Americans keep getting fatter

[pleasureboy]

Ya know actually the average tax rates are not that different from ours. They're a bit higher on the lower end with the overall average being around 40% but pretty much everyone (in Germany everyone who made over $24k a year paid taxes) pays them evenly. In the US, almost no one at the bottom and almost no one at the very top, and almost none of the corporations pay taxes, so it leaves the people in the middle paying a very inequitable share for the government.

They are slowly changing their educational system more toward ours, but with all the politics involved it looks like they are going to match theirs more to the UK system than ours mainly because they found it would be cheaper (UK do 3-year BA's and 1-year MA's versus our system where BA's run 4-5 years and MA's 2+). Our educational system is also much more holistic whereas in Europe it's very much job specific with the majority of courses being centered around the degree. It makes for an overall less informed populace unfortunately (not individuals, but just that people don't have as much exposure to things outside their field of study) but at the same time, because they spend 2-3 fewer years in highschool and then only 3 years in university, their young people are out in the workforce and earning a living by 20-22 versus Americans and Canadians who are generally only just getting started by 25 and then are having to figure out how to pay off their 50-200k of student loans on a 24k a year job.

The big difference really comes in what we get for the money. Our taxes aren't as high as say the UK or Germany, but what we get for that money we pay in is so much less than what they get which makes us have to work harder to provide those services for ourselves as individuals.

 

[curiousvirgin]

I think the divide is mostly poor/wealthy. Poor people are more likely to be obese/fat than the affluent. Reason being that bad/empty calories are a whole lot cheaper than calories derived from good, healthy stuff like fruits, veggies, lean meats, etc.

Fruits, vege's and meat are a whole lot cheaper then junk fast food and candy bars... and the best part.. their prices aren't inflated with taxes...

I don't think it rich against poor either... diet information and exercise tricks are all over the net and need not be paid for...A poor person can just as easily be a health freak as a rich one.

I reckon its just environmental influence and personality type that makes people choose to be healthy and self conscious about their looks or vice versa (A certain degree of vanity certainly helps us keep thin)... If your family and friends are health conscious, its more likely that you will be too... The rich probably have more peer pressure to look perfect as well.

 

[pleasureboy]

In the US fruits and veg and fresh meats are far more expensive than manufactured foods. Same thing in most of Europe.

Another reason that in the US obesity and poverty tend to be linked is that many poor people in cities have no car. Thus they are limited to only the areas around their homes. Many of those areas don't have a supermarket and often only have a pharmacy like Walgreens or a small discount store like Woolworth (well not anymore) or even just a gas station. This is not to say they sit around all day eating candy bars and crisps. Rather, they simply are limited to those foods they can get locally which tend to be mostly carbohydrates (breads, mix dinners, cereal, etc) because these businesses don't sell fruits and veg and meat.

 

[Rikter8]

Basically even though Americans work more, they have less job security, and because they have to spend so much more of their personal income on things that are basics of most developed societies, they end up with less ability to enjoy the fruits of all that labor.

Oh come on... Every family should be happy to spend $250 a week on health insurance for their families.
What else is there in the world to want?

Right now most of my co-workers that have families are working to afford health insurance. They're having to pick up secondary jobs to afford their houses.

Who has the time to sit down and cook a proper meal?
If you think of the food industry as a whole, it's becoming more and more synthetic. Less and Less pure. Modified corn starch... Modified wheat... wheat gluten that killed dogs, but made humans allergic and sick, "Enriched" flour, etc etc etc. It's all synthetic garbage that we all have ate at one point or another.

You can't go to the grocery store and buy foods that haven't been modified in some form or fashion. The vegetables often have chemicals sprayed on them to keep them Fresh. The meats have chemicals to keep them from turning brown.
Everything else is processed 10 fold.

Even if you try to make your own products Like pastries - Your using "Enriched & bleached white flour" - you guessed it... processed.

I wonder what will happen when the market collapses, how many people will go back to growing their own vegetables, and how many people will be totally clueless of how to plant the seed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8zNsUTWsOc

 

[pleasureboy]

Down here in Louisiana we have a huge food culture (and much lower obesity rates than most places oddly enough). It's very normal for everyone to grow a garden, and we also eat quite a bit of fish and game. Add to that, it's an almost reversed society in which mostly the men do the cooking. It's very much the father teaches his son thing here...you may not learn how to fix a carburator, but dad probably will make sure you know how to cook a gumbo before you go off to college. Meals also still tend to be very social here so as such fast food really isn't very popular.

The foods we do eat tend to be natural and whole foods and not modified with all sorts of chemicals. I don't think that's intentional so much as it's just a matter of the local culture never allowing that sort of crap food to take hold here in the first place.

I have noticed though that when you go elsewhere in the US that eating is a very mechanical process (put food in, crap it out later, don't worry about whether it looks nice or tastes like anything). Also most people I know from elsewhere seem very amazed that we tend to sit down for all our meals (versus dinner on the couch or lunch in the car).

IDK, I think it's true that the overly processed nature of foods is bad, but also most Americans just seem to have a very unhealthy and non-fun relationship with food. It's kind of like drinking a cocktail that tastes like shit just because it will get you drunk. Why would you do that?

 

[e1ectricfee1]

Because sitting on your ass all day waiting for your marching instructions from the angry guys in the little electric talking box doesn't burn many calories.

You, sir, might enjoy this:
Asinine America | Meme Generator

 

[curiousvirgin]

In the US fruits and veg and fresh meats are far more expensive than manufactured foods. Same thing in most of Europe.

Another reason that in the US obesity and poverty tend to be linked is that many poor people in cities have no car. Thus they are limited to only the areas around their homes. Many of those areas don't have a supermarket and often only have a pharmacy like Walgreens or a small discount store like Woolworth (well not anymore) or even just a gas station. This is not to say they sit around all day eating candy bars and crisps. Rather, they simply are limited to those foods they can get locally which tend to be mostly carbohydrates (breads, mix dinners, cereal, etc) because these businesses don't sell fruits and veg and meat.

Guess its good to be in Australia!

 

[223790]

Well I've spent about 15 years working in various countries including the UK and from my own observations Americans work harder and more than anyone else (in the developed world) and probably reap the fewest benefits and usable wages from that work.

Canada is second and the UK third in my opinion. All three of our countries really work too much. Especially when you compare to the major difference when you cross the channel into Europe where work is more like a hobby that occurs somewhere between toast and jam and afternoon beer. The Europeans aren't the most productive lot, but they certainly enjoy life much more than we do.

Unfortunately, Canada has the least number of holidays of any developed/industrialized country in the world (even less than the U.S.). I agree with you that Canadians work way too much. We also have the problem of the "plague of plenty" in Canada. Childhood obesity has now become common here as well. When I was younger, obese kids were few and far between. Now it's common to see. I saw a 10 year old boy the other day at the swimming pool that had boobs and a belly so big and droopy that they were pulling him forward. How did his parents let him get that big? They ultimately control what he eats, yet they seem to shirk that responsibility to get something that is fast and easy. I see kids being fed fast food several times a week nowadays. When I was a kid, going to McDonald's was a treat that was enjoyed maybe 3 times a year if we were lucky. I also don't see kids exercising anymore. I live on a street full of them, and I rarely see kids outside playing anymore. The ironic thing is that crime (in Canada) is at it's lowest rate in 25 years, yet parents keep their kids locked up like we live in the middle of a gang war zone. Staying indoors on a nice day wasn't an option when I was younger. I also see this at the university athletic centre where I work out (my alma mater). I remember in the beginning of the school year you were lucky if you could even find a spot to change when I was a student. Over the last couple of years I have noticed (as have others) that the place is now practically deserted at the beginning of the school year. One guy remarked to me last year, "Where is everyone?". Not surprisingly, kids have carried this disregard for exercise and healthy living forward in life. My students constantly complain that they are tired and feel sick and it's no wonder when you see the crap that they are shoving down their throats for lunch. God help them when they hit middle age and the weight becomes harder to lose and the more serious health problems develop.

I agree with the fact that our food is way over processed and has been modified to the point that it is making people sick and overweight. I'm gluten intolerant. Once I went gluten free (about 3 months ago now), I dropped about 15 pounds and many health problems that I had been dealing with for years (especially chronic fatigue, acid reflux, and mood swings) cleared up completely within the first 3 weeks. Now if I eat gluten, I'm violently ill. To find out if gluten is affecting your health, go gluten free for 3 weeks and you'll know. Had I known that it was gluten doing this to me for all of these years, I would have given it up years ago.

"We spend our good health to acquire our wealth only to later spend our wealth to acquire good health." I think this is so true. Unfortunately, people take good health for granted, and don't realize how precious it is until they lose it.

I wish you all good health! Without it, you have nothing.

 

[D_Wally Walnuts]

Fruits, vege's and meat are a whole lot cheaper then junk fast food and candy bars... and the best part.. their prices aren't inflated with taxes...

I don't think it rich against poor either... diet information and exercise tricks are all over the net and need not be paid for...A poor person can just as easily be a health freak as a rich one.

I reckon its just environmental influence and personality type that makes people choose to be healthy and self conscious about their looks or vice versa (A certain degree of vanity certainly helps us keep thin)... If your family and friends are health conscious, its more likely that you will be too... The rich probably have more peer pressure to look perfect as well.

Ramen noodles are cheaper than fruits, veggies and meat, white bread is cheaper than wheat bread and ham is cheaper than chicken breast.

 

[deleted15807]

One day they will prove what food companies knew all along like the tobacco industry knew about tobacco and addiction:

Fatty foods may cause cocaine-like addiction

 

[mephistopheles]

Good ol' America.

 

[D_CountdeGrandePinja]

and it's a damn SHAME! Get smart or . . .

 

[hardbodystud101]

Americans have too many choices and the "food culture" is everywhere. High fructose corn syrup in everything because it is so cheap. Super Size me Supersize me!!! All the new technology over the last 100 years is great but is also making us lazy and therefore we move less. I don't expect things to turn around any time soon.

 

[Zayne]

If every time you went out, people stared at you, and you cared (and knew) that it meant you were somehow 'wrong' in the societal sense, than you probably would take care not to let yourself go. That's how it's been in most Asian countries,where fat people are regarded as weak in character and where other people's opinions about you matter. At least that's how it was until our Western carefree attitude (and Big Macs) spread to the East.

America really has very little food culture. In many Asian countries, ideas about food freshness and using healthy ingredients are transmitted through generations. Here, we share a burger with our dad, and we think it's some kind of tradition. The strength of this country, in many ways, is that we're not tied-down to traditions, but, with regard to eating habits, tradition sets good habits early--effective advertising does the opposite.

 

[Smaccoms]

there are a ton of reasons really has anyone read the book "Stuffed" by Hank Cardello? It's really good it talks about all of this.
For example, the illusion that bad food is more profitable than healthy food is very prominent, due to one or two failed experiments executed poorly using healthy food. Also stuff like soda and chips have huge profit margins (cost of ingredients vs price to sell). It shouldn't be that hard to lower the caloric intake of such products, which compromise a large portion of American diets.
Advertising practically force feeds unhealthy food down peoples throats. Grocery stores sell shelf space, so obviously the most prominent shelf space goes to the largest profit makers like soda, or lunchables, chips.
Grocery stores make a very difficult living, so employ every strategy they have to get you to buy as much as you can (meaning stuff like soda and chips) just to make their margins. "Power" items (milk, meat, eggs) which everyone needs and gets regularly are placed in the back, forcing you through the entire store to get them. Stand alone displays are filled with the most unhealthful and addicting foods with larger profit margins. The more colorful, pretty items which no one wants are placed in the front.
Restaurants are another huge venue to consider, especially since they also make very difficult livings. Since customers are very adverse to change, they tend to find a recipe, and stick with it. Since healthy foods have the illusion of destroying business, everyone avoids them. Things like cooking oil are constantly being replaced by "healthier" brands via gov't bans/new laws, which really just trade trans fats for saturated fats and vice versus.
Busier an busier lifestyles give people additional reasons to break down at the end of the day, and go to Mcdonalds instead. It's been programmed into our culture. Mass transit (in America at least) which encourages more exercising (walking around once you take the subway into the city, walking to bus stops), is at an all time low.
Government is becoming more and more involved in what we can and can not eat in the past few decades, yet obesity rates have continually increased under these set guides. QSR (Quick Service Restaurants) are built on unhealthy food. They avoid trying to simply remove excess calories from their menus due to a couple failed tries. Take for instance the chain D'lites, founded by Doug Sheley. Complete health-fast food experiment. Completely flopped. It was poorly executed. Too many chains opened in the wrong areas, there was no taste testing before hand. No advertising as well. It failed, everyone else took notice, and blamed it, naturally, on the food. DIfferent experiments like this one poorly executed have failed, scaring everyone else away form the idea.
Supersizing things like soda dramatically increase profits due to almost nonexistent increase in cost for the larger size. This dramatically increases profits and caloric intake. Same thing with bagels, chips, etc. Increasing sizes dramatically increases price to sell and calories, yet the cost to produce practically stays the same.
It's hard to blame any one thing, because when problems become this big, it's often a cascading effect coming from multiple different sources, colliding into one big flood. I don't feel like typing anymore...and I honestly feel like I did a bad job with this anyway...

 

[Calboner]

Fat people . . . all around me . . . closing in on me with their fatness . . . Aaagghh!

 

[simbasa12]

The problem in the USA is people buy the shit that is sitting on shelves and is loaded with preservatives and cheap fillers salt and sugar, instead of going to market everyday and buying their fresh perishable food. They don't have the time or want to take the time anymore. Stores like Safeway sell junk, actually poisoning us. Buy something from their 'fresh deli' and look at how much crap is listed in the ingredients.

On the other hand, most americans should be smart enough to know now what is good and bad for them. They should know that supersizing meals is a bad idea, especially anything with soda and french fries. Maybe I give people too much credit?

Maybe it all comes down to a fat America is a happy America? I never felt healthy when I was overweight. I felt like shit. High blood pressure, whacky blood sugar levels, high cholesterol...and I wasn't more than 20 pounds overweight. I have to do exercise, otherwise I feel like shit.

Going bike riding right now down to the beach to check out the bikinis....

 

[simbasa12]

Obesity is a world problem and not a peculiarly North American one; China and the UK are experiencing this new phenomenon too, but for different reasons. Rich Chinese think it is classy to eat like Americans, the British are getting fatter because they now have to compete with China in world food markets in paying much higher prices for their British beef, fish (thanks to Thatcher for selling off the UK fisheries). An irony as we are an island with the richest pastures set in a sea full of cod, haddock and salmon.The poor in the UK used to eat well, now they are at the mercy of junk food corporations (it isn't "fast" - it has been so adulterated that it bares little resemblance to whole food

In the Bay Area we have many many asian buffets now. The asians love going to buffet. I think they feel like living like kings compared to when they lived in Asia. Sadly, they will soon be joining the ranks of fat americans...

 

[eurotop40]

Well I've spent about 15 years working in various countries including the UK and from my own observations Americans work harder and more than anyone else (in the developed world) and probably reap the fewest benefits and usable wages from that work.

Canada is second and the UK third in my opinion. All three of our countries really work too much. Especially when you compare to the major difference when you cross the channel into Europe where work is more like a hobby that occurs somewhere between toast and jam and afternoon beer. The Europeans aren't the most productive lot, but they certainly enjoy life much more than we do.

Hum, I do not know all areas of work, I am in academia.
In this area I believe that US americans put a lot of emphasis on the fact that they work. In reality it seems to me that they are very much 9 to 5 including the meal time at noon. In Zurich we do 8 to 7 with 45 min break at noon (plus work at home).
It is true that many US laborers have 2 or 3 jobs: I remember my super in NYC who had 3 jobs, He for sure managed to gather more money, but the overall quality of his work and his reliability was poor.

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

In Zurich we do 8 to 7 with 45 min break at noon (plus work at home).

Seems extraordinary.
Is that 10+ hours of work typical across Switzerland?