Say What? Obesity and attending religious events linked...

[amy31416]

Hallelujah, amen...please pass the biscuits...(or, what the hell's in those communion wafers, anyways?)

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/4490719-460/obesity-and-attending-religious-events-linked-study-finds.html


Warning: Spending too much time at church may be harmful to your health.

A new study has found that young adults who frequently attend religious activities are 50 percent more likely to become obese by middle age compared with those who don’t take part in any religious events.

“We don’t know why frequent religious participation is associated with development of obesity, but the upshot of these findings highlight a group that could benefit from targeted efforts at obesity prevention,” said Matthew Feinstein, the study’s lead investigator and a fourth-year student at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “It’s possible that getting together once a week and associating good works and happiness with eating unhealthy foods could lead to the development of habits that are associated with greater body weight and obesity.”

The study tracked 2,433 young men and women for 18 years in Chicago, Minneapolis, Birmingham, Ala., and Oakland, Calif.

In the study, “frequent” religious participation meant attending at least one event per week. Most, but not all of the participants, were Christians — reflecting the dominant religion in the United States, Feinstein said.

(More at link)

ETA: Oops...shoulda put this in the religion forum, I think.

[EndDaFed]

Eating all that flesh of Jesus must be packing on the pounds.

[t0rnado]

They can always pray the fat away just as they pray the gay away.

[eOs]

in other news, people who pick boogers from their noses are more likely to develop cancer..or something

[acptulsa]

Ice cream socials.

In other news, the bare skeleton of a particularly thick-boned person, now deceased, was recently pronounced 'overweight' by the federal government.

[MikeStanart]

Might have something to do with the fact that people are Always eating out after church. I'd say a majority of people don't eat breakfast before-hand; are starving through the entire service, go to the restaurant and order a massive meal and devour it in one sitting at a fast rate. Concentrated calories like that will pack on the pounds.


How academically dishonest can you get with this ridiculous heading????

"Warning: Spending too much time at church may be harmful to your health."

[sevin]

Edit: ninja'd. What he said^

Well, every Sunday there's a HUGE lunch rush after church. Getting together and eating is part of the church culture.

[Southron]

I take it you've never attended after-church meals. Feast for a king.:D

[Dave Aiello]

Uneducated people don't know which foods are healthy :)

[MaxPower]

Yet regular attendance at religious events also correlates with above-average life span...

[nate895]

Yet regular attendance at religious events also correlates with above-average life span...

Yeah, us religious people can become jolly old fat men!!!

[Kludge]

Might have something to do with the fact that people are Always eating out after church. I'd say a majority of people don't eat breakfast before-hand; are starving through the entire service, go to the restaurant and order a massive meal and devour it in one sitting at a fast rate. Concentrated calories like that will pack on the pounds.


How academically dishonest can you get with this ridiculous heading????

"Warning: Spending too much time at church may be harmful to your health."


Edit: ninja'd. What he said^

Well, every Sunday there's a HUGE lunch rush after church. Getting together and eating is part of the church culture.
These.

Pancake breakfasts, friday fish fries, mystery dinner theaters, Communion (wafers & sugary drinks are full of carbs), and way more get-togethers than would otherwise - and after Church, we'd often have an at-home get-together with family or out to eat @ somewhere like an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet = a lot of food ingested & time spent sitting.

Of course, I was skinny when I was Christian and only after became fat. Though... Baptists don't approve of drinking MD 20/20..... Maybe the correlation is stronger among Catholics. :D

[LibertariaNole]

never was a huge fan of church, but definitely the best part was Sunday dinner after church. We'd either have it at church or a family member's place. Always had a huge spread of good fried southern food. Almost worth sitting through another sermon to get some more of that fried chicken...almost

[kah13176]

Atheists tend to have more concern for their health since they think this life is all they have, and they want to make the most of it. I.e., they have a primary concern to make this life as fulfilling as possible due to the absense of an afterlife. Hence, atheists also have the lowest crime rates amongst all religious denominations as well.

[acptulsa]

Atheists tend to... want to make the most of it. I.e., they have a primary concern to make this life as fulfilling as possible due to the absense of an afterlife.

And yet, they don't seem to favor ice cream socials or pot luck dinners. Strange how that works out.

[Kludge]

never was a huge fan of church, but definitely the best part was Sunday dinner after church. We'd either have it at church or a family member's place. Always had a huge spread of good fried southern food. Almost worth sitting through another sermon to get some more of that fried chicken...almost
ALMOST?! Man, my grandma must'a made better pancakes than your whole damned congregation. That's just sad.

[MikeStanart]

These.

Pancake breakfasts, friday fish fries, mystery dinner theaters, Communion (wafers & sugary drinks are full of carbs), and way more get-togethers than would otherwise - and after Church, we'd often have an at-home get-together with family or out to eat @ somewhere like an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet = a lot of food ingested & time spent sitting.

Of course, I was skinny when I was Christian and only after became fat. Though... Baptists don't approve of drinking MD 20/20..... Maybe the correlation is stronger among Catholics. :D

I have won Kludge's favor. I dare say my life is complete.

[ExPatPaki]

It happens at Muslim events too. Lots of oily, fatty foods with fried doughy deserts. People definitely have problems with heart conditions, cholesterol and blood pressure.

[fisharmor]

I think it's much more likely that since married religious people consider themselves to be bonded by a bit more than a convenient legal arrangement, they don't feel as much pressure not to turn into a pile of Michelins in their 30s.

I also think Christians are more likely to reject Cosmo's definition of beautiful.

Lastly, and I know this doesn't apply to 99% of American Christianity, but traditional prescribed fasting isn't good for you.
My brother-in-law (an Orthodox priest) spends Lent cutting out meat and dairy entirely, and toward the end is basically vegan.
Then after Easter service, they start a multi-week breakfast consisting of little other than meat, cheese, and eggs.

[ChaosControl]

Interestingly enough there was a study that showed that people of the religion I was raised in lived on average 10 years longer than others and were healthier.
I suppose it depends on the branch of Christianity. Of course the denomination I was raised in had an above average number of vegetarians and vegans compared to the general population and had teachings on nutrition in general.

[virgil47]

Perhaps these poor unfortunates gain excess pounds because they spend less time "running" from the police. Perhaps they are overweight for the same reason as many academics. Academics tend to think more and do physical labor less. Perhaps they are just more aware of current world events and are unconciously storing up weight for the lean times that may well be coming!

[acptulsa]

And does it tend to happen more in churches with hard, unpadded pews? The more the cushion the better the sermon.

[RoyalShock]

I think many of the primary reasons have been hit on here. As a Christian myself, here are my thoughts:

1. The "food, fun and fellowship" culture. Potlucks and other church social events tend to be food-centric. In my church there is a lot of farm family heritage. While their lives have gotten more sedentary, their food preferences haven't.

2. Shift in priorities. With the promise of an afterlife and a command to love others and spread the gospel, those looking forward to an eternity in heaven have less incentive to focus on their physical condition.

3. Importance of "beauty". A church goer is likely to put more emphasis on the spiritual and emotional health of themselves and others. While physical attraction is still a consideration, it falls lower on the pick list than the other two. This goes for pre-marital and marital relationships alike.

4. Society's "undesirables" (ie. overweight, unattractive, poor) will generally find more acceptance among a church community (or at least a spiritually healthy one). So that population may skew the numbers before considering the first three factors.

Personally, while I could stand to lose 10-15 lbs. (after having lost 15 already in the past couple of months), I do believe that "the body is the temple of the holy spirit" and should be well cared for. Gluttony can be just as bad as any other form of over-indulgence, including obsessing over one's own body. As with anything, balance is the key.

[justinc.1089]

Obviously most Christians don't believe in the verse in the Bible that says to slit your throat if you're a man of gluttony apparently lol... I think its in Psalms, I don't remember exactly.

I come from an Adventist family though, so its the opposite in the church I had to go to pretty much my whole life. The Adventist Church promotes being healthy, and actually teaches that Christians are supposed to eat a kosher, Old Testament diet of the clean meats only. So Adventists believe eating stuff like shellfish and pork is a sin.

Then you have the radical Adventists who take it even further than what the SDA Church officially teaches, and believe eating ANY meat (sometimes dairy too) is a sin.

So, overall Adventists live 10-15 years longer than the general population according to multiple studies, BUT that number is misleading because a tiny minority of Adventists skew the overall results because its the radical types that live longer. Many Adventists actually eat less healthy than an average person because while they avoid all unclean meats, and eat only some other meats, their other choices in their diet are just sad often. Too much bread, sugar, not enough fruits, and so on.

I would say 10% of Adventists that include vegetarianism as part of their religious beliefs to the point where they won't eat meat because they feel its a sin probably live 25 years longer than the general population, and the other 90% of Adventists probably only live 2-5 years longer than the general population.



Now as for other more average denominations like Baptists, Methodists, and so on, I think eating unhealthy is part of the culture of most of the members of those denominations. Most people I know in my family and friends go to church each week, and a lot of them are overweight, but its not due to the church, its just the culture most of them have grown up in. That culture happens to include both going to church and eating unhealthy as parts of itself.

[acptulsa]

If you want too see an extraordinarily healthy, non-vegan Christian, go to Amish country.

[dannno]

Atheists tend to have more concern for their health since they think this life is all they have, and they want to make the most of it. I.e., they have a primary concern to make this life as fulfilling as possible due to the absense of an afterlife. Hence, atheists also have the lowest crime rates amongst all religious denominations as well.

Not only that, atheists are generally more concerned with having sex with attractive individuals, which usually necessitates being in relatively good shape.

[nate895]

Not only that, atheists are generally more concerned with having sex with attractive individuals, which usually necessitates being in relatively good shape.

Do you think about anything besides sex and pot legalization?

[dannno]

Do you think about anything besides sex and pot legalization?

Of course.

http://www.bluebirdboarding.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/shacked.jpg

But if you ask me why religious people are fat and non-religious people aren't, I'm going to give you an answer that has to do with sex because generally (although not entirely) religious people don't have all that much of a sex drive.. if they did they would either marry a hottie right away or be like fuck this shit.

[crazyfacedjenkins]

Do you think about anything besides sex and pot legalization?

How Lame Am I? (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?273806-How-Lame-Am-I) Answer: Incredibly.

[acptulsa]

But if you ask me why religious people are fat and non-religious people aren't, I'm going to give you an answer that has to do with sex because generally (although not entirely) religious people don't have all that much of a sex drive.. if they did they would either marry a hottie right away or be like fuck this shit.

"Casy leaned forward excitedly. 'You see,' he cried, 'I seen it was that way, an' I started thinkin'.' He waved his bony big-knuckled hand up and down in a patting gesture. 'I got to thinkin' like this--here's me preachin' grace. An' here's them people gettin' grace so hard they're jumpin' an' shoutin'. Now they say layin' up with a girl comes from the devil. But the more grace a girl got in her, the quicker she wants to go out in the grass..."--John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

[libertybrewcity]

two things can correlate, but it doesn't mean they are linked. the murder rate has positive correlation with ice cream sales. they must be linked.

[nate895]

two things can correlate, but it doesn't mean they are linked. the murder rate has positive correlation with ice cream sales. they must be linked.

I would, however, have to agree that being a Presbyterian might be linked to obesity. We eat at church a lot.

[denison]

Eating all that flesh of Jesus must be packing on the pounds.

haha :p