Why are Americans getting so fat these days

Still, you made that thread asking "Why are Americans getting so fat these days?".
In the thread then, the only thing I see is you telling a story how you made a snarky comment to a cashier.
Then you implied the cashier was fat, too by writing
"Wow! I guess the fat is also dumbing down the brain, too.".

a reply to: ketsuko

I've developed a habit of buying bulk and prepping into smaller batches.

The mark-up on frozen meals is huge if you work out how much of what is in them. I can get a kilo of chicken breasts for 10-20 quid depending on quality (about 25-40 $) where as a 1/5th of that meat would cost you 1/3rd the price of a kilo.

Supermarkets love to add pennies for the convenience of a smaller product, which kinda concludes another reason I think so many are overweight... Stress, many don't or think they don't have the time to prep foods. Many buy that smaller product because they think they'll waste most of the product that works out cheap.

Stress clouds judgement.

You and I know that buying bulk is the answer, buy some freezer bags then cut and portion your meat and veg. With a little research you can store your own "ready meals" and they can be truly rewarding. Alas many don't have the time... Apparently.

a reply to: intrptr

Yes, it's hard to get businesses to locate into high crime areas. That is a problem, but some of the recent events show why businesses are so reluctant to locate there, and that's without counting in the theft loss.

I'd rather be fat than cruel. Perhaps you'll take this to mean that I am overweight, but the truth is I've been trying to gain a pound or two because I think a small layer of fat is healthy and keeps you young.

www.sciencealert.com...

originally posted by: verschickter
Still, you made that thread asking "Why are Americans getting so fat these days?".
In the thread then, the only thing I see is you telling a story how you made a snarky comment to a cashier.
Then you implied the cashier was fat, too by writing
"Wow! I guess the fat is also dumbing down the brain, too.".

Seriously, get over it already.

a reply to: RAY1990

Many don't have the time or the education sadly. Another thing in common with poorer areas is poor education.

You have to work the mental math in order to realize when the larger but slightly more immediately expensive buy is actually going to work out more to your advantage.

For example, butter spiked sky high around Christmas last year. We responded by buying extra butter every time it went on sale and chucking some in the freezer to dole out slowly.

But we noticed that the store was frequently selling out of the Irish butter which sold in smaller amounts for less cost per unit. We had never really paid much attention to the imported Irish butter before as it was hideously expensive, but now the cost of a smaller unit of it was less than a full pound of the store brand. So we starting running the math per ounce on each. Even though the cost per unit of the Irish butter was cheaper, it was still much more expensive per ounce, you were getting less of it, but the price of the other was now high enough that the full pound of domestic butter was more expensive. So people were paying more for less but didn't feel like it. And they kept selling out of imported Irish butter.

In the end, the cost of domestic butter peaked out about about $0.10 less per ounce because we kept watching it, figuring we would switch when it got comparable to more expensive. And the price has come back down from there since.

But people make these decisions all the time without thinking about it. I understand people run a budget. Honestly I do too. We always carry a calculator to the store and our target is $100 for the week (we never make it anymore), but it keeps us from loading up with junk food. We will happily pay a bit extra for a full pound of domestic butter if it works out cheaper in the end and it means we won't have to come back looking for butter quite as soon.

originally posted by: Nexttimemaybe

originally posted by: verschickter
Still, you made that thread asking "Why are Americans getting so fat these days?".
In the thread then, the only thing I see is you telling a story how you made a snarky comment to a cashier.
Then you implied the cashier was fat, too by writing
"Wow! I guess the fat is also dumbing down the brain, too.".

Seriously, get over it already.

Don't know your getting involved and insulting others.. if you haven't got anything constructive to say then maybe you shouldn't say anything at all..

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: intrptr

Yes, it's hard to get businesses to locate into high crime areas. That is a problem, but some of the recent events show why businesses are so reluctant to locate there, and that's without counting in the theft loss.

Thats one aspect. More prominently, people who walk or commute by public transit instead of driving a car can only carry so many groceries home with them at one time. So they travel shorter distances to local smaller stores with less variety, fresh fruits and vegetables, etc.

They have to buy lighter less dense food stuffs to make it last longer between trips. These smaller purchases are also more expensive in smaller amounts.

a reply to: intrptr

One way to help with this is delivery services. More grocery stores are offering them.

I know there is a delivery cost, but shouldn't neighbors be able to hook up and order together and then split the delivery cost between them?

Honestly I'm not sure about this. It was obvious how the thread was going to go. Obvious.

I'm not sure if you wanted that to happen but then back tracked as you felt bad. Or genuinely didn't think that there would be rebuke.

People are getting fatter the world over. It's very prevalent in the SE Asian countries where fast food is booming. The previous generation didn't have access to KFC etc but this younger generation does - it is showing. That's not an insult, the fact is many young people in the SE Asian countries are fatter than their previous generations.

I guess the same thing is happening in America and the whole world over.

This page says 2/3 of Americans are obese.

This page claims 2/3 of UK population are obese.

Here is a chart which puts Americans as the society with most prevelant obesity problem. But the stats don't match the two links above and perhaps only suggest that America is ahead of its time... Soon all countries will have an obesity problem.

How much of a problem is it? It depends if you trust the statistics:

Obesity reduces life expectancy by an average of three years, or eight to ten years in the case of severe obesity (BMI over 40). Around 8% of annual deaths in Europe (at least one in 13) have been attributed to overweight and obesity. The cost to the UK economy of overweight and obesity was estimated at £15.8 billion per year in 2007, including £4.2 billion in costs to the NHS.

Source.

That said, these people are not 'hogs'. They are not worthy of insult. Each person is unique and has their own battles and their own reasons they are obese. Laughing, insults, whatever - it doesn't help, it makes things worse.

a reply to: Nexttimemaybe
Sorry for pointing out the obvious!

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: intrptr

One way to help with this is delivery services. More grocery stores are offering them.

I know there is a delivery cost, but shouldn't neighbors be able to hook up and order together and then split the delivery cost between them?

That might be pretty costly. To the delivery driver that is.

originally posted by: greydaze
People that have no good income have poor resources for food..
frac.org...

I love how one of the best, most accurate answers gets very few stars. It's almost like people don't want an answer, they just want to argue.

Being healthy in 'murika is very expensive. I work at a bank branch that's inside my local wal-mart, so I get to people watch on a daily basis. The sad truth is the poorer people are the fattest, and the richest people do tend to look the healthiest. You can argue any sort of semantics all you want, but what it boils down to is if you eat cheap, the foods usually aren't the healthiest. If you want to eat healthy, be prepared to pay up the ying-yang for it. There's a reason many call Whole Foods "Whole Paycheck".

It's an interesting change in how things used to be. I always heard in history classes that the rich were the heaviest, because they could afford as much food as they wanted.

Really? What a trollish thread to make.


You first categorize an entire country based off one area you visited, then went on to say fat people are dumb?


You have a lot of growing up yet to do.

originally posted by: RAY1990
a reply to: musicismagic

Same as most places, poor diet and lack of exercise.

The human body doesn't need so much fat and sugar, nor does the average heart beat at the rate our ancestors did whom did a lot of running.

In short what you saw was evolution.

I disagree..I think people have been handed an answer to that to deflect away the real reason. We live in a world that feeds everything we consume for nourishment growth hormones.... make cattle fatter... vegetables bigger...... then people consume it for their entire lives.... have kids..... ad stuff their kids with it..... then act like it is some mystery why each generation seems to get heavier and heavier

originally posted by: Misterlondon

originally posted by: Nexttimemaybe

originally posted by: verschickter
Still, you made that thread asking "Why are Americans getting so fat these days?".
In the thread then, the only thing I see is you telling a story how you made a snarky comment to a cashier.
Then you implied the cashier was fat, too by writing
"Wow! I guess the fat is also dumbing down the brain, too.".

Seriously, get over it already.

Don't know your getting involved and insulting others.. if you haven't got anything constructive to say then maybe you shouldn't say anything at all..

I can tell English is not your first language, but I have not insulted anyone.

Your comment to me wasn't exactley constructive either.

Can we drop it now?

It may have something to do with the fact that so many people eat and drink the equivalent of 50 sugar packets and 2 sticks of butter every day.

Because women are tired of cooking! Forever they did it because back in the day, she didn't work. He worked, and she stayed home and took care of things. She made breakfast every morning, and dinner every night.

Now she works too. Nobody wants to work all day then come home and work until bedtime. Cooking is work. Get up the next day, do it again.

It's so much easier to pick something up on the way home. And our choices of what to pick up, are absolute garbage, unless you go to an expensive restaurant, with no drive through, and sit and wait while they prepare your take out meal. And it's too expensive.

And the poor who are overweight? I think they are depressed and overeat to compensate and cope. Or don't' know the difference in fat content from a whopper to baked chicken. And don't care because they are depressed.

a reply to: musicismagic

You are so full of sh!t. 7 out of 10 my ass... You are just trying to insult America period. I guarantee you did not even visit the states. Effing liar.

It´s also a question of lifestyle, not only money and poor quality food.

I can buy 500g premade Spätzle (a kind of porous noodle) for up to 2,69€ ("Premium Quality").
Or I buy all the ingredients for routhly the same price and can make 2-3 kg Spätzle at once, or even smaller portions several times. With just eggs, water, salt and wheat flour. I could buy premade potato powder (yuck) that gives me a small pot or I buy the potatoes and do it myself for 1/5th of the price and still have potatoes left.

Using the above tactics, you don´t need to go shopping twice a week. Hell, the next supermarket is 20km away from here. There is also another thing to keep in mind:

If you stop eating propperly and don´t move much, your body will start using up what he has. He starts with the muscles because they give the best energy and on the other hand, take much energy to operate. With less muscles, you need less energy intake and thus it spirals down. Parallel to that, your stamina will fade, making you move even less, adding more momentum to the spiral. Your muscles still have to stem the weight so you still need energy, even more. It´s not easy to slim down.

If you then start to eat but not "workout", you make it much worse. I´m not judging anyone, just trying to bring up some points. I dare to say it´s seldom just because people can only afford low quality food. Because you will get more mileage out of the ingredients anyday, compared to processed food.

But then, it´s up to the individual and is not to be judged by anyone else.