Why are Americans getting so fat these days

It makes me very sad to say I too, find myself surprised when I go back home and see how overweight everyone seems to be!
I don't think many of them really even realize it- norms have changed. What used to be "overweight" is now "fit", and "obese" is "slightly fuller formed".

I am considered overweight in Europe, but my american sisters and cousins always exclaim on what good shape I am in!

I think a lot of it is the industrialization of foods, which are packed with sugar. I don't try to use american recipes anymore because they always call for this pre-made sorts of ingredients (sauces, seasoning, mixes and batters...) which I can't find outside the US. We cook from scratch, but at least we know exactly what is in our food!

But one thing that grabs my attention is the talk of "snacks", as if they are an essential part of life. All diets I have looked at from the US talk about what to eat for "snacks".

I've been here so long I forgot about that. "Snacks" aren't done elsewhere. At least not here in Europe. We eat at meal time, only. Restaurants close in between meal times. People try to eat at the same times everyday. They believe that maximizes the digestion process- the body become habituated to eating at specific times only, is ready for it, and does it more efficiently this way. They believe a minimum of three hours must pass in between meal times.

Now, that is descriptive of a different culture and practice, and I won't claim it is true or ideal. But I do notice that the french eat an incredible amount of cheese, full cream, sugar, fats, wine....and stay skinny. Even more skinny than I personally find attractive- I retain my preference for a bit of flesh on them bones.)

I feel really bad for my relatives over there that struggle so much with it, and can't lose it. The society is made in way that makes it very difficult to live differently. They don't even get enough time for lunch breaks to properly digest.
My daughter spent a year in a high school in Calif. and complained that there was no healthy choices available at school. It was all pizza, hamburgers, burritos, fries....
She gained thirty pounds over there, even though she was on a rugby team and gymnast- she wasn't sedentary at all!
I can't imagine the number of calories she must have eaten a day...

I'm a normal weight American.

5'11 165lbs

People eat too much and do too little.
Bout as simple as that. I do not eat healthy and still manage to maintain a decent weight.

a reply to: corvuscorrax

Do you drink soda pop every day?

a reply to: musicismagic

why do people get fat /

the simple answer - for 99 % of a given population = :

intake exceeds work

it really is that simple ;p

originally posted by: musicismagic

originally posted by: imsoconfused
a reply to: musicismagic

This thread is still up. It is nothing but an attempt to insult 7 out of 10 americans who are all fat dumb hogs?

If I started A thread saying why cant Asians drive it would be shut down.

Look, I made an attempt to say, basically, I have just experience something that just in my mind, "wtf happened to Americans". It's true, I live in Asia and for the most part my "eyes" have adjusted to what I see of the people here. So when I visited America and went to the grocery store and waited in line, I noticed something I've never seen before, "fat" people actually having to pull back the cart and then get in front of it to take out their groceries. And yes, I did laugh a bit too loud and yes I did express myself a bit of less concern for maybe these people are handicap, but 7 out of 10 people throughout the registers meant it was a serious laugh, and not one of insult. Something is seriously going wrong with the American way of eating.

Maybe its because we dont eat boiled dog for lunch.

I still think you are lying. How about you post some pics of yourself here in the states? I mean who goes on vacation and doesn't take pics?

originally posted by: Itisnowagain
a reply to: corvuscorrax

Do you drink soda pop every day?

Nah I hate soda.

I only use it as chaser when I drink liquor and that isn't very often.

I drink mostly water.

I have a couple overweight/obese cousins and you guessed it they drink entirely too much of that garbage.

a reply to: corvuscorrax

I am also slim and i never drink soda pop!
It makes people hungry and even the non sugar version is so sweet it increases the need for sugar.

a reply to: grainofsand

I've seen obese people starve themselves and shed little weight, you do have to tackle it from all angles.

Most of it's preventable, a big problem is people don't want to do anything till they've sat in that office job for 3 years.

You cannot starve yourself thin without big possibility of becoming seriously ill, I guess that was the point I was poorly making.

a reply to: RAY1990

Oh we find agreement of course.
I think what I try to tackle head on is the lame arsed excuses so many people make for being fat, poverty, medication, health issues, education and all the rest of it.

The overwhelming majority of fat people are fat for one reason only, consuming too much and doing too little.
Poverty, so can only afford cheap processed food? I'm not poor but most of my diet is processed food in the day, I'm not fat because I don't eat more than I need to live, and I burn it off.

Medication/health issues? That will of course be the minority and it would be ridiculous for anyone to argue that it applies to the majority of fat people.

Education some say?!! Really [facepalm] So the majority of Americans are so poorly educated that they do not understand that a calorific intake higher than energy usage results in the body storing excess energy as fat? I doubt there is a fat person in the world who doesn't know that you get fat from eating too much and doing too little.

So yep, we agree in the main, but the excuses from others are just a failure to take personal responsibility for the majority of people.
I personally don't care if someone is fat, it is generally their choice to eat too much food...but the whining excuses are, well, just that.

originally posted by: DISRAELI
a reply to: musicismagic
One of the factors must be wealth (in comparison with the rest of the world).
The wealthy classes have always tended towards corpulence (see Henry VIII).

Opposite though. cheap food has tons of fillers, loaded with steroids, etc.

Organic good healthy food is expensive.

So, the richer folks are slimmer than the poor folk simply because they can afford the good food..also they tend to go out more which means more activity, less watching tele while shoveling cheetos in your facehole.

a reply to: SaturnFX
Poverty is relative.
America is wealthy compared with the rest of the world.
Many in America who think of themselves as poor are wealthy compared with the poor in some parts of the world, who have fewer opportunities to fill themselves even with unhealthy food.
So my thesis is that the comparative wealth of America is one of the reasons for the comparative obesity of America.

originally posted by: DISRAELI
a reply to: SaturnFX
Poverty is relative.
America is wealthy compared with the rest of the world.
Many in America who think of themselves as poor are wealthy compared with the poor in some parts of the world, who have fewer opportunities to fill themselves even with unhealthy food.
So my thesis is that the comparative wealth of America is one of the reasons for the comparative obesity of America.

Put that standard on Japan and explain the differences.

cultural lazyness perhaps. West is also pushing this "body acceptance" thing (no doubt the big chains are fueling that fire)

a reply to: musicismagic

Come to Colorado.

We do # outdoors.