Americans are fat

[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.

[livi]

Over the last couple of years Pelican hanginŽI have got a very positive image of Americans in general.









Well, I had to say that, hadnŽt I!

[djmcmath]

I've been overseas only a couple of times, but I notice the same things. Something else I noticed on one visit was the size of the cars: on the American military base, where Americans had shipped their cars over, it was, well, what you'd expect -- big, bulky, overweight looking cars and SUVs. Off-base, it was the typical German cars -- tiny little buggers that get triple the mileage.

[Jims5543]

You just figured this out?

I see it around me every day right here in America. Yes, your typical American is overweight, we also have a lot of obesity.

Its really sad when there is a whole isle dedicated to diabetes in Target and Wallgreens.

Anytime I am out in public I am amazed how many people are grossly overweight. I am also amazed how many doods have giant pot bellies and look like they are pregnant. I get a kick out of this at Track events, here are guys willing to do anything to get 50 lbs out of their cars and they are carrying it around on their bellies.

I try to eat healthy every day and I am usually on the road all day long, its nearly impossible to eat good on the run, I have finally smartened up and stop at grocery stores to get food on the run, it takes a few more minutes, but its worth it.

One day I stopped at a gas station 7-11 type of place and there was not a single thing I could eat in the entire store that was not fattening. Not one item. I actually walked out and went across the street to the grocery store.

I agree 100% America is fat and nothing is being done about it. Don't even get me started on the kids.

[VaSteve]

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.

I was in London in 1993 and made the same observation. The only obese people we saw were from the USA....Alabama IIRC. We ran into them in a restaurant and they heard us saying y'all and talked to us.


We did run into a big fat native woman on a train from Scotland to London. She was walking up the aisle and my friend pointed, not knowing her Al Capp husband was right behind her. Little guy.... About tore his head off. Did he same thing in the next car...someone else in our tour group saw it. Apparently, she was enough of a novelty people stared.

[SLO-BOB]

The reason you just figured this out is because you're from the west coast (yeah, I know you moved). Percentage wise, people are more health concious out west. When you travel, you get to see people from the midwest and south who are also travelling. I'm from Milwaukee, "Fat Capital" of the world (In your FACE Springfield! Woo-hoo!) I'm shocked when I see someone who isn't overweight.

I was recently in Paris and it was alarming how pretty much everyone we encountered that were fat (not many) were American. In addition to that, these paricular people were either rude, totally clueless. or both. The icing on the cake was a large guy sitting behind us at Les Deux Maggots talking business, full volume on his cell phone. What a putz.

When I returned, many asked me if the French were rude. My response was "No. Only the Americans were rude." Very embarrassing.

[notfarnow]

I live in Canada's 3rd fattest city.

56.4% of the polulation here is considered overweight. Over HALF!! Can you imagine?

I'm lucky my wife is a healthy & active person, she gets me out exercising and we eat very well. Left to my own devices, I know I'd be overweight.

A few years ago there was a strike at my company, and as a manager I had to work minimun 12 hour shifts, 5 days a week. They brought in food. We were stuck in the building: had to cross a picket line to even go out for a walk. Only diversion was to EAT. I kept putting on weight, going up pant sizes. By the end of the strike, I weighed 205 and to sit down comfortably I had to unbutton my 36" pants.

I've lost 30 lbs since then. I saw a picture the other day of the 205lb me... not a pretty sight, and now I know how easy it is to get there.

[URY914]

It's not only fat folks in general, but young fat Americans. Go to a mall and sit and watch the under-25, +300 pounders walking around. They've been raised on fast food. Sad really.

[lendaddy]

I'm sorry. I never really stopped and thought about the others I was hurting.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by URY914

It's not only fat folks in general, but young fat Americans. Go to a mall and sit and watch the under-25, 300+ pounders walking around. They've been raised on fast food. Sad really.

It is an epidemic, California is just as bad as anywhere else if you ask me. This is going to be pretty catastrophic when they all start becoming diabetics and some of the other maladies associated with obesity.

America, step away from the donut

[rammstein]

I guess what bugs me is the simple and ignored fact of why people are fat.

Calories Burned VS Calories Consumed.

Yes, blah blah blah, certain calories are harder to burn, certain foods will speed your metabolism, certain are converted to fats, others are not, blah blah blah. All the plans that fit into this MAYBE swing the calories burned column 5%. Great. Most are more than 5% overweight.

Frickin self-discipline. Come on!

So yeah, I am a skinny guy. Was I blessed? The more I have seen, I think not. You see, on an average day I eat:
-oatmeal and coffee for breakfast
-turkey on wheat (no cheese), banana, some kind of granola bar for lunch. Usually eat this over the course of 2 hours
-A chicken breast and some pasta plus a salad for dinner, and a bowl of cereal for dessert.

This is just what I eat. I also go to the gym a few times a week. I don't eat candy or cookies or stupidass food like that.

I am not naturally thin, I am naturally pre-disposed to eating a quantity of calories representative of what I burn.

Diet schemes, drugs, the government, etc. cannot fix this. Eat less, exercise more.

[rammstein]

Oh- and when the admin people in the office put out their little candy bowls with the snickers minis and stuff, start looking at them as crack dealers. Just because they are mini, doesn't mean you aren't still eating a 'mini' quantity of garbage.

Go eat some carrots, fatty.

[jyl]

Portions in typical middle-market American restaurants are huge and cheap. As are the "super-sized" fast-food meals. If you go to a neighborhood place in Italy, say, the portions are 1/3 the size.

Package sizes in American grocery stores are also much larger than in other countries. Then there's the monster sizes at Costco. We have big stores, big houses, big cars, big refrigerators.

Most American cities are designed for cars, so most Americans don't walk as part of their daily life.

It is interesting to go to Manhattan, which is quite un-American in this regard. Restaurant portions are small, grocery stores and apartments are small, most people walk and take the subway in their daily routine. Sure enough, the average person in Manhattan is pretty slim - bodies look basically like the average person in Paris.

Then go to, say, Des Moines. Yikes.

[notfarnow]

Yep it's because our concept of value is tied to quantity, not quality.

[Rot 911]

I won't argue that Americans are overweight, but so are people in Europe. If you don't believe me go down to the beaches in Spain and check out all the fat guys in speedos and fat women in bikinis.

[72doug2,2S]

Timely thread, I just past the kitchen here in the corporate office and there are three large boxes of donuts, I opted for some orange juice, coffee and an apple.

We all make bad choices, but this is the land of cheap food and buffet lines. Something needs to change and I don't have a good answer.

[CJFusco]

I have noticed that different areas of the U.S. have different "fat stats". I live in New England, which is probably about half-and-half. It actually seems like healthy, athletic lifestyles are de rigeur in New England right now, so most of the people I know are very physically fit. But I also run into a lot of people who are anything but...

The interesting thing is that I have noticed that the more affluent towns in New England tend to be thinner, and the poorer sections tend to be fatter. This is easy to figure out: healthy food is simply more expensive than McDonalds and Taco Bell, and people with more leisure time (the wealthy), and who must maintain a social image are more apt to work out. It's weird - 200 years ago, being overweight was a signifier of affluence, and now it's becoming a signifier of "trailer trash"...

Travelling through the midwest, I couldn't believe how many people were simply obese. MUCH more so than in the northeast U.S. Then when I got to the west, however (the urban areas at least) are very fit, comparatively. Probably more so than New England.

I suppose it makes a bit of sense: where you find affluence and well-educated people (along the coasts), you also find healthy people. I suppose we shouldn't be surprised. There's an awful lot of people in the swollen, bloated American heartland, however....

[notfarnow]

The study that listed Canada's "fattest" cities spent a lot of time talking about poverty. When people cite the correlation between poverty and obesity, I think it leads us to assume that people can't afford to eat well. I'm not sure that's the the case. I think it's more about learning how to live and eat healthy.

You can make an 8 liter pot of veggie stew for about $6. Lunch for a week, for the price of two large bags of chips and a 2 liter of coke.

Two tomatoes and loaf of nice bread makes toasted tomato sandwiches for 4 people, for less than the cost of one happy meal.

FWIW, have any of you noticed how rediculously expensive some packaged & processed food is? Compare the price of Kraft Singles processed cheese to the price of a nice brie.

Then there's TV:
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/research_documents/statistics/television/tv_viewing_habits.cfm

"Residents of Quebec, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia watched more television than other Canadians. The average weekly viewing time was more than 25 hours in Quebec and about 24 hours in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland."

24 hours of TV?!? That's over 3 hours of TV a day!?! WTF is wrong with people??

The very last thing most people need is "convenience" foods. People are watching the tube instead of preparing food. "we don't have time to make supper"... bull$chit!

[Shaun @ Tru6]

A new cut was recently introduced in boy's clothing: hardy.

[rammstein]

Originally Posted by 72doug2,2S

Timely thread, I just past the kitchen here in the corporate office and there are three large boxes of donuts, I opted for some orange juice, coffee and an apple.

We all make bad choices, but this is the land of cheap food and buffet lines. Something needs to change and I don't have a good answer.

You already had the answer and make the correct one. You saw the bs, fake food, and you passed it up. Good for you. That is the answer- self control.

I GUARANTEE you felt better an hour later than you would have if you ate the donuts.

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.