What would you give up to be thin?

[blixa442]

What would you give up to be thin?
SCOTT DEVEAU

Globe and Mail Update

Forget the sacrifices entailed in the latest extreme diet or exercise craze, according to a new study people would be willing sacrifice life and limb, literally, to avoid being obese.

Nearly half those responding to a Yale University online survey said they would be willing give up a year of their life rather than be fat -- 15 per cent said they would trim a decade off their lives for a thinner waistline.

A small percentage of the roughly 4,300 people surveyed even said they would rather lose a limb (5 per cent), or go blind (4 per cent) than put on some extra pounds.

“I guess it just shows how intensely people don't want to be obese,†said Marlene Schwartz, lead researcher on the study “(Being obese) is really seen as worse than a lot of other problems that people face in life.â€

Dr. Swartz and her team of researchers at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale found that regardless of the weight of those responding to the survey, most exhibited a distinct anti-fat bias. Some evidence even suggests that that bias is getting worse in the general population, according to the study, which is published in the latest issue of Obesity.

“One of the things that seems different about obesity bias, as opposed to racial bias or ethnic bias, is there isn't what they call ‘in-group favouritism,'†Dr. Schwartz said. “People in the group don't even feel good about being in the group.â€

It didn't come as a surprise then to the researcher that the respondents were quicker to associate obese people with more negative personality traits, like being lazy or bad, than they would for thinner people. But to see just how intense this distain for obesity ran, the researchers decided to push the boundaries a bit.

“We had this idea of posing these questions just to see how far people were willing to go. And we were surprised,†Dr. Swartz said.

Thirty per cent of respondents said they would rather be divorced than obese; 25 per cent said they would prefer not being able to have children; 15 per cent said they would rather be severely depressed. Slightly fewer said they would rather be an alcoholic (14 per cent).

But it wasn't simply personal sacrifices that people said they would be willing to make; 10 per cent said they would rather have an anorexic child than an obese one. Eight per cent said they would prefer their child to have learning disability.

“Part of what I think is going on is we look at an overweight child and we blame the parent 100 per cent,†Dr. Swartz said. “I think that a parent of a child with an eating disorder is seen more sympathetically than a parent of an obese child.â€

Dr. Swartz said she hasn't investigated whether thinner people were more willing to give up smaller things, like having an extra piece of cake or going for a run, but she said anecdotally, that she has found that most overweight people have already made enormous sacrifices in their lives to combat obesity.

“Most overweight people have made a lot of sacrifices,†she said. “You'd be hard pressed to find someone who hadn't been on an extreme diet or pushed themselves inpretty extreme ways.â€

 

[rbtaylor]

I can't help but notice that they didn't mention anybody who was willing to give up dessert.

Frankly, I tend to think that some cases of mild obesity are the result of or maintained by a bacterial infection. Some people hardly eat anything, get regular exercise, and are still quite large.

 

[gboykovekin]

I can't help but notice that they didn't mention anybody who was willing to give up dessert.

Or exercise and eat healthy?

I prefer to think that it's our modern environment and lack of physical labour that promotes obesity.

 

[afransen TO]

Diet also has much to do with it, of course. It's amazing that as our society becomes wealthier, we put ever worse, and cheaper crap into our bodies.

 

[bizorky]

I prefer to think that it's our modern environment and lack of physical labour that promotes obesity.

I would dispute that. We have the opportunity to do physical activity for fun, and people still drive to their corner stores.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

What a useless survey. Giving up dessert or exercizing weren't among the choices because it was just a silly academic version of "Would you rather?"

 

[bizorky]

Your right; it's almost dumb enough to be turned into a reality TV show.

 

[gboykovekin]

I would dispute that. We have the opportunity to do physical activity for fun, and people still drive to their corner stores.

We do have the opportunity, but as I said, physical exertion isn't really part of our daily lives. Your example proves my point as you wouldn't expect our convienence society to start actually making daily choices that engenders extra work. Let's get back to the root meaning of travel, and then we'll see progress.

 

[shawnmicallef]

I think people eat better now. Think of what we ate in the 70s. All those gellatine molds and iceberg lettuce. Who eats iceberg lettuce now? It's like smoking.

This is unscientific observations certainly, but living downtown seems lets fat. When i go out to the suburbs, it's fatter, or seems fatter. Downtown, there are more opportunities to excercise while going about daily life...bike riding for sure, but even just walking up subway stairs, or the few blocks from the streetcar to destination, is more excercise many suburban folks encounter on a daily basis. They have to go looking for exercise, while downtown, it sort of fits in naturally. Not high-heart-rate stuff, but movement.

Again, unscientific observations based on trips to the suburbs, and 25 years of suburban Windsor living.

 

[andreapalladio]

That was one of the premises of Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me. As a New Yorker, he walked far more than the average American, and so had to walk less during his 30 day McDonalds only experiment.

I have to say I love iceberg lettuce in a BLT or in a peanut butter sandwich.

 

[maxy505]

What the hell is wrong with iceburg lettuce?

 

[building babel]

I would rather give up a year of my life than vote Conservative. I would rather have my Brad Lamb amputated than serve in the Harper cabinet.

I enjoy running up the steps at Chester station as fast as I can.

There is a joyousness that comes with pushing your body and feeling it respond - legs that don't fail when you decide to run a bit faster, and lungs that take in more air without hurting.

The more you can speed up your metabolism, the easier it is to absorb the occasional cream tea without becoming blimpy.

God Bless The Duchess of Windsor!

 

[shawnmicallef]

ice berg

There isn't anything "wrong" with iceberg letuce (i was being hyperbolic comparing it to smoking)...there just isn't anything to it. like eating chunchy water. We didn't have greens when we were kids, now they are everything, and iceberg only found in those blt's and egg salad sandwiches (even so, if i made my own, i'd use greens). Greens have....stuff in them.

I asked my mom at easter why we ate so much iceberg, and she said we just did. that's what we did. now we don't.

 

[bizorky]

Re: ice berg

We do have the opportunity, but as I said, physical exertion isn't really part of our daily lives.

I thought you were making a direct reference to labour, as in employment. Many jobs from the recent past were not physical in nature, yet there was not the same problems with weight in the general population. I see that you you are using the term in a general way, and not just as a direct reference to employment alone.

 

[andreapalladio]

Re: ice berg

That's why Julia Child is one of the most important people of our time. Think what food was before her - iceberg lettuce, dry roast beef, and jello. Withough Julia there would be no Martha, no Amanda Hesser, no Whole Foods, no rapini, or quince, no heirloom vegetables, no unpasteurized cheese.