Men in Manhattan look like girls, i.e. they’re skinny and pretty.
That’s my observation. I think Manhattan has a lot of the feminized men that are whined about on this site.
Considering the boroughs (they are NYC, you know…) however and you notice more fatties. A lot of the people that reside in Manhattan are relatively young & professionals…
All have made good points but refer back to P-Dog’s comments.
Most of the factors discussed can be traced back to education.
Aaron, but then can’t education be traced back to finances? 
$ doesn’t make people skinny.
Education does.
Notice University faculty, who are not paid that well…
Just because there exists a correlation between education and $, doesn’t give one the right to assume a correlation between $ and healthiness (on account of the correlation between education & health). How do you think the term “fat cat” came about?
University faculty also do better with their money better than other professions on average. They’re also paid more than the average citizen. But are professors the rule, or are they an exception? I don’t think someone who purposely gives up money for the sake of others or the pursuit of knowledge is the typical case, but I could be mistaken.
I think finances versus education is kind of a chicken versus the egg kind of thing. If you would like to further discuss that belief, we can.
I must say, if you’re referring to the education issue (i.e, just observing that those with less education tend to be fatter on the whole), then I agree that there’s some truth to that. But I do NOT agree with a lower educational level as being a specific CAUSE of obesity in this country.
I think that even the poorer, rural and urban masses in this country are well aware of the fact that (A.) certain foods are very “fattening,” regardless of how or why they’re fattening – they know that people who eat lots of Big Macs and donuts and Twinkies, as opposed to chicken and salad, are likely to be fat, and (B.) (more importantly) if you eat MORE, you’ll be fatter, and if you eat LESS, you won’t be as fat. They may not understand the complexities of saturated fats versus unsaturated fats, the insulin effects of simple carbs and what high insulin levels can do to your body’s tendency to deposit fat, or what an ideal ratio of macronutrient intake would be, but they absolutely, positively DO know that JUNK FOOD makes you fat and EATING TOO MUCH makes you fat. In this country – not the rural areas of Somaliland or Bangladesh, but the US – you cannot convince me that even the poor and lower-middle classes are not aware of this. I agree that they may not have sat through formal high school or college level health/nutrition classes, but I really think that’s irrelevant. Since they understand principles (A.) and (B.) that I just mentioned, the question then becomes: WHY do they continue to ignore them, and further expand themselves?
Is it just me or has anyone else noticed that people outside of Killingworth, CT seem, on average, to be fatter, dumber and less happy than those who live within the town’s 36 square miles?
Damici, did you check out the link I posted? It offers some ideas on why the poor seem to be getting fatter. I think those reasons coupled with an attitude of not caring about being fat (which partially comes from a lack of education) is a large source of the problem. In the past, not caring about your weight left you thinner. Now, it leaves you fatter. I think if most of us took a substantial hit in income, that we wouldn’t become the Macy’s parade floats that a lot of poorer people have become. You can be poor and thin, but it’s more difficult than it used to be.
DAMICI: For the ‘why do they do it?’ question, a couple of people once told me that it’s mostly a comforting/pleasure thing.
The underlying logic is:
As you can see, it is emotional/short-term thinking at its best. In short, they chose feelings over logic.
Therefore, when one chooses this path, the quest for ‘why’ is a wasted effort.
When one chooses short-term over long-term, no ‘health’ or consequence issue can be discussed, since the person AT START forfeits that path by his/her ‘my feelings before common sense’ choice.
Believe it or not, some people use the same logic for children. Whatever you take away from them, whatever you do, whatever you strip from them, whether you send them to prison or kill them, you can’t take away their children (or ‘satisfaction’ of immortality through them) from them. DANGEROUS.
Awareness of a fact and intelligent use of knowledge are two different matters. People who play the lottery demonstrate this.
The cheapest way to eat is by buying staples. Maybe poor, fat people are poor & fat for a reason. Perhaps, they’re stupid?
Anyway, I don’t know if this phenomenon can be changed, as education tends to suck, people tend not to listen, and we live in a consumer driven society. Without HoHo’s, our economy might falter!
It’s just speculation. Not saying anything in the affirmative, but…
Jared,
I must admit, I didn’t read it all yet (been lazy). I’ll go read it now.
When I was unemployed for 8 months I lived on rice, pasta, beans and other cheap food. There was no meat in the house at all, rarely any dairy and no junk. I put on more weight than I care to tell you about.
Another factor here is depression. I could barely get out of bed a lot of times, let alone get motivated to go out and do anything. I had all the time in the world to work my dog and go to the park and swim, go to the gym (I have a free membership) and other stuff. Instead, I sat on my ass and did nothing. No intrest in reading, internet, anything. All I wanted to do was sleep and wallow in self pity.
I should have been in the best shape of my life!!! But I wasn’t - not even close.
I am well educated and very intelligent. That didn’t have anything at all to do with putting on 30 pounds. Depression, lack of money and general shitty life had everything to do with it. It is a vicisous cycle, and very difficult to break out of.
Weight problems can not be pigeon holed to money or education, there are WAY too many other factors involved.
(2)
Jared,
OK, I just read the article. Although it talks about potential economic reasons/correlations with obesity, it doesn’t really focus much on the issue of education, which is what I was referring to in my last lengthy post. I still hold that even the poor people in this country know very well that “junk food” (Mickey D’s, donuts, HoHo’s, candy, soda) are fattening, and they also know that eating lots of food (regardless of type) will make you fatter then eating less food will.
The article also seems to be a bit contradictory in that it points out the lack of home-cooked meals (and their being substituted with fast food and take-out) resulting from people having to work longer hours, or both parents having to work, as being one cause of obesity. I definately agree with this – BUT, if we look at my original example of NYC, this is THE city where people work long, LONG, hard hours, often both spouses are hard-working, well-educated careerists, and (trust me) those people (I’m one, although I’m single) are DEFINATELY not coming home and COOKING after a 12- or 14-hour day! I would wager – now maybe I’m wrong here, but for the most part I think I’m right – that the low income, “working poor” in this country, on the whole, do NOT work those kinds of hours. I bet MOST of them work a more normal 8- or 9-hour day (maybe 10, but they ain’t working Wall Street hours). So the poor actually have MORE time to make home-cooked meals (which are much cheaper than take-out, by the way), and even to exercise if they so choose. I WILL concede that many of them are probably not aware that carbs are more of a culprit in making you fat than dietary fat usually is, but I think that’s true of the great majority of well-to-do, well-educated people as well.
So yes, the working of longer hours, less time to cook at home, less time to properly parent your kids (making sure they’re eating good food instead of junk, and making them go outside instead of playing video games) all contribute to a fatter society on the whole than we had 20 years ago. But WHY is it so different in NYC (especially Manhattan, as someone else pointed out), than it is in the suburbs and rural areas? That blatantly obvious dichotomy (at least to my eyes, when I go outside the City) is what’s still baffling me.
Damici, one thing to consider is that the long working hours would most likely affect the children’s rate of obesity more. I believe there was a link in the article to another article on “slow food”. If not, just consider what those working long hours in NY probably eat. There are probably a lot of skipped breakfasts, business lunches, and sit-down dinners. These meals will all keep you thinner than a day full of junk. Just something to consider.
Also, what’s the average number of children per household in New York City? Our children are getting fatter quicker than our older generations, so a lot of the rise in obesity is in the younger generations. I think the “economics of obesity” would affect families much more than childless homes.
But I could very easily be wrong. 
why are people inside the city so damn arrogant?
The gist of this article is, it’s because people have to drive in order to get places.
bronco - because they’re better than you.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure the lack of driving has something to do with it as well.
All of this leads me to my next question, though, for those of you who might know: Are people in the other major cities in the country (LA, Chicago, DC, Miami) similarly non-obese, like New Yorkers, or is this phenomenon unique to NYC? (I know someone already commented about LA, and I know people drive a lot there, but I’m not sure what the driving situation is like in the other cities).
OK… well… if all this walking people do in the city keeps them thin, then why are there still fat people working in Wal-mart, Home Depot, etc. who are on their feet all day, walking all the time during work ???
hmmmmmmm,
very interesting post! I will have to agree with the notion that economics come into play. I live in a VERY VERY rural little town in central NY called Groton and I can tell you for a fact that there far more “obese” people here than “lean”. However, 15 minutes away in Ithaca (where Ithaca College AND Cornell University are)…you tend to see many more fit and lean people around. Granted, Ithaca is a larger city compared to little ol’ Groton, so obviously you will see more lean people…but I bet if we went by percentages, Ithaca would still have more lean people compared to Groton, and I think its because people in Ithaca can afford to join those expensive fitness clubs, or spend the extra money on “healthy” foods. It can’t be just a coincidence.