded for their drive and determination, are set apart as “fringe”, even with something as trivial as eating protein at every meal.[/quote]

Reminds me of my shortest date ever. I took a hot girl out for dinner. After I ordered mineral water she said that men who drink mineral water are gay. She proceeded to tell me that masculine men drink booze and smoke and that she finds “health freaks” (a health freak being someone who doesn’t smoke and drink alcohol) repulsive.

I said “excuse me, but you’re retarded” then got up and left.

The dinner lasted 10 minutes.

Loppar

I work 8 hours a day, lift 3 times a week, get in 2 rugby practices and a game on saturday. I also go dungeon crawling in an online MMO (World of Warcraft) 2 nights a week and logon at various other times (8-10 hours a week). Its all about balance. And video games a fun, but some people take it too far.

[quote]MisterAmazing wrote:
America definitely has a gorwing obesity problem that simply can’t be ignored. [/quote]

No, it has been addressed. We have longer needles for doctors now, and handicapped parking spaces all over the place.

The stores have an abundant selection of size 40-50 mens pants and womens size 12-16.

These people are also suing the evil fast food corps. because they consumed bad food that made them really fatty fat.

[quote]Rockscar wrote:
MisterAmazing wrote:
America definitely has a gorwing obesity problem that simply can’t be ignored.

No, it has been addressed. We have longer needles for doctors now, and handicapped parking spaces all over the place.

The stores have an abundant selection of size 40-50 mens pants and womens size 12-16.

These people are also suing the evil fast food corps. because they consumed bad food that made them really fatty fat.

[/quote]

Australia is putting in bigger toilets so it looks like they are addressing it too. No problem.

A friend of mine’s daughter just graduated college with a degree in exercise science. She is the new “expert” in our circles. Which means that mom and dad are now eating low-fat and doing aerobics.

She has another woman believing that resistance exercise will “bulk her up”. Honey, you are plenty bulked up, you need to get off your butt and into the gym, and I ain’t talking about an hour on the treadmill. I am all for a college education, but it would be nice if after paying $50 grand you actually knew what you were talking about.

Sort of reminds me of when I was talking to my mom the other day. She said she was doing weight bearing exercise to help stave off osteoporosis. I thought that was cool, until my wife told me later her “weight bearing” exercise consisted of 5-lb. dumbbells. Still working on that one.

A little knowlege applied in the wrong way doesn’t do people much good.

[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
Rockscar wrote:
MisterAmazing wrote:
America definitely has a gorwing obesity problem that simply can’t be ignored.

No, it has been addressed. We have longer needles for doctors now, and handicapped parking spaces all over the place.

The stores have an abundant selection of size 40-50 mens pants and womens size 12-16.

These people are also suing the evil fast food corps. because they consumed bad food that made them really fatty fat.

Australia is putting in bigger toilets so it looks like they are addressing it too. No problem.[/quote]

I think Wall Mart has Extra size doors too. Oh not to mention all the sit down electric carts for fatty convenience. Their McDonalds inside has “Triple” cheeseburgers too.

This is exactly what I mean. Rather than addressing the problem AS A PROBLEM, clothes are sold xxl, toilets are made bigger, and malls install more handicapped spaces.

Another thing I remember reading about was a movement to ban creatine??? How do you ban something not only found in red meat, but something that is necessary to live?

When you see a fat person in a car park with those buggies. Run up and slash the tires.

They then get stranded and no one can help em cause their too fat. They can’t walk themselves out because their legs cant bare their weight anymore, not for the 30metres to the door. Maybe after the embarassment of calling the fire brigade, ambulance or cops they will change. Wait till the lil punks work out these fat people cant fight back and those wallets and phones are easy pickings. Maybe we need an awareness campaign.

[quote]deanec wrote:
She has another woman believing that resistance exercise will “bulk her up”. Honey, you are plenty bulked up, you need to get off your butt and into the gym, and I ain’t talking about an hour on the treadmill.[/quote]

Hell, an hour on the treadmill a few times a week would be a great start! I think something us folks into lifting DO need to remember is that lifting is not something everyone enjoys. And not everyone cares about getting bigger and/or stronger. I sure don’t get it but its the truth!

The goal is just for people to get healthier. And to be healthy, you DON’T need to spend hours a week in the gym under the bar. Eat better. Go running, or biking, or hell, hit the treadmill for an hour if you can stand imitating a hampster on a wheel :P. Lifting isn’t required (though I recommend it to anyone with even remote interest in it). Exercise is. When trying to get your friends healthier… don’t insist they have to lift if its not their thing - just suggest they do more exercise, preferably an activity they enjoy.