The Land of the Obese?

I live in a very small town in GA, next to Albany and to tell you the truth finding organic and healthy food is not easy and is very pricy when you find it.

One thing with fresh products is that their shell life is not long, in my case I have to shop for fresh products at least several times during the week to ensure quality.

Not so hard to find here in the UK. It is slightly more pricey compared to "non-organic", but not that much. For example, fresh free range eggs cost about £1/half dozen. Fresh organic eggs cost about £1.30/half dozen. Not that much dearer in the grand scheme of things. Personally, I don't go for organic that often, but it has to be free range at least.



One has to wonder how "fresh" that produce is then, Marg. Personally, when I buy fresh fruit/veg, it can last several weeks. I refrigerate all my fruit/veg, apart from my potatoes, which live in a dark cupboard. Some grapes and oranges I bought two weeks ago are still very much edible.

[edit on 14/6/07 by stumason]

I don't see how running a few laps everyday is that difficult...it's what most people need to keep off the pounds. Most people are fat because they want to be fat.

I do zero exercise and actually eat whatever I feel like, yet I am a slender 10 stones and 5`11". I suppose I am lucky in that I can burn off anything I eat. Personally, I couldn't do a couple of laps as I am rather unfit!

Yes you are right, but when it comes to herbs something that I have to use a lot due to my salt free cooking they do not stay fresh long.

Fruits can stay in the refrigerator but if you buy them in the market from local growers they tend to ripe faster than the ones you buy in the supermarkets.

When it comes to beef, poultry and fish is better to use them as soon as possible.

The longer food stay in the refrigerator the quality decline.

I guess it comes all to personal preferences.

Could grow your own, perhaps? Save you some wedge too.



Indeed, I have noticed that. I try to buy fruit that is yet to ripen, as opposed to fruit that is already edible, for example I buy green banana's as opposed to yellow ones.



Freeze it! Job done.

I wanted this year to start an herb garden but I got so into my flower garden that now is too late so I will definitely start next year, must of the plants are not longer available and I don't want to star with seeds.

When I was at home my mother and I had herb gardens.

But since I have to be careful with my food and what I eat I have become very careful with what I buy.

yeah it trips me out people will eat mc donalds or whatever like breakfast lunch and dinner..my cousin is like that.. she even says shes just lazy to make stuff herself.. but i mean its NOT that hard to make a simple meal.. i know some people just aren't good in the kitchen but hey there's always subway or smaller portions? i dont know.. but it is a big issue lately. I'm not hating on anyone or anything nor am i some super model but i see A LOT of overweight teenagers and children everyday. more than i remember when i was younger.. maybe just didn't pay attention then.

but yeah a lot of people aren't as active as they used to be. also people work long hours...in cubicles..etc..come home tired and go to the local hamburger joint etc.. americans are pretty over worked. i heard somewhere the usa has longer work week hours etc than a lot of other countries out there.

anyway they should require daily walks for people who work in cubicles or something and they shoiuld get payed like a 15 minute break in which they can walk around the area .i doubt people would be down for it though.

i agree with the processed food thing too. when i go to the store i really trip out on other peoples grocery carts hahaha i know its not my business but i can't help but see what they have . tons of soda..chips...bologna..frozen dinners..virtually NO fruit or veggies..if they do they are like canned vegetables and they have kids too. i mean its not my place to say what they should be eating but damn it makes me think.

I've wondered if the fact that our vegatables are losing their vitamins has anything to do with weight gain. Are people eating more, being less satisfied with their meals, because they aren't getting what they need?

www.soilandhealth.org...

The report itself.

www.cnpp.usda.gov...

And, I think the "americans are lazy" is wrong. We're a lot of things, but we're not lazy. Spoiled maybe. Lazy - I disagree.

We work more hours than almost all other nations, including Japan.

Some people take eating as a hobby instead of survival reasons nowadays.

The corporations experiments with rotten ingredients in foods to make food more addictive... The result is apparent.

Remember people,

Eat to live, don't live to eat.



[edit on 14-6-2007 by selfless]

i dont intend this as any type of attack on " STURMASON " but that is the most ignorant excuse i have heard

it is near classical circular reasoning , quite farcical

you can do ` a couple of laps ` - however unfit you are - it may take a while - but as long as you are exerting yourself - it will be productibe exercise

if you are unfit and trying to loose weight .

if you do the ` 2 laps ` in 5 minuites - it does not matter - as long as that exercise elevates your heart rate and expends more energy than you consume that day

if you maintain the regieme - you will loose weight , yopur stamina will improve , and your lap times wil fall

it is not rocket science

Thats a good point, about the working hours, but we also need to remember what type of work it is.

In most countries now, work is more office based than ever before - so if you're sitting down for 12 hours instead of 8 it actually becomes worse for you - only doing physical work for longer hours will make a difference.

As for fitness, you don't have to run, jog, lift weights etc etc
A good 30 minute brisk walk will have benefits, but of course so many people drive everywhere these days that such a simple exercise has gone out the window.

I used to be pretty fit until I injured my back, now walking is the best I can do - but it does keep the weight down.

A year ago, when I first got mobile again, I was 13 stone 7 lbs, I have lost a stone of that but still have about 10lbs before I lose all the weight I put on.
I'm just under 5'9" so I suppose I would be called stocky, even at my proper weight - and at that weight I don't carry hardly any fat.

Being addicted to food is the worst addiction of all.

Imagine a heroin addict being told: You have to stop abusing heroin but you still need to ingest it in moderation or telling someone, hey, you have to cut down from 6 lines of coke to 2.

When the pleasure receptors in your brain get used to the chemicals in fast food or sweets (sugar) or any processed food then you are in trouble.

I was listening to the obesity epidemic in children on a radio show the other day and they just had no idea. "Well, you just need to take the kid aside and explain to them what can happen to them down the road".

Don't make me laugh! First, what kid cares about "down the road" and second, there are no magic words. Does anyone really think the kid is oblivious or likes being fat? It's not like they prefer to be teased by cruel little creeps on the school bus.

There is a new drug that has been introduced to the FDA that works on the pleasure receptors and helps with addiction to foods. It has not been approved yet but seems promising in tests. It would be the first drug to actually treat the cause of most obesity.

Now, I'm not saying that this is the case for everyone that's obese and I most certainly recommend trying everything possible before turning to a drug. If it was as easy to eat healthy and exercise as many self righteous finger pointers say it is then nobody would be fat.

I'm glad to see that the subject is being discussed rationally in this thread.

Indeed. Crap excuse. I should have perhaps rephrased it too say:

"I wouldn't do a couple of laps as I hate running!"



Just so you know, I do plenty of exercise, just not of the running variety Don't enjoy running and never have, unless it was the 100m.



Unfit, yes. Primarily due to smoking. Lose weight? No need. I am a svelte 10 stone. I am actually underweight.



I remember the days I could 1500 metres in five minutes, let alone 800m... . Never was a distance runner though. I am more of a sprinter. Even when at the peak of my fitness, I would try to get out of any distance race. Having said that, i would happily play Rugby or Football all afternoon.



As said, weight and "stamina" are fine. I just really don't like running.


[edit on 15/6/07 by stumason]

I tend to think this is a major contributor to many people's problems.

The difference is i can't run because of my back, and I used to be so fit - swimming, football, muy thai, weights.

The point is that exercise will provide all those lovely endorphins - you'll feel so good you won't want junk food - you'll want to eat all the foods that keep you healthy so you can keep getting the endorphin high - at least that's how it's worked for a couple of (ex)obese mates.

I'm proud to say that I helped them with this - although if they now become addicted to exercise instead of food I may feel a small twinge of guilt - then again probably not - pretty hard to kill yourself with exercise - pretty easy to kill yourself with junk food.

the thing is some people don't have half an hour at home to cook some thing like that. I used to deliver pizzas and work like 10 hour shifts, therefore it was either pizza or fast food.
I can't blame lazyness cause for me eating fast food did is let me sqeeze more in to one day. I blame cars for giving us the abilty to do more in one day which makes us feel like we have to do more in one day. We end up getting more done, just not the exersize we would if we didn't drive and did less during the day. Thinking we need to get more done a day causes more stress too which can also lead to weight gain.

A fair point but one I refute - everybody has a spare 30 minutes in their day to cook a proper meal - to say otherwise is to condone laziness - no offense

[edit on 15/6/2007 by budski]

why not just take the kid to the local morgue and show him the insides of a fat person..like how the heart would be ..the layers..etc. that could be a wake up call.

are you a psychiatrist drumming up business?



And teach them about sex by showing people who have VD?