Essay: Atheist Penn Jillette, you're still overweight! What happened?

From Conservapedia

Jump to: navigation, search
Penn Jillette

Dear Penn Jillette the so-called atheist (who is afraid to debate Bible believers):

I was looking at the April 17, 2012 article entitled The Penn & Teller Election and it appears that you are still width challenged. What happened? I thought you possessed the "super atheist intellect".

Do not the scientific disciplines of exercise science, nutritional science and medical science have an abundance of solutions to being overweight? Doesn't medical science declare there are significant health risks with being overweight?

Is the problem sin? The sins of sloth and gluttony? Are you sure God does not exist? The reason I ask is that there sure is a lot of evidence that God exist as can be seen by the resources offered here: Evidence for Christianity. By the way, do you have any proof and evidence that atheism is true?

See also: Atheism and obesity

Contents

Physical and mental health related problems associated with obesity and/or being overweight

See also: Atheism and health and Physical and mental health related problems associated with obesity

From a medical perspective, an obese person has accumulated enough body fat that it can have a negative effect on their health. If a person's weight is at least 20% higher than it should be, he/she is generally considered obese. If your Body Mass Index (BMI) is between 25 and 29.9 you are considered overweight.[1] If your BMI is 30 or over you are considered obese.[2] The term obese can also used in a more general way to indicate someone who is overweight.[3]

Some of the medical conditions associated with obesity include: type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and triglycerides, coronary artery disease (CAD), stroke, arthritis, cancer, sleep apnea, reproductive problems in women and varicose veins.[4] In addition, medical science research indicates that excess weight impairs brain function.[5]

Medical science research indicates that excess weight impairs brain function.[6]

According to the Mayo Clinic some of the symptoms associated with obesity can include:

“
  • Difficulty sleeping
  • Snoring
  • Sleep apnea
  • Pain in your back or joints
  • Excessive sweating
  • Always feeling hot
  • Rashes or infection in folds of your skin
  • Feeling out of breath with minor exertion
  • Daytime sleepiness or fatigue
  • Depression[7]
”

Concerning the issue of depression, atheists do have higher rates of suicide than the general population. For more information please see: Atheism and depression and Atheism and suicide.

Obesity and Alzheimer's disease

A PET scan of the brain of an individual with Alzheimer's disease reveals a loss of function in the temporal lobe.

See also: Obesity and Alzheimer's disease

In 2005, WebMD published:

“ People with diabetes are at particularly high risk of Alzheimer's disease. But now there's strong evidence that people with high insulin levels -- long before they get diabetes -- already are on the road to Alzheimer's disease.

As the body becomes more and more overweight, it becomes more and more resistant to the blood-sugar-lowering effects of insulin. To counter this insulin resistance, the body keeps making more insulin...

Insulin Triggers Amyloid Buildup

High insulin levels are known to cause blood vessels to become inflamed....

One dangerous effect of this insulin-caused brain inflammation is increased brain levels of beta-amyloid. Beta-amyloid is the twisted protein that's the main ingredient in the sticky plaques that clog the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease.

"What was striking was the magnitude of the effect," Craft tells WebMD. "Inflammation can be a result of amyloid elevations but can also create an environment in which amyloid is made more readily. Inflammation can be both the result and cause of amyloid production."[8]

”

A 2009 health report on a medical study indicated:

“ They compared the brain scan of 94 people in their 70s who were obese & overweight. They found that the obese had lost tissue in the frontal & temporal lobes areas critical for planning & memory. Declines were also seen in areas used for attention & executive functions, long term memory & movement

A neurologist Professor Paul Thompson said, “That's a big loss of tissue and it depletes your cognitive reserves, putting you at much greater risk of Alzheimer's and other diseases that attack the brain. But you can greatly reduce your risk for Alzheimer's if you can eat healthily and keep your weight under control.”M[9]

”

Health effects of Alzheimer's disease

See also: Effects of Alzheimer's disease on the brain

Odds of Developing Alzheimer's.png

Alzheimer's disease is "characterised by loss of neurons and synapses in the cerebral cortex and certain subcortical regions. This loss results in gross atrophy of the affected regions, including degeneration in the temporal lobe and parietal lobe, and parts of the frontal cortex and cingulate gyrus.[10] Some of the primary symptoms of Alzheimer's disease are: memory problems, mood swings, emotional outbursts, brain stem damage which impairs function in the heart, lungs plus causes disruption of various other bodily processes.[11]

An abstract of the medical study entitled Measures to Assess the Noncognitive Symptoms of Dementia in the Primary Care Setting by Brent P. Forester, M.D. and Thomas E. Oxman, M.D. inidcated "Noncognitive symptoms associated with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias include psychosis, mood disturbances, personality changes, agitation, aggression, pacing, wandering, altered sexual behavior, changed sleep patterns, and appetite disturbances. These noncognitive symptoms of dementia are common, disabling to both the patient and the caregiver, and costly."[12]

According to the Center for Neuro Skills:

“ Kolb & Wishaw (1990) have identified eight principle symptoms of temporal lobe damage: 1) disturbance of auditory sensation and perception, 2) disturbance of selective attention of auditory and visual input, 3) disorders of visual perception, 4) impaired organization and categorization of verbal material, 5) disturbance of language comprehension, 6) impaired long-term memory, 7) altered personality and affective behavior, 8) altered sexual behavior.[13] ”

Obesity, dementia, Alzheimer's disease and prevention

For more information please see: Alzheimer's disease and prevention

Weili Xu, a researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, declared: "Our results contribute to the growing evidence that controlling body weight or losing weight in middle age could reduce your risk of dementia".[14]

For more information see: Alzheimer's disease and prevention

Chuck Norris on the topic of obesity

See also: Chuck Norris on the topic of obesity

Chuck Norris signing a T-shirt for a soldier in the United States Marine Corps. [15]

In April of 2011, the conservative Christian Chuck Norris wrote:

"The problems with being overweight and obese go far beyond looks. They affect our mentality, mobility and can lead to a number of physical diseases and ailments...

It's true that genetics, environment, socio-economic status, metabolism and behavior can be contributors to these ailments. But the fact is most Americans are overweight and obese because they eat poorly and don't exercise. Most of our foods are super high in fats, sugars and salt. And, compared to other countries, we eat much larger portions. We live to eat – most other cultures eat to live.

The primary reason obesity statistics and these subsequent illnesses are so high is that our culture is entrenched in hedonism, which means we are all about pleasure. We go where we feel like going. We do what we feel like doing. We watch what we feel like watching. And we eat what we feel like eating. And God help the soul who tells us to do otherwise...

... We think doing what we feel like doing is power and freedom, when really it's just carrying out what our flesh craves. True freedom is being able to look straight in the eye of what you feel like doing (even if it's wrong) and possessing the power to say no. Eating what we want isn't liberty – that's tyranny. Eating what is right is freedom – that's victory over oppression. And triumph over the tummy should be our next battle. Fighting for a better America includes fighting for a healthier, fitter, combat-ready you. (That is why my new cultural warrior book, "Black Belt Patriotism," contains an entire chapter on helping you win the consumption war and not just the culture wars. Get a free chapter here.)"[16]

Overweight atheists comedy and satire

Notes

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/info/obesity/
  3. ↑ http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/obesity?show=0&t=1293887890
  4. ↑
  5. ↑
  6. ↑
  7. ↑ http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/obesity/DS00314/DSECTION=symptoms
  8. ↑ Obesity and Alzheimer's: High Insulin Levels Linked to Alzheimer's
  9. ↑ Obese people are more at risk of Alzheimer’s
  10. ↑ http://www.news-medical.net/health/Neurodegeneration-in-Alzheimers-and-Parkinsons.aspx
  11. ↑ http://www.dementiacarecentral.com/node/559
  12. ↑ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC419385/
  13. ↑ http://www.neuroskills.com/tbi/btemporl.shtml
  14. ↑ Obesity in Middle Age May Increase Risk of Dementia
  15. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ChuckNorris200611292256.jpg
  16. ↑ http://www.wnd.com/index.php/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=109051
Retrieved from "http://conservapedia.com/Essay:_Atheist_Penn_Jillette,_you%27re_still_overweight!_What_happened%3F"
Personal tools