With recent the recent rise of obesity in the United States, most people tend to forget about the issue of hunger in other parts of the world. Even though obesity may be more prevalent in our world today than hunger, over 1.02 billion people worldwide still suffer from chronic hunger. Most people are familiar with the saying “I am starving to death,” but we misuse this saying here in the United States because people are actually starving to death in other parts of the world. Poverty in countries causes famine, severe food shortages that lead to a breakdown of society.
This article discusses Ancel Key’s long-term scientific study of hunger and semi-starvation called the “Minnesota Semi-Starvation Experiment.” I could not imagine volunteering to be in this experiment! The men volunteered to significantly limit their food intake for several months which would eventually provide information on the psychological and physiological effects of caloric restriction. Even though the study was conducted over 60 years ago, hunger still has similar affects today.
I think that this article brings together what we learned in chapter 8A including obesity, eating disorders, and ultimately hunger. So based on the information we studied in chapter 8A, the information learned from this article, and your own knowledge, do you think that hunger or obesity is more prevalent in our world today? Since we already read about Key’s experiment in the book, did you learn anything different? These semi-starved patients proved the power that activated motives have in hijacking our consciousness. Can this be related to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs? The book did not provide information about the rehabilitation period in the study. Have you ever heard of “post-starvation hyperphagia”? Can you imagine eating up to 10,000 calories a day and not feel satisfied?Link: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-gravity-weight/201102/strictly-hunger-the-abcs-insufficient-food
I agree with Kelly in the fact that all of us use the term “I’m starving to death” way too loosely. Just the other day when the lacrosse team was leaving practice to get to the pasta party I just kept thinking about how hungry and starving I was. Now even though I felt like I was going to die if I didn’t get any food shortly thereafter we all know that I would have been completely fine…. After reading this article and thinking about it, I will now be more careful in my use of saying that I am starving.
ReplyDelete“Though it has been reported that obesity may now be more common in much of the world today than is hunger, these authors report that there are still over 1.02 billion people worldwide who suffer from chronic hunger. ” This line from the article is mind boggling to me and for the rest of the day anytime that I eat something I will feel bad. I do not think obesity is more common around the entire world, but rather I think it is more common than chronic hunger in our society. Sure there are towns surrounding us where people are dying from starvation, but it is certainly not the norm. In other parts of the world (more or less every other continent) there are less people suffering from obesity and more suffering from chronic hunger. In “our world” of the United States/ North America, we see obese people all the time, but if you go to other continents and countries around the world, you will find just the opposite. There are so many people everywhere living off of scraps of food and barely making it through the day.
The experiment described in this article, the Minnesota semi-starvation experiment, is quite interesting because there was so much information to be learned from it. The physical and mental changes of these people is crazy. I can only imagine how people survive in countries where they do not know where their next meal is going to be coming from. I feel like I am constantly eating, so I really have no understanding as to how these people can function without having a full/solid three meals every day.
In “our world” (the United States) I believe that obesity is more prevalent, but I believe that looking at the whole world chronic hunger is more prevalent and needs to be taken much more seriously.
As stated above, I believe that many misuse the term “I am starving to death.” I am sure every one of us has a cabinet full of food that when you are hungry you just “don’t feel like eating,” when you say you are starving to death. You would rather wait to get and eat something you do like more. I have never thought that other people in parts of this world do not even have a grain of rice to eat and I am, as well as many people in this country are complaining about what food they have in their house. We have so much food in our country that we are spoiled with what we want to eat where as other parts of third world countries are experiencing lack of food which eventually destroys the human being both psychologically and mentally.
ReplyDeleteI think both hunger and obesity are both prevalent in our world today. Obesity I would say is more prevalent in United States because many people have busy lives and say that they have to resort to “fast food” places to eat dinner and do not have the time to make a better home cooked meal. I tend to think people sometimes do have the time but are just too lazy to make their own healthy meals. It can go both ways. I think that hunger is also predominant in other parts of the world (even in parts of U.S.) because of the lack of food. I agree with what the study provided where they stated that when people lose too much weight from caloric deprivation that they tend to put on more weight than before after stopping the calorie restriction. I never have heard of “post- starvation hyperphagia.” I think it could be related to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs because in order to feel safe, love, etc, they need to feel hunger/ thirst satisfied. I cannot even imagine eating up to 10,000 calories a day and not feel full or satisfied. I thought at some point during eating you must feel satisfied, but apparently not.
To ask whether hunger or obesity is more prevalent in our world today probably depends on who you ask. (In-group bias!) With the rising numbers of obese Americans, a person living in the United States would probably be likely to say that obesity is increasingly and alarmingly prevalent. However, if you ask someone living in a poor area of Africa, he or should would probably first acknowledge the startling numbers of families going to bed at night without any form of dinner meal. According to the article, obesity may now be more common in much of the world today than is hunger, but I hope this does not take away from those who are currently fighting starvation. In focusing on causes and effects of obesity, we may be shifting our attention away from the opposite side of the spectrum. I really like the term ‘nutritional crisis,’ as it encompasses both malnutrition and obesity.
ReplyDeleteI liked how this article takes the concept of hunger and looks at it from a number of different perspectives. In examining the biological perspective of hunger, it explains that some people who are diagnosed with eating disorders simply do not experience normal pangs of hunger. However, as we’ve learned, growing up in a pressured environment where society idolizes the stick-thin figure, girls in Western cultures are more prone to developing an eating disorder, emphasizing how eating disorders are also socially and culturally based.
I was shocked to see that any substantial weight loss over 35% of original weight is incompatible with life. Keys’ experiment highlights the importance of nourishing the body, and the negative consequences we can face without it. From personal experience, I know that I get extremely cranky when I skip just one meal, so I can’t even imagine being a subject of Keys’ experiment. I can definitely understand why the subjects suffered such serious consequences, including depression, inability to concentrate, and social withdrawal. Like recovering patients with eating disorders, it was very difficult for the men to recover from the severe caloric restriction of the experiment. As with anyone, if we starve our body for too long, we binge and eat a huge amount of calories when given food again. If our schedules are interrupted, whether it be through changes eating, sleeping, or working, our body does its best to adjust; however, sometimes these changes are too drastic and the body can’t keep up.
I think that obesity is a rising problem in the United States. Many young children in the United States are becoming obese, while children in other countries are starving. I agree with what everyone else said we use the term “I am starving to death” way too loosely. Sometimes we forget as a society that there are people starving around the world, because a majority of the people in our country are becoming obese. I think that Americans have this problem with obesity because of our culture, we are always on the go so our meal choices are not as wise as they would be if we were at home cooking. Even though obesity is such a common thing to us, there are hungry people all over the world. There are over 1.02 billion people who suffer from chronic hunger. I could not believe this! I think something must be done to help all of these people. I cannot imagine not having three meals a day and a snack in between.
ReplyDeleteOn that topic, I thought Keys’ study was very interesting. Men willingly volunteered to limit their caloric intake. Besides the fact they volunteered to do this I thought it was fascinating what happened at the end of the experiment. The men would be eating 10,000 calories a day and still would not be full because of “post-starvation hyperphagia”. Their bodies were trying to recover all of the fat and lean body tissue they lost during the experiment. I thought it was crazy that their bodies could not get back to normal even by eating 10,000 calories!
I definitely agree with Kelly and think that in our part of the state, especially in IHA, we often misuse the phrase “starving to death.” I almost doubt that anyone of us has ever actually starved to death. As we are staring at the clock, waiting for it to hit 10:10, we often talk about how hungry we are, and how we are just starving to death. None of us ever actually thinks about the true meaning of this expression. There are so many people all over the world who, sadly, actually are starving to death. Living where we do kind of shelters us from this situation.
ReplyDeleteThis article made me feel almost guilty about my conditions. Before reading this article I would think that obesity was a greater issue than hunger was. So many people in our society suffer from chronic obesity as they just can’t get enough of those Big Mac’s or those Wendy’s fries. Reading this article made me remember the food shelter I visited for my volunteer work. With my church, I would go to a homeless shelter in Newark and bring cooked meals to the homeless. It was amazing how grateful these people were, as if it were not for us bringing food, they would probably have “starved to death.” Every time I visit the shelter it opens my eyes to the problem of poverty and hunger across the world. It’s crazy to think that the shelter is only 30 minutes away from where I live.
I have never heard of “post- starvation hyperphagia.” I do think that this could relate to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs because one must first fulfill the basic needs before advancing up. For example, one who is constantly hunger will never find happiness. One suffering from hunger will never be able to feel satisfied and will never be able to feel as if they belong, or even experience love. I can definitely understand why starving people experience mood depression and even worse symptoms. I know that even when I am a little hungry, I am not myself and I am more prone to having cranky episodes.
Regarding whether obesity or hunger is more prevalent in our world today, I think it depends who you ask. If you asked me, I would say obesity. This is simply because I am fortunate to live in a town where everyone knows that they will have food on the table for dinner and a warm bed to sleep in. If you went to Africa, they would probably tell you that hunger was more prevalent, because it is something that they deal with and struggle with every day. However, they are both very important issues that demand attention. I also agree that we use the term "I'm starving to death" way too loosely. In fact, if we say this, it's actually quite insulting to the people who are actually dealing with constant hunger. We say it when we're anxiously waiting for locker break cookies. When they say it, it could actually be true.
ReplyDeleteI think it's really interesting that the people in the study ended up gaining back more weight than they had lost when they started. My guess is that this happened because during the study, the body was in such bad shape that it then gained back as much weight as possible to protect itself from being deprived again. I had never heard of "post-starvation hyperphagia" before, but I think it's very interesting. (I wish I could eat 10,000 calories a day and not feel full or gain weight.) I think this is definitely related to Maslow's Hierachy of Needs. I know that when I am hungry, I'm a monster. I can't think about anything else or focus on anything. So it's understandable that the people had such problems while living on such a restricted diet.
Addressing the topic of whether hunger or obesity is more prevalent in the world today, it definitely depends on who you ask. If you ask me or any of my classmates, the answer would probably be obesity. We live in areas of the world and are born into families that are more fortunate than others. We are pretty much blinded from the problems that the rest of the world faces which is almost scary. Sadly enough, if you ask many other countries in the Middle East or parts of the world like that, the answer would be hunger. It is disheartening to believe how much we take for granted in this world. Many other countries deal with hunger and starvation everyday of their lives and it is really something to think about when we throw out that sandwich our mom makes us for lunch or the extra snack that we do not eat. I also agree with many of my classmates when we use the statement “I’m starving to death” too loosely. This is because this is actually a reality to many people in this world and it is almost a derogatory statement. I thought the most interesting part of Key’s experiment was that after it was over many of the participants would gain back even more of their weight than before. It reminded me of the analogy we’ve been using in class of the Biggest Loser. When many of them return home they gain back the weight because it is not structured everyday anymore. This is the same type of concept.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that we should be careful when we say "I'm starving to death". Because of where we live we grossly exaggerate our current conditions. especially the phrase commonly thrown around in response to a lot of school work, "I'm going to kill myself". We fail to realize how insensitive these comments are.
ReplyDeleteIt really is incredible that we seem to have the exact opposite problem of other parts of the world. Which is more dangerous? I think starvation definitely is. Suffering from a loss of something is way more difficult than too much of something. Its hard not to negatively view American because of our obesity rates in comparison with the impoverished parts of the world. But we have to remember its not always something you can control. People who suffer from obesity are not at fault, just as people who starve as not. Its so hard for Americans to fathom complete starvation which is something we need to expand our awareness of.
The irony of our world is that too much of any extreme can be fatally dangerous, and it takes a compromise or balance in the middle to maintain good health. We hear about starving children in Africa and all that we can do to try and help them, but then we hear about obese children in the United States and what we can do to raise awareness and prevention of this state. Both starvation and obesity can have lasting effects on a person for the rest of his or her life. Like we learned from the textbook, a person won't necessarily lose the fat cells they acquire--the fat cells just shrink a little bit. Starvation and malnutrition can easily lead to illness and even death or, as the article points out, serious cognitive changes.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that the article pointed out "post-starvation hyperphagia". In Keys's study, the participants easily gained back the weight they lost during the experiment. Their bodies slowed down their metabolism as a protective measure, but this actually ended up being more sever than necessary. Another example of this situation are the contestants on the show The Biggest Loser. I think it's important to look at motivations in situations like these also. Key's population for the experiment were motivated by the opportunity to be involved in such research, like the contestants on The Biggest Loser were competing for a prize of money, and not so much as the just live a better, healthier life for themselves.
The answer to the question about whether obesity or hunger is more prevalent in the world today definitely depends on where in the world you are talking about. Most people who live in North America are not suffering from day-to-day hunger issues. We have more access to fatty foods and our lifestyles often lend themselves to little physical activity. Thus, obesity is more prevalent here. On the other hand, many who live in underdeveloped African countries struggle for daily nourishment. Some have little access to any form of food and still spend much of their time outside performing manual labor. Thus, hunger is more prevalent there.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Key's experiment, it's clear that his radical methods certainly would not be allowed in an experiment today -- the fact that participants experienced "post-starvation hyperphagia" is a testament to this. Because partcipants' metabolisms slowed down so much as a result of their dramatically reduced calorie intakes, when they started to eat more again, they gained the weight right back. Like we talked about in class, this is simply the natural result of any "crash-dieting." Because our bodies adjust themselves as a protective measure when they feel "starved," it is hard to keep weight off after a dramatic weight loss. For this reason, it seems the best way to diet is moderately -- it is better to lose weight slowly and be able to keep it off then lose it all at once and gain it right back.
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ReplyDeleteI think that hunger and obesity is more prevalent in our world today. I think that the way our system works, we clearly favor the wealthy, and as the article mentioned the root of hunger is poverty. Since we no longer live in a hunter-gatherer society, our food intake is based monetarily. Therefore, the higher the poverty level goes, the more prevalent hunger is. In terms of obesity, I think this also correlates with the whole fixation of money in America. In a society focused so much on money, Americans are trying to save money where they can. Food chains are successful because they offer entire meals for dollar(s). This seems like a win-win, except for the fact that many of these meals are unhealthy alternatives to what we should be eating. I think that this is part of the reason why obesity is becoming such an issue in America. The Key's experiment really highlights the cons of crash-dieting. Human bodies are clearly not a fan of these immediate changes, and I think of it almost like how our body reacts to disease. The body treats the weight loss as a sickness. We suffer the symptoms temporarily, but when the sickness is gone, our body returns to normal functioning. This can certainly be related to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Our physiological ideas are the functioning point off of all of our other operations. This reminds me of the daydreaming post in the sense that if there is something more important, your attention will be distracted. There is no higher importance than the body's need for nourishment, so it makes sense that that need must be filled - otherwise we suffer the consequences. The impaired decision making bit was interesting because I thought of fasting and how that affects students' performance in school. I would be interested to see whether or not students' performance drops in correlation with religious holidays that require fasting.
ReplyDeleteThis article was interesting. I know that Im definitely a drama queen, so I totally relate to the over exaggerations, such as "I'm starving to death!" I think our tendencies to exaggerate so much is realtive to where we come from. Most of us come from areas that are pretty well off, as most of our families are more fortunate than others.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a lot easier for us to relate to the stories of obesity because we are more accustomed to being around people who may, and are capable of, that kind of over indulgence. Of course we hear the statistics and see the heart wrenching commercials on tv about worldwide hunger and how many people it does effect, but I think it's a lot harder for us to know what going without any kind of food or nurishment is really like. For me, anyway, I can grasp the idea of someone overeating to the point of obesity over the idea of hunger. Of course I understand the concept of hunger, but the fact that children, especially, go to bed without having a meal that day, sometimes, is just so unreal to me.
It is a scary thought that people who suffer from hunger are right here in the United States. There is that misconception, which I admit, I've definitely fallen victim to, that people who live in good communities are financially fine; while this might be true for most cases, there are families who can be severely struggling behind the doors, so I just think that is important to mention.
Over eating is definitely a problem in the United States that we take for granted. There are people don't have enough for themselves and then there are people that have enough for this school. Obesity is a problem not only because Americans are over eating but there are so many health risks involved in the consumption of too many calories. People die from starvation, but people also die from over eating as well. Many of us turn our heads from these people saying that they shouldn't have let themselves get this over weight but couldn't some of it be genetic? I know plenty of girls that watch what they eat and work out daily and they still can't lose 'Tina the Talking Tummy' or 'Cellulite Sally." Weight is something completely controlled by the media in the respective country. In the US models, actresses and "pretty" people are skinny, so the generally accepted style is skinny.
ReplyDeleteWe should probably know this from any religion class and the biblical story of Jesus in the desert, but I recently learned that a person can fast for over forty days without any food. And this isn't the 'not eating during the day and only having meals at night' type of fasting that we typically see today in other religious practices or observances of holidays. This is absolutely no food for 40+ days. I thought it was impossible, almost miraculous that we can do this -- it seems to us that going a few days without food, maybe weeks, would result in starvation and death. This article brought up a great point in bridging the gap between our perception of starvation and actual starvation. Is hunger much more psychological than physiological? I know that I can't handle a few hours without food when I'm working hard at school -- though I eat breakfast around 7:15, my stomach is growling by 10:15 at locker break. I'd be curious to see how long But even there, I can tell that this hunger is socially influenced: I see people eating around me, I'm susceptible to messages that locker break is for food, and more. Could it be that hunger is present only as an effect of learning, social influence, and thinking? Do we really need food every time we feel hungry? Unfortunately if so, it's an effect that is to vast over the human population (present in everyone, so that we cannot find a control group that does not experience the effect) to be confirmed.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Gabby's point. People can survive for forty days without any food, yet in our culture it is totally acceptable to say you are "starving to death" when it's 2 o'clock and you haven't eaten since breakfast. We live in a privileged area so I feel like we are kind of in our own little bubble with regards to hunger and starvation. we don't see people actually starving so it's tough for us to understand that it is very common in other parts of the world, even without the United States. This reminds me of the controversy in Chicago? where some public middle school was demanding that every kid eat the cafeteria food. For us, this idea seems crazy. However, most of these kids are getting their lunch for free from the school anyway and the ones that aren't are still living in poverty with two working parents (or a single parent who is working more than one job) who don't necessarily have time to go out and buy nutritious foods and pack a healthy lunch. For these kids without school lunch they may end up starving because its the only meal that eat all day, or becoming obese because their parents only have time to take them to fast food restaurants or give them a bag of chips for lunch. In this case, a healthy school lunch would be better for these kids.
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