Obesity: Who, What, When, Where, How and Why?

[Benjamin]

I was reading an article and came across this statement:

“If you ask anyone on the street, ‘Why is someone obese?,’ they’ll say, ‘They eat too much.’ ”

“That is undoubtedly true,” he continued, “but the deeper question is why do they eat too much? It’s clear now that there are many important drivers to eat and that it is not purely a conscious or higher cognitive decision.”

With that in mind, I’m interested in people’s opinions on the “deeper questions” of reasonings for the formation of these unhealthy habits and any resolutions pertaining to them.

Who:

What:

When:

Where:

How:

Why:

 

[Spinach]

There are a lot of "why"s...

Boredom
Depression
Gluttony
Laziness
Inactivity

As for who? Nearly anyone. I can't say everyone because my husband will probably never be obese, no matter how much he eats. He's just wired that way. However, I wouldn't have to work hard at being obese (again). I'm kind of wired that way. I could sniff a Dunkin Donuts and gain 20lbs. LOL!

 

[donnA]

the whys go much deeper then boredom, gluttony, laziness, or inactivity, these are only the symptoms, until people understand this they aren't going to help anyone.

 

[Spinach]

Here's the thing, DonnA, you are more than welcome to your opinion. Everybody's got 'em. However, you are not the only one on this board who has experienced obesity and I would thank you to not assume that I am unable to help anyone.

And, yes, sometimes those things are just symptoms (I noticed you intentionally left off the depression part, which sums up most, imo). However, sometimes they are the root. Sometimes people just like food. Sometimes people just like sitting in front of the computer. Sometimes people want to be bigger.

Each obese person has his/her own reasons for being such. I mentioned a few.

 

[annsni]

A friend of mine wrote a book on this very subject and it's excellent. Here's the link to it: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0736927026/?tag=baptis04-20

I overeat because I just like to eat. No food issues or anything - just love food too much, unfortunately.

 

[donnA]

I would thank you to not assume that I am unable to help anyone.

never said this to you or about you, you ahve assumed something not true.

"Sometimes", does not include all peoples. But if people don not fit your design of them they obviously do nto exist.
Your statments show that you obvioulsy do not care as much as you'd have people beleive you do.

 

[donnA]

more frequently then not depression is caused by the obesity, not the other way around, which happens just not with as much frequency. Once people lose wieght they usually do not need depression meds, they no longer have depression. This is actually a fact.
One woman comes to mind, she was on last season's biggest loser, her husband and two children, one of which was only a few weeks old were all killed in a car crash. She suffered heavy depression and gain more then 100 pounds. Once she was helped through her loss she easily lost weight.
being yelled at and accused and told you are less of a person becasue of your weight never helepd anyone, assuming you knwo why a person is over weight without their own input of how they feel about it, never helped anyone. Assumptions all they really do is tell the person they aren't important enought o ahve a real opinion about themselves and their weight 'so here I'll give you my own opinion about you'.

 

[Scarlett O.]

I’m interested in people’s opinions on the “deeper questions” of reasonings for the formation of these unhealthy habits and any resolutions pertaining to them.

I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for, Benjamin, but I wrote an article recently for another site about the spiritual "why's" of all bad habits. I included overeating, but was targeting Christians who are in bondage to porn, lying, over/undereating, excessive procrastination, inappropriate sex, gossiping, dependencies of all kinds, and MANY, many such as these.

Here is an excerpt about what I said about the spiritual cause of some of these things.

..........For those of us as Christians who struggle with dependency on sinful behavior (and there are so many of us), we are indeed reaping consequences that we never thought we would - especially spiritual consequences. We are like that proverbial dog going back to its proverbial vomit. (Proverbs 26:11) Have you ever said, “Never again!” – only to return to the behavior that you despise?

You know, I think we are finding our joys in what’s cheap. Cheap joys are easily accessible, provide instant gratification, and are pleasurable like nothing else to the flesh. It’s the same thing that Satan convinced Eve of in the Garden. The fruit was easily accessible. It was right there. He deceived her into believing that she would receive the instant gratification of being as wise as God. And the Bible says that she saw that the fruit was good for food – satiation of the flesh.

Satan tried it again, but failed, with Jesus in the wilderness. Satan tried to convince Jesus that the easily accessible rocks could become easily accessible bread. Those rocks – they were right there, just like fruit was with Eve. He tried to convince Jesus that he could instantaneously provide Him with all of the kingdoms of the world – in a snap of the fingers. All Jesus had to do was to bow down, just like Eve only had to reach out and take a bite of the fruit. Instant gratification. Finally, Satan tried and failed to persuade Jesus to jump down from the Temple and have the angels save Him. This was a craving that Satan had – to be God and to have the universe at his beck and call. He purposely misquoted scripture and quoted it out of context thinking that Jesus would crave this authority, too. Jesus already had the angels and the universe at His command and Jesus had no sinful pride nor ego that needed stroking.

Do you see a pattern here? We are no different. Those of us who struggle are allowing what’s easily accessible to fill our hearts with cheap joys. We are demanding to be gratified instantly – instead of allowing the fruit of the Holy Spirit to work a Godly patience in us that will lead us to true and meaningful gratification. And our flesh craves more and more stimuli and will never be satisfied because we are filling it, ironically, with behaviors that do not fulfill - and so the neediness continues. And we are convinced – deceived by the great Deceiver – that we need the porn, the drink, the television, the food, the inappropriate sex, the gossip, and so much more. We are deceived into believing that we can fulfill ourselves this way.

Cheap joys - well, they cheapen us.......

 

[Benjamin]

I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for, Benjamin,...

Yes, I'm thinking about the roots.

Cheap joys are easily accessible, provide instant gratification, and are pleasurable like nothing else to the flesh.

I believe cheap joys, easy accessibility, instant gratification all play a major role; it gives a natural pleasurable feeling to eat foods, especially sweets and fats, this is part of our human nature. I believe some have this driver more than others.

On the other hand, while focusing on obesity as a way of life, it is usually not that pleasureable to experience and this is known to those who are in that condition. Athough again, I wonder if some have never known how it feels to to be in a strong, healthy, lean and active body so I wonder if they realize how much pleasure "that" type of feeling can bring is realized in the comparison.

To achieve good physical fitness is not instant, as a matter of fact to reach this type gratification is very hard work, for some it undoubtedly takes more work than others just because of genetics.

If the question is is it a "purely a conscious or higher cognitive decision" why don't people care enough not to get into an obese condition? Do they not realize the "greater gratification" of feeling fit? Where they in such a big hole that it seems impossible to get out of by the time they reason that a physically fit life could be much better? Do they just don't care? I think most do care and realize the quality of life could be much better. The problem seems to often lie with motivation, and this often includes denial of the problem, much like an alcoholic.

Sometimes I think a person, actually all of us in general at some point, don't seem to love ourselves enough to do the things we know would give us a better quality life. Maybe we feel we don't deserve it, aren't willing to work for it, are too depressed to try, don't have a strong enough image of what it would actually be like, or don't feel feel like we can. But in reality it is not unreachable.

 

[Spinach]

never said this to you or about you, you ahve assumed something not true.

"Sometimes", does not include all peoples. But if people don not fit your design of them they obviously do nto exist.
Your statments show that you obvioulsy do not care as much as you'd have people beleive you do.

You have this funny way of throwing in insults, eh.

Because you obviously know nothing about me and my compassion, I will ignore further insults.