Are People Obese in America because it is Socially Acceptable

I watched an interesting clip that said in some countries there are very few fat people because it is not socially acceptable.
They are basically shamed into fitting in a certain slim mold.

We aren’t talking every single person in a country, we are talking overall. If you walked down the street and looked at the majority of people.
It got me really thinking about the US and how much has changed over 40 years.

When I was in school we had one very obese classmate. I have a suspicion she actually had a medical condition.
There was maybe one or two chubby BOYS. That was it, everyone else was skinny, some almost to the point of what we
Would call anorexic today.

Now, take a look at the schools. Look at the schools. We’ve all said it. What is going on with these kids?
Just go to the store, or the mall, or any public place. How many people are average, overweight, and morbidly obese? The numbers are probably shocking.
I read yesterday that Millennials will probably be the most obese society in the history of earth….

We got told somewhere along the way, don’t fat shame it is wrong. My question, is it wrong not to fat shame? Is it ok to accept
Ill health as a society because we don’t want hurt feelings?

I think it goes so much deeper. I believe it is because WE don’t want to deal with the real issues at hand. We don’t want to accept
That we are being poisoned on a daily basis. That our food is quite possibly the worst on earth even though we are one of the richest countries.
We don’t want to accept that maybe we were wrong about societal shame. Look at places like Korea or Japan, shame is so intertwined in their culture that people feel so much safer. We don’t want to work on the real issues in our society, racism, bullying, class wars, parents working too much, kids on electronics too much, no homemade food, medicine up the yahoo, and glorifying unhealthy people everywhere.

My 600lb life. What do they show on these shows? It seems every single morbidly obese person on those shows not only have partners, or multiple partners, they also have a host of servants answering to their every beck and call.

I think we made a wrong turn, but how do we go back.

I'm fat due to life choices. bad ones. It's my fault, and every fat person has to accept they are fat due to the choices they make. Personal responsibility matters.

a reply to: JAGStorm

My personal story.

I’ve always been a slim, maybe a little underweight type of person.
About ten or so years ago I noticed weight was creeping up just a tad.
I talked to my doctor about talking to a nutritionist as I felt I had some deficiencies in that area too.

Here is what I was told. I was not overweight so anything they would help me with would not be covered by
Insurance. Because I didn’t have high blood pressure, or diabetes or pre-diabetes they couldn’t help me unless
I wanted to pay thousands out of pocket. I’m not even kidding.

There is no real preventative help in this country. They love to treat you with a myriad of pharmaceuticals AFTER, but if you try to be proactive you are totally on your own.

originally posted by: network dude
I'm fat due to life choices. bad ones. It's my fault, and every fat person has to accept they are fat due to the choices they make. Personal responsibility matters.

I actually think some of it is due to life choices and some of it is simply from living in this country.

How many stories have you heard about people vacationing in other areas (like Europe) and eating more than ever and losing weight. It’s actually quite common.
It’s not all about lifestyle. Some of it is about our food and what we have accepted here.
A lot of our food is illegal in other parts of the world.

Take glyphosate for example, not allowed in Europe but sprayed on nearly every dang crop here.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I remember years ago, before the internet. Two of my friends went over to America for the first time and they couldn't believe how fat everyone was. In particular they talked about women's behinds (not in a crude way) but how it was unbelievable.

originally posted by: midicon
a reply to: JAGStorm

I remember years ago, before the internet. Two of my friends went over to America for the first time and they couldn't believe how fat everyone was. In particular they talked about women's behinds (not in a crude way) but how it was unbelievable.

I’m an American but I lived in Europe for a big part of my life.
When I came back to the US for college I went through big culture shock.
The food… it was soooo terrible.
It was so oily, and salty. Also everything was over sweet, something I still to this day can’t stand.
I don’t even know how most people can eat these cupcakes, or donuts that have an inch of sugar frosting. I would literally vomit. I think living outside of the US your palate is conditioned in a certain way.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I wouldn't say being fat is socially acceptable in the US. It's not socially acceptable to call someone a fatass to their face, but there are other ways to social shaming that happen. As a former super skinny dude who is now a bit on the hefty side, all this is on me and the foods I choose to eat. That even applies to other countries that are considered to have healthy food (e.g., some European, some Asian, etc.); I always sought out the absolute worst things you could eat from a health perspective because they were so much better tasting than the alternatives.

a reply to: JAGStorm

all it takes is one healthy person to blow that out of the water. How do they remain healthy, but live in the same town as me? Maybe they eat better, drink less beers, and exercise more. Again, personal responsibility.

a reply to: JAGStorm

When I went to Italy when I was 17, I was shocked to see how fit all the women were. No matter what age, they were all in great shape. This was in 1996, so the fitness fad hadn’t been totally grasped by the females in the states yet. It hadn’t been grasped by Italians either. Only one thing you could attribute it to - types / quality of food intake and quantity.

a reply to: JAGStorm

As the star of the new TLC series “My 600 pound thigh” I can say that obesity is caused by;

The internet
Video games
2 working parent households

a reply to: JAGStorm

There is no going back, society does not work like that, unless you're thinking reset.
Knowing where you want to be in the future is all you've got.

It's so hard to find the right balance between doing the same and expecting different results aka culture and radical changes thereof. It's this interplay that let's culture evolve and is also used to keep them stagnant...

Shaming serves a societal purpose. It encourages discipline, which is necessary for society to thrive.

The current craze to support everyone regardless of how they look or think is only serving to weaken us as a species.

On a side note, I agree with DB. We only really got superfat with the internet.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Self-accountability. I find it's easy to blame others for my current situation, but how does blame enact progress? I would rather spend time bettering myself(or doing whatever I like) than waste time trying to convince myself or others that something other than me controls my actions.

I'm a straight shooter; being sensitive isn't what allows me to communicate properly, so I get to the point, usually absent of feelings-- facts. Blunt honesty has allowed me to surround myself with trustworthy people, or separate from those who are too sensitive and/or delusional to acknowledge truth.

I don't have a problem with people being happy with themselves. I will, however, oppose those that put lipstick on a pig.

Processed Foods,
especially the meat fats forced consumption.... picky eaters know what i mean

a reply to: JAGStorm

Easy: Happy Meals!

I think it has more to do with all the unatural ingredients in our food that our bodies are not equipped to handle. There is no way to process the grease our fast foods are fried in, nor the onslaught of chemicles.

Before obesity, we had lard and it didn't equal obese America. We had real butter and ate tons of eggs. We were told these things caused disease and were encouraged to stop eating natural ingredients and switch to everything artifical.

You can also add that most Americans are on at least one prescription drug, if not multiple-and the vast majority have a side effect of 'may cause weight gain' and worse-'may cause type II diabetes'.

A lot of countries outlaw the toxic ingredients American food is full of....that should be a big clue. Do other countries get fat from eating McD's without all the extra additives? That should be a big clue.

Following the science has led to the epidemic of obesity, IMHO. We're not eating healthier; we're eating unatural. Take away processed food, cook from scratch and the pounds will melt off.

a reply to: JAGStorm
high fructose corn syrup. Cheap for the multi-billion dollar corporation, and something about it is far worse than regular sugar, how the body reacts to it, it changes body metabolism leading sooner to diabetes etc.

When I lived up North I was rail thin weighing in at 130.

When I relocated home in the South I quickly went up to 165.

Everyone used to joke it was Southern Cooking but my dietary habits haven't changed...I just got older.

I still walk around six miles daily but it still hasn't had much of an effect on my waistline, but my legs are solid muscle...which is denser than fat.

According to the modern classification standards I register as "obese" at 165 at age 47 even though it's mostly water weight from being in the Southern Climate.

I think the charts are bunk and don't take a lot of factors into consideration so I don't put much faith in them anymore.

a reply to: JAGStorm

A one time it was a bad thing for society to expect a woman to be skinny... It's dangerous for her health...
Today it's body shaming to say a woman is fat.....
Ignoring the obvious health dangers...

But no, I don't think people are fat because its socially acceptable, it's now socially acceptable because people are fat.
The obesity epidemic is likely a result of food additives, corn syrup and a constant on the go lifestyle.

My dad told me when he was growing up in the 30s that he had biscuits and gravy for breakfast every morning...
Not a fat kid in the house.

The simple cause of obesity is a bad habit formed by a weak person who usually relies on the apathy of those around them to live a live of delusion and denial.

That is why this habit is often shared by friends and family who stick together with their mental conditions.

The answer....eat THEM first, and we may not have to eat too many bugs in the future.

Also, large people use more air, that's selfish.