What is obesity?
There seemed to be some difference of opinion on obesity and its effects so I decided to look up a close definition:
Obesity is a condition in which the natural energy reserve, stored in the fatty tissue of humans and other mammals, is increased to a point where it is a risk factor for certain health conditions or increased mortality. Obesity develops from the interaction of individual biology and the environment. Excessive body weight has been shown to predispose to various diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus type 2, sleep apnea, and osteoarthritis. Obesity is both an individual clinical condition and is increasingly viewed as a serious public health problem.
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Recently emerging is a small but vocal fat acceptance movement that seeks to challenge weight-based discrimination.
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The prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United States makes obesity a leading public health problem. The United States has the highest rates of obesity in the developed world.
You can find a Body Mass Index here (BMI) Further, a recent UCLA study pretty much says that temporary diets don’t work, exercise does
Anecdotally, I see a lot more overweight people and children nowadays. I have seen 6 and 7 year old boys out eat adult men and are encouraged to do so.
Let me add here that no one is saying that everyone should be one of those anorexic-looking supermodels. We’re talking men and women here.
The video below says that in 1963 the average 10 year old boy was 74lbs. In 2002, that average had increased to 85lbs
“Let them eat cake!”
Filed under: Children's Issues, The Culture of Denial and Pretense
One of the misnomers is calling an obese person “healthy”
I just returned from traveling across several states in the US, and I’ve got to agree: people have gotten a lot bigger over the past years. In fact, non-overweight folks seemed to be the exception, not the rule. And then returning to my hotel to watch TV, I caught a TLC program that showed something truly disturbing: People 700, 800 1,000 pounds and more hoping to lose weight because their lives are at stake. I can understand letting 20 or 30 pounds creep on due to life changes, stress, etc. But how do you get to 700+ pounds and being house/bed-bound without someone seriously intervening and saying, “this is not right?” I believe the fat acceptance movement has a point: berating and belittling overweight people does no one any good. And I also believe you have an even more valid point: Exercise is essential. American life today is so sedentary yet many people still eat like they’re working in the factory/plowing the fields all day. Good post.
I hate to say this, but has anyeone ever noticed obesity amongst our islamic scholars? Is this not a frightening thing?
I was reading an article on the BBC where the ideal of beauty in Mauritania is chunky-ness in women. Isn’t this whole “exercise is essential” etc, a madness created by this society in general to get the best body etc?
And orange lights came out of her hair and there was glitter all around. And fire shot from her eye sockets and began to burn my stomach and she said, “WHERE DID THEY GET CHOCOLATE CAKE FROM?!?!!” And I said, “They ASKED for it!!!” And the children who had been singing praises to me LIED ON ME, and said “UH-UHHH!!! We asked for eggs and milk, and Dad made us eat THIS!!!”
Sorry, it was the first thing that came to mind
I’m not sure if this article is accessible to everyone or just consumers of beachbody.com products (which I love), but the article basically goes on to say that the consumption of sugar (including high fructose corn syrup) plays a bigger role in contributing to the obesity epidemic than fat does.
Here’s an excerpt from the article:
“Many fats—the type in nuts, olives, seeds, avocados, fish and many others—are essential for optimal health and then noting that nothing in sugar is needed for human survival”
http://www.beachbody.com/jump.jsp?itemID=631&itemType=CONTENT&path=29
la huwla wa la quwwata ila billah. I remember reading a hadith that states that those who are most full in this life will be the hungriest on the day of judgment. inshaAllah i have to find its reference.
Sophister: There is a book in arabic talking about heavy scholars and the crazy thing is, is that they were the greatest ascetics (known as zuhd). One scholar was, Al-Hasan Al-Basri rahimuhullah, it was reported that his bicep/upper arm was so large that you couldn’t even wrap your hand around it.
So we should think the best of our scholars inshaAllah, and not think they are like those who are excessive in food like what the brother mentioned.
Global Chameleon: I totally agree about the sedentary life. SubhanAllah it is truly astounding, myself included. I’m sure we can’t even recall the last time we walked three miles. Alhamdulillah I notice that masajid in this area (MD-VA-DC) have exercise programs for sisters and children, inshaAllah we should all participate!
wa Allahu ta’ala ‘alam.
Salaams, nice blog, thought you might be interested in my posting “What Would Prophet Muhammad Eat?”
http://religionwriter.com/?p=81