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Old 04-18-2005, 07:41 AM   #1  
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Default Horrible, Irresponsible NYT Article

I am not sure where to post this, but if this was wrong, please, Mods, feel free to move it.

OK, when I read this yesterday my reaction was "take a gun and shoot me now". I have moved forward and am now furious and find this horrendously irresponsible and insulting. Especially as the author is the same one who wrote Ultimate Fitness, which I liked most parts of, especially how to detect a good study vs a bogus one. I know my health has changed because of the lifestyle changes I have made. Yes, I will never be able to say I never smoked, but I can say that I have beat diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesteral and depression because of the decisions I have made regardling diet and exercise. My doctor must agree or he would have never taken me off medications for these ailments. Any comments? Come on Gina - follow your own advice!

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/17/we...syahoo&emc=rss
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Old 04-18-2005, 02:15 PM   #2  
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Ellen, I'm sorry but I don't understand your fury. You have made tremendous personal progress at this point, but your doctor would be lying to you if he/she promised you that you've "beat diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol and depression." Your previous symptoms have abated, and your risk is a lot lower, but it's not nil.

When I started to lose weight it was fear of diabetes that motivated me. Fifty-five pounds lighter, I know that my risk is much lower than it was but still much higher than for the general population.

As a teenager, I baked myself to a crisp on the beaches of Delaware and New Jersey. Now I hide under spf 45 and am a lovely pastey white year round. But the damage to my skin was done as a teenager. I can't go back in time and undo it....

All we can do now, and I think the article stated it, is lower our risk.

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Old 04-18-2005, 02:29 PM   #3  
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I'm also sorry, Ellen, but I'm with Mel on this one. To me it seems common sense that someone who has been fit, trim, non-smoking, and right living all their lives is more likely to enjoy a longer lifespan than someone (like myself) who adopts a healthier lifestyle at age 40.

The article doesn't say "Don't adopt a healtier lifestyle because it won't do any good." It simply says that doing so won't erase half a lifetime of abuse. For me, the lowered odds are worth the effort, not to mention the whole "I look and feel better" thing.

Like Mel, my prime motivator is fear of diabetes. My father has it. I am morbidly obese. I am very, very likely to get it. But... slightly less so now that I have dropped 20 pounds and exercise regularly. My risk will lessen as my weight drops. But even if I get down to goal, I still might come down with it.

A good attitude is important to a weight loss goal, I think. But just because we tell ourselves only positive things about our new ways of life, doesn't mean that reality has to buy into it.
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Old 04-18-2005, 03:31 PM   #4  
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Thanks for your perspectives. I still think it was harshly written and DID convey a "don't even try" message. Maybe I am a little sensitive (who, me?), so I went back and reread it. Nope, still think it is harsh. Guess this is why there are so many stores in the mall - one is bound to have something I like, but we all know one store will not please everyone. *shrugs* Oh well.
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Old 04-18-2005, 04:27 PM   #5  
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In essence I'm with Mel and Tea but I DO agree that the tone of the article could have been much more encouraging and positive. I read Gina Kolata's book on the 1917 flu epidemic and I thought it was great, but a lot of her health/fitness articles in recent years have rubbed me the wrong way. They are always either veiled attacks on unfit people as being moral degenerates, or articles like this that imply it's hopeless. A person well-versed in health and fitness understand the nuances, but how much of the general population fits that description?
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Old 04-18-2005, 10:13 PM   #6  
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hmmm. interesting points.. i actually thought it was a fairly realistic discussion of the differences between population risk and individual risk. the issue is that if 10,000 people follow the 'healthy lifestyle' and 10,000 people don't, at the end of, say 5 or 10 years, chances are that the healthy lifestyle group will have fewer illnesses and deaths than the 'unhealthy lifestyle' people.

but that doesn't mean that susie in the healthy living group escaped a heart attack or that a diet of cheeseburgers and fries caused alberta's heart attack. it's not possible to point fingers at people and say that if they do this, that, or the other their disease risk will change.

what matters to a single person, like me, or Mel or ellen, is whether OUR blood sugar levels have become normal, or our cholesterol has dropped, etc etc etc. those are measurable outcomes. and they're important. in fact, that's really all that matters...
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