There is no human being alive on this planet with the natural setpoint of 260lb while 5'7" tall.

There are people with genetic predisposition for obesity, but they are far and few between.

The primary reason for majority of people to be obese is the lack of volue to calories balance in the aritificialy processed and enhanced food we eat.

A meal used to have a lot less calories than it has now - and be bigger as well. That caused us to be able to eat a lot, have it digested over a long period of time and the nutrients being released to the bloodstream constantly for a prolonged period without spikes and rushes.

If go off the "corporate lunch diet" - during Christmass for example and eat home cooked food only - I can eat up to 5 times as much as I do during a workweek - AND LOOSE WIEGHT. Obviously a large portion of fish and veggies will have the same or less calories than a the fast-burger with fries and cola AND they are released over a period of several hours - so you are not hungry so soon. The problem is that cooking a real meal from scratch without using ANY pre-processed components is a time consuming activity and very hard to do I there is nobody at home to do it outside the holidays.

The economy also used to be such as we could afford to have the wife at home cooking these meals for the family. Now, a two paycheck household is a must to survive. Mom can't stay home and cook for the family every night; in fact, this mom has to work late and then go to school every night. Meals on the go are the norm for the average family.

I long for the fifties, where I could stay home, raise babies and clean house. Though I know I'm in the minority, I think that would be awesome.

You might get a few proposals if you're not careful...

;-)

Too late! I'm already married.

Ha.

I don't like the direction feminism has taken women. I happen to believe they have a certain role in society, and while I enjoy my job, I don't think it's nearly as fulfilling as keeping a home and raising a family as my job would be.

Dang!

Raising kids has sort of been relegated to the back-burner. It doesn't have to be demeaning to a woman to stay home and raise kids. It seems like an intelligent strategy in a cooperative effort to raise healthy, functional people. I think more people should decide what their real priority is a career or a family. Because in doing both (often but certainly not always) both get somewhat shortchanged and everyone pays the price. But I'd never tell someone one way or another. Economic realities and all that. Life can be hard.

Yep. It can. My husband makes a decent living as a teacher, but some days it feels like my whole salary is going to get us both to work. If there ever were a chance I could stay home and raise babies, it is all shot to hell now with the gas prices.

And my son is definitely cheated by my career. Unfortunately, these are the times in which we live.

and for those of us with vaginas who don't feel fulfilled keeping a home and taking care of children all day? are we just destiny-denying freaks?

the awesome thing about feminism is that it is about CHOICE, not demeaning motherhood. you want to be a stay-at-home mom? great! it's just as valid a choice as to be a working mom--but the reality is that most moms don't really have the ecomonic luxury of staying home, even if they wanted to. don't assume that what is right for you is right for everyone else.

Nice reactionary, reflexively angry response. You just restated exactly what we just said but in a hostile, I'm offended manner. Maybe switch to decaf. This is why feminism get a bad rap. Nobody said you were wrong for working. You and your vagina need to chill out.