Why is America so fat?

[Zeph]

While less activity is a partial cause, it's one I don't see us getting rid of it. I still put 99% of the blame on the food and comfort of our modern society. We're essentially living in a buffet 24/7. Fast food places don't get customers with healthy salads and lean meat. They get customers by selling high calorie food with lots of fats. Our body loves it, so it triggers all our positive vibes when it's available.

One can blame McDonald's and KFC, but they're just a business where the ultimate goal is to put as much money into the owners as possible. They don't take responsibility for what people eat.

The saddest part of it is that junkfood is cheaper and a lot more easily accessible. If you want nutritionally better food you have to go to a more expensive restaurant. If that's not an option you have to make it yourself, and it's not even cheap then.

Making food at home is the normal way to eat here in Norway, but I know that in many other countries it's a lot more common to go out to eat. If you make food at home you have more control and you can actually see what goes into the food you make. If you make a cake, you can see that it's 45% sugar, 45% butter and some other stuff. In our society everything is supposed to be efficient and fast. We get all kinds of gadgets to do our chores so we don't have to do them ourselves. Making food takes time so it's easy to let someone else do the job. The time we "save" is spent on TV and phones and whatnot. Both parents are expected to work, and have to if they plan to fit into the society with all it's expenses. This makes it less likely they'll spend time making dinner every day. I think it was better when the mothers stayed at home watching the kids. Not that women shouldn't work, it could be a split, every parent working 50% each.

In the end, the individual is responsible for what he or she eats and feed the children. We can blame whoever we want, but nobody is forcing anyone to buy junkfood. It's a great example of how powerful our instincts are and what the body tells us. We have incredible amounts of knowledge today. We know what we should be eating, but we don't. It doesn't help that McDonald's offers a salad if 99.999% buy a burger.

Obesity is our modern day epidemic and a result of comfort and availability. I don't have any examples here, but I've read articles stating they don't find much evidence that poor people are more obese than rich people. It's somewhat equally distributed. One reason richer people would've been less obese could be that it's viewed as unhealthy and not ideal, but that's not the case either today. It's become normal and by many even praised.

A very concerning issue is that children are raised as obese. A five year old don't have any choice but to eat what the parents serve it, and can struggle with it the rest of it's life, and passing it over to his or her children again.

With fastfood, junkfood and all that, a lot of flavour is also lost. Everything is coated in fats, oils, sugar and salt, stripping it of whatever taste it might have had. Oils of course have their place in the cuisine, but not in the amounts we find in fastfood. You also lose a lot of food culture, the joy in making and eating food that taste great, which can be a fun journey from deciding what to make, buying the ingredients, preparing and eating it. You don't get that by driving 5 minutes and ordering something from a monitor.

[chilepepper]

I travel a fair amount. Obesity is not just confined to the USA. Leading nations and 3rd world countries have issues with it too

Edited August 31, 2017 by chilepepper

[iacas]

19 hours ago, misty_mountainhop said:

I take the point and, I think, fast food your side of The Pond sounds cheaper than here. However, you wouldn't buy the ingredients to make just one pizza though would you? Make a batch of tomato base and keep it in the fridge for more pizzas/pasta etc - freeze it in batches if you make a load. How much does it actually cost for the flour, tomatoes, herbs, some olive oil, a few olives, anchovies, green pepper and a bit of mozzarella? Buying all that from scratch - OK, more than going to Little Caesars.

Time is money, man.

19 hours ago, misty_mountainhop said:

If you're cooking yourself, you can also control amount of oil etc used, hygiene, provenance of ingredients etc.

I know. That's not what I was responding to, though.

19 hours ago, misty_mountainhop said:

Here's a thing: how about growing your own veg??

Time is money.

19 hours ago, misty_mountainhop said:

I wouldn't say it's clear cut, but eating out on junk isn't so much cheaper when you sit down and analyse it. Not significantly.

Yeah, you just need an extra two hours in a day…

It's pretty clear cut. Cheap food is crappy food. Overall, it's very easy to eat cheaply, quickly, and poorly. It's much, MUCH more difficult to eat cheaply, healthily, and quickly. In fact, it's a matter of "pick any two" from that last list. You can't get all three.

[saevel25]

23 hours ago, Zeph said:

Everything is coated in fats, oils, sugar and salt, stripping it of whatever taste it might have had.

Yet it tastes fantastic.

On ‎8‎/‎31‎/‎2017 at 6:12 AM, misty_mountainhop said:

If you're cooking yourself, you can also control amount of oil etc used, hygiene, provenance of ingredients etc.

Some people don't have a choice. There is a small town in Ohio near where I go camping. Their only grocery store is this small family owned one. They only have low quality name brand stuff. Not everything has access to high quality ingredients.

On ‎8‎/‎31‎/‎2017 at 6:12 AM, misty_mountainhop said:

Here's a thing: how about growing your own veg?? Gardens in the U.K. are vanishing (you almost can't buy a new-build house with something that an honest person would call a garden), but everyone used to have their own fruit/veg patch.

Time, Money, actually having the space to do it. I live in an apartment. I can probably grow some herbs and maybe a tomato plant. I don't have room to grow a wide variety of vegetables.

 

[misty_mountainhop]

1 minute ago, saevel25 said:

Some people don't have a choice. There is a small town in Ohio near where I go camping. Their only grocery store is this small family owned one. They only have low quality name brand stuff. Not everything has access to high quality ingredients.

Time, Money, actually having the space to do it. I live in an apartment. I can probably grow some herbs and maybe a tomato plant. I don't have room to grow a wide variety of vegetables.

Yep, points taken. I was generalising and clearly it isn't going to be practical for several reasons for everyone to grow their own. Still, many could and it's actually quite fun.

The 'small town' issue is well made, but even there, at least one would be more likely to know where the chicken they bought came from. If I buy a readymeal or go to KFC, who knows where it's come from or how its raised etc.

We're generalising and clearly there's no black/white here. Basically, the majority drink too much (take your pick here of sugary drinks and/or booze), don't do anywhere enough exercise, eat enough fruit/veg/fibre and don't know enough about cooking and home economics any more. Not a surprise we see so many carrying a few pounds (or more) than they should do.

There clearly aren't any magic bullets here, otherwise we'd all get slim/fit/healthy really quickly and stay that way.

[iacas]

42 minutes ago, misty_mountainhop said:

Yep, points taken. I was generalising and clearly it isn't going to be practical for several reasons for everyone to grow their own. Still, many could and it's actually quite fun.

It's fun… to you.

Wouldn't be worth my time at all. And seriously, what do I do for my vegetables from October through June?

I had a good sized garden growing up. It wasn't that helpful.

[Marty2019]

I think one of the big problems is that so many of us live in suburbia.   Suburbia requires a car, and cars take you door to door.   Contrast that with big cities where people have to walk to the subway or to the bus stop.   I don't see many fat people in big cities.  In the foreign cities I've been in, just going on the subway can require a lot of walking, even after you get under ground.  

[Runnin]

14 minutes ago, Marty2019 said:

I think one of the big problems is that so many of us live in suburbia.   Suburbia requires a car, and cars take you door to door.   Contrast that with big cities where people have to walk to the subway or to the bus stop.   I don't see many fat people in big cities.  In the foreign cities I've been in, just going on the subway can require a lot of walking, even after you get under ground.  

Was just about to say this when I read your post.  Suburbia does seem to promote less physical activity, especially for housewives.  Not been so good for society in general, either, more separation of class/race which leads to ignorance, jealousy and fear, etc.  There's a cruel irony to the ills of suburbia.

I live in Japan and almost every house has 2 or 3 bicycles and they get used a lot.  It's just so convenient and the calories burned adds up fast.  Many older people do almost all their errands by bicycle.  My mother-in-law is almost 80 yrs old and I'll bet she puts over 2 miles on her bike everyday.  The more exercise you get, the better you eat, for some reason.  I guess the body just knows. 

[GolfLug]

Food is one of easiest venues of instant gratification. Cheap and plenty is a lethal combination. It is a drug that people eat in response to stress, boredom, confusion, fear, depression, and what have you. Of course this ain't a brand new 21st century problem or unique to the US but availability makes all the difference. In that sense we are screwed. 

But I also think that over time knowledge trumps instinct even if it is gaining only one bite at a time. Keep educating. Keep pushing for relatively healthier choices and smaller portions. I was pleasantly surprised that now Mickey D serves 100% non fillered chicken nuggets. One can argue that there is surely some evil hidden agenda but I would consider that a small but important win.       

[Kalnoky]

6 minutes ago, GolfLug said:

Food is one of easiest venues of instant gratification. Cheap and plenty is a lethal combination. It is a drug that people eat in response to stress, boredom, confusion, fear, depression, and what have you. Of course this ain't a brand new 21st century problem or unique to the US but availability makes all the difference. In that sense we are screwed. 

I tried to make a similar point earlier, but I had no takers. A lot of overeating and snacking on junk food is tied to Generalized Anxiety Disorder. 

[GolfLug]

9 minutes ago, Kalnoky said:

I tried to make a similar point earlier, but I had no takers. A lot of overeating and snacking on junk food is tied to Generalized Anxiety Disorder. 

Sorry, I admit I didn't read all the posts but yeah true. The amygdala is binary. It doesn't care about the nature of gratification. It's on us to condition it(good news is you can) to recognize what is actually 0 and what is 1. 

[Patch]

I eat when I am hungry. I am hungry alot. Therefore I carry around about 20 pounds of extra weght I don't need. 

Last night for dinner was tossed salad with chicken strips. Today I migh wind up at Mc Donalds with the Grand Daughters. 

 

[Kalnoky]

58 minutes ago, GolfLug said:

Sorry, I admit I didn't read all the posts but yeah true. The amygdala is binary. It doesn't care about the nature of gratification. It's on us to condition it(good news is you can) to recognize what is actually 0 and what is 1. 

No need to apologize! I'm glad you brought it up. It's a valid point.

We've done a good job of addressing the supply side (food quality vs. cost) but not the demand side - i.e., why so much overeating and/or eating when we're really not hungry?

And FWIW I'm as guilty as the next guy of grabbing a handful of M&Ms anytime a nasty project lands on my desk... I'm certainly not pointing any fingers. 

[Marty2019]

5 hours ago, Patch said:

I eat when I am hungry. I am hungry alot. Therefore I carry around about 20 pounds of extra weght I don't need. 

Last night for dinner was tossed salad with chicken strips. Today I migh wind up at Mc Donalds with the Grand Daughters. 

 

It's a scientific fact that fat cells make you hungry, so if you have extra fat cells, you are trapped in a cycle of hunger, eating, more fat, more hunger, more eating.  Those 20 pounds you speak of are trying real hard to become 30 pounds.   You have to go to war.  You have to be relentless.  Or, just enjoy your life and don't worry about it.