Will Wii Fit and the exercise craze help starve the world?
By Carl Borrowman
With food shortages abound throughout the world, do millions of gamers worldwide really need to be exercising more, that is, burning more calories, or should they really just be eating less? While exercise can increase muscle development, it can also increase appetite, possibly resulting in increased food consumption.
While no one video game alone should even be close to being held responsible for the present worldwide food crisis, will Wii Fit’s mega-popularity and sales help the situation at all? Probably not.
One of the latest studies shows increased physical activity in obese children does not help them lose weight, and if they are not losing weight with that increased physical activity, what are they doing? Eating more to account for the calories burned.
Brad Metcalf, the lead researcher of the study said, “The most cost-effective way of easing the problem would be to put all the money into getting kids to stop eating junk food rather than splitting it between that and getting them active.”
The exercise craze that Wii Fit’s into may be wonderful news to the medical industry that spends less than 7 percent of it’s budget for prevention vice treatment of ailments (many of which obesity cause or aggravate), let alone the diet, exercise, and supplement industries that are making millions, perhaps billions per year off of the “fitness” movement, but it should be obvious that more exercise is not the key to losing weight, while calorie restriction with optimal nutrition is.
Could it be that the vast majority of overweight or obese people have not learned and acted upon the knowledge that simply eating more whole, nutritious food and less calories overall at the same time would practically guarantee them losing weight, without resorting to increased exercise?
Maybe there should be a Wii Eat Less to counteract the effects of millions of gamers worldwide burning more calories and not losing weight in the process, because more than a few people see a bestseller like this on Nintendo’s ubiquitous console as being just a little bit ironic, considering the world situation today.
If video games have been blamed for some crimes in the past, many claim their is still no direct connection between the game and real world actions by the gamer, with Wii Fit however, that may change as Wii Fit becomes the world’s first exercise scale that doesn’t just make you move more, but also makes you want to eat more.
While there will be a few people who actually go beyond just relying on this device and truly eating less calories, but also more nutritious food, the vast majority may be like the lady in GTA IV saying, “I’ll take it, I’ll just double my workout,” outside at the local junk food vendor.
A significant population of several countries should be admitting Wii Fat, with a rising portion of overweight or obese people, and we’re not just talking about distorted misinterpretations of BMI here, it’s become and epidemic. Learn to live a lifestyle that restricts calories while filling you up with nutritious food, and realize that strenuous exercise is not necessary for good health.
If there is a silver lining to the Wii Fit movement, it will be in telling overweight and obese people that they are actually that, instead of continuing the fantasy that they are really just “healthy” or “big-boned” (muscular BMI exceptions aside).
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June 2nd, 2008
you’ve got to be kidding me, what asshole wrote this! this is the most ignorant thing i have ever heard of.