with friends like these...

[arguchik]

scratch that previous post (little lolcat pun there). it's neither diet nor regular soda that causes obesity. it's your friends and family.

:::yawn:::

if they ever settle this question, wake me up, ok?

i don't mean to sound all disdainful, but...like...duh. eating is a social activity. if you eat with your family and friends, you will probably be following similar eating patterns in terms of what, how much, and how often you eat. for example, my mother found it impossible to lose weight when she had teenagers living at home. why? because teenagers eat garbage, and they eat a lot of it. our house was always full of soda, chips, cookies, sugary cereal, ice cream, etc.--even if my mom didn't buy it, the shit was always around because we would buy it, and we were constantly snacking on it. once i was in college (i'm the youngest) and started eating with my friends more, and also started eating more healty stuff, my mom found it easier to lose weight.

added later:
but what i really find annoying about all of this is the normative, fear-mongering rhetoric. the NYT article i linked to above actually compares obesity to a virus. it's a contagion, so...like...if you know any fat people, you'd better quarantine yourself so you don't catch it!

gah! our culture already valorizes thin bodies and marginalizes (understatement!) heavier bodies. do we really need to heap more freight onto that dichotomy?

Comments

[wondrousbeauty.livejournal.com]

That was me, btw.

[arguchik.livejournal.com]

yeah, i think superannuated1l's point about genetics and body type is important, though. if two people with different body types are friends, and they eat together and exercise together, chances are that their bodies will respond differently even if their diet and exercise habits are identical.

the thing that bothers me about this whole issue is that the valorization of thin bodies already gives ectomorphic people a pretext for feeling "superior" to endomorphic, and even mesomorphic, people. (here's the wiki entry on somatotype (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatotype), in case you or anyone else who might be reading is unfamiliar with those terms...the basic somatotype theory is somewhat problematic, but the article explains the terminology, anyway.) research projects that are constructed and reported like this one has been, can and probably will bolster those notions of superiority. scientific research into the "causailty" or "classificatory relationships" underlying any given social dichotomy will tend to bolster the system of privilege associated with it--i.e. to intensify the tensions, the conflicts, and the justifications for a structure of dominance/oppression. it's one part of an overdetermined structure.

[wondrousbeauty.livejournal.com]

I agree with you--when I say fitness, I'm not equating being "fit" with being "thin."

[arguchik.livejournal.com]

i figured that's what you meant, and that we were saying basically the same thing. i didn't intend that to be a reply directed specifically to your comment--i was just (mis?)using the comment function to say more of the stuff that's been going through my own mind on this subject. i probably should have just posted a new entry...