An American scientist, Steven Blair sparked conflict at the Association for the study of Obesity meeting in London, by saying that an overweight person that is fit can be just as healthy or healthier than a someone that is slim. He also added that obese, fit people on average develop diabetes at the same rate as slim people. This means that people now who are overweight have an alternative solution to extending their life expectancy other than just losing weight. Now they can improve their fitness.
These ideas were immediately shot down with questions like, how many overweight people can maintain this level of fitness? The international Obesity Taskforce’s Rigby said that the idea of being fat and fit does not health risks linked to obesity like cancer and heart disease. A health writer, Dr. Anne Robinson, wasn’t convinced with Steven Blair’s argument and concluded that trim and fit is the ideal and being obese and fit will not solve any of the real problems with obesity. Although I don’t really know a lot about this topic, I think that if I was at this meeting in London I would probably disagree with Steven Blair also. His arguments don’t really hold water with me.
Obesity is the second leading killer in the United States and it is linked to all sorts of horrible diseases like cancer and arthritis and heart disease. I am pretty sure that fitness doesn’t play a very big role in fighting these diseases if someone is obese. And obviously a thirty minute walk every day will make someone more fit, healthy and slimmer, but the thing is for most overweight people it isn’t just that easy to go out exercising for a half an hour every day. But this article also confuses me a little. I am not really sure what the Association for the Study of Obesity is looking for exactly. Are they waiting for someone to discover a magic pill that will sliminize America? I think that in order to fight obesity every individual person has to take it to themselves to start eating right, exercise and take care of themselves..
The Essay on Is Obesity Primarily An Environmental Disease
Obesity rates are soaring throughout North America (Wickelgren, 1998). With obesity reaching almost epidemic proportions in the United States, and the threat of a global epidemic, we must watch this alarming increase carefully (Hill & Peters. 1998). Obesity is defined as: "an excess of adipose tissue" (A Report of the Surgeon General, 1996). The two most common measures of obesity are Body ...
