Lifestyle: DIET Flashcards
View of Lifestyle in Recent Years
- Doctors & patients with unhealthy lifestyle
increasingly seen as **important DOH **
- doctors have actually refused treatment to patients who live unhealthy lifestyle → (smoke, alcohol, drugs, obese)
- argument is that it is a waste of resources to look after ppl who don’t look after themselves
Doctors have refused treatment to patients who live an unhealthy lifestyle
→ argue it is a waste of resource to take care of someone who doesn’t take care of themselves
PROBLEM WITH THIS APPROACH?
lifestyle is seen as determined by indiv decisions/choices
limited view of concept of lifestyle
Sociology’s view of lifestyle
lifestyle = how you live your whole life
shaped by indiv choices AND norms, routines & social structures established by society
decisions made in **social context **
(lifestyle has to fit into one’s social context & social position → determined by # of social variables
more broadly, lifestyle of popn has to fit into **structure of society **
To sociologists, Lifestyle is primarily determined by? **(2) **
1) type of society you live in
2) social position within that society
different (1) & (2) have dif typical lifestyles
Lifestyle - Sociologists View (general)
lifestyle = how you live your whole life
shaped by choices & norms/routines/social structure
- choices made in social context (have to fit into social position)
determined by (1) **type of society** (social context) & (2) **social position**
-lifestyle impacted by **social variables **which are largely outside one’s control
Diet & Exercise
main determinants of body weight & overall fitness level
dif types of society - dif typical patterns of diet & exercise
→ dif patterns lead to dif society’s having dif typical body types
Somatotypes
body types
- most widely used system for classifying body types developed by **William Sheldon **
argued ideal body type = mesomorph (lean & muscular)
- bodies diverge from this ideal in 2 directions
**ectomorph → **overly thin
**endomorph → **too fat
Course of History: body types
see simple progression of body types as society changes
**Hunter-Gatherer → **earliest form of society
- typical body type = **mesomorph **
**agricultural (11,000 BP) → **rise of class structure
- invented refined starch
- aristrocracy = mesomorphs
- majority of popn = **ectomorphs **
**Industrial → **more endomorphs
- invented refined sugar
This historical model of body types shows us that..
the type of society you live in shapes the type of body
Healthiest Society
Why?
Hunter-Gatherer
human body is product of millions of years of evolution
for over 90% of human evolution & 99% of human body evolution
→ lived HG lifestyle
- natural diet → not processed, not many grains or tubers
- *high** in protein, vitamins, minerals & fiber
- *low** in sugar, starch, carbs & fat
fish + lean & wild meat + green veggies = **main meal **
nuts & fruits = **snacks & dessert **
Agricultural Societ
**11,000 BP **(before present)
invented refined/processed **starch **
rise of class structure & **social inequality **
- aristrocracy → still **mesomorphs **(took all nutritious food)
- majority of popn → ectomorphs
- *-**peasants had less & less nutritious food
- had to live on cultivated crops (mostly tubers, grains, legumes) →high in starch & low in vit/prot
Industrial Society
began in 18th Century
invented processed/refined sugar
- made **fruits & nuts **available year-round
- (relatively high in natural sugars & starch) *
Human Evolution
Earliest Ancestors - Hominids **
- 6 million years ago → **broke away from apes by standing upright (developed **bipedalism) **
Gradually evolved into Homo genus
- began with **Homo Erectus **(2 million years ago)
→until reached Homo Sapiens (200,000 years ago)
- Through these millions of years of evolution, ancestors lived by H & G
→ only changed with development of Agriculture (11,000 BP)
Different crops became widespread in different parts of world
India & China → Rice
England & France → Wheat
- *Central/Latin America →** development of (3) crops
- *beans, squash & maize
- *so widespread that local religions referred to them as 3 sisters
Most of these crops didn’t even exist in form we know them today until agricultural society bred them into existence
(3) Examples
Rice → wild rice = black, long, thin, takes 3x longer to cook
- *Bananas → ** human invention - created by selective breeding
- began with plantains (like bananas but tougher & not sweet)
Invented Bread → original junk food of agricultural society
How has Agricultural Society changed foods?
bred foods to make them softer, sweeter & easier to cook
- made foods taste better & saved fuel (faster cooking time)
but foods have become higher in sugar & starch
→ more fattening & less healthy
Consequences for Health of Agricultural Society Diet
Aristrocracy (esp. men) had better diet
- grew to be taller, stronger, healthier
- Advantage over peasants
When peasants rebelled, Aristrocracy won more often
- keeping peasants weak/hungry was to their advantage
*
Consequences of HG Diet & Agricultural Diet in CDN history
(general)
Over long-term, peasant diet left many malnourished → weakened immune system
In Europe, after 1000s of years of farming, ground exhausted & couldnt keep up with growing popn
By 14th C → widespread malnutrition → series of epidemics
- those who survived eventually developed immunity
- diseases settled down in late 15th/16th C
When Euro settlers came to America in 16th C → exposed AB to virulent disease never seen before → estimates that 90% of AB popn killed in 17th & 18th C
Agricultural Society in Europe → Consequences of Agricultural Diet
peasant diet left many malnourished → weaker immune system
After 1000s of years of farming → ground exhausted, couldnt keep up with growing popn
By 14th C → widespread malnutrition
- series of epidemics swept across Europe in 14/15th C
worst was Black Death (Bubonic Plague)
By mid-14th C → killed 1/3 of Europe popn
survivors developed immunity - diseases settled in late 15/16C
Consequences of Agricultural Diet in Americas
Start of 16th C → Europeans came to Americas
- Expedition led by Aristrocracy but mostly peasants
- Reports sent back to Europe stated AB ppl here were taller, stronger, healthier & lived decade longer than Euro peasants
Diseases brought by Europeans had evolved → grown stronger
- more deadly/virulent than anything encountered be4
- health worked against them
in 17/18th C → estimated over 90% of Native popn died from Euro diseases
- smallpox, influenza, TB, leprosy
- rough estimate close to 100 mill died across N/S Am
- would b single worst demographic disaster in human history
Aboriginal population - decline & rise
Declined swiftly after contact with Euro settlers
continued to fall & only began to rise after WW2
Industrial Society
- body type?
- why?
More overweight ppl → Endomorphs
largely bc invented refined sugar
- added sugar to items already high in starch
- cake, cookies, cereals, choco, pop
- or added salt
- potato chips, pretzels, pasta
- ALL unhealthy, fattening & JUNK FOOD
Junk Food & Obesity
main reason obesity is becoming just as much of a socially caused health hazard in Industrial society as malnutrition was in Agricultural society
Primarily responsible for slowing turn more of us into popn of overweight endomorphs
Statistics on Canada Obesity
CIHI → 2005
- 23% of adults = obese (BMI > 30)
- in SK → 33% of men, 29% of women = obese
Adult Obesity rates almost doubled since 1978
- 1978 → 15% CDN kids = obese
- 2005 → 26%
Stats Canada → 2009
- 24% of adult CDNS = obese, 37% = overweight, 1% = underweight
- means ONLY 38% are at healthy body weight
