White People, Stop Making Me Fat!
[guest post by Dana]
It was inevitable. A “study” done by Luis Rivera, an experimental social psychologist at Rutgers University, attributes obesity rates among minorities to … you guessed it, racism.
Apparently, the free will of choosing when and what to eat and subsequently choosing whether or not to exercise has little to do with it.
Rivera says it is common for minorities in the United States to endure negative stereotypes, pervasive messages that suggest those groups are inferior, and that these attitudes can prevent people from doing what is needed to care for their health.
“When you are exposed to negative stereotypes, you may gravitate more toward unhealthy foods as opposed to healthy foods,” explains Rivera, whose study appears in this summer’s edition of the Journal of Social Issues. “You may have a less positive attitude toward watching your carbs or cutting back on fast food, and toward working out and exercising.”
Rivera says the resulting difference in motivation may help explain – at least in part – higher rates of obesity in the United States among members of minority groups than among whites.
Rivera found that Latinos he studied were significantly more likely than whites to agree that negative stereotypes commonly used to describe Hispanics applied to them. The result suggested to Rivera that “somewhere in their heads they are making the connection that the stereotype is Latino, I am Latino, and therefore I am the stereotype.”
According to Rivera, television and mass media perpetuate stereotypes and harmful messages to minorities, hence they feel badly about themselves. And eat. Alot.
Here are some insightful statistics from the CDC on obesity rates in America:
Among non-Hispanic black and Mexican-American men, those with higher incomes are more likely to have obesity than those with low income.
Higher income women are less likely to have obesity than low-income women.
Non-Hispanic blacks have the highest age-adjusted rates of obesity (47.8%) followed by Hispanics (42.5%), non-Hispanic whites (32.6%), and non-Hispanic Asians (10.8%)
Interestingly, I was unable to find Rivera’s explanation for high obesity rates among whites in America.
–Dana
Hello.
Dana (4dbf62) — 9/11/2014 @ 5:50 pmethnic foods can be both quite delicious and extremely fattening. and you can’t forget fast food!
Fast food epidemic! Minorities hardest hit.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 9/11/2014 @ 5:54 pmthat’s because racism is high in carbohydrates…
DUH
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 9/11/2014 @ 6:00 pmthe Japanese treat minorities like utter crap but guess what obesity isn’t a problem there
fascism is very slimming you see
happyfeet (a785d5) — 9/11/2014 @ 6:01 pmSome of this perhaps genuinely is racism… but if so, it’s the racism in the BMI charts (which I would wager lie at the bottom of the definitions of “obesity” used in the study, though I don’t care enough to go look).
Those charts are *normative* charts that are pretty obviously made for people who conform to a very particular sort of body type. The assumptions behind the selection of that body type might very well be racist.
I’ve told many people before: when I was at like 7% body fat and in the best shape of my life I was “obese” for my height. And I’m hardly an outlier.
Body *density* charts is what we should be using.
Michael E. Lopez (c44c25) — 9/11/2014 @ 6:11 pmjust having to eat japanese food would like take me back to college age weight levels… or lower.
i’m addicted to food, and they, for the most part, don’t believe in it.
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 9/11/2014 @ 6:12 pmI abhor the stereotype that George Lopez is funny.
DejectedHead (9b0c64) — 9/11/2014 @ 6:12 pmDaichan Mr. red!
I’m so over sushi but I’m still a whore for Daichan
plus Adrian Zmed goes there so you know it’s cool
happyfeet (a785d5) — 9/11/2014 @ 6:13 pm#5: we lost a guy out of one of my NG units because he was overweight…
he was a weightlifter, and while not outsized like some you see, he was all muscle, to the point he had to have his uniform shirts tailored to get his arms down the sleeves.
the idiots in our HQ chaptered him out because the tables said he was fat, when i don’t think he had a molecule of fat anywhere in his body.
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 9/11/2014 @ 6:14 pm#8: the only thing i would try on the menu posted there would be the green salad, and even then you’d have to leave the cukes out of it… the only other thing was miso soup, which never has any flavor, and contains tofu, which isn’t food at all…
pretty sure i’d get tired of eating teriyaki beef & white rice 3 times a day, every day, and i LOVE mah cow.
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 9/11/2014 @ 6:19 pmjust a thought, but if we eliminated EBT and the other federal food programs for the “poor”, we’d no longer be aiding their self-destructive behavior.
“Food Stamps Are Raycis!”
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 9/11/2014 @ 6:20 pmthat’s a super-abridged menu
it’s charming they have a “soul food” theme so most of the entrees come with a slice of watermelon and a dab of this pasta salad they make
and the place itself is super-unique you forget you’re in a mini-mall
happyfeet (a785d5) — 9/11/2014 @ 6:24 pmWhite people are fat because of they are ashamed of their racism.
There, full circle.
jakee308 (ba1e65) — 9/11/2014 @ 7:06 pmAnd also; gee having more money to spend makes you fat?
That also is the reason for White’s being more fat: White Privilege.
jakee308 (ba1e65) — 9/11/2014 @ 7:08 pmReally, jakee? I thought my belly came from copious amounts of quality draught, pizza, cheesesteaks and Italian hoagies. Now I find I’m racist. Crap, I need a beer.
Hoagie (4dfb34) — 9/11/2014 @ 7:09 pmoh dear
this means M’chelle’s fascist school lunches aren’t gonna keep the chubby minority kids from getting fatter cause her fascist lunches do nothing to address the harmful stereotypes
happyfeet (a785d5) — 9/11/2014 @ 7:14 pmRacist assumptions behind BMI calculations?!
I am 6’3″, 210 lbs, 14% body fat, and considered obese on a BMI calculator.
JD (7a6611) — 9/11/2014 @ 7:37 pmOverweight, not obese. My bad.
JD (7a6611) — 9/11/2014 @ 7:38 pmhah I’m shorter than you and i still weigh more
and I never even been to a triathlon
happyfeet (a785d5) — 9/11/2014 @ 7:42 pmMy silverware makes me fat unless I’m not using any. Forks and spoons are raaaaacist.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/11/2014 @ 7:49 pmLuis Rivera is the type of fool who the phrase of “love me or hate me, but please don’t ignore me” was designed for. He deserves to be — he should be — ignored—and made to wallow in the insane asylum of the leftist mind.
Mark (cc3214) — 9/11/2014 @ 7:59 pmDoesn’t that just say it all? Not an actual social psychologist, but an “experimental” one.
I was unaware there were that many “Hispanic” categories. I knew there were “white-Hispanics” because George Zimmerman had to be one. Could there be non-Asian Hispanics? And exactly where do Hispanics come from? Hispaniola? These people are so busy categorizing every a-hole on earth they miss who people really are.
Are there non-Hispanic Moslems?
Hoagie (4dfb34) — 9/11/2014 @ 8:13 pmIf people have been following government advice on diet and eating carbs, sugary fruit, and factory fats instead of animal fats and proteins, this would lead to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Are these diet guidelines racist? We had much less of these problems when the butter and meat diet was more common. Now we are told that low salt leads to greater heart risks. More racism?
machinist (313c6a) — 9/11/2014 @ 8:29 pmNow I’ve heard everything! wait, what if I’m not fat? Am I really not a minority? Or maybe No one has been mean to me yet. Yeah, that’s got to be it.
felipe (40f0f0) — 9/11/2014 @ 8:29 pmI blame Paul Prudhomme!
felipe (40f0f0) — 9/11/2014 @ 8:31 pmin los angeles fat people feel inferior cause they’re fat and they’re inferior
happyfeet (a785d5) — 9/11/2014 @ 8:41 pmit’s a lot like Miami except with more better food trucks
happyfeet (a785d5) — 9/11/2014 @ 8:41 pmAll this marijuana around everywhere, these peeps are gonna get fatter.
Colonel Haiku (aacf42) — 9/11/2014 @ 8:51 pmyou’ve never had a pan con lechon, (bread on pork), or chicharron
narciso (ee1f88) — 9/11/2014 @ 8:59 pmWhen ya wake up feein’ old
an’ yer eyes just wanna close
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-UEsyl3YNY&sns=em
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 9/11/2014 @ 9:00 pmMarijuana Slims? Why Pot Smokers Are Less Obese
happyfeet (a785d5) — 9/11/2014 @ 9:01 pmposh tosh… i’m Cav and the rest of you aren’t.
the extra weight just means there’s more of me to be breathtakingly awesome.
😎
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 9/11/2014 @ 9:11 pmin los angeles fat people feel inferior cause they’re fat and they’re inferior unless they happen to be Cav
which I believe means also that these individuals have spent a not-insignificant amount of time in Texas
more study is needed Mr. Rivera
chop chop
happyfeet (a785d5) — 9/11/2014 @ 9:18 pmDid ‘experimental social psychology’ involve controls, like surveying cheap food versus dear with regard to nutrients and calories?
Ok, I guess that’s a silly question everyone has the answer to.
gary gulrud (46ca75) — 9/11/2014 @ 9:27 pmMr. Feets – When they gonna give you your own zip code?
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/11/2014 @ 9:31 pmI’m a get my own zip code probably quite soon after I move to a Dunkin Donuts-rich environment with limited hiking opportunities Mr. daley
happyfeet (a785d5) — 9/11/2014 @ 9:33 pmplus garrett popcorn is involved
happyfeet (a785d5) — 9/11/2014 @ 9:34 pmdefine significant.
i’m a Lost Angels native, the rarest of all endangered species.
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 9/11/2014 @ 11:16 pmoh so you didn’t have to go to killeen then
happyfeet (a785d5) — 9/11/2014 @ 11:27 pmWhen happyfeet sits around the house, they sit around the house.
Ayyy oh.
jakee308 (ba1e65) — 9/11/2014 @ 11:33 pmi was @ Ft Hood, north side of the base, once, for two weeks…one of the longest years of my life.
at least it was garrison duty, as opposed to being out feeding the chiggers, skeeters, fleas and ticks…
bad AT though… all sorts of GI’s died, all from stupid 5hit.
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 9/12/2014 @ 1:05 amspent ~6 months in San Antonio, at Ft Slam… the base sucked, as did the weather, but i loved the town, as well as the food & the music
thank gawd the state religion of Texas is “Air Conditioning” 😎
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 9/12/2014 @ 1:30 ambetter to burp and taste it
mg (31009b) — 9/12/2014 @ 2:32 amthan fart and waste it.
You know how a goldfish will eat every bit of food in its bowl until it bursts, so you have to measure how much food to give it? Its natural environment did not guarantee an always available food supply; it’s built into its genes to eat everything in sight as a survival trait.
Same thing for Mexicans and other Central Americans. The Conquistadores used starvation as a weapon; wiping out two-thirds of the natives. The survivors passed down the “eat everything in sight now” trait. Their trait is reinforced in the piss-poor countries they’re born in because food is not always available there even now. When they come to America, they pig out, driven both by instinct and by learning.
nk (dbc370) — 9/12/2014 @ 3:44 amThe Germans. The Greeks call it “Occupation Syndrome”. The Germans robbed every place they went to of food. People were living on bark and acorns. Three or four generations of people from infants to octogenarians did not know when or if they would eat again. It was not as bad in the United States, but there was still rationing and scarcity here, and it had to leave some mark. As one example, after WWII the full-figured Marilyn Monroe body-type was de rigeur not the rib-showing Jayne Mansfield. Lousy Krauts!
nk (dbc370) — 9/12/2014 @ 4:02 amHow does this guy explain fat white people?
AZ Bob (34bb80) — 9/12/2014 @ 7:06 amMore Fart Noises.
f1guyus (647d76) — 9/12/2014 @ 7:29 am“I was unable to find Rivera’s explanation for high obesity rates among whites in America.”
– Dana
Exploitation of minority labor, duh
Leviticus (f9a067) — 9/12/2014 @ 7:38 amI prefer to blame the Germans. See my comment 45.
nk (dbc370) — 9/12/2014 @ 7:55 amThe weakest point in many scientific or medical studies s often what conclusions you draw from the data = this is really stupid.
Sammy Finkelman (e6d54e) — 9/12/2014 @ 7:56 amThis researcher has a long and rich career ahead of him!
In research, the two key words that attract grant money like bees to honey are “disparity” and “racism.”
But now that white people are a minority in my community, when do my government freebies start?
Patricia (5fc097) — 9/12/2014 @ 8:31 amI think Mr. red is right though
food stamps are not very empowering
they don’t say hey world check ME out… winning!
they actually say hey world I’m a dependent loser and I want some pumpkin spice oreos
happyfeet (a785d5) — 9/12/2014 @ 8:50 amHigher income women are less likely to have obesity than low-income women.
If you want a really stupid (and wrong) explanation, you could say that lower income women cook because they can’t afford prepared food or to eat in restaurants, but higher inome women don’t and people who cook eat the food they are cooking, so they get fat.
Actually this is all probably related to education in a very general way. (Not that the standard diet advice has been right, but still there might be a difference.)
Sammy Finkelman (e6d54e) — 9/12/2014 @ 11:50 amAmong non-Hispanic black and Mexican-American men, those with higher incomes are more likely to have obesity than those with low income.
They can afford more food? But the women don’t care what it costs?
You know if somebody asked people in a survey a few questions, they’d find out why. And a lot has to do actually with how much and what they they ate when they were small children.
Sammy Finkelman (e6d54e) — 9/12/2014 @ 11:52 amOh, we have come so far! In the 1970s Flip Wilson claimed, “The devil made me do it.” Now it’s whitey’s fault.
No personal responsibility in the 70s, none now.
Dave (f5fb18) — 9/12/2014 @ 6:20 pmWell, at least we can say we are not responsible for ‘skinny’ Somalians
Thomas Hazlewood (c57300) — 9/12/2014 @ 9:58 pmShutupshutupshutupshutupSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!!!
God, I wish I could take all this pop-psychobabble, stuff it into a 2×4, and then beat people like Rivera into unconsciousness with it.
You “may” do this. You “may” do that. Correlation isn’t causation, you stupid git, and you’re clearly just making this sh*t up as you go along.
AT (84fbdf) — 9/12/2014 @ 10:42 pmFlip left out “White” from “White Devils”…
ask Rev. Wright
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 9/12/2014 @ 10:46 pm“A ‘study’ done by Luis Rivera, an experimental social psychologist at Rutgers University…”
Has he found a cause for high mendacity rates among social psychologists?
pst314 (ae6bd1) — 9/13/2014 @ 2:40 pm