God, They're Fat - What Is Wrong With Americans?

[Keyan]

During the early times there are not much of those food that are packed with loads of sugar and calories. Back when the people are still growing their own food. It is not a bad idea as some people are actually again choosing that route because that is how our great grand parents lived. It is a choice and the community can only do so much to help make the general public eat healthy

 

[Jcycle]

Its ironic that while you're busy grappling with the issue of obesity and high body mass index, there's someone wondering where the next meal will come from. Not that i have any beef with the Americans but i would suggest that they spare a thought to to that hungry child who has gone for days without a decent meal. I think the Americans are truly blessed and have everything to thank God for.

They are separate issues and getting preachy about it doesn't help anyone. You seem to be implying that children are starving because Americans are fat and don't care and if you are that is just daft.

 

[limerickman]

My father makes the point that rationing during and after world war II here in Europe ensured that people of his generation were rarely overweight.

Dad is still svelte and active at 81!

 

[limerickman]

Its ironic that while you're busy grappling with the issue of obesity and high body mass index, there's someone wondering where the next meal will come from. Not that i have any beef with the Americans but i would suggest that they spare a thought to to that hungry child who has gone for days without a decent meal. I think the Americans are truly blessed and have everything to thank God for.

I would guess those going without food today also include many Americans as well.

I agree with your sentiments though.

 

[jhuskey]

The people that I know that are below the poverty level and get benefits have more food in their residence than I do.

 

[likeascroll]

It is a personal responsibility. Everyone is accountable to how healthy they are. It's just that people have a hard time finding motivation for working out, but it's so much easier to just lounge around and eat. But when it comes down to it, it's will power and responsibility.

 

[9lines]

Lately there is a high consumption of sugary foods than it used to be. Most people are now addicted to sweets without knowing that they are actually adding more weight. Fatty foods in fast food restaurants have also contributed to more people adding weight. Those who don't know about the negative effects of being overweight seem not to care at all. I can only blame that on our eating habits.

 

[mayasupernova]

Everyone is a shaper of their own life. We all have a choice, right? Whether we will choose the path that might lead us to healthy lives, or we opt for the one that is tastier, but may definitely ruin our existence, it is all a matter of choice. Being surrounded by a lot of fast food places, having to work long hours, thus not being able to cook at home, is something people are nowadays being surrounded with. Add to that a lot of stress that each and every one of us encounter from the moment they wake up to the moment they set their weary heads on the pillow at night, and you get a disaster. An ultimate sponge for calories - that is what our body is nowadays. We would rather sit in our cars, than walk, either to work or just down town. People are getting more and more irresponsible, lazy, and the health issue is there only when they are struck with a disease. Then, most of them pray to God to get well, etc. But, we have to realise where our lives are heading, before we actually stray from the right path.
Even when I used to work long hours, I would make sure I cooked some dinner at home, and I took it with me to work, eventually eating it there on my break, rather than buying some fast food thing filled with additives.
Everything is a choice.
Even if you suffer from some disease that puts some weight on you, you can still try to get away from fast food, and turn to raw diet, for instance. Life is only one, and the more obese one is, the more tha one is prone to disease!

 

[BikeBikeBikeBike]

My father makes the point that rationing during and after world war II here in Europe ensured that people of his generation were rarely overweight.

Dad is still svelte and active at 81!

It is a personal responsibility. Everyone is accountable to how healthy they are. It's just that people have a hard time finding motivation for working out, but it's so much easier to just lounge around and eat. But when it comes down to it, it's will power and responsibility.

Lets try and put these two ideas together.
People before didn't have access to as much food, were prone to probably eating as much as they could whenever they could.
This is why every grandma ever in the USA tells you to eat more, you just cannot eat enough. It's how they survived. Grandma will be personally insulted if you don't have a second helping of spaghetti before dessert.
Now we have so much freaking food available, you literally can't run out even if you are poor. But a lot of people still have the eat eat eat more mentality.
I agree a lot of it has to do with personal responsibility, but we have to agree the issue is actually more complicated.

 

[bigpedaler]

When you let factory farming and Big Pharma control the food supply of a nation -- for profit -- you end up where we are now, which is "you don't pay for quantity, you pay for quality", as in nutritional value. You can easily buy 20# of food at a grocery store, and it'll have the same ACTUAL nutritional content as an $8 meal. Add in the fact that, faster than ever, majority income levels are dropping (although we have the "$15" backlash building up now) while costs of living keep rising. SOMETHING has to give, so people have to buy crappy food that will bloat them up.

Also, things have become too easy; pay bills online, drive around the corner to the convenience store, sit on the couch and play the PS4/XBox. Riding a bike is, for most people, a ludicrous suggestion. I was looked at oddly for YEARS for commuting *2 MILES*! (You can imagine the reactions when it was **9** miles!)

I advocated bike commuting for years; I even used the gov't program that was in place a few years ago as an inducement. I can STILL count on one hand the number of people I've known who bike-commute. At the job I just had to leave, I was one of...THREE. 300+ people worked there.

 

[9lines]

Many people are lately eating in fast food cafés. Most of the foods there have a lot of fat which result to weight addition. Sugary foods have also been linked to weight addition. Most people don't know that sugary foods also contribute to weight additional. They also seem not to be knowing that it is dangerous to be overweight.

 

[Regalia]

I don't see how people do it. I'm almost jealous of them. I only eat 2 meals a day usually. Maybe have a tiny snack like a brownie or bag of chips. They must be inhaling their food because studies show that humans gain much more weight when eating fast than with taking their time. I don't like to choke so, I'm a slow eater. I like to taste my food too. And because of this I'm underweight, an estimated 93 pounds (if I'm lucky). I stayed at 80 to 83 pounds for years. My younger cousin (11) can pick me up. She's got to be at least 100 (overweight). That's what my dad says.

 

[jhuskey]

WHAT? 83 pounds! I have seen people that the mere shadow of their butt that weighed more than that. Is your last name Donner?

 

[Regalia]

Haha very funny. I probably have a slight case of an eating disorder. I usually don't get hungry unless I smell food. Apparently, that's not normal. Did you know that there's a disease that causes a person to throw up any content that slips down the throat? I'm lucky I don't have that. I believe a person is born with it.
Who's Donner?

 

[jhuskey]

"Donner Party", a group of settlers that got stranded headed to California in the 1800. Half starved to death. Some of the survivors are rumored to have turned to cannibalism. Yes I am familiar with eating disorders but the only way I could avoid gaining too much weight if I eat too much would be to slit my throat.

 

[Regalia]

I've probably heard of them. They had to do what they had to do to survive. I'm not surprised that's basically what everyone says around here. All I can say is just be careful or sooner or later you might WANT to slit your throat. That goes for everyone who has a weight gaining problem.

 

[Bicycleman]

I was at my allergist today and was asked how I was feeling. I said never better. I just rode 90 miles yesterday in preparation for a 130 miler. I was looked at in admiration. It kind of embarrassed me. Then all the office women heard about it as I was paying my bill. They were looking at me either like they thought I was crazy or I was somebody super human. Most of them were so overweight, it was pathetic. What we do as cyclists we take for granted, but the rest of the world looks at us, oddly.

 

[Bicycleman]

I have no respect for fat people because I used to be fat as a kid. Then one day, I got sick of the way I looked and stopped eating so much. Then I started an exercise regimen when I was 15, and I'm still at it. Am I a fanatic? Yes, but I'm no longer fat.

 

[Acheno84]

Nah , it's not my fault I eat 3000 metric tons on Mcd's fries a week. I mean if they were not made to be eaten in great quantity , why do they taste so good? It is now bad form to critique someone for being obese since they are victims of society and in truth it is ok to be fat nowadays.
My wife was trying to edge her way in past two rather large customers at a grocery store that were on their cell phone and joyfully taking up and entire isle. When my wife said excuse me and grabbed a 12 pack of beer the female remarked " beer will kill you" , may wife said " looks like a fork is gonna kill you".
What happened to jolly fat people, they all turned fat and obnoxious.

Haha I'm laughing so hard at this. I too have been a victim of an obese person sandwich and have been told "you need to eat more" when I am actually about 10 pounds heavier than I would like to be. I just looked and responded with "No, I like to be able to paint my own toes, thanks." And walked off. I used to smoke cigarettes as well and had an absolutely horrible day where I was basically a punching bag for everyone.I was in the smoking area, mind you, and this obese woman comes up and said "smoking will kill you, in case you didn't know that". I just looked at her dead in the eyes and said "Was that message endorsed by McDonalds or did you think of that one yourself?" Her rebuttal was "Men like their women big and beautiful" in which I replied with "Well, it's a good thing I married a woman than, isn't it?" I figured I had better walk away after that because one punch from her and I would have been on the ground in no time.

 

[Bicycleman]

I was out cycling in rural NC when a big Pit Bull ran out. He was more lovable than dangerous. He was a big teddy bear, but he wouldn't let me ride off because he kept up with me and kept running in front of me. I went up to the owner's house. A very obese woman came to the door holding a baby. I explained the situation and asked her nicely if she could please restrain her dog, all the while explaining that he was not dangerous, only that he wouldn't leave me. She replied, "He's like that." She then went back into her house. Deciding that she wasn't going to help me, I just turned around and decided I would find another route to ride. It was then that she came out and started calling me a mother F'er and yelling at me to go ride some place else. I replied that all I wanted her to do was constrain her dog. She then replied that it wasn't her dog. Yeah, every cyclist has heard that one. I replied that I could tell she was no lady by the way she talked. She then called me a ******* and everything else. Now, usually, I try to be polite to others, but if they start out berating me, threatening me, and telling me to go ride some place else, then I have to respond. I told her that perhaps she should take up cycling since she could really benefit from it by losing at least 250 pounds of ugly fat. I hauled ass after that comment, fearing a hail of bullets would follow. I didn't go down that road for quite a while afterwards, either.