Why are there so many overweight people?

Question

I have never had a problem with being overweight. I don't diet, and I seldom ever exercise. Yet, I don't seem to gain very much weight. Doctors claim that 60 percent of Americans are overweight. What is causing this problem? Is it caused by stress? I used to think it was caused by people eating too much food. But, I'm really starting to believe this problem is caused by stress. I think stress is having a very negative effective on everyone's metabolism. People aren't burning up calories because they are stressed out. What do you think the problem is?

Answer 1

Some are overweight from medical issues. . . Thyroid problems etc.

But, I think a majority of them are overweight because of sorrow, worry, etc... in their life. . . Emotional eating to try to fend off feelings of loneliness, worry, sorry etc. . . it's comfort eating. Rather than deal with the ' concern ' . . . they eat.

I think there are allot more people with worries in their life than there were decades ago. And with the inventions of t.v., cell phones, computers etc. people are allowed to escape more, shut off their minds and not effectively, responsibly take the time to think about and work through their concerns. So...they sit to ' the side ' more and eat...the comfort food.

Answer 2

Well you're half right.
Stress does make people put on weight and make it hard to lose in more ways than one. (eg: emotional eating, lack of motivation etc)

What age are you? Some people are just naturally thin, high metabolism or whatever you want to put it down to. Especially young people. When I got to about 20 and had no school or a job I put on weight when I had always been really skinny. I never changed my eating habits but since then I've always put on weight easily despite my lifestyle changes.

With the availability of so much great tasting, addictive, high calorie food and the hard work it takes to lose weight it's not surprising.
Food is very hard to resist for most people and it's easy to overeat.
Easy to do with harsh consequences which are not apparent at the time of eating. Kind of like using a credit card really. Look how many people are in debt

Answer 3

I am morbidly obese. I can tell you that my problem started early in life. Mostly because I and my family didn't know how to eat healthy. Lots of fatty stuff....like fried potatoes, cornbread, meatloafs, etc..... Then I ended up with a problem with my thyroid gland.

In the beginning it was hyperactive and it gave me lots of energy and I loved it. But it had lots of other symptoms---like my hair falling out, muscle weakness, bulging eyes, miscarriages, etc...... Well, I had the gland removed I thought that would resolve the problems. It did and also gave me another one called hypothyroidism. WHich is a sluggish thyroid. That stupid little gland is what regulates your metabolism and your energy level and it has an affect on lots of other body functions--like vision, your heart, etc....

Anyway, after all of these years with the problem, I've discovered that being housebound (I'm a FT caregiver for a disabled person) and not moving is extremely detrimental to me and my body's weight. I'm at a point now, where I feel like I need to get a treadmill and a bike and park it in my living room! Just to get some exercise everyday. Stress is a big factor. But not moving enough is the biggest one. Knowing what foods are okay to eat is another one.

Answer 4

I think because once you have fast food its addictive and just an excuse because people will say I am in a rush...and I need food FAST! Also I do think it's stress because people think that eating makes everything go away, just depend on your food and it will solve all of your problems. But people are so wrong today,since eating too much food and becoming overweight will make it more stressful for their health and even their appearence.

Answer 5

Home cooking has become a lost art. There are so many unhealthy products out there that are fast and easy to prepare for the typical dual income family that are easy to feed picky kids. These foods usually have a much lower standard of food quality than the grain that prime livestock is fed. Cheap convenient foods combined with less exercise equals overweight people.

Answer 6

It might be stress--the stress hormone cortisol supposedly helps us gain weight.

I really believe it's an individual difference thing--some of our bodies are just way too efficient (we extract every last molecule of energy from food and store it away as fat) while some of us, like yourself, are blessed with wonderfully inefficient (burn like a flash in a pan) systems. There was a recent study that found that obese mice had a much more efficient bacterium living in their intestines than did skinny mice. When the scientists put the very efficient bacteria in the guts of the skinny mice, they got fat!

The way the governmet decides who is "overweight" versus "obese" versus "normal" is fundamentally flawed. It's called the Body Mass Index, and it's a load of carp. Read a book called "The Obesity Myth."

Four words: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Answer 7

Ni, it's not stress - it's poor diet, lack of exercise, lack of knowledge about good nutrition, laziness, oversized portions, processed foods and a society that leans so heavily on a quick fix of entertainment that vegging in front of the TV or computer games or the internet is more attractive than a walk in the park or an activity that requires people to get off their backsides.

Answer 8

Some people just have a faster metabalisim
some eat way to much, some dont exersize enough (or a combernation), some havefat genes past on "although this can happen, i dont belive that people cant get down to a resneble weight, obviously not tiny but.. u get my point), and soe have medical problems

Answer 9

a lot of what contributes is processed and over-processed foods. one huge contribution is High Fructose Corn Syrup which was introduced into the American food supply about 30-years ago. High Fructose Corn Syrup is a man made sugar, made of corn. it's very very often used as a substitute to just regular cane sugar. there are absolutely no benefits to consuming it either. the only beneficiary of it is the American Farm Lobby. go figure. HFCS is known to affect the metabolism, it's known to cause cancer in rats, it's known to cause obesity...
and like i said before, it's in US food almost everywhere. check the ingredients in your loaf of bread, ketchup, mayo, cookies, cereal, most juices, energy drinks, candy bars, health bars, soda, cough syrups/drops, crackers, yogurt, jarred pickles, applesauce, ice cream, salad dressing, soup etc...
no other country uses HFCS, not as of current anyway. so, to answer your question, why are there so many overweight folks? it's because no one researches and questions the foods they eat. they just eat and take it for granted that the company, lobbyist, or the government really care about their health. also read about why the food pyramid is wrong. very very wrong. there are way to many factors to discuss about this issue but at least you have been sent in the right direction.

Answer 10

We eat too much food Because of stress, stress doesn't cause us not to burn calories. We seek shelter in the food and the fact that it is plentiful and easy to get only spurs the problem along.