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11-11-2009, 05:26 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by SSJup81 View Post
I agree, some are just more prone to weight gain than others, especially if it's genetic. I know it is in my family. The majority of my father's side is overweight. I'm overweight as well. My own father used to weigh over 300 pounds, until he became diabetic and lost most of the weight years ago. He's like 220 maybe now. He's kept it off too. When did they stop? As a kid, for health class, we were always taught about how eating junk like candy or cakes wasn't good for you or drinking things like sodas were bad for you and how sugar in general wasn't good for you. It was told to us. If the kids don't listen, oh well. I know I didn't. I ate home-cooked meals. My mother didn't let me have a lot of stuff, just occasional treats, but when I wasn't at home, and had some "pocket money", I would buy snacks in school or buy whatever tasted good for lunch. I guess the only thing schools should do, is have healthier menu choices, not teach something that's already apart of the curriculum. Middle School and High School had terrible menu choices (health wise). That's where the majority of my unhealthy eating was done.
Overweight families like to claim their size as a genetic disposition, but I don't think there is a lot of evidence to support that.

I knew a family that was of that mind-set when I was in high school. I would visit them for dinner and eat 1/4 to 1/3 of the amount of food each member of the family ate (they were all overweight). "How can you not be full?" they would ask after I consumed 2 tacos to their 6 each. That isn't genetics, but lifestyle patterns.

Obesity has skyrocketed in the US in the last 50 years, but we still had the same genes we did in 1950s. Evolution 1) doesn't work that fast and 2) doesn't work to kill a species. As Nyororin said, you can argue that some people might have slower metabolisms, but it is the food they put in their bodies that makes them fat, not their genes.

And that is great that your father lost 80 pounds. He is proof it can be done.

I am not sure why schools shouldn't teach something that is already part of the curriculum, but it is hypocrisy to teach healthy eating habits, especially at such a vital age, and then line the hallways with machines serving the snacks that the curriculum says should be avoided.
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