[SSJup81]

Originally Posted by MMM

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 think it is, in my case. Seriously, the majority of my family is overweight (father's side). They're New Yorkers. Didn't drive everyplace, walked everywhere, all that stuff. I became overweight as a child unexpectedly. My parents didn't hang out at fast food places or anything and I played like a normal child. I think I was just prone to weight gain.

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.

Two tacos? I can eat about four, unless I've prepared a real meal. Maybe one or two tacos and a salad or something. Tacos are light (not referring to fat).

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.

I consider it to be a combination, but of course, it depends on the person. As I mentioned, I ate normal at home, as my mother was semi health conscious. Fast food and restaurant stuff in general was a rarity for me growing up, but, I did buy snacks in school because I rarely got them at home. I didn't eat no more or less than the average kid and I was active. I still put on 50lbs at the age of 8 for no reason at all, but, we know what the cause is now after all these years. In my case, it was a combination of things.

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

He lost the weight because of his diabetes. I don't find that very miraculous, imo, and it would've been nice if he'd loss it under normal circumstances, but I am glad he did lose ihs weight. Weight loss is normal for diabetics. He didn't lose it through diet and exercise (as his eating habits didn't really change, and to be honest, he never really ate all that bad to begin with; this is the man who wouldn't even buy me a piece of candy at the check out line at the store as a kid). I'm diabetic (genetic). Got it from him (his mother had it and died from it). My mother doesn't have diabetes (but her sister does), which she inherited from her mother and father. My grandmother got it in her older age, and my grandfather died in his 30s from it (just didn't know what it was back in the 60s). For the most part, they were of normal weight.

I've lost weight since I became diabetic. Still trying to lose more though, but it's going soooooo slowly and it is because of the metabolism and thyroid thing (this is the medical thing I mentioned earlier; found all this out right before I lost my insurance). Been having this problem since I was a kid.

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.

To be honest, I don't even think they do that anymore...have snack machines. I was at my former middle school last year as a teaching assistant. My lunch in middle school usually consisted of chips, juice, and a honey bun due to the fact that I rarely had time to eat, even when I used to pack my own lunch. It'd still end up sitting all day due to lack of time. I never finished it, so it was easier, and faster, to have snacks. It wasn't from the vending machine, they had it on the lunch line to buy. High school had the vending machines. I drank a lot of juice. Didn't realize how much sugar were in juices, until looking back as an adult.

Anyway, the snacks at the middle school now are all baked or low fat.

Elementary school was perfect lunch wise, though as far as healthy choices. We always had a main dish, a veggie/fruit, a carb, and a milk (since all my family drank was skim at home, I drank skim in school). Not sure why middle and high school had all the problems. High school, we had choices between Dominoes, Chick-a-filet, Subways, and Taco Bell. Subways came later, so I started eating the sandwiches everyday and quit with the Taco Bell, but I still drank a lot of juice.

As for the teaching thing. I guess I worded that wrong. What I meant was, why should they teach something that's already taught? In other words, as far as I know, it was never dropped from the curriculum for them to have to put it back in to reteach it.