11-14-2018, 12:52 PM
(11-14-2018, 11:20 AM)Hintergrund Wrote: Maybe they eat too much because they're frustrated.
Poverty and over-eating are closely-related, and these are mostly poor states. The most prosperous of these states is probably Texas. Poorer people tend to eat more sweets, smoke, drink pathologically, and to not exercise. But notice that one of the poorest states in America, new Mexico, is not among these states. Hispanic difference? When I lived in Texas I noticed that Hispanics seemed to be less obese than other Texans.
Poverty creates frustrations, especially where people are atomized. Poverty usually connects to a contempt for formal learning. I think of the song from the musical from Annie Get Your Gun, "Doin' What Comes Natcherly". Sure, she is from Ohio, but she's from Appalachian Ohio.
Note that every state among the fifteen voted for Donald Trump in 2016. Most (least likely will be Michigan, which usually votes for Democratic nominees for President except in Republican blowouts and Texas) will vote for Trump in 2020. Trump appeals to white people more likely to have problems with impulse control. Impulse control is essential to not overeating, and to stick with an exercise program.
Having had difficulty with weight control (but I struggle and always will), I am often tempted to examine the lives of the obese for 'negative advice' -- basically, do what they don't do. All that one need do is look at the contents of their carts in a place like Wal*Mart. I see lots of sodas (people already overweight may be replacing sugary drinks with diet sodas), mass-market beer, pastries, chips, high-fat cuts of meats, cakes, candy, and cookies to see what they eat. Look where they do not go -- like museums of any kind or even bookstores. To be sure, reading is not physical exercise, but it is not so easy to devour fattening snacks while reading a book as when watching television. I figure that the obese generally have a low level of curiosity, so their experiences can be severely limited.
If I were to write an article on weight loss I would give this advice:
LIVE THE WEIGHT THAT YOU WANT TO HAVE!
If you weigh 240 and want to weigh 160, then act like someone who weighs 160. You might not get to 160, but you will get close. You will not need a crash diet; just eat like someone who weighs 160, and be similarly active. You will not pig out at buffets. You will go for walks, and maybe do some jogging or even take up skiing or swimming. You will get away from the TV as entertainment because you will find passive viewing of anything on television a bore. If you are at family get-togethers, you will not go for second helpings of turkey at the Thanksgiving dinner, and you will not sample every dessert. You will not buy quite the same foodstuffs as you did. Maybe you will do more honest-to-Julia-Child cooking instead of having prepared meals that you simply put into the microwave so that you can watch television.
The Net? I find that eating while typing is impossible. Hands are obviously not holding onto food.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.