September 28, 2006
AN EXCERPT FROM BURGER KING’S STATEMENT OF DEFENSE
Town planning blamed for obesity (BBC, September 28th, 2006)
Poor town planning which limits opportunities for children to take exercise has been blamed for fuelling an increase in obesity.Leading US paediatrician Professor Richard Jackson called for a rethink in the way towns and cities are developed. [...]
He said humans were so adaptable that they quickly adjusted to the environment in which they found themselves.
However, while this was an advantage in evolutionary terms, it spelled bad news when that environment provided little opportunity for exercise.
Humans were designed to keep active, he said, and they were not designed for the modern, sedentary lifestyle that had become the norm.
Just think of all the new outfits fatty can sue now.
Sometimes you get a feeling these people would give Pol Pot an award for his obesity comabatting efforts in the cities of Kampuchia during the mid 1970s.
Posted by: John at September 28, 2006 8:51 AMPlenty of Soccer pitches down our way. Also baseball fields, also North American football. Dedicated bicycle lanes abound. I don't buy it. If some people are layabouts, it is their choice.
Posted by: Lou Gots at September 28, 2006 10:28 AMMr. Gots, I think zoning is causing much of this. The single use concept forced people into cars to get what they needed, stopping the casual walking that used to be part of daily life. I spend about three weeks in Tokyo once a year, and I always lose about twenty pounds, just getting place to place. The Japanese don't have any zoning I have seen, and it has made their cities much more livable, to me.
Posted by: Robert Mitchell Jr. at September 28, 2006 10:52 AMObesity is usually the person's own fault, but I will agree with Robert that it's easier to stay slim in some places more than others. I live in New York City, and you just have to walk everywhere. Between dropping off and picking up the kids and getting to the subway line and getting up and down the subway stairs etc, I walk over an hour a day. (Plus in NYC, you have to walk quickly, or people will start barking at you for blocking the way...)
Posted by: Lisa at September 28, 2006 11:09 AMThis is great. Everybody agrees the car is a contributer to obesity and bad health, but Orrin is dismissed as a fruitcake if he says one word against them.
Posted by: Peter B at September 28, 2006 11:29 AMWhat's the problem here? The town is right. The city should fit man, not man the city.
I also applaud NYC taking on the trans-fat problem. Regulation of dangerous substances is appropriate. Fast food is closer to cigarettes than it is to food.
Posted by: Pepys at September 28, 2006 12:44 PM