Sorry, additive brain.
The prep class, which was one of those bougie things my mother scrimped for because she was FREAKING out I might not get into a good school (insanity) was basically just that. How to test. How to understand the logic of the test, for people who obviously didn't the first time around.
The math, well you know. Not much bang for that buck. My verbal went from 90th percentile to 98th percentile. Without having it explained to me though that particular logic puzzle would have eluded me - that's a skill by itself.
I'm not rich either, in fact in debt for being smart up to the time I went in debt for being sick. I don't regret the first round of debt.
My son is square. He doesn't have ANY fat on him, and the other day at the pool someone pointed to him (not realizing he was my son) and said 'wow, is that like a little kid six pack?' I've seen him hang from the monkey bars and do leg lifts while laughing. He thinks they're fun!
You know BG, while you continue to claim it is all about health, and the huge cost each year to the health industry etc., being your motivation for the thread, it unravels when you look at the real figures of what is killing and immobilising people and has been for a long time, that being stress related illness. You do not propose these people need to take a look at themselves and do something, nor that they make you physically ill to watch, and yet it is a real problem which for some is manageable if they are given the resources and can apply them to their life....of course, it also would help if life itself was not so stressful, if people had enough to live on, if they weren't criticised and judged for any number of things, and if we lived in a more supportive and friendly community. Bottom line is we are all human, we all have our weaknesses (yes, even you do), most of us are aware of our problem areas and many attempt to do something about them, and no amount of criticism from others who do not approve of another's particular issue, or often do not know what they are talking about, lends any positive or long term support but does do a lot of damage on both sides.
Catalina
I also think a lot of the weight issues, along with many of the diseases on the increase, are due to the changes in our food over the last few decades. When I was a child, the only thing we ate which had any sort of additives in was the occasional bought biscuit when visiting family/friends whose family bought as opposed to bake. Everything else was simple food without preservatives, additives, colourings, no genetic modification. The more GM and additives are being incorporated into our diets right down to legislation in some countries that particular ingredients (vitamins, preservatives etc.) must be in all bread etc., the more health issues are arising, the more people are finding it difficult to control their weight and health, and the more frequent diseases which affect the digestive system etc., are becoming. Some kids are not as active, but others are just as active as we were when I was a child and yet some of those very active children are still showing signs of weight gain issues. Like many things, it is easier for governments to shift the blame to those affected than look at the possibility it could be more complicated and possibly a result of their decisions.
Catalina
Oh, it's definitely ADHD, Combined Type. Perhaps my joints are what have kept me from being quite so active...although I remember playing and running around a lot as a LITTLE kid, my joints started going bad in my early teens, so I suppose I haven't been that active in a long time. Hyperactivity manifests itself in more than just gross motor activity though...I am extremely hyperactive in a fine motor sense! ADHD is my soapbox though, and don't mean to start anything...I have a lot of strong opinions about it so I am gonna tuck the soapbox back under the desk.
I simply don't get all this. If everybody is nobody else's business, how are we even a society at all? Yes, everyone has their own reality but what that little personal world does is limit the objectivity they have about themselves. Regardless of whose business it is, western society is steadily getting more violent and it's bad for everyone.
People are generally quite crap at taking true responsibility for themselves and everything they do. Netz might but she is a distinct minority. Society has to take constructive steps with people who are damaging themselves, and people who allow their partners to beat, cut, humiliate, and anally rape them are doing just that. If we all take the stance that nobody else is our business, our modern, selfish society is fundamentally doomed. You can't spend your whole life in fear of offending anybody and people who are in violent, degrading relationships need re-educating and help with identifying underlying causes that many of them just wouldn't seek themselves.
