This is complete crap. To try to blame the Watchtower Society for your weight problems is simply ridiculous. There are just as many healthy JW pioneers in the org who could claim being a JW makes you thin. As I stated before my Dad found time to walk despite always being active in the org. Let alone the argument that Hall Builds encourage strenuous activity. Sorry but this is just one of those threads that makes those leaving the org look nutso. Must the org really be blamed for every problem around?
Being a Jehovah's Witness Can Make You Fat
by WTWizard 30 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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LouBelle
remember bodily training was beneficial for little - so if you took an interest on the outside package you were being too wordly. Plus you weren't encouarage to do sports at school either!!! So that mindset (for me anyway) was embedded into me as a child.
Then if we were at a social, the brothers would play what we call (touch rugby) but because it was contact and could lead to mistaken touching of certain body parts, us sisters used to just sit and watch.
Then you had the new order to look forward to because then you'd be perfect and all would be right with the world.
I lost a lot of my youth on being the fat kid. That's why once I left I started going to the gym, dancing/clubbing and enjoying life - found that food wasn't the comfort I once thought it was. I've shed a good few kilograms, got some more to go, but nearly there. One day I'll post before and after pics!
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Junction-Guy
I can see where it could make you fat. They say that depression causes weight gain too, and since depression runs rampant in the JW Cult, it only makes sense that JW's would have a higher tendency to be obese.
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Burger Time
The only problem is that there is no proof the religion makes or causes people to gain weight. All just speculation and theory. From my perspective in my Hall the healthy far outweighed (no pun intended) the obese overweight people. I just think this crackpot "theory" is one that makes ex-JW's look like angry nut jobs.
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Junction-Guy
Angry nut jobs? That's a little harsh, besides there is so many other things to despise the Watchtower for. I do think personal motivation plays a big key in weight loss. It's kind of hard to get personally motivated in physical exercise when you are forbidden to participate in school sports and other activities. It has been proven that children who are exposed to team sports in school are more motivated, more self confident, less likely to use drugs, and to be more physically fit, so in this regard I can see where being a JW would be a negative.
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WTWizard
Whether there is proof that religion itself can make you fat, many of the Watchtower policies contribute heavily to it. First, field circus is a lot of sitting in the car and driving, and a lot of standing at doors. You get light exercise when walking between doors. If all you used to do before was lift a spoon with ice cream or pizza, it will be an improvement. But, if you used to work out or do a lot of sustained walking, you will notice a decrease in exercise that will be significant. There are people that do lots of walking for the boasting sessions and field circus, but in the developed world, they are extremely rare (mostly sitting and driving).
Many sports are discouraged. Children are not supposed to play school sports, which do help with weight issues. The outings where people could play have been greatly reduced even since the late 1980s--I have noticed that trend, and so have other posters here.
Sleep is limited in the cult. People that get up at 5 in the morning every day for street work are at risk, especially after spending the evening at a boasting session. Children are also at greater risk of sleep deprivation. Recent studies that have been sporadically showing up in health shows and newspapers have been comparing sleep loss with having diabetes. It wreaks havoc on the metabolism.
Stress also helps people get fat. The kind of stress the witlesses are under is unbearable. Just look at the threads where people have been counseled for stupid things, and hounded to go along with it, even if it makes absolutely no sense or it doesn't work. There is the rushing to get your time in, get to the boasting sessions, and the worry about money (which is about to get much worse, the minute they tell people not to go to college or to quit full time work). Religion is not supposed to have this effect--unless the leaders abuse the power.
I would definitely say that common sense tells me that being a witless has enough of the ingredients to significantly increase the risk of getting fat. It also hinders people from losing weight. It is the stupid policies, the strict insistence that our time is for field circus, and stressing that sports are worldly that cause this problem for most in the cancer. And that's on top of all the snacks, the coffee and doughnut breaks, and eating fast "food" every day for lunch--which is a consequence of the pressure to get that almighty time in, not religion in general.
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Burger Time
This is all regional. In my Hall physical activity was encouraged. Sleep was not limited in the "cult". Again it's just a theory, nothing more.
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Burger Time
junction-guy I am just saying what it appears to active witnesses. This is one of those theories that is so petty it looks ridiculous. Granted I don't think WTWizard's intentions are for this at all. It's just what it looks like. It's just amazing how many people immediately jump on the negative bandwagon as soon as they get a chance. At some point the Society can not be blamed.
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Junction-Guy
Food and alcohol are one of the few outlets that JW's were allowed too, food especially. Gluttony was winked at, social drinking almost to the point of drunkenness was also winked at. 99% of other normal life activities were frowned. What's a witness to do for entertainment?
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Junction-Guy
But yeah, I can see your point Burger-Time, like I said there are so many other things to despise that Cult for, obesity really isnt even a major issue.