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Microwaves and refrigerators are the main causes, actually, along with packaged food. When you have to go get fresh food every day, when it spoils every day and when you have to actually cook nearly all of it, as is the case in the third world, you eat a lot less. Of course, the added sugar, salt, wheat gluten, chemicals and HFCS hurt, also, but a lot of that stuff would not matter if people simply ate a lot less. Ease of cooking food, and ease of keeping food around, that's what makes it really easy to overeat. Once you are fat, your body "demands' the "extra" calories and it makes you suffer if you don't provide those calories. Few people are willing to suffer (at all) to achieve anything, in the US these days.
I agree with you.
But the HFCS argument is superfluous if Americans were to prepare and cook their food from scratch like they used to. I can make a beef stew to feed a family of six that costs less than a Big Mac and Fries with a half-gallon cup of sugared water laughingly called soda.
Laziness and stupidity is what drives obesity in this country.
Really? A Big Mac meal is what, $5? Maybe $6?
I love to cook and make beef stew all the time, but with the cost of beef nowadays, plus the cost of all of the fresh veggies, I can't agree that it's possible to make enough beef stew for six for $5.
Microwaves and refrigerators are the main causes, actually, along with packaged food. When you have to go get fresh food every day, when it spoils every day and when you have to actually cook nearly all of it, as is the case in the third world, you eat a lot less. Of course, the added sugar, salt, wheat gluten, chemicals and HFCS hurt, also, but a lot of that stuff would not matter if people simply ate a lot less. Ease of cooking food, and ease of keeping food around, that's what makes it really easy to overeat. Once you are fat, your body "demands' the "extra" calories and it makes you suffer if you don't provide those calories. Few people are willing to suffer (at all) to achieve anything, in the US these days.
Erm, that's a new one. I didn't know you had to live in a third world country to avoid being overweight Somehow plenty of people in developed countries, including US, manage to keep their weight in check in spite of having refrigerators and microwaves (which if anything make it possible to keep and conveniently prepare veggies, fruit, lean meats, while you can easily live on sacks of potatoes and bread and pasta and sugar without either of these things)
Also in lots of places bordering on third world, especially rural locations with limited modern conveniences, the diets are actually not healthy at all. In places like Mexico or rural Russia they may cook every day but they cook large, rich meals heavy on the starches and fats to keep full, and many tend to be overweight.
Erm, that's a new one. I didn't know you had to live in a third world country to avoid being overweight Somehow plenty of people in developed countries, including US, manage to keep their weight in check in spite of having refrigerators and microwaves (which if anything make it possible to keep and conveniently prepare veggies, fruit, lean meats, while you can easily live on sacks of potatoes and bread and pasta and sugar without either of these things)
Also in lots of places bordering on third world, especially rural locations with limited modern conveniences, the diets are actually not healthy at all. In places like Mexico or rural Russia they may cook every day but they cook large, rich meals heavy on the starches and fats to keep full, and many tend to be overweight.
The quote from dreadd that you responded to didn't imply that it was impossible to be healthy with a microwave or that those without microwaves today were healthier than those without. I'm not sure why you responded to those two points.
That is very true. And then people become used to eating that much in general. I had a co worker who was a big girl, not height wise but round wise. She would watch me eat my sandwich or my leftovers, or a salad and always comment on how little I was eating. Her lunches always had a side of chips and a big sweetened soda or tea. I am sure she consumed at least 700 - 900 calories with her lunches. Some habits die hard. I was eating a normal lunch but her perception of it was not enough, that somehow I was starving myself.
700-900 calories is not a lot of calories for a full meal (at least not for a guy) -- but maybe for that particular girl.
That reminds me of an incident I had years back...
We were a really young family- getting the kids together to go out to eat was a major feat, lol
We were at Old Country Buffet & I had my youngest (who was about 2 at the time) in my arms.
I was next in line for the fried chicken-
he loved chicken & mashed potatoes at that age.
As I said- I was next in line w/ him in one arm & an empty plate in the other.
As my turn came-- I kid you not--
A humongous 400 lb. beast of a lady cuts in front of us & empties the fried chicken onto her plate!
It had to be 8 pieces---
I wanted to punch her in the face, lol
But as usual I took the high road.....
I noticed as she went to her table that her obese family was noticeably low class, & gross looking.
Some people should be banned from buffets, lol
Btw, I don't eat at those kinds of places anymore.
I'll leave that to the lifelong whales.
Fat people like that are ignorant, repulsive & disgusting.
Wow…calling that lady a beast and her and her family whales….That's mature and very high-roadish of you! LOL
Actually Americans need to learn how to tend to their own lives, their own choices and keep their opinions to themselves about how other Americans live their lives and the choices they make.
None of you have any idea what the situation is for anyone you consider fat and lazy.
Toss the stone at your own glass house right after you sweep off your own front porch.
You can eat nothing but junk and be underweight/average weight/etc. It's all about numbers, unless you are in the small percentage who has a medical issue impacting your weight.
And yes my Cookie Crisp cereal was delicious this morning. Along with my whole milk, pop chips, ham and provolone sandwich, chocolate haze craze yogurt (disappointment) and beer. (FYI my BMI is < 20.) Night shifts make my "breakfast" more like my dinner time.
700-900 calories is not a lot of calories for a full meal (at least not for a guy) -- but maybe for that particular girl.
For a single meal? Most women who are trying to lose or maintain weight have a range somewhere between 1200 and 1600 calories/day (maybe more depending on activity level.) A lunch of 800 calories is half her daily intake, so yeah, that's a lot.
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Somehow plenty of people in developed countries, including US, manage to keep their weight in check in spite of having refrigerators and microwaves (which if anything make it possible to keep and conveniently prepare veggies, fruit, lean meats, while you can easily live on sacks of potatoes and bread and pasta and sugar without either of these things)
