Decemberist
Could it be done? Certainly. Start by shooting the corn subsidiaries in the head and then watch all the high-fructose corn syrup disappear.
But, well... if you think we have the willpower and resolve to do so...
edited 2nd Jan '12 5:13:26 PM by Flyboy
"Shit, our candidate is a psychopath. Better replace him with Newt Gingrich."
First off, I think we worry too much about the weight issue. It's ridiculous and feeds into teenage and female insecurities, and results in eating disorders like bulimia. It's all "diet, diet, diet" and "look thin, look thin, look perfect and be loved".
Second; redesign of cities? Uhm... that sounds less like "generation long struggle" and more "wow, talk about impractical". I can't think of anyone who's going to just knock down buildings to satisfy the obesity issue.
Though I suppose you could make an effort to change the corn industry. Part of the issue is that high fructose corn syrup is really fattening, but doesn't spoil like sugar and you only need like a fourth of the stuff.
I see the Awesomeness.
Decemberist
US cities should be redesigned anyhow. Centuries of just letting things go doesn't make for efficient design, and it's the 21st Century, dammit, we need efficiency!
Plus it fixes more than just the obesity issue.
"Shit, our candidate is a psychopath. Better replace him with Newt Gingrich."
I wish it was as easy as "diet and exercise". I'm already on a fairly restricted diet (no corn, no soy) due to my various health issues, and up until just last month, I didn't even have my driver's license, so I walked everywhere, but I still have a depressingly hard time losing weight.
Then again, I'm probably the only kid in my highschool that was borderline anorexic while being ridiculously active (fencing and kickboxing every week, and walking the mile home from school) and still managed to gain weight.
At least it's stabilized now though. Since getting proper medication for my thyroid thing, I've not gained any more weight, but I've not lost any yet either.
"I don't know how I do it. I'm like the Mr. Bean of sex." -Drunkscriblerian
The cities need maintenance, not a redesign. Can you imagine the nightmare of redesigning a city like New York? There are also several buildings protected by things like the Historical Society. If there is any redesigning of cities, they need better reasons than obesity. That's pretty low on the list of reasons I'd consider for doing a massive project like that. (Plus, not everything has been let go._
Decemberist
Redesigns wouldn't happen all at once. It would be a gradual, if noticeable, shift.
And, most historical buildings of substantial merit could be preserved. If necessary, moved, but still, preserved.
"Shit, our candidate is a psychopath. Better replace him with Newt Gingrich."
Best way to lose weight — income equality.
I should not even be in this thread — this is an immensely triggering issue for me.
edited 2nd Jan '12 5:45:32 PM by ohsointocats
I see the Awesomeness.
I think we should redesign the cities anyway, but the cost is prohibitive. Gridlays for ALL!
I'm also of the opinion that the only value a historical landmark has is tourism, since the ideas are the only aspect of it that are actually important.
Anyway, a larger part of fitness is also the level of exercise. Walking all day will knock about fifteen pounds off (depending on weight, that's how much I started losing), but running would help more. Unfortunately, if you're heavy enough, running will just utterly wreck your knees, and is thus not an option. Part of the problem is that a lot of people think of it like machine maintenance, you fix a broken part and the thing starts behaving the way you want it to, rather than a continuous process of forcing your body to do shit your way.
I honestly don't think most people have the will and drive to get fit, and we'll have fixed it through genetic modification before we get around to actually teaching people how to stay fit.
edited 2nd Jan '12 5:46:12 PM by Deboss
Fight smart, not fair.
It goes like this.
Stress makes you unhealthy. Stress is often caused by income pressure but it is also caused by other factors. Exercise and a healthful diet help mitigate the unhealthful effects of stress, but many cannot afford to do it. Also, exercise and a healthful diet will not make you lose weight (you may lose some initially but will likely gain it all back). Because people do not lose weight or gain all the weight back, they stop dieting and exercising because they find it hopeless, even though they are actually healthier than when they started despite still being fat. People are stressed by being fat and the cycle continues.
The answer: Give people more leisure and income to spend on healthy food and exercise. Also, educate people to keep exercising and eating healthfully despite not losing any weight, and teach them that losing weight is not the point, but being healthy is.
But seriously is there any way to block this thread from appearing on my screen?
edited 2nd Jan '12 5:55:18 PM by ohsointocats
One Winged Egret
I've been underweight my whole life, so I find it somewhat hard to sympathize with the whole "redesign the cities" thing.
The whole "lose weight to be healthy" thing hurts both fat and thin people. Thin people don't think they need to exercise and eat healthfully and are therefore healthy even though they're not.
Redesign doesn't mean bulldozing the cities and build new one. New York is one of the cities that doesn't need redesign, It already have extensive subway and low number of car ownership. Most city in New England (which build pre-car) only need minimal redesign. It could be done slowly and step by step. Add subway, Add high-speed rail to connect innercity and suburb, Add bike paths, Add more apartment etc. It will slowly change by itself. The commerce (shop/mall/etc) will follow where people are.
The Mod with the Migraine
@Ninja: However, since it's completely possible to have healthy habits and be overweight, it's not a very good thing to base assumptions on.
There's also a nasty habit in society to make all kinds of assumptions about someone based off of body type, and to assume that fat people are doing something wrong, while ignoring that gaining weight can be a symptom of an underlying problem too.
"I don't know how I do it. I'm like the Mr. Bean of sex." -Drunkscriblerian
I see the Awesomeness.
You just smash the hills, drain the lakes and build a panel over the sinkholes. If you want variety, use a radial grid lay instead of an orthogonal one.
Fight smart, not fair.
Deboss, can you please suggest actual solutions instead of things that don't work? It's getting hard to take you seriously.
@Blue Ninja; What I've read says that corn syrup has a longer shelf life, so whatever it's used in doesn't go bad so quick? Something like that. Plus, again, you don't need as much of it as you would of sugar in order to sweeten sodas up. I can't remember if it's more or less fattening than sugar, though.
I see the Awesomeness.
Seeing as I'm not really being particularly serious, I don't see why you should take me that way. I've always had a beef with the way cities are designed, particularly natural growth. A nice even grid lay is so much better than any other part.
Fight smart, not fair.
Street Writing Man
I do agree with parts of the article in the OP; specifically, the bits about food. Healthy food is ridiculously expensive in most places, and fast food outlets are everywhere.
Let's compare the situation to smoking. America has invested a good deal of time and money trying to get rid of tobacco use, and the tactic adopted was to push it out of public spaces (Clean Air acts and the like). While I personally find them irritating, there's no denying that its working; smoking rates are down. Why don't we do the same thing for fast food? Obesity is just as big a problem.
We don't because unlike tobacco, everyone uses the product of the fast-food chains on occasion, and no one really wants to try and take on the mighty power of their lobby over a product they themselves enjoy.
The medical community is starting to realize that diet is a good deal more important than exercise in the matter of weight loss. Going to the gym is a lot less effective than people once thought; the only way for exercise to have an effect is if you do it all the time (have a physical job or somesuch). A better way to shed pounds is to eat healthy, but that's outside the budget of a part of society, and that part grows bigger as the price of good food goes up.
If I were to write some of the strange things that come under my eyes they would not be believed. ~Cora M. Strayer~
Actual Wrestling Legend
Nevermind that gym memberships cost money, son. I could see someone like myself going out for a long jog, but a truly overweight person? Basically stuck doing yoga on a mat at home.
I'm a skeptical squirrel
Street Writing Man
Yeah, that and the overweight usually feel self-conscious about getting dressed up in exercise clothes and going out in public, if what I've heard is any indication.
If I were to write some of the strange things that come under my eyes they would not be believed. ~Cora M. Strayer~
Actual Wrestling Legend
That's basically a rewording of what I said, but okay.
I'm a skeptical squirrel
What's wrong with yoga?
Actual Wrestling Legend
The mat gets all sticky.
Also, don't attempt it after lunch. At least with other people present.
I'm a skeptical squirrel
I saw this editorial this morning, and it has me curious how many people would agree with the conclusions.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/02/opinion/frum-america-fatter/index.html?hpt=hp_bn9
Sadly, the odds are that almost all of these resolutions will soon be broken and abandoned. Close to half of all dieters end up heavier than ever. Virtually none will lose weight permanently.
The same is true for the country as a whole. Obesity has become the country's leading public health problem. Yet as we talk and talk about the issue, the country only becomes fatter and fatter.
The problem for the country echoes the problem for individuals: Willpower is not enough. "(It's a) basic instinct, even stronger than the sexual instinct, to store calories to survive the next period of starvation. And we live in an environment where there's food every half mile. It's tasty, cheap, convenient, and you can eat it with one hand."
Thus says Martijn Katan of the Institute of Health Sciences at VU University in Amsterdam, author of one of the many studies on the limits of dieting, quoted in U.S. News & World Report.
If you as an individual want to change your weight, you must change your whole life. Likewise, to reduce obesity in modern society, we will have to alter the way society is organized.
Weight gain is driven by two trends: increases in calories consumed and decrease in calories expended. Modern America induces both.
For example: The after-inflation cost of sugary soda has declined by an estimated 48% over the past 20 years. Correspondingly, consumption of sugary soda has soared: Sugary soda is now the single most important source of calories in the American diet.
For example again: The number of Americans who work at physically taxing jobs continues its steady decline. Even those jobs that demand physical labor — manufacturing, for example — are much less grueling than they used to be, as electrically powered machines do the lifting and shifting that used to consume human energy.
While Americans expend fewer calories at work, they spend more time in cars — almost twice as much as in the 1970s. They spend 26 hours per week consuming TV or online entertainment. Americans could theoretically compensate for more sedentary lifestyles by stepping up their recreational exercise — but only about 20% of Americans bother. Some 80% never do — including presumably all those failed dieters.
Want to change this? It's no small project. It would involve the redesign of cities, the relocation of schools, the reinvention of our modes of eating and amusement.
First lady Michelle Obama has made healthy eating her special project. Good for her, and let's hope her efforts lead to success. But if we are to succeed, we should understand: The campaign against obesity will have to look a lot less like the campaign against smoking (which involves just one decision, to smoke or not to smoke) and much more like the generation-long campaign against highway fatalities, which required the redesign of cars, the redesign of highways, and changes in personal behavior like seat-belt use and drunk driving.
The good news is that the campaign against highway fatalities has yielded real progress: down two-thirds since the mid-1960s. The bad news is that, for most of us, it will take more than a New Year's resolution. However, if you are seriously resolved, congratulations — and see you on the jogging path.
Do we have the long-term willpower needed to redesign our entire lifestyles to prevent us all from becoming in shape?
That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw