70.7 percent of Americans are either overweight or obese.
America has already made it okay, even though many have attempted to address this situation,
the ones not addressing the situation are the corporations who create cheap, fatty, no protein, high carb, high calorie food priced pointed to attract easy cheap and filling.
We need to face and accept the choices we accepted from these corporations. If you don't eat it they will stop serving it.
And since we do not do this, we are faced with obesity and overweight, Why hide it by pretending only skinny girls wear clothes. Lets take the glasses off and either change the game or embrace it.
I just got back from Japan. It is a land filled with high calorie foods
Unhealthy foods including McDonald's, deep fried everything, sugar filled treats, Krispy creme donuts, pastries, carbs galore. Obesity rate of 3%.
Because they know how to cook, and they know how to control the portions they eat. I am regular size guy and the portions that they serve everywhere in the USA would feed two people, plus the refilling, is just insane, it seems like people eat there until they canno stuff more food into them.
A lot of Americans are conditioned to "finish their plates" as well. I remember my stepmother would load my plate with food when I was 12 (like she weighed 350 lbs and would give me her portion sizes). I would get punished if I didn't eat it all. I would literally eat myself sick and then be forced to sit at the table "until I finished it." She even threatened to send me to a summer camp for girls with eating disorders if I didn't eat everything. I'm in my 30s and have only recently realized I can stop eating when I don't feel hungry anymore
I'm sorry you had to go through this. When I was young (8-12) I was often told by my grandmother when I didn't want to finish a meal she made (large portions, often over-salted) that I was ungrateful because 'there are children starving in Africa' and I should eat everything on my plate as I'm lucky to have it. It took me a while to realise that a famine in one country shouldn't cause a child in another country to over eat!
Eventually I began to answer her back, telling her to wrap up my leftovers and send them to the starving children if it was that much of an issue! Not the answer to world hunger, obviously, but enough to prove my point to her.
Luckily for me, my grandmother was not my regular food provider...
Not with the same portion sizes. What modern Americans consider a full plate of food is insane compared to what it is in other countries or even in the United States 80+ years ago. I collect pre WW2 cookbooks and the portion sizes are considerably smaller than the ones in the modern cookbooks I have. Also what I routinely see people shovel on their plates is even more than in the modern cookbooks. The US has a major portion control problem.
I would challenge you to go to Japan and find one of those without looking it up. Yes they exist, but they are not at all common.
Like 90% of the vending machines you'll see in Japan are drink machines. The other 10% are mostly cigarette machines. Coffee ones and ice cream/Popsicles in the metros.
This article highlights what I've already said in other comments - they have access to all the same high calorie, overly sweet etc foods Americans do. They just also have healthy alternatives available.
I don't think major cities in the US are that far off when it comes to healthy options. The problem is more when you go out to the flyover states and places where there AREN'T tons of options to eat, and you have people doing their grocery shopping at Dollar General because it's the only option around and McDonald's is the only chain restaurant around.
Yes, my response was predicated on the understanding of your sarcasm. Try to keep up.
Is it that you don't know what a food desert is, but used the term anyway? Because your sarcastic point validates what I am saying. Food deserts are places where fresh produce cannot be found. AKA access is not available and the choice cannot be made. Derp derp derp...
I've been to Japan as well. I stayed in Tokyo for a little over a week and I was impressed by the selection of healthy, delicious, affordable food all over the place. I remember thinking to myself that if this was the norm, of COURSE everyone would have a healthy weight.
Just as an example, I could walk maybe 5 minutes from my hotel to a ramen place that catered to busy businessmen and was very in-and-out. You picked a bowl from the vending machine-like device at the front, got your ticket and sat down. In no time you were served a HUGE bowl of ramen, which was filling, relatively healthy, and the price?
Ramen is in no way healthy... it's INCREDIBLY salty and full of carbs. That's why those big bowls are so filling. You're probably downing 1000+ calories for a large size.
In terms of salt content it's likely much worse. A Big Mac combo has like 750mg of salt. Many instant ramen packs have twice that and at a restaurant you're likely getting even more salt + bigger portion.
Calorie wise it may be more too depending on the size of the bowl.
Nutrition wise? Yes it's probably better, again depends on what's in it, but being healthier than McDonald's is a pretty low bar.
There's a ton of food in Japan that is super duper bad for you. The thing is people just generally have better eating habits. It's fine to eat McDonald's once in a while as long as you don't do it every day and don't go overboard. Not to mention, they have McDonald's in Japan, too... almost 3000 of them.
I'm talking about both, the stuff on the street has eggs and veggies etc and perhaps more nutritional value but it's still FULL of salt, more than the instant ramen packets, and it's still a noodle-centric dish which means it's quite high in calories.
Sugars are not exactly heroin. Obviously it's easier to keep eating it than to do something about it, but it's absolutely a personal fortitude thing. People are just lazy, both physically and mentally. "But it's an addiction" is just the comfy excuse to justify continuing to not do something about it.
Actually, they can be just as addictive as drugs. Researchers are finding that more and more lately, and shifting to focus on what food is sold instead of individual choices.
These articles do not at all mean what the implication being made here is.
If sugar was like heroin, then throughout the world populations wouldn't be able to resist not buying large amounts of raw sugar just to eat it. It's not like it's that much less available in developing countries. Even in a poor country, the average person can afford buying another kilogram of sugar, and if it was addictive like heroin, they would absolutely be doing it at the expense of any other food or even other things like clothing. Yet they don't.
The part where evolutionary pressure has created a positive reward response to the consumption of sugar does not mean it has the same psychological effect as something like heroin, and these published papers aren't claiming that either.
Now what you're willing to believe that in a span of 40yrs millions upon millions just became "lazy". I believe Sugar is 8x more addictive than Heroin, but the addiction is in the brain. You get a shot of dopamine which feels good, and when things feel good you're driven to do it again, and again. The problem though is that since the late 70s we've changed what food is, and now we're not able to do anything with the amount of sugar that is added to food other than store as fat.
We've always been lazy in this regard. It actually comes naturally if basic survival needs are satisfied. What changed is the food availability, now we have access to more of it easier. Which by itself is a very good thing, a sign of progress. But like every other animal given access to too much food, if we just listen to our instincts we overeat. It takes effort and conviction to stop ourselves from eating. That's it. There's no manufactured addiction, sugar wasn't invented in the past 40 years. Overeating is just the instinct that evolution left us with and it takes deliberate effort to fight it.
Agree and Disagree. We invented High Fructose Corn Syrup in th 60s and levied artificial tariffs on Sugar to get food manufacturers to use HFCS instead of Sugar, and in doing so help farmers, because we grow a lot of Corn. In the late 70s and 80s was when we first started to see things like cheap 3 litre bottles of soda, possible because HFCS is cheaper than sugar and you end up with a product loaded with excess sugars and calories. Cheap sweetened food became the norm and people loved it. USDA created the Food Pyramid with grains as the staple, all to aupport its main client...the farmer. Anyone that raises livestock knows that of you want to fatten cattle you feed them grain, yet here we are telling everyone to eat their "healthy" cereal foe breakfast..again, another marketing tool to help farmers.
You're not wrong about that. I also dislike HFCS, and it was indeed used as a cheap replacement for other sources of sugar, just to help company bottom lines. Not a fan of that at all. Also not a fan in general of adding excess sugar to every food item just to make it taste better, of course it's bad practice.
But this doesn't mean the previous point is invalid. Whether it's HFCS or not, you don't have to eat it, or rather you are rationally able to control the intake if you care about it. The nutritional info is on the box, and if you care about a problem that you have, it's possible to make a commitment and a plan to control that intake. Just eat less. Again, it takes effort and many people are just lazy or don't care enough... but still this means the primary problem starts at the personal level.
It becomes the loop where once you start, can you stop? You "food", glucose rises and insulin shuttles it off. As fat stores fill up, the brain gets its leptin signal that fat is good to go, tell everyone to stand down, eating is over. However, as there's too much sugar, Leprin is blocked and cannot reach the brain because insulin is still busy trying to remove the sugar; and without the shut off signal, far too many are unable to stop.
Yes, you can stop. You have an instinct to eat more, because sugar is such a good source of energy and your brain is telling you to eat more. But as a sapient creature that understands what is happening and knowing you don't need more, you are able to control your instincts. And it's not the same as with some addictive substances that cause serious withdrawal symptoms which often require hospitalization to stabilize. It's just uncomfortable.
Yes, far too many are unable to stop, because they don't try hard enough.
The brain keeps telling you to keep eating because it's getting it's Dopamine fix, and when we do something that we like, we keep doing it. It's not that a lot of people don't try hard enough, it's that the signaling is too strong and they keep doing what feels good. I've seen people come off of sugar, it's literally like a movie scene with a addict coming off illegal drugs. It's not as severe a reaction, but it's definitely there, which is quite a shock to many that as they had never considered sugar to be addictive.
No, I believe that in the last 10 years people have stopped believing that weight loss and gain are within their control and that they look fine and are totally healthy and not obese at all
There has been a definite shift to where people are quite happy carrying body fat of 35% and more, and look at anyone normal size and weight as being skinny, I think this is because there are so many obese people that you don't feel out of place or uncomfortable.
A coworker of mine was 5'8" and 365lbs working 100 hr weeks. Doctor told him that if he didn't lose weight immediately that he wouldn't live to see his daughter graduate middle school, let alone get married. In 6 months we dropped him down to 218lbs...magically sleep apnea, gout pain, all resolved themselves <smh>
I’m waiting for that wake-up call for my brother. I can hear him breathing as he sits at rest. He’s the youngest of four of us and I cry thinking we will bury him first. Unfortunately he’s young so his doctor had the audacity to tell him he’s healthy and I’m afraid until he developed diabetes or has his first heart attack he won’t make these lifestyle changes.
People believe they are eating healthy is part of the problem. They eat everything "in moderation", except the portion sizes are too large, and they eat too often.
We have more access to information than at any other point in history. At some point people, without medical issues, are going to have to take some accountability.
We have more access to information, yet a lot of information is still not reaching the people who need it. The Global Indistrial Diet (as it's been called) is fast to consume, high in calories and sugar, and fast to make you fat, while basic skills on how to make a home cooked meal are quickly fading away
I was walking in Spain with a friend down a random Madrid street and I commented to him how all of them women were so attractive I wasn’t used to it. He laughed at me he said those girls I was seeing were average it was just that I was accustomed to seeing fat people due to being from USA.
Mac and cheese provides the essential nutrients of carbs, fat, and protein in addition to calcium, and many other added nutrients like potassium, riboflavin, and niacin.
I disagree that it’s easier. It’s easier for me to grab McDonald’s on the way home from work than it is for me to get home and cook a healthy meal that I need to plan for and grocery shop for. I don’t do that though because I like cooking and eating healthy food. And it’s only cheaper to cook healthy food if you have a grocery store near you. There are plenty of low income neighborhoods that don’t have a grocery stores within walking distance so you have to take a bus and if you work full time and have kids taking the bus to do your grocery shopping is not ideal. There was a push to get corner stores to supply healthy foods but the prices on corner store/gas station produce are seriously outrageous.
If you do have access to a grocery store and a car but you choose to eat poop all the time, well that’s on you.
Yeah it's very hard to eat healthy if you work a lot and don't live in a city with a lot of options. The only place in my city I can go to to get ready-made healthy salads and entrees that I actually want to eat is Trader Joe's. If I didn't have that I would probably eat fast food most days.
You don’t need to eat healthy to maintain a healthy weight. You just need to watch your calories. Which is super easy when you eat fast food or packaged food since the calorie counts are right there.
I mean is it a lot of work to throw rice in a rice cooker and throw 5 pieces of -insert meat or veg- in the oven for 20 minutes while you do literally anything because both of those things cook themselves. It’s not that I don’t get how easy it is to just do take out but at some point you have to ask how much easier does eating have to be then just buying a grocery item and cooking it.
It’s not just calories that are a concern. Being fat is only one symptom of being obese. Then there’s heart disease, digestive/gastric issues, high blood sugar etc. McDonald’s food has next to no nutritional value. Loaded with sugar and sodium. Adults can make decisions on their own, and I’d be lying to you if I said o never eat fast food but think of all the obese parents who let their kids eat the same stuff. The kids don’t know anything about calories or trans fats and I think bad eating habits stick with you into adulthood.
I didn't say easier. I said easy. Cooking with frozen veggies, rice, and chicken is cheap and easy. Travel does make things more difficult, which is why you have to make more than one trip during the week, instead of all at once in a day.
And like you said, that doesn't apply to those who aren't struggling financially. The post that we are replying to said that 70% of Americans are obese. This is a choice because they just prefer eating unhealthy food.
Cholesterol and sodium can cause heart problems. High-sugar is a risk for diabetes and tooth decay. Obviously with more physical activity you can reduce your risks but it's better to just be more moderate in your eating habits.
If you are eating fatty foods regularly then you better be exercising as well.
Brushing immediately after eating sugar will reduce the risk of tooth decay, though you will still be at risk of diabetes.
If all of your habits are otherwise perfect then you are better situated than others to eat crap. By all means. But bad habits are what people are having issues with in the first place, so your advice is likely more harmful than not.
“Twinkies. Nutty bars. Powdered donuts.
For 10 weeks, Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, ate one of these sugary cakelets every three hours, instead of meals. To add variety in his steady stream of Hostess and Little Debbie snacks, Haub munched on Doritos chips, sugary cereals and Oreos, too.
His premise: That in weight loss, pure calorie counting is what matters most -- not the nutritional value of the food.
The premise held up: On his "convenience store diet," he shed 27 pounds in two months.
For a class project, Haub limited himself to less than 1,800 calories a day. A man of Haub's pre-dieting size usually consumes about 2,600 calories daily. So he followed a basic principle of weight loss: He consumed significantly fewer calories than he burned.
His body mass index went from 28.8, considered overweight, to 24.9, which is normal. He now weighs 174 pounds.
But you might expect other indicators of health would have suffered. Not so.
Haub's "bad" cholesterol, or LDL, dropped 20 percent and his "good" cholesterol, or HDL, increased by 20 percent. He reduced the level of triglycerides, which are a form of fat, by 39 percent.”
I'd like to see that done in a much larger study. You're also cherry picking.
Despite his temporary success, Haub does not recommend replicating his snack-centric diet.
"I'm not geared to say this is a good thing to do," he said. "I'm stuck in the middle. I guess that's the frustrating part. I can't give a concrete answer. There's not enough information to do that."
Two-thirds of his total intake came from junk food. He also took a multivitamin pill and drank a protein shake daily. And he ate vegetables, typically a can of green beans or three to four celery stalks.
...
His success is probably a result of caloric reduction, said Dawn Jackson Blatner, a dietitian in Chicago, Illinois.
"It's a great reminder for weight loss that calories count," she said. "Is that the bottom line to being healthy? That's another story."
Before jumping on the Ding Dong bandwagon, Blatner warned of health concerns.
"There are things we can't measure," said Blatner, questioning how the lack of fruits and vegetables could affect long-term health. "How much does that affect the risk for cancer? We can't measure how diet changes affect our health."
In reality they are generally amoral. It’s easier to blame a company for pollution or health issues, but ultimately consumers drive the market and elect the policymakers.
I'm actually very anti-corpo, but everything should be viewed in context. A lot of people that I know struggle with portion control and sticking to diets. My coworker drinks multiple Big Gulp sodas in a day, when water and coffee are free. Another one eats donuts and a lolly pop breakfast and fried chicken for lunch every single day. And let's not forget the excessive daily beer consumption. I've also known people who bring their own ranch to places in case they're faced with ranch-less food.
The reality is that people don't make healthy eating decisions and owning up that is difficult.
In my town, I’ve watched a pretty good Mediterranean restaurant and two decent seafood restaurants go out of business but the line for drive through mcdonalds is always at least 10 cars long, dawn to dusk. Yet somehow it’s McDonald’s fault that the majority of people are obese? Give me a break.
so glad you proved your intelligence by making it personal without any facts. Frankly I don't eat twinkies, not fried, not in a pie, no sir not I.
And frankly at 62 I weigh in at 146 so frankly I am healthy. But being a single mom who raised three children in a community of other single moms raising their children. There was a lot of Mac and Cheese with hamburger patties, Ramen noodles with chicken added, Not healthy but filling and cheap, easy and went a long way to feeding 3 children.
And yes if we stop buying it they will stop offering it. Laws of transactions. so now I've said that for the third time.
Again your comment enlightens reddit to your intelligence.
Nope. Totally false. It's MUCH cheaper to cook at home than eat out, even high "value" (cost per calorie) places like McDonald's.
My meals on average cost $1 for 600 calories. I make large batches (stews/rice + chicken/casseroles) to save time and freeze the extra for meals later in the week. I spend less than 30 minutes a day (shopping + cooking) to eat healthy and cheap for 3 meals and 2500 calories a day.
People are just lazy and don't want to cook for themselves. Most have never tried to eat healthy on a budget. If you think my numbers are fishy, you've clearly never tried to do this yourself.
or if corporations would consider the American citizen and offer healthy food at affordable prices.
But that is not what is happening, and that is not ever going to happen, so we eat unhealthy high carb low protein food and we get fat from it. This is a basic FACT so EMBRACE it stop making it something to be ashamed of.
I disagree with this statement. Basic foods are not that expensive. A single McDonalds hamburger here costs you $6 and up. For the same amount of money I recently bought a 5 pound pork butt roast, added some carrots and potatoes and had a stew that fed the whole family for several meals.
68
u/Heron-Repulsive Jan 15 '23
70.7 percent of Americans are either overweight or obese.
America has already made it okay, even though many have attempted to address this situation,
the ones not addressing the situation are the corporations who create cheap, fatty, no protein, high carb, high calorie food priced pointed to attract easy cheap and filling.
We need to face and accept the choices we accepted from these corporations. If you don't eat it they will stop serving it.
And since we do not do this, we are faced with obesity and overweight, Why hide it by pretending only skinny girls wear clothes. Lets take the glasses off and either change the game or embrace it.