NationStates Jolt Archive

Has anyone else realized that the existence of diabetes in society is (now this is just me mind barfing) due entirely to our own success. I came to this conclusion when i saw an inordinate number of native americans with diabetes and just plain in a state of unhealth and i thought that it might be because their original lifestyle before the europeans utterly ended their way of life was pretty intense. They ate alot of food (and it was balanced, buffalo, corn, squash) and got alot of activity, constantly guarding tribal borders, hunting, planting, living surviving. Then when they were forced off their lands and onto reservations their metabolisms were totally screwed up. They no longer had to strive so much to just survive and so its like, their psyches and mentalities were set for consume so that they could maintain the level of activity and be healthy but once that level of activity was halted and they were "europeanized", thats like feeding a parakeet on what a dinosaur eats, somethings gotta give. And it applies for everyone else too. Our metabolisms are still set on caveman, hunt hunt hunt, plant plant plant, eat eat eat. Well due to our success we dont have to hung anylonger, and almost nobody plants anymore, but we still eat eat and yes...eat.


also, i mean its insane that as a society, we have to set aside time to work out and exercise. 100 years ago, nobody worked out or exercised, they GARDENED or FARMED or HUNTED, living itself was a workout! So now were at a crossroads, americans and europeans are freaking lardasses because we treat our bodies like food was scarce. Somethings gotta give,


right or wrong? discuss

The bigger issue though, or rather supreme observation on the matter is this


that every society eventually succumbs to its own success, comfort and advantage, kind of like the bigger they are the harder they fall

You're absolutely right. Many people need to learn to eat in moderation, or adiopt a diet that allows them to eat bits at a time so the body feels satified that it's eaten, even if it is just a small bit of something.

that every society succumbs to its own successes, grows weak or bloated and a new upstart takes its place, its a gruesome but natural progression that in the past was unnavoidable, but now that we have no excuse to be ignrorant, we can preconceive these problems manifesting themselves and head them off...diabetes is completely preventable! Like my aunt has it and she gives herself a shot and takes pills galore, and i tell her, if she wants to control her symptoms all she has to do is keep active, go for a walk and get your metabolism up before a meal but she says that its way easier to just pop the pills and stuff her face, its disgusting that were that successful that we just have no incentive to get off our fat asses

Note: i myself am kinda fat, not like fat albert chris farley fat, but 6 foot, 240 pounds cuddly :D

I agree with what you're saying overall, but there are 2 quite different types of Diabetes. I am a 29 yr old male that is 6' tall and only 160 lbs - by no means a fat lard, and i've had diabetes since I was a child. Sometimes I really wonder why they clump these 2 types of diseases as one disease. Type 1, or juvenile diabetes, is when your body does not produce any insulin. This is all genetic, and nothing to do with weight or exercise issues.

Type 2 is generally associated with older, or heavier and underactive people. Either your pancreas do not produce enough insullin to cover your poor eating habits, or it is not as effective. Most people with type 2 (which is exponentially more than type 1), take pills or insulin to balance things out.

The sad fact of type 2 is that it has been proven time and again that if you lose the weight, become more active, and lay off the Krispy Kreme's, you don't need pills or insulin. Why is this considered a disease? I would think it's just that your body cannot handle the shape that it is in.

I just wanted to agree with what you said, but make the distinction between the two. I really wish I could control my diabetes with exercise and diet, rather than take 5-7 injections a day...

Has anyone else realized that the existence of diabetes in society is (now this is just me mind barfing) due entirely to our own success.

Oh, just about the entire medical field this side of the 1950's. The metabolic syndrome (central obesity + raised blood pressure + proinflammatory state + atherogenic dyslipidemia + diabetes mellitus type II + prothrombotic state) has reached epidemic proportions in the west.

a 100 years ago they were slaving in factories under horrible circumstances ... And before that life wasnt that great either unless you were rich..

anyway a 100 years ago people didnt become as old as now so who cares if people get diabetes their own fault, i work out anyone who wants to can do so aswell. those who prefer to die earlier and eat load and be lazy should be able to do so.. People smoke though they now its bad ... for fat its the same..

I agree with what you're saying overall, but there are 2 quite different types of Diabetes. I am a 29 yr old male that is 6' tall and only 160 lbs - by no means a fat lard, and i've had diabetes since I was a child. Sometimes I really wonder why they clump these 2 types of diseases as one disease. Type 1, or juvenile diabetes, is when your body does not produce any insulin. This is all genetic, and nothing to do with weight or exercise issues.

Type 2 is generally associated with older, or heavier and underactive people. Either your pancreas do not produce enough insullin to cover your poor eating habits, or it is not as effective. Most people with type 2 (which is exponentially more than type 1), take pills or insulin to balance things out.

The sad fact of type 2 is that it has been proven time and again that if you lose the weight, become more active, and lay off the Krispy Kreme's, you don't need pills or insulin. Why is this considered a disease? I would think it's just that your body cannot handle the shape that it is in.

I just wanted to agree with what you said, but make the distinction between the two. I really wish I could control my diabetes with exercise and diet, rather than take 5-7 injections a day...


Thanks for that clarification, yeah, it shouldnt be classified as a disease, type 2 i mean. Thats like calling depression or alcoholism a disease, get over it you depressed fat beer guzzling lump, its not a disease its mental weakness. I admire you also for dealing with your disease yet still leading a life, thats amazing. Shit, your fuckin skinny too dude, 6 foot 160, you are a lanky d00d, were the same height but i manage to pack away 70 more pounds on my frame, im ashamed :(

a 100 years ago they were slaving in factories under horrible circumstances ... And before that life wasnt that great either unless you were rich..

anyway a 100 years ago people didnt become as old as now so who cares if people get diabetes their own fault, i work out anyone who wants to can do so aswell. those who prefer to die earlier and eat load and be lazy should be able to do so.. People smoke though they now its bad ... for fat its the same..



youre missing the point tho, the idea of working out is disgusting! to be so successful and have a life where existence doesnt make you shed a sweat bead is a mystery to most people of the world. you have to set aside time to get tired!!! isnt that crazy! Our society is sick, ill i say, ill

Thanks for that clarification, yeah, it shouldnt be classified as a disease, type 2 i mean. Thats like calling depression or alcoholism a disease, get over it you depressed fat beer guzzling lump, its not a disease its mental weakness.

No, depression is a legitimate disease. I don't think you fully understand what depression entails. It's not feeling under the weather. It's not being a little blue. It is often described as a deep, black hole that gets deeper and deeper and makes you unable to feel any sort of joy or happiness about anything in your life. As it makes you listless and suicidal, it is life threatening, with a serious risk of substance abuse, either as a causative or secondary phenomenon. The fact that it is so amenable to pharmacological treatment gives basis for it being a physiological imbalance in the brain.

So, please, do not talk trash about things you do not understand. There are probably many people on this board who do not appreciate you mocking them and their ill health - I, as a someone who works in medicine and see people afflicted by debilitating depressions on a regular basis, am disgusted by your lack of respect for those who face these sorts of problems in their lives. Shame on you for trying to belittle other people in this way. Shame on you!

youre missing the point tho, the idea of working out is disgusting! to be so successful and have a life where existence doesnt make you shed a sweat bead is a mystery to most people of the world. you have to set aside time to get tired!!! isnt that crazy! Our society is sick, ill i say, ill

This makes me think about society hundreds of years ago. The idea of beauty with a woman was being "ample". Nothing fat, but definitely full figured. You always see it in the oil paintings of that time, etc. Today, beauty is being thin. Lindsay Lohan looks sickly thin, but it's considered beautiful. I wonder if it ties in with size in society in general. Back then, there were no Krispy Kreme's and Bon Bon's to be big, and even a woman had to work hard to be able to live. But today everyone is bigger so thin is in...!

just a thought...

oooh nooo i might sweat and have to do something...

tbh those people can die of diabetes and ill do nothing but laugh at them.. If your to lazy to spend a few hours a week to maintain your body, i cant care a bit if it stops working.. I dont even think we should treat people like that. Safe the healthcare for people who are willing but cant do anything about their desease.. World should stop wasting resources on people like that..

My understanding is that the epidemic of Type 2 is correlated to more strongly to improper diet than to exercise, but not to minimize the contribution of the latter..

To what degree can we blame society for producing and marketing unhealthy foods? To what degree should we place responsibility on the individuals who abuse these products and take poor care of themselves? To what degree are we not educating people about how to care for themselves?

Fast foods and high consumption of sugar products have a lot to do with this, I think. We need to deal with this epidemic now, not later. I'm philosophically inclined to deal with it by educating rather than legislating.

My understanding is that the epidemic of Type 2 is correlated to more strongly to improper diet than to exercise, but not to minimize the contribution of the latter..

To what degree can we blame society for producing and marketing unhealthy foods? To what degree should we place responsibility on the individuals who abuse these products and take poor care of themselves? To what degree are we not educating people about how to care for themselves?

Fast foods and high consumption of sugar products have a lot to do with this, I think. We need to deal with this epidemic now, not later. I'm philosophically inclined to deal with it by educating rather than legislating.



Then we get into the congress toying with the idea of adding a tax to unhealthy foods to discourage their consumption (like how the tobacco tax just keeps getting jacked up) theyd do that to chips and stuff. And in response to someone calling me insensitive to people in the medical community and with alcoholism, depression. Perhaps their is a correlation between anti depressant commercials and an increase in the clinically depressed, those commercials are practically saying "come on, you know youre depressed, come on...think about it, remember that time, yeah...youre depressed, go the doctor now and ask for this drruuuuuuug *lights flash and television spins*" Its sick, and i hate to agree with a scientologist, but go read what Tom Cruise bitched about on the today show, its kinda makes sense. Honestly, i have lost all respect for the medical community here in the west. Theyre a bunch of coddling whiny prescription pad weilding fools. I go to my 7 yr old cousins check ups and they have my aunt and him paranoid

"make sure he has his inhaler at all times!!!! and he wears shoulder and elbow and knee and head pads!!! aahhh scarrry!!" its all about feeding paranoia.

also, asthma isnt real, my aunt patricia has asthma as does all her family and none of them smoke or have pets, never had.

i live in a household with cats and parakeets and three fifths of us smoke, and none of us have any respiratory issues, we can outbreathe an andean astronaut, we have such robust lungs while my aunt and her family are all wheezy non shellfish eating pussies!!!


Nietzsche: what doesnt kill you makes you stronger!!!!!

PS: aarrgh

New World Syndrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Syndrome) is the name that has been given to the phenomena you are referring to in Native populations. There are many theories about a 'starvation gene' in native populations which causes us to store food energy as fat more easily than other populations, and perhaps explain why we have higher rates of associated diseases.

New World Syndrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Syndrome) is the name that has been given to the phenomena you are referring to in Native populations. There are many theories about a 'starvation gene' in native populations which causes us to store food energy as fat more easily than other populations, and perhaps explain why we have higher rates of associated diseases.


has already been noted, named, studied, and categorized.

Still cool though that a layman managed to notice it. Thanks for that tidbit of information.
:headbang: :D