Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Something VERY wrong......probably a combination of things.
Way back when I was in elementary school.......there was ONE truly fat kid in the whole school.
This.
the two biggest grocery chains in my n'hood make it a challenge to find anything between all the high-carb-artificial convenient junk food crap. However it must be said that this is due to what the demographics in this particular area DEMAND more of, so it is the consumers' fault that we don't have options/choices more convenient to us. There is no Whole Foods, Trader Joes or the like anywhere nearby. Closest thing to "health" store is the GNC chain. There are however 3 wal-marts within a 4-5 mile radius.
And people won't walk 6 yards to go into an empty-inside coffee joint with all empty parking spots in front of it, on a nice day. Instead you will see 7+ cars deep, sitting there engines running in the drive-thru on any given nice day where I live. Cheap, easy, convenient is ALL that matters here. In this day & age when virtually EVERYTHING is done FOR us, how is it everybody is so busy that their only priorities-demands are for cheap convenient junk foods? Computers and iphones do all the stuff we used to have to venture outside to do!! We don't even have to wait in line to pay bills anymore!!! Even that is done online!! NOBODY walks anywhere and the former "normal" proportioned people are few and far between and the few who WANT healthier alternatives at the grocery have to travel for it. (YMMV where you are located.) I can't wait to move!!
In the part of the country where we've moved we've noticed that the people here, especially the women(sorry ladies, NOT busting on women), are short and round. Kind of like 'Weebles". It is an economically poor area overall. Used to be once upon a time "junk food" was more expensive than more nutritious whole food. Now it seems the opposite is true. In the college where my wife attends, she notices a lot of younger "round" people.
In the part of the country where we've moved we've noticed that the people here, especially the women(sorry ladies, NOT busting on women), are short and round. Kind of like 'Weebles". It is an economically poor area overall. Used to be once upon a time "junk food" was more expensive than more nutritious whole food. Now it seems the opposite is true. In the college where my wife attends, she notices a lot of younger "round" people.
It's the same here, in a middle-upper middle class "suburbia" setting
ALL I hear is how people are so "busy" too busy to cook or what-not. , yeah so busy texting every waking moment in their days! This is ALL I see people in all tax brackets and age brackets doing. All. The. Time. All day. All night. They could put arsenic in all the food and people would be oblivious to it!! Just get more DRUGS from the Doc for any and everything that ails them!! Sorry i'm so grumpy today, this subject hit a sore spot People i care about suffer from health issues due to Guess What.
Also, what is considered "Organic" food today was literally our NORMAL food back in the day.
Something VERY wrong......probably a combination of things.
Way back when I was in elementary school.......there was ONE truly fat kid in the whole school.
Even though I had graduated from high school 1987 it was pretty much the same in my hometown...VERY few kids that were truly overweight even though even back then my hometown had most of the fast food chains including several McDonalds and the 7-11 had already started selling Big Gulps.
Of course back then there weren't very many so-called "overprotective parents". Today there are so many of such parents who no longer even allow their kids to play with other kids, get involved with sports programs or even allowing them to go to the movies because of the fear something horrible might happen. We have a huge playground and pool in our development but it is rare to see anyone using them even during the warm days of summer. When I was kid I would often go skateboarding with the other kids..can't do that now one may get hurt and sue.
Back in the day if one wanted to eat out or shop one actually had to get up and leave their home to do so. Today here in Denver thanks to King Soopers ( part of Kroger ) and Walmart one can even have their groceries delivered right to their door even if they may very well live near a Whole Foods. Then there is social media. My co-worker was telling me the other day when she was at the gym recently there were far many folks standing around with the Smartphones typing stuff posting funny photos on Facebook, tweeting about what they saw on those reality TV shows like the Kardashians or Duck Dynasty than actually working out. We have so many places thanks to online ordering out here one can have a different meal sent to their house seven days a week without even stepping outside to go to a restaurant.
TV & radio...back then one had to get up and walk to change the station. Today with such things as online streaming and Iheart Media phone apps all can be done on the phone. Sleep ?? People love to bash soda but what about those popular energy drinks that so many love ? One won't be getting much sleep if they drink can after can after can after can of Red Bull. Back then if one wanted to get energy you had to be active and actually do something.
Yes a bad diet and fixing those quick and easy meals rather than a meal from scratch does play a role as to why so many are fat but even if there is a Trader Joes or a Whole Foods in every town and on every street corner and if soda and McDonald's would be outlawed as long as there will be many of folks who for one reason or another just won't leave their house, sit on the couch or a desk and do EVERYTHING online..there will always be a problem with obesity.
Also, what is considered "Organic" food today was literally our NORMAL food back in the day
Agreed. It came from local farms and dairies. We had a well-rounded school lunch and our Moms made sure we ate breakfast before leaving for school and we all sat down to a nutritious dinner together.
1. Lack of exercise combined with high indoor computer usage
2. High Fructose Corn Syrup is snuck into every other food in this country, foods that traditionally have no added sugars are now packed full of HFC in order to make people crave their foods and become addicted.
Typical American foods that are now filled with HF corn syrup, besides almost EVERYTHING:
Meats, dairy like sour cream based dips, breads, pastas, tea, pasta sauces and tomato marinara, soups, powdered seasoning mixes, all kinds of fake health foods that are labelled "low fat". They are even adding it in powdered form now. I cant even think of everything, it is pretty much IN everything and the list is 1 mile long.
I've heard this baloney about high fructose corn syrup being so evil many times. Nope, it's not the problem. The problem is much more R/T your #1 and it goes back to the old standby: Calories in, calories out. Even if a person consumes a lot of HFCS, it doesn't matter if the person exercises a lot and burns the same amount of calories he/she consumes (if a normal weight) or burns a greater number of calories then he/she consumes (if overweight). Sure, eating healthy helps because it allows a person to eat more food on fewer calories. But obesity isn't caused by a single ingredient in the American diet (not even carbs!)
I travel quite a lot and a few things I've noticed.
1. I know of no other country where supermarkets provide motorized wheelchairs for customers too fat to shop.
2. I've never passed through an airport anywhere other than the USA and seen those super-wide wheelchairs at the landing gate for passengers too fat to walk. I see wheelchairs,obviously,but they're literally half the size of the US version.
3. Cops that are so fat they're unable to give chase to criminals. Seriously how can law enforcement people do their jobs properly when they're obese ?
4. Appetizers in US restaurants are the same size as main courses in European restaurants.
5. A size XL in a US clothing store would be same size as an XXL or XXL anywhere else in the world.
6. Schools in the UK,France and German have been prohibited from having vending machines providing soda,candy and chips for nearly a decade.
Again,these are just observations not scientific facts but I find them interesting nonetheless.
The reality is that these treats are normalized in our world, and we have three choices for coping with their existence:
1. Eliminate them from our diet completely, and shield our children from them
2. Consume them as part of our regular diet, or perhaps buy "organic" versions of junk food
3. Consumer them in extreme moderation, as a "sometimes" food
In my house we have option 3. I've also made it a point to teach my kids portion control... but I've also used over-indulgences as teachable moments so they start to recognize when they feel like crap from drinking a soda or too much Halloween candy. And guess what: my kids and I are all a healthy weight and willingly choose healthier options for snacks. My husband struggles, but is starting to force himself to make better choices and eat smaller portions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stan4
And that is how the food industry gets people.
By normalizing non-food so people say, "Treat!" Or think it is something they even should take in "in moderation" simply bc it is available.
Bc it exists on a shelf and makes a brain receptor ping in delight.
Correct.
But your idea that people are too tired/don't have time to cook doesn't really stack up.Everyone has a freezer so why not use the time at weekends to cook up dishes you can eat during the week when you're at work.
You can also buy healthy fast food - noodles,rice,pasta etc that is really quick to cook up.
And why is it the unemployed,who have plenty of time on their hands,still buy and eat crap.
My kids are a healthy size because we insisted they ate a good healthy breakfast,always took a packed lunch to school that didn't have candy and chips in it and sat down to a home-cooked dinner every night.
Yes they ate crap occasionally but as an exception rather than the rule.
Friday night was always burger night - cooked lean meat and oven-baked fries in 5% cornflower oil.
They were brought up drinking Diet Coke and now couldn't drink a sugared soda if you paid them.
It is simply not true that factors other than willpower are responsible for obesity.
Eat less,move more.
It's just as possible to become enormously overweight while cooking everything at home. I'm sure when I was 400 lbs, people looked at me and thought that I probably ate McDonalds three times a day, but I've cooked from scratch for my entire adult life. I make my own bread, tortillas, pizza, yogurt, etc. I don't use mixes or buy sugary drinks. I used to get really interested in mastering one particular cooking skill, and practice a lot. Some of those, like the summer I decided to master sourdough bread, or the couple of years I spent teaching myself to decorate cakes and cookies, probably contributed rather directly to my problem.
There's a difference between homemade and healthy, the two don't always overlap. There are a lot of things I don't cook anymore, because I can't cook them and lose weight.
I also don't believe that willpower alone is responsible for obesity. An example: I spent many years eating the same foods in the same portions that my husband ate. He's 5'7" with a small frame and I'm 5'4" with a large frame. He's a couch potato and I am not. During those years, his weight has remained constant at 185 and mine went up over 400. I tried dieting and never had any success. Then I was diagnosed with diabetes, started taking meds for it, and within a year I have dropped 180lbs. I have the same willpower I always had and I'm counting calories just like I did in the past. The difference is that this time, I'm actually losing weight. So in my case, it's not just willpower. My dad followed the same pattern...became extremely overweight in his 30's, was diagnosed with diabetes and lost more than 100lbs. He's kept the weight off for more than 20 years while keeping the diabetes under control. Both of my sisters are quite heavy. One is prediabetic and when she takes metformin, she's able to lose weight, and otherwise she's not. So it seems like there's something genetic going on in my family.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Closest thing to "health" store is the GNC chain. There are however 3 wal-marts within a 4-5 mile radius. 
