The Land of the Obese?

Well the problem now with many food even the one tagged healthy is the list of ingredients in their label.

What out for,

Saturated fats - meat, dark meat polity and skin, butter, full-fat dairy, coconut oil, palm oil they all increase cholesterol.

Trans fats - margarine hydrogenated oils, found in processed foods, baked goods, and fried foods, they raise cholesterol.

Salt is the worst enemy to hypertension, starches to blood sugar.

Is good for anybody with a will to change their eating habits to engage in taking trips to the supermarket and take their time reading the labels of the products they buy.

Even products called "healthy" as long as they are processed are no so healthy after all.

Fiber - people are missing one of the most healthy and healthful ingredients in their diet, Fiber, it helps with processing fat absorption.

Originally posted by marg6043
In our fast paced society many people do not have the time to prepared meals at home.

Is a lot of people that depend heavily on fast food alternatives.

One example are college students, having a college student daughter I have to fight with her about her nutrition.

Marg, being a current college student and having been one off and on throughout a large portion of my life, I have to say that many times, fast food is all a college student can afford.

OK,
my dietary day consists of roughly:
breakfast scrambled egg (no oil) on wholewheat seeded granary toast.

1 hour later - home made fruit smoothie, banana's, kiwi, strawberry, grapes 250ml

1 hour later banana

lunch typically homemade soup (broccoli and sweetcorn is a current favourite) with 2 slices of same bread as breakfast

snack, piece of fruit -whatevers handy or go in a shop and buy some

dinner typically skinned chicken, seasonal veg small portion of potato or sometimes wholegrain rice, or with salad

No food after 7pm unless I'm out having a few beers then sometimes I might indulge myself or more usually, make a snack when I get home

Originally posted by whaaa
And don't forget that chips, donuts, jerky, soda, candy and other junk food is literally pushed in your face any time you get gas, beer, smokes or ammo,

Ahhh, I am a junk food junkie and most people would say that I am underweight. Junk food isn't substantive enough to do anything unless you just sit around and don't do anything. You burn it off quicker than you take it in.

[edit on 14-6-2007 by SpeakerofTruth]

I pretty much stay away from junk food (except for the very occasional kebab after a few beers) especially sweet stuff, for the simple reason that I don't really like it.

Much prefer the taste of "real" food - although I do enjoy the cooking as well

geez - I'll make someone a great wife one day

Originally posted by marg6043
Obesity has many reason, medical, genetic, food, life style and others.

Yeah look at me i eat like a pork(mars,sneakers,and so on) and i'm still under 80kilos(78k to be exact) for 1m81 which depress me.Can't i get bigger me too? WHy Oh Why?

No seriously, Obesity is threatening Western Europe too.We're too lazy
We're sitting up on the chair like if it was normal ... but no
Add to that we eat bad food and you get a generation of fat ass Aw... quite disgusting when i think about it.

The poors eat fast food/ the richs eat well prepared food specially in the US.

2 faces of a coin for the one&only man kind .....

Originally posted by budski

geez - I'll make someone a great wife one day

That is why my husband will not let me get away from him for too long.

My opinion why people are obese both in america and the UK is that it is due to laziness greed and over indulgence, people will spend hours watching TV or on their PC but wont spend the time cooking a decent meal.
Also I think this mainly applies to America is the amount of food that is eaten,it is cheap and plentiful over there and from what Ive heard they serve up portions to sink a ship. Im from the UK and over 50 and have never been overweight not because Im lucky but because I work at it, my advice is to do everything in Moderation do that and you wont go far wrong ...

Originally posted by SpeakerofTruth

I have to say that many times, fast food is all a college student can afford.

I agree with you, but this can become very unhealthy habits hard to brake as you get older.

Many young people are lucky that they do not gain weight even eating fast food.

But as you get older it will impact the way you will be fighting for your health.

Originally posted by marg6043

Originally posted by budski

geez - I'll make someone a great wife one day

That is why my husband will not let me get away from him for too long.

yeah, but I'm a bloke!

There has been plenty in the news here in the US about this lately. One of the things I noted is that the "Body Mass Index" has been found to be so flawed it is considered unusable in determining obesity. It lead to the listing of nearly all athletes as being obese. The problem has been greatly exaggerated because of this. Apparently all figures based on the BMI are now considered to be false.

I think the BMI was promoted due to the huge diet market here in the US. Billions are being made by shaming people who are not obese into spending money on ridiculous diets and worthless and often dangerous dieting aids. A large amount of profit has been made by convincing people who are maybe 5 or 10 lbs overweight into spending huge sums of money on their worthless books and fad diets. Follow the money.

For those who are overweight to the extent it endangers their health they need to follow their doctors advice and ignore fad diets and worthless diet aids. Only a controlled diet and exorcise can help and everything else is coming from the usual crop of Snake Oil Salesman taking advantage of peoples weaknesses.

Then there are the mentally ill who end up thinking they are overweight even though they are in fact underweight. Look at the harm the skeletal models are doing to our daughters.

Don't let these fakers scare people. Our life expectancy keeps going up. The real purpose of all these government studies, in my opinion, is to benefit attorney friends who want to sue the food industry out of existence for their own enrichment and to heck with the innocent people hurt. What people put in their mouths is their business and dictating what people should eat is the same as taking away the right to free speech. Just one more attempt to control peoples lives.

Originally posted by marg6043

Originally posted by SpeakerofTruth

I have to say that many times, fast food is all a college student can afford.

I agree with you, but this can become very unhealthy habits hard to brake as you get older.

Many young people are lucky that they do not gain weight even eating fast food.

But as you get older it will impact the way you will be fighting for your health.

Perhaps in the US this is true, but I can fill my freezer with 5 portions of a nutritious tasty stew for about £5 - that's £1 per meal

I always found that I could cook more cheaply for myself than I could eating junk.
When I was at college, people were always asking how I ate so well, and so cheaply
The answer? spend half an hour in the market, half an hour in the kitchen and less time in the pub`

blaine91555

do you have any links about this, all the sites I've looked at are saying the BMI is a reliable indicator

www.cdc.gov...

en.wikipedia.org...

International variations

These recommended distinctions along the linear scale may vary from time to time and country to country, making global, longitudinal surveys problematic. In 1998, the U.S. National Institutes of Health brought U.S. definitions into line with World Health Organization guidelines, lowering the normal/overweight cut-off from BMI 27.8 to BMI 25. This had the effect of redefining approximately 30 million Americans, previously "technically healthy" to "technically overweight". It also recommends lowering the normal/overweight threshold for South East Asian body types to around BMI 23, and expects further revisions to emerge from clinical studies of different body types.

In Singapore, the BMI cut-off figures were revised in 2005 with an emphasis on health risks instead of weight. Adults whose BMI is between 18.5 and 22.9 have a low risk of developing heart disease and other health problems such as diabetes. Those with a BMI between 23 and 27.4 are at moderate risk while those with a BMI of 27.5 and above are at high risk of heart disease and other health problems
wiki

I'd be interested to see info refuting this as in this country it's put forth as the most reliable method of calculating fat.

They pinch the fat using calipers and measure it that way, being very carefull not to pinch muscle.

Here you go, Budski. A BBC article on the BMI and a new scan technique.

Aparently, fat can cling around you inner organs and not show up visually. So someone who looks thin and in shape might still be harbouring alot of hidden fat.

A new type of scan can pick up this hidden fat and give you true indicator of whether your a fat git or not.

Nice one,
an interesting read - bit like those skinny people with really high cholesterol then.
Still, with the money it costs, I wonder how many NHS trusts etc will actually use this technique.

Now trying to find info on the caliper technique that my doc uses, where he pinches different parts of the body and then uses the measurements to calculate my body fat - a technique I'd only come across in gyms before he did it.

found it

Method

The method is as follows:

* Ensure that all of the skinfold measurements are located on the right side of the body and that the measurements are taken in millimetres
* Pick up the skinfold between the thumb and the index finger so as to include two thicknesses of skin and subcutaneous fat
* Apply the callipers about one centimetre from the fingers and at a depth about equal to the thickness of the fold
* Repeat the procedure three times as the measurement may vary and take an average
* In order to standardise, measurements should be taken by the same person and at the same time of day, preferably in the morning
* Add the results of each measurement to get a total value in millimetres
* Using the calculator below to determine the percentage body fat

according to my BMI, I'm in the OK range, but according to this, I'm overweight - mostly around the belly due to not being able to exercise because of my back injury - still, I'm getting there

OK,
another site with a good variety of methods
www.new-fitness.com...

[edit on 14/6/2007 by budski]

by Budski

I'm really curious as to why this should be the case, and because I know that many Americans are members of this site, I might be able to get some information as to why they think this is the case.

The study of Practical Economics explains it this way: To a person of limited income (obesity is more of a problem in the poor) high caloric food is such a good choice compared to other goods available in the market place that they are unable to say no. Believe it or not economics or economy plays a big part in all our choices especially when it comes to spending that hard earned cash.

It's not just fast food that is dangerous for human consumption, there are a lot of different factors. We ingest so many toxins in our body through all foods. They have been putting chemicals, pestisides, genetically engineered food, hormones, additives, food irradiation and preservatives in our food for quite some time now. People have to realize that this affects us. We are not getting the nutrition we need. Toxins accumulate in our systems, therefore making us more obese. Our bodies have to work harder to deal with these toxins, making us sluggish and tired. We are seeing an increase in people with all these different medical problems. What do you think it is caused by? People interfering with our food. Just some thoughts.

Originally posted by budski
blaine91555

do you have any links about this, all the sites I've looked at are saying the BMI is a reliable indicator

Sorry, I'm at work and its payroll day.

I watched a 10 minute segment on either CNN or Fox. I watch both so I'm not positive. It's not the first time this has come up. I'll try to find out. It was a piece about a study and some kind of change coming up in the way the government determines obesity.

I'm 6'2" and 220 lbs. when at my optimal weight. At that weight you could not pinch an inch anywhere on me. That makes me obese under the current standards. With our teenagers now looking more like bodybuilders than teens in many cases it exaggerates this.

I was fat as a child. I would sneak food and buy the wrong stuff when my parents were not around. By the time I was 20 I looked like a body builder. When I imagine someone accusing my parent of child abuse because of my misbehavior it angers me. Now there is serious discussion of taking peoples children away? We are headed for a Fascist State if this does not stop.

The cost of eating healthy is a genuine issue. To say that the working poor can afford to eat the way they say they are supposed to is a bald faced lie. It's easy for middle class and above to treat the people who do all their work for them like trash it seems. That is my true objection. I worked my way out of the impoverished life of farming and ranching. People like my family put the food on everyones tables and then are criticized for being poor. Our values are completely out of whack. Food is important. Expensive cars, HD TV's, expensive gaming computers, ridiculously over-sized houses and all that go with them are not important. I have all of those things now but I never, ever let myself become so high and mighty as to judge the people who really matter. Those who do the important day to day work so others who are grossly overpaid can sit around and let others do everything for them are the real heart of any system. Now they want to dictate what people can eat, how much they can weigh, what we can put in our mouths and I'm afraid it is going to get worse.

All the least expensive foods are the worst for you. Bread, pasta, processed meats and others. If you have to choose between feeding your children enough to survive or buying the more expensive foods and letting them go hungry; you feed them what you can afford. Now the snobs in society who sit in offices chatting on the Internet want to judge them?

[edit on 6/14/2007 by Blaine91555]

I agree, one of the first things you may notice when you visit a store and try to look for the organic and fresh products is that they are more expensive than you regular full of sugar and carbohydrates counterparts.

When you buy fresh products you have to set a time line to cook them or they will go bad a lot faster than processed foods.

Planning your trips to the markets help with the cost, unplanned trips just drain your budget.

Originally posted by marg6043
I agree, one of the first things you may notice when you visit a store and try to look for the organic and fresh products is that they are more expensive than you regular full of sugar and carbohydrates counterparts.

When you buy fresh products you have to set a time line to cook them or they will go bad a lot faster than processed foods.

Planning your trips to the markets help with the cost, unplanned trips just drain your budget.

Marg,

Your 100% correct the good food and product tend to be higher in price, but what people don't know is that if you live in a large city area you can buy bulk food for very very cheap.

Here in Detroit we have an open market on Saturdays, it's called the Eastern Market farmers and excess produce that is not sold to stores is sold off one day a week. The prices are unreal and actually sometimes not believable. Even if I don't buy anything I love the energy of the Eastern Market in Detroi.

I can buy enough fresh produce for a month for about $60 us dollars and this feeds about 5 people. Example many of these products that go unsold would usually go in the trash, but they are bought up buy independent dealers that buy in palates. A flat of fresh Strawberries $4, 100 pounds of Michigan Potatoes $8, Romaine lettuce 5 for $1, Tomatoes in season by the case $3, It depends on the season and the excess. The local growers will sometimes charge a bit more.

I would wager if you live in a big city that you can find a similar market like we have here.

www.detroiteasternmarket.com...