How to end the pandemic

[Ethel2]

You had insisted, in another thread, that lifestyle is not important for health. That is enough evidence that you are not a good health provider. You can brag all you want, but no one who insists that lifestyle is not important for health should be working in that profession.

Fortunately I can choose not to worry about your opinion of my professionalism. You are uniquely unqualified to judge that. Why on earth would I give a second thought about your opinion about that? But sure-keep on fuming if you like.
While I was working I let my clients and my colleagues decide that.

 

[Good4Nothin]

Fortunately I can choose not to worry about your opinion of my professionalism. You are uniquely unqualified to judge that. Why on earth would I give a second thought about your opinion about that? But sure-keep on fuming if you like.
While I was working I let my clients and my colleagues decide that.

Unfortunately it isn't just you. Here is just one typical example -- a woman was telling me that her husband had heart disease, and the doctor said it was genetic. Another day I had a conversation with the same women, and she mentioned that her husband had smoked all his life and had quit recently. I have many other examples, but that is one of the more outrageous ones.

I have also heard your story at many other health forums -- MDs try vainly to convince their patients to eat better and exercise, but the patients refuse. I don't buy that. Maybe it's how you explain it. I don't know, but I just don't buy that most people are idiots who won't listen to common sense advise.

 

[MaryP]

No, the reason for the obesity epidemic in America is its consumer oriented lifestyle and capitalist driven food science. Its a corporate conspiracy to stuff as much addictive taste good fatty crap as possible down their throats.
Add lousy health education, sedentary lifestyles in front of video screens, the healthcare system itself, etc etc etc. and voila. An obesity epidemic.

It's not a 'conspiracy,' junk and convenience foods just sell because it's easy and fast. It's also true that required home ec and phys ed in schools was one of the first things on the chopping block when public schools faced a budget crunch. A lot of companies offer gym memberships, etc. to employees, which is great, but not a lot took advantage where I worked.

I don't think a lot of people even know how to eat healthy or cook it, tbh.

 

[Ethel2]

Unfortunately it isn't just you. Here is just one typical example -- a woman was telling me that her husband had heart disease, and the doctor said it was genetic. Another day I had a conversation with the same women, and she mentioned that her husband had smoked all his life and had quit recently. I have many other examples, but that is one of the more outrageous ones.

I have also heard your story at many other health forums -- MDs try vainly to convince their patients to eat better and exercise, but the patients refuse. I don't buy that. Maybe it's how you explain it. I don't know, but I just don't buy that most people are idiots who won't listen to common sense advise.

Doctors are telling people all the time to quit smoking and reduce calories and saturated fats in their diets. Like governors who tell people to wear masks and not to gather too many people ignore sound advice. There are smoking cessation groups and overeating groups everywhere. People still want to run their own lives. Change is hard.
If you have some magic words or mechanism to convince people to stop their unhealthy habits I would love to hear it. No one else seems to have been able to figure it out.

 

[Good4Nothin]

Doctors are telling people all the time to quit smoking and reduce calories and saturated fats in their diets. Like governors who tell people to wear masks and not to gather too many people ignore sound advice. There are smoking cessation groups and overeating groups everywhere. People still want to run their own lives. Change is hard.
If you have some magic words or mechanism to convince people to stop their unhealthy habits I would love to hear it. No one else seems to have been able to figure it out.

Millions of Americans have quit smoking, because the advice about smoking makes sense, and there is good scientific evidence. That is in spite of nicotine being extremely addictive. Your advice about reducing calories and saturated fats is completely wrong. It doesn't work, it doesn't make sense, and people who try it give up on it.

 

[Ethel2]

Millions of Americans have quit smoking, because the advice about smoking makes sense, and there is good scientific evidence. That is in spite of nicotine being extremely addictive. Your advice about reducing calories and saturated fats is completely wrong. It doesn't work, it doesn't make sense, and people who try it give up on it.

I think we are off topic

 

[Good4Nothin]

I think we are off topic

Maybe it's off topic, but doctors like you are helping to destroy the health of this country. Restricting calories is terrible advice. And natural saturated fat does not cause heart disease.

 

[Ethel2]

Maybe it's off topic, but doctors like you are helping to destroy the health of this country. Restricting calories is terrible advice. And natural saturated fat does not cause heart disease.

There
I let you get the last word in
Hopefully that will allow you a modicum of happiness

 

[Good4Nothin]

There
I let you get the last word in
Hopefully that will allow you a modicum of happiness

Good. I was afraid you would expect me to educate you about health. For free of course.

 

[brianpatrick]

When are you guys going to get to how to solve the pandemic? Fat people are already fat. Or is this just a “blame the fat guy fest?”

 

[Ethel2]

When are you guys going to get to how to solve the pandemic? Fat people are already fat. Or is this just a “blame the fat guy fest?”

As soon as we get everyone to stop smoking and lead an immaculate “healthy lifestyle “.
A little wheatgrass wouldn’t hurt either.

 

[Hari Seldon]

Wealthy countries, like the US, have more trouble with covid than poor countries. Is this because poor countries had better lockdown policies? Well probably not. One difference is there is more obesity in the US than in Africa, for example. We also have an older population here. So, fatter and older means more serious cases and deaths from covid. We can't help it if we're old, but we do control our lifestyle.

Why haven't the medical authorities been saying much about this? Why do we constantly hear about masks and distancing and vaccines, but almost nothing about trying to be healthy? According to this article https://thefederalist.com/2021/02/19/70-percent-of-american-adults-are-now-overweight-a-new-high/ half of Americans don't even know that obesity is a risk factor for covid. That means they don't hear about it on TV news.

The article also complains about lefties saying it's ok to be fat. Now we can see fat models on the covers of fashion magazines, and on posters in department stores, where you can buy XXXXXXL size clothes.

Millions of people are suffering from the lockdowns, in many ways. Many businesses have closed, relationships damaged and destroyed, mental illness rates increasing. Experimental vaccines possibly being forced on everyone.

And how much of this is because Americans think a healthy lifestyle is only for health nuts and fanatics? And because they think it's ok to be fat?

If you are young and athletic you have almost no chance of being harmed by covid, but your life is being damaged and possibly destroyed. If you are middle aged and health conscious, you probably won't be killed or seriously injured by covid, but your business, and your social life, may have been destroyed. If you are old, but healthy, you might not have touched your grandchildren in almost a year.

We can't blame the fat Americans, because all they are hearing is wear a mask, stay home, don't hug your grandchildren, don't go to church, don't date, don't have fun. The are NOT hearing much about the importance of having a healthy lifestyle. Because our leaders are STUPID.

Bloomburg tried to limit big gulps (you could still get the xlarge if you bought 2) and was vilified. Rights are being violated or some such nonsense. Food and weight loss are big business. I'm sure there are plenty of lobbyists trying to make and keep as many people as fat as possible.

 

[Good4Nothin]

As soon as we get everyone to stop smoking and lead an immaculate “healthy lifestyle “.
A little wheatgrass wouldn’t hurt either.

Well here you go again. Did I say anything about leading an immaculate healthy lifestyle? No, of course not, that is your deliberate misinterpretation. I even STATED SPECIFICALLY that I DO NOT worry much about my own lifestyle. I follow basic common sense practices and it's easy. Yes I have known health fanatics who think about nothing else and I am not one of them. We can't have a perfectly natural lifestyle in our society, but we can avoid the big mistakes that cause obesity and the common lifestyle diseases. Too bad medical school only teaches you to prescribe toxic drugs.

 

[Good4Nothin]

Bloomburg tried to limit big gulps (you could still get the xlarge if you bought 2) and was vilified. Rights are being violated or some such nonsense. Food and weight loss are big business. I'm sure there are plenty of lobbyists trying to make and keep as many people as fat as possible.

Of course. It's great for the drug industry, and the diet scams. Where would the medical industry be without its millions of fat patients?

 

[Ethel2]

Bloomburg tried to limit big gulps (you could still get the xlarge if you bought 2) and was vilified. Rights are being violated or some such nonsense. Food and weight loss are big business. I'm sure there are plenty of lobbyists trying to make and keep as many people as fat as possible.

No doubt obesity is a huge problem in this country-and its a risk factor for severe Covid disease-but we aren’t going to solve obesity on this thread. Just saying that maybe this “healthy lifestyle “ issue may belong on another thread. Obviously I am not a moderator here. We have plenty to debate that is on topic for this thread whose title is “How to end the pandemic “. For my part I don’t plan to debate what does or doesn’t constitute a healthy lifestyle here any more and I apologize for doing that for longer than I should have.
Jmo

 

[Good4Nothin]

No doubt obesity is a huge problem in this country-and its a risk factor for severe Covid disease-but we aren’t going to solve obesity on this thread. Just saying that maybe this “healthy lifestyle “ issue may belong on another thread. Obviously I am not a moderator here. We have plenty to debate that is on topic for this thread whose title is “How to end the pandemic “. For my part I don’t plan to debate what does or doesn’t constitute a healthy lifestyle here any more and I apologize for doing that for longer than I should have.
Jmo

Well good. This is my thread -- if you leave maybe we can have a sensible conversation about this very real and serious problem.

 

[Hari Seldon]

No doubt obesity is a huge problem in this country-and its a risk factor for severe Covid disease-but we aren’t going to solve obesity on this thread. Just saying that maybe this “healthy lifestyle “ issue may belong on another thread. Obviously I am not a moderator here. We have plenty to debate that is on topic for this thread whose title is “How to end the pandemic “. For my part I don’t plan to debate what does or doesn’t constitute a healthy lifestyle here any more and I apologize for doing that for longer than I should have.
Jmo

I replied to the original post in the thread. How could that belong in another thread? What is wrong with debating a healthy lifestyle and its relationship to Covid? I'm sure obesity and smoking among other unhealthy habits have contributed to the number of deaths. Masks, distancing and washing are still the best ways to prevent the spread.

 

[Ethel2]

I replied to the original post in the thread. How could that belong in another thread? What is wrong with debating a healthy lifestyle and its relationship to Covid? I'm sure obesity and smoking among other unhealthy habits have contributed to the number of deaths. Masks, distancing and washing are still the best ways to prevent the spread.

I just don’t see the connection between lifestyle and ending the pandemic. Ending this thing needs to happen soon not in 20 years.
I do think we are on the right track, what with cases decreasing. With the holidays over and there is less incentive to hold family gatherings transmission is down. In California the state RO is down to 0.65, which means each case only infects .65 other people. When the RO is <1 cases go down. Perhaps the exit strategy will mirror Israel which leads the world in vaccinating its people.

Not telling anyone what to post here at all. However according to the forum rules keeping on topic is required.

 

[Hari Seldon]

I just don’t see the connection between lifestyle and ending the pandemic. Ending this thing needs to happen soon not in 20 years.
I do think we are on the right track, what with cases decreasing. With the holidays over and there is less incentive to hold family gatherings transmission is down. In California the state RO is down to 0.65, which means each case only infects .65 other people. When the RO is <1 cases go down. Perhaps the exit strategy will mirror Israel which leads the world in vaccinating its people.

Not telling anyone what to post here at all. However according to the forum rules keeping on topic is required.

I think the point the op is making is that it wouldn't be nearly as bad if there weren't so many unhealthy people. Its a worthy discussion and again I was responding to the original post in the thread which WAS the thread topic. I don't understand your issue. Goodfornothing started the thread.

 

[brianpatrick]

Well here you go again. Did I say anything about leading an immaculate healthy lifestyle? No, of course not, that is your deliberate misinterpretation. I even STATED SPECIFICALLY that I DO NOT worry much about my own lifestyle. I follow basic common sense practices and it's easy. Yes I have known health fanatics who think about nothing else and I am not one of them. We can't have a perfectly natural lifestyle in our society, but we can avoid the big mistakes that cause obesity and the common lifestyle diseases. Too bad medical school only teaches you to prescribe toxic drugs.

yes, but you still haven’t made any helpful suggestions on how we can do what the thread title suggests...

...I’ve known four people who’ve died of Covid. One of them was fat and had asthma—the first one. The other three were not old or fat nor had any known pre-existings.

 

[TU Curmudgeon]

It's both, supply and demand. If people were given the correct information they would not buy junk food. Is Fauci advising people to stop eating junk food? Or to go outside and get exercise? Of course not. He is a drug pusher and always was. That's what he thinks medicine is about -- toxic drugs. Even though I did read that he is a runner himself. Still, he is not using his authority to help Americans.

You do know that there is one hell of a lot more profit to be made selling "Breakfast Cereals" that are 30+% sugar than there is in selling regular (unflavoured, unsweatened, no additives) oatmeal, don't you?

You do know that it is profit which is the key driving component of capitalism, don't you?

You do know that you can buy frozen, pre-cooked, oatmeal that is so convenient that you can make it in 3 minutes in your microwave while it takes at least 180 seconds to cook regular (unflavoured, unsweatened, no additives) oatmeal in the microwave, don't you?

 

[TU Curmudgeon]

Lol
Ok
My loss.....I guess (?)

If you were in business how would you report a "loss" of -$1,000?

 

[TU Curmudgeon]

I do not go overboard about lifestyle, not at all, I just try to be sensible. I love to feel healthy, and it's easy, even at age 68.

I have spent my whole life avoiding "exercising".

I love grilled red meat.

I love carbs.

I don't care about fat content.

I think that "veggies" are something that "food" eats.

I have smoked for the past 60+ years.

I tipple to whatever degree I feel like whenever I feel like it.

I have been known to have carnal relations with persons of the opposite sex.

I am 77 years old.

I can (aside from the effects of an arm injury) still pass the USMC Basic Training graduation level fitness test.

Can you say the same?

 

[snakestretcher]

Many dies because of risk factors... Those are contributing causes. However, COVID was not caused by lifestyle choices.

Your statement: But the diseases that are epidemic in our society now are caused by lifetyle.

Do you understand what "epidemic" means?

I understand what the poster means by 'lifestyle epidemic', and there's no doubt that the US is suffering an obesity epidemic. Huge food portions, too much sugary crap and lack of exercise all contribute. Eating too much is absolutely a 'lifestyle' choice; eating too much of the wrong stuff results in costing the US taxpayer billions in time off work due to obesity-related illness...

Obesity in America: What's driving the epidemic? - Harvard Health

Changes in the nature of work, leisure time activity, and changes in what and how much we eat are the most significant contributing factors to the explosion of obesity in America. ...

www.health.harvard.edu

OBESITY: OVERVIEW OF AN EPIDEMIC - PMC

Despite growing recognition of the problem, the obesity epidemic continues in the U.S., and obesity rates are increasing around the world. The latest estimates are that approximately 34% of adults and 15–20% of children and adolescents in the U.S. ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[Fledermaus]

I think the point the op is making is that it wouldn't be nearly as bad if there weren't so many unhealthy people. Its a worthy discussion and again I was responding to the original post in the thread which WAS the thread topic. I don't understand your issue. Goodfornothing started the thread.

But that is not what he stated in many a post.

He claimed doctors were essentially lying to their patients.

He stated "lifestyle" caused COVID infections.

And his general misrepresentations of what others post.