I am curious about it because I have a daughter that home schools her children. Are the no public schools where you live? Are the public schools bad?

I currently live in an area where Catholic High schools is the rage and I don’t see the Catholic’s getting a better education in fact I think it is the opposite. The same seems to hold true for home school high school age children.
Young children seem to be better off at home (5 to 11 yrs old).

Do you plan to send them to public school at a certain age or home school them untill college?

Back to WOW – Are we judging people by how heavy they are? The answer is yes. The WOW does not mention white sugar or cola drinks. Fat or skinny people. Many people can have a medical reason that they are overweight. There was a time when being heavy was consider healthy. It meant you had enough food to eat. Have you ever wondered why artist from 100 yrs ago would paint women that seem chunky? The chunky woman was more desirable. Then came Twiggy.

I’d like to see research that has a broader sampling of people outside of Utah, like California and the East Coast. Also what about LDS members in Europe, South America, Asia, etc? Maybe the results would be the same–maybe not. But definately more thorough study is needed.

In my opinion it seems more of a cultural phenomenon than a doctrinal issue. I’ve been in many wards and branches inside and outside the US and I from what I remember the majority of members have been a very healthy weight. But it’s interesting to think about nonetheless…

But then this post isn’t about weight loss, it is about how Obesity and the Word of Wisdom don’t really match up because of the addictive natures of human beings.

No one here said that dieting works or should work. Healthy living and eating is what is needed. Proper nutrition.

Or are you trying to digress?

No commercial program, clinical program, or research model has been able to demonstrate significant long-term weight loss for more than a small fraction of the participants. Given the potential dangers of weight cycling and repeated failure, it is unscientific and unethical to support the continued use of dieting as an intervention for obesity.

Let’s closely examine a study cited as proof that weight loss diets work (I examined this study in a previous post): “Behavioural correlates of successful weight reduction over 3y,” from The International Journal of Obesity (2004, volume 28, pages 334-335).

http://ethesis.blogspot.com/2006/04/diet-is-still-working-i-lost-44-pounds.html

There is the problem of morbid obesity, which is a terminal illness. That’s different. I don’t understand how people get that fat. I feel sorry for them, but I don’t understand how it happens.

My mother gave all of me and my sisters mental problems about weight because she’s very tiny and she always used (she’s senile now) to rub it in and we always worry about our weight.

Last year when she was in the hospital, she asked me how much I weighed and I said, “how much do you weigh.” And she said, “98 lbs.” And I said, “I weigh 90 lbs.” or something like that. I was playing with her head. She’s senile, but she’s not stupid. She just looked at me like, “you’re dreaming.”

Our culture seems to have an allergic reaction to moderation: the “Honey, We’re Killing the Kids” show on (I think) Discovery sends in lifestyle experts to transform families overnight: it’s a “throw away all your sugar, eat only tofu, exercise five hours a week, stop going to football games, turn off the television, pack lunches every day, cut back on your work hours, be nice to your sister, and do it all RIGHT NOW” week, and no wonder the kids end out weeping. My mother put the whole family on a cabbage soup diet when I was fourteen, which only hardened our resistance to diets of any kind, and our committment to soda and cookies.

A healthier approach might be to treat food choices as just that — choices. You don’t have to give up something completely or only eat some other thing to be healthy; you should try to choose healthier stuff today, and maybe eat less of the not-so-healthy stuff.

And, I agree w/Anne. For my height (5’4″,) a “normal” weight is up to 140 lbs., and you’re not obese till something like 185. I’ve been above 140 since the day I hit puberty, even on the cabbage soup diet (there was no cheating — I had no money and we were homeschooled) and competing in/practicing Irish dance for hours at a time. I think that if I were on drugs, I might be able to get below 140, but tell you what, healthy (and attainable) seems to be, for me, about 150ish. That’s definitely lower than what I’m at now, but I don’t think most people would instinctively call it a “healthy” weight. And my grandmother (who was diabetic – again no cheating) was above 150 for the last 50 years of her life; she was done in by smoking.

Remember also that in and of itself, obesity isn’t so much of a problem as an indication of other problems: it’s a sign that you might not be eating very well, that you might not be exercising, and that you might have something else wrong with you. But if you’re exercising, eating well, and there’s nothing else wrong with you, obesity in and of itself isn’t something to freak out about. At least, it shouldn’t be.

True, heavier people can be healthier than a lot of slimmer people, however, there are still a lot of effects related to excess weight. Been there, done that. I was healthier than a lot of slimmer people, ate much better, even exercised. But it’s not enough, because if we eat as best as we should, the majority of people would be at a healthy weight.

I am not saying this to say anyone who is overweight is an unhealthy slob. Not at all. I have been there and know that when we think we are eating perfectly healthy, that isn’t necessarily the case. At least, not enough for the individual. It can be different for each person too. And of course there can be contributing factors. Some people have thyroid issues, digestive issues, etc etc. Some exercise can only be enough to maintain, as well.

Anyway, I believe people were meant to be a realtively healthy weight. I am not saying skinny as skinny, but realitively healthy, not obese.