Do You Have a Fat Zipcode?

Occasionally I'm surprised about what makes it into the news media-- mostly in terms of this 'study' or that 'research,' which had all been basically covered ages ago. Just because a new study has been done, or a new person has conducted new research, neither the topics nor the conclusions are anything new at all.

Where you live-- your region, your "zipcode"-- has a lot of bearing on whether or not you have or will develop Obesity... Upon reading the articles, my first thought was "Is there anybody who does not already know this?" Apparently there are plenty of people who were not aware of that fact; but, in my opinion anyway, what is even harder to digest (no pun intended) is that when presented with a "fact," many do not see beyond a fact to the reasons for it.

It's not about "what percentage of people in your town are overweight;" it's about how regional differences influence one's frame of reference as to what one considers "normal." The obesity topic is only one subject, but it is a very good one. As is the case with most subjects, there are a number of ways to look at it; but even if each is an accurate assessment, none of them get to the heart of the problem.

For example, in one specific region where a large percentage of the population is overweight, and many are actually obese, one is tempted to wonder why people do not have more care about their physical appearance; and, even more of a concern, little care about the health risks posed by being significantly overweight. With this in mind, the next accurate conclusion is that the lifestyle of horribly unhealthy eating habits contributes to weight problems.

But the heart of the matter is that it's less about unhealthy food patterns or appearance or even the wide range of health difficulties that can be caused by obesity, than the frame of reference that since so many of the population are seriously overweight, being seriously overweight is thought to be "normal."

On the opposite end of the spectrum is that if you find yourself in a new environment where something such as obesity is considered normal, you will be considered "abnormal" if you do not fit in with the environment's definition. If you move into what the "experts" are now calling a "fat zipcode" and bring your average weight with you, you may even hear those who cannot relate to anything out of their own frame of reference insisting that you probably have some kind of eating disorder! The subject of abnormal psychology is interesting, to say the least-- try being normal in an abnormal environment, and the population will be questioning your normalcy.

Even on a subject that is as common sense as weight, people who cannot see anything past their own frame of reference cannot be "told anything." Even if you attempt to point out the potential health repercussions, it will go unheard, ignored, and resented.

One of the recent studies went on to add that if most of your associates are obese, this is a very good indication that you, too, will become obsese if you are not so already. It is not about "peer pressure," it is about the influence of one's environment-- what a specific environment deems "normal." Some people-- and, as some very accurate research concluded, most people-- tend to "absorb" their environment, "becoming at one with it," as if the ways of that environment are the only way. While this may go quite a distance in "fitting in," there is really nothing positive about it at all.

Obesity, even with the serious health risks associated with it, is a minor issue. It is simply one indication that "going with the flow" regarding the way things are where you happen to be, is rarely in a person's best interest.