Americans are fat

[Rick Lee]

If you want to feel fat, go to China. My weight yo yo's a lot. First time in China I was pretty fit and still felt like an elephant. Still, I ate and drank like a viking and didn't go to the gym at in those three weeks and I lost weight. I ate in restaurants and from street stands every meal and I don't think I ate anything that hadn't been killed minutes earlier, not a single piece of processed food, no western food at all. They eat healthy over there. It really does take some extra effort in the US to be that thin. We are so surrounded by horrible food, that you have to search out healthy stuff.

[notfarnow]

Originally Posted by rammstein

I had a very high cholesterol test a few years back. Did I cry about how my body was bad? Did I ask the doctor for drugs to treat it (which they tried to give me)? NO. I stopped putting cheese on sandwiches, switched to skim milk on my cereal, gave up cream in my coffee, ate less eggs, stopped using so much butter, and viola! Cholesterol good. Lesson learned- my cholesterol can be controlled by my diet. Just as most people's weight can be.

That's awesome! I had the exact same experience... high cholesterol @ 27, when I first started dating my wife. The doctor wanted me to go on lipitor without even trying to conrol it through exercise & diet.

Instead, I started paying attention to what I ate, and exercised more. I still eat eggs, and I am a cheese addict... but NO processed foods. I think that alone has a huge impact.

Anyway, cholesterol is way down. Now I take the stairs at work (I'm on the 19th floor), 4-5 times a week. I hate the idea of going to the gym, and taking the stairs is convenient and really doesn't add much time to my day.

Easy choices, but you have to make them day after day

Confession: I am eating chips as I type

[Jims5543]

Ever hear the term, shop around the outside of the supermarket. All the food in the middle (with a few exceptions) is evil.

Rammstein,

Here is my typical day.

Wake up:
2/3 cup of egg whites scrambled / 1 Bannana
Mid morning:
4 hard boiled eggs (whites only) / Apple
Lunch:
Either a can of tuna or 1 cup of Home made turkey chili or Sliced Turkey on whole wheat w/ mustard

Afternoon snack:
Tuna / Chili / Sandwich alternating with lunch and an apple or bannana

Dinner:
Something healthy my wife cooks.

We only go out to eat once a week if that, usually on the weekend and typically a wing joint up the road from the house or a pizza place.

We went to TGI Fridays the other night and have not been there in almost a year, dear god the portions are so huge I ended up eating too much and feeling like crap the rest of the night. I am done with that place for another year.

[Rikao4]

Easy bet, most of time you win.
Minivan = fatty..Car sales friend told me..it's really the only thing they can stuff themselves into.
Also, fat parents produce fat kids.
San Antonio is VERY fat.
Rika

[rammstein]

Yeah, it shocked me that the doc was suggesting meds (which have some pretty serious potential side-effects) without even asking me about changing diet and exercise habits.

Good things to do for cholesterol include getting rid of as much dairy as possible. Another is OLIVE OIL. Its a godsend. Red wine is good too, and fun to drink anyhow. Things like cookies and donuts and icecream should be permanently removed from your lineup.

Here's a KILLER desert for people with cholesterol:
1/2 cup egg white (get the kind in the carton thats pasturized if salmonella scares you)
Couple scoops of sorbet (the natural kind, choose your flavor)
Fistful of frozen fruit (Peaches, Berries, Mangos, whatever)
Some banana
Splash of OJ
Fresh fruit can be added too if you have some

EDIT- when you are in the mood, add some malibu rum to this mix.

Blend.

Awesome smoothie. And you never get sick of it, because you can change the fruits every time.

[Rot 911]

I exercise and have good genetics. This means I pretty much eat anything I want which is good because I love junk food. I have low cholesterol and have a resting pulse of 56.

[72doug2,2S]

Originally Posted by Kurt V

I exercise and have good genetics. This means I pretty much eat anything I want which is good because I love junk food. I have low cholesterol and have a resting pulse of 56.

Damn you and your master race genes, we'll be after you with pitch forks tonight after the book burning.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by Kurt V

I exercise and have good genetics. This means I pretty much eat anything I want which is good because I love junk food. I have low cholesterol and have a resting pulse of 56.

when I was in HS, working out 3 hours a day, my 50 yo overwieght father who was asmoker had the same BP, cholesterol and his resting feart rate was 60 bpm, all of which sort of pissed me off. Mom cheered me up when she mentioned the genetics thing. I figure to live long and be healthy as an old man with my habits.

Cheaper to eat at McDonalds than to eat healthy? utter nonsense.

You can buy a pound of pork loin for what a Big Mac costs, or get a pound or two of grapes for the price of a happy meal. It is easier and faster to eat fast food, but poor people usually have more time than money, so they are just making poor choices. Fat lazy parents teach their fat lazy kids bad eating habits, then buy them a playstation or x-box. They cannot eat crap if you don't buy it. They can't sit around watching TV all day if you don't let them.

[Palum6o]

Metabolic syndrome is going global. Even though we switched to doing our shopping at Whole Foods, you still have to think about what you're shoving into your mouth. Proper diet and exercise is what we're not doing. As for looking like stupid American's, well that's something else.

[Moneyguy1]

So far, so good. Height just under 6 feet (we shrink with age), weight 170, resting pulse of 58, sonogram showed me with "the arteries of a healthy 30 year old". The only medication I take is for elevated blood pressure.

So I will probably get wiped out by a reneck in a pickup

[john70t]

I'll lay bets that high-fructose corn syrup will someday be identified as the #1 cause of obesity and/or diabeties. It's in almost every processed food made today, and it isn't broken down completely by the liver before it hits the bloodstream.

[72doug2,2S]

Originally Posted by john70t

I'll lay bets that high-fructose corn syrup will someday be identified as the #1 cause of obesity and/or diabeties. It's in almost every processed food made today, and it isn't broken down completely by the liver before it hits the bloodstream.

+1 I don't buy it if High-Fructose Corn Syrup is listed on the package.

I sure hope they never list the beer ingredients or I could be in big trouble.

[lyon]

no obese, just waist line challenged

[SLO-BOB]

Originally Posted by motion

I've never been so embarassed to be an American. When we run into them at the airports or other places here in Russia, they....nearly always ........ dress horribly. .

Part 2 of something very true. An employee and I were in Chicago on Michigan ave. yesterday. We wrapped up a job and I wanted to get some nice boots. Being from Milwaukee, Chicago is the closest (literally) thing I have to check out what people are wearing and buy decent clothes. However, even a big city like Chicago is in the dark ages fashion wise (I ended up buying boots on line). Here in the midwest it's appaling in general. We have our pocket areas where people dress more nicely and gets better as one gets to either coast. Fly abroad and then really see people with style. Again, I'll use Paris as a reference. The people there just plain look good. The only people walking down the streets wearing cut offs, white tennis shoes/high socks, t-shirts, and ball caps are likely from the US.

[Jims5543]

My nieces and nephews do not like visiting our house or sleeping over because we do not have any "good" food in our house. They are all pudgy.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by motion

I've never been so embarassed to be an American. When we run into them at the airports or other places here in Russia, they are nearly always obese and dress horribly. Being in Russia has really opened my eyes (again) and made me acutely aware of the image other people in the world have of us.

Am heading to Berlin and Moscow shortly and know exactly what you are saying. When I lived overseas I walked about 300% more and gained 20 pounds within six months of returning to the states.

Europe is just more friendly towards people walking than America is for the most part. London, Paris, Berlin, Budapest and so on are very nice cities and you can walk or take the underground easily and never need the car to get around. Few American cities are like this and everyone drives.

Then we have the frigging fast food joints. Cannot wait to get to Europe and enjoy a 2-3 hour dinner and relax. Its just not done here...

Just saw Bobs post. Another thing I absolutely hate. Ball caps. Flags an American a mile (or kilometer) off. And 90% of these jerks wear the ball cap everywhere. Eating, sleeping, having sex, in the shower. Guess I am getting to be an old man but ya know I was taught to take your had off when you were eating, entering a building but no one seems to remember this these days.

[Superman]

Like Kurt, I am blessed with fortunate genetics. I eat what I want, when i want. Fast food included. but.........

It's a habit thing. Some folks developed the habit of drinking or getting high, as a way of entertaining themselves. Some folks self-entertain with pop and chips and ice cream. Here is the advice I've been giving my fifteen year-old: Develop good habits. Drinking, getting high, eating.....those are not good habits. My friends and co-workers are an excellent example. In high school, they got into the habit of athletic competition. I happen to know one of them wrestled at 168 and played football at 215. He went on to become a champion in both, in college, and then an olympic-caliber wrestler. These guys' addiction is doing stuff. They're at their desks by five am. They're busy all day, and they go to bed early to prepare for tomorrow. You can't beat these guys.

Anyway, it's a lifestyle thing. I weight 165. Don't exercise, ever. Eat what I want, when I want. But here's the deal: I'm usually too busy to exercise or eat. Or watch TV. I do stuff. I should write a book:

The "Do-Stuff" Weight Management System
By Superman

[Dan in Pasadena]

I apologize or not having read every line of every post on this thread but on the subject of obsesity in America:

Has anyone noticed the supposedly "comical" ads that AM-PM is running about "too much good stuff" ...at least out here in California; I don't know about elsewhere?

The guy is riffing on buying hamburgeres and nachos and Slim-Jims, laughing at the straight man having mentioned, "isn't that bit much?" WHat is clearly implied is there is no such thing as too much "good" - meaning junk food - stuff. I am NOT in favor of censorship at all, but I have to think this kind of advertising has an impact on younger people. Let's face it, a lot of us LIKE that junk food crap. I like a donut as well as the next guy but if you keep telling people there's no such thing as too much "good stuff" it an't be good. We're eating ourselves into a population cirrection!

[Dan in Pasadena]

Speaking of genetics:
Dad smoked a lot, had a traditional old fashioned Mexican diet including food cooked with lard, etc. He had a massive heart attack in 1970 - just before bypass or transplant surgery, clog busting drugs etc. He continued with cardiac events until he died 20 years later at 66. He was a picture of fitness - flat stomach, heavily muscled from years of construction work, but couldn't wash his own hair or stand in the shower near the end because of insufficient circulation. His heart was shot.
I grew up KNOWING I would have cardiac issues and wishing I had been spared it. Two years ago at age 50 I gulped hard and went to Heartcheck America, had a scan. I have ZERO plaque in my arteries which my doctor tells me for being 50, having a family history, being perhaps 20-25 lbs overweight is like winning the lottery! My BP typically tests at 118/78 and my resting rate is in the upper 60's. All that would be wonderful, except I know I dont eat as healthy as I should. The kicker? My mother's people tend to die of cancer. GULP! I'd rather drop from a heart attack and be dead before I hit the floor than linger in agony with cancer. Guess this says, "Be careful what you wish for", huh?!

[notfarnow]

It must be hard as a parent... so much junk out there, so much advertising and so much influence from friends and family.

I've got a friend who NEVER says no to their 4 yr old daughter

"Can I have another donut?"
"Can I have more icecream?"
"Can I have another roll?"

But yet they never make her eat her veggies, finish her supper, etc. She cries when they drive by McDonalds, so they turn around.

When kids are really young, they don't really get fat too easily. But when you develop those habits they are going to be a BIG problem when the kid turns 12 or so and they aren't growing as fast. Try to teach them to enjoy squash & carrots then.

I almost want to pipe up and say "NO you can't have more icecream! You didn't finish your cabbage!"
LOL, I'm going to be a prick father.