A new study warns that by 2050, nearly 60% of adults and one-third of children globally will be overweight or obese without governmental intervention. Published in the Lancet, the study analysed data…
Well, generally yes on exercise, but not for weight control, not in this amount for people that would want to use it for weight control (7 hours a week means this is now your hobby and if you’re not acclimated to that amount of wear and tear, especially with a heavier body, it’s a recipe for injury, and if you don’t enjoy it you’re going to be miserable and stop anyway), and not for people who can’t or shouldn’t. Basically, for most people, find something safe for you and enjoyable for you and do it in amounts that are enjoyable. There’s no moral imperative to exercise or be healthy generally, though.
There’s no moral imperative to exercise or be healthy generally
I respectfully disagree. I think we all have a moral imperative to try for health. Understanding that some factors can be out of our hands, we ahould still work with what we’ve got to be the healthiest version of ourselves possible. I think good nutrition, regular exercise, annual bloodwork, etc are basic parts of being a responsible adult.
So single mothers that prioritize work and family are sinful in your eyes? We can look down on people with depression if they’re not trying to be healthy enough? Is assisted suicide also a sin? These aren’t meant to be a counterargument, but an invitation into nuance and empathy.
Health is temporary and usually accidental at best.
I’m empathetic, and I don’t believe in the concept of sin.
I think it’s about harm reduction. In your example, a single mother who deprioritizes health in favor of work is probably trading long-term harm reduction (aging healthily) for short-term harm reduction (putting food on the table and a roof over her kids’ heads). But she’s also causing both short- and long-term harm by teaching her kids by example not to take care of their health. Part of her responsibility is teaching her kids to take good care of themselves. It’s much easier to grow up with a mindset of health than to develop one in adulthood!
Of course we can’t look down on people with depression, but we can at least acknowledge that if they’re not looking after their mental or physical health, they’re falling down on the job and probably making things worse for themselves. I get it. I went through some awful shit in my early twenties, and was deeply depressed and skyrocketed from 105 lbs to 177 in a pretty short time. I was obese and in poor physical health, and this was worsening my depression. I had a moral responsibility to fix myself, and it took years, but I did.
I am a million percent in favor of suicide, assisted or not, because nobody who desperately wants to die should be forced to live.
Health is temporary and usually accidental at best.
Respectfully, I think this is a sad, defeatist mindset. Sure, you can still wind up unhealthy even if you do all the healthy behaviors (e.g., breast cancer), but there are still obvious benefits to healthy behaviors. If health is truly temporary, then I’d like to do everything I can to prolong my “temporary” good health. And honestly the idea that health is “usually accidental at best” flies in the face of loads of medical research. Our lifestyles and our choices do impact our health. We can help lower our cholesterol by reducing saturated fat intake. We can help prevent Type II diabetes by limiting our sugar intake. We can stave off joint deterioration by maintaining a healthy weight. We can protect our mobility as we age through stretching and exercise. There are definitely things that are out of our control (e.g., chronic illness or severe disease like cancer), but there’s also a whole lot that we can control, and I think we all have an obligation to try.
There’s some contradictions in your points that you might take a look at. Imagine the mother in the first example be suicidal like in the third.
As for the accidental and temporary health, I have immediate family that has Parkinson’s, another that has MS, a friend that had brain surgery to remove cancer. No amount of effort would prevent any of these. As Captain Picard says: “It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness, that is life.”
We conclude based on high quality evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCT), systematic reviews and meta-analyses of cohort studies that singling out added sugars as unique culprits for metabolically based diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease appears inconsistent with modern, high quality evidence and is very unlikely to yield health benefits.
Weight reduction as imperative has also given us things like Fen-phen.
The article cites several sources indicating non-responders to ‘exercise only’ was likely due to increased kcal intake. People tend to drastically under-self-report intake as well.
But you’re still advocating for exercise, right?
Well, generally yes on exercise, but not for weight control, not in this amount for people that would want to use it for weight control (7 hours a week means this is now your hobby and if you’re not acclimated to that amount of wear and tear, especially with a heavier body, it’s a recipe for injury, and if you don’t enjoy it you’re going to be miserable and stop anyway), and not for people who can’t or shouldn’t. Basically, for most people, find something safe for you and enjoyable for you and do it in amounts that are enjoyable. There’s no moral imperative to exercise or be healthy generally, though.
I respectfully disagree. I think we all have a moral imperative to try for health. Understanding that some factors can be out of our hands, we ahould still work with what we’ve got to be the healthiest version of ourselves possible. I think good nutrition, regular exercise, annual bloodwork, etc are basic parts of being a responsible adult.
So single mothers that prioritize work and family are sinful in your eyes? We can look down on people with depression if they’re not trying to be healthy enough? Is assisted suicide also a sin? These aren’t meant to be a counterargument, but an invitation into nuance and empathy.
Health is temporary and usually accidental at best.
Wall of text incoming.
I’m empathetic, and I don’t believe in the concept of sin.
I think it’s about harm reduction. In your example, a single mother who deprioritizes health in favor of work is probably trading long-term harm reduction (aging healthily) for short-term harm reduction (putting food on the table and a roof over her kids’ heads). But she’s also causing both short- and long-term harm by teaching her kids by example not to take care of their health. Part of her responsibility is teaching her kids to take good care of themselves. It’s much easier to grow up with a mindset of health than to develop one in adulthood!
Of course we can’t look down on people with depression, but we can at least acknowledge that if they’re not looking after their mental or physical health, they’re falling down on the job and probably making things worse for themselves. I get it. I went through some awful shit in my early twenties, and was deeply depressed and skyrocketed from 105 lbs to 177 in a pretty short time. I was obese and in poor physical health, and this was worsening my depression. I had a moral responsibility to fix myself, and it took years, but I did.
I am a million percent in favor of suicide, assisted or not, because nobody who desperately wants to die should be forced to live.
Respectfully, I think this is a sad, defeatist mindset. Sure, you can still wind up unhealthy even if you do all the healthy behaviors (e.g., breast cancer), but there are still obvious benefits to healthy behaviors. If health is truly temporary, then I’d like to do everything I can to prolong my “temporary” good health. And honestly the idea that health is “usually accidental at best” flies in the face of loads of medical research. Our lifestyles and our choices do impact our health. We can help lower our cholesterol by reducing saturated fat intake. We can help prevent Type II diabetes by limiting our sugar intake. We can stave off joint deterioration by maintaining a healthy weight. We can protect our mobility as we age through stretching and exercise. There are definitely things that are out of our control (e.g., chronic illness or severe disease like cancer), but there’s also a whole lot that we can control, and I think we all have an obligation to try.
There’s some contradictions in your points that you might take a look at. Imagine the mother in the first example be suicidal like in the third.
As for the accidental and temporary health, I have immediate family that has Parkinson’s, another that has MS, a friend that had brain surgery to remove cancer. No amount of effort would prevent any of these. As Captain Picard says: “It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness, that is life.”
You mention reducing sugar intake to prevent type II diabetes. From https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5133084/
Weight reduction as imperative has also given us things like Fen-phen.
The article cites several sources indicating non-responders to ‘exercise only’ was likely due to increased kcal intake. People tend to drastically under-self-report intake as well.