Haha… just kidding. I’m never wrong.
But seriously, apparently a study has shown that obesity rates in kids did not increase significantly from 2003-2004 to 2005-2006. Check it out.
Not to be a stickler, but the rates still could be increasing slightly. The difference just may not have been large enough to outweigh any statistical anomalies.
Although it wasn’t the focus of the article, it noted that statistical data from the CDC also shows that obesity rates are leveling off for adult men, at 33%, and women, at 35%.
What do I think about this, you ask? I think there are some underlying reasons as to why certain chunks of our society will never succumb to obesity. Those reasons are harder to define than statistically showing how many kids have bad habits. This plateau tells me that there are bigger themes in our culture that serve to influence a person’s lifestyle than simply falling prey to bad food choices and excessive television watching.
What I’m saying is, at this point, there will always be sections of society that will offset the sections that are obese. There will always be a certain number of kids that will play sports. There will always be a certain number of kids that have a decent lunch made for them by their parents. There will always be those parents that don’t let their kids have a TV in their bedroom. There will always be “soccer moms” that insist on trekking their kids around to participate in activities.
The variety of types of people in our culture that tend to live certain healthy/active lifestyles will keep numbers like these at certain levels. This plateau may be a sign that the way our culture is right now, obesity rates are only allowed to get so high. Kind of like a “Checks and Balances” system. Perhaps an equilibrium has been achieved.
Is this a good sign? In some ways, yes. It definitely means that the entire human race is not destined to become fat. If the numbers never decline, then the plateau means nothing else besides that every single person that has the propensity to be fat has achieved that goal. Congratulations.
Until the rates actually start to go down, the issues that go along with obesity will still be extremely prevalent. They will not go away.
Until they do, neither will I.
MwAHAHAHAHA!
