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I just watched a show on E! channel (lol- to take a break), and really cannot believe how many shows are on obese people, just tracking their daily lives.
IMO obesity in America is epidemic, I see 12 year old kids where I currently live, that weigh like 300 lbs., eat at Hardee's, and you should see the contents of the food carts at Kroger ...
Arent we at the point, where people should be educated enough about nutrition? Or do some people honestly think that Coca Cola, high fructose corn syrup, additives, poisons and fatty dairy foods are all just fine?.....
Its really sad, I dont understand parents, especially, who feed this trash to their kids.
All restaurants in this country serve huge portions of food. It caters to over eating and the food is rich & fatty. It's addictive.
On the other hand, people have to accept personal responsibility for their actions. And eating too much of the wrong types of food is certainly our action.
But also, Anerica has become the nation of "I want it now". We're lazy and more and more people refuse to learn to cook and/or eat healthy. Almost all high schools have eliminated home economics. As such, while our schools are so busy teaching how to be a homosexual, things like nutrition have gone by the boards. But it's what people have chosen.
We also encourage kids to be inside with computer games rather than outside getting excercise.
There's a lot of blame to go around. First, we are personally accountable. Second, we have a system at school and elsewhere that encourages it all.
I agree, the society of instant gratification doesnt help. To compare though, through generations, we can see that obese kids are far more common than in the 70's and 80's....I am just wondering how bad their physical health is, and how it will drain our society... I managed a bank call center, and there were 18 year olds on high blood pressure meds my father wasnt even on at age 70!!! These kids are walking time bombs...
i definitely agree with what has been said so far. Remember a few years ago when someone was going to sue all of the fast food chains, claiming their food from eating it every day is why he is obese, has diabetes, and other health issues?
NO ONE GRABBED YOU, AND SHOVED IT IN YOUR MOUTH!!!!!!!!
Well...
1). Technology: I grew up in the 1980s-1990s (mostly 1990s...since I was born in 1985). So in my lifetime I went from CDs being novelty items to universal cell phone use. Yes, even as late as the mid 1990s, kids were playing outside and sports. With more sophisticated video games, and the rise of the internet, there is less of a need/want for physical activity.
2). Food industry: During this same time period, portion sizes actually increased. So, as physical activity decreased due to increased technology use, there was an increase in portions. Not a good relationship. Plus, during this same time period a larger portion of marketing occurred. Coke in schools started in the 1990s. Now it is commonplace practice. Vending machines in our public schools make it easy to purchase sugary, unhealthy drinks.
3). Economy: Pressures from abroad and increased costs of living coupled with stagnant wages means that parents spend more time at work. Thus, its easier to giver Jr. a few dollars than to bake that tuna noodle casserole. Mom and dad are busy at the office. Telecommuniting never really caught on. With lower income families it actually is cheaper to buy fast food than to make food from scratch.
4). City planning: Most Americans live in suburbs. We live in the first century in which the majority of Americans live in suburban areas. Thus, one commutes to work by car, goes shopping in a car, and visits friends/relatives by car. There is no walking as in the city. No hard physical labor as in the country as well. What occurs is a lack of physical activity. Some isolated exburbs don't have neighborhood shopping plazas. Or very few to the point in which many areas are not serviced.
5). Education: There is a lack of nutritional education. Less emphasis on the science behind what we eat.
There are probably other reasons, but these are the main ones I can think of off the top of my head.
When we eat out at a restaurant, I make sure that my daughter saves half of her meal for the next day. I know that kid's meals are supposed to be portioned properly but with all the fat and calories that these types of meals contain, I feel it is best to divide up the food. I allow her drink a fun drink like a strawberry lemonade or something like that but no coke. She can have Sprite but no Coke. I think that parents have to be honest with their kids about food today and if they eat fast food or whatever all the time then they may not be fat now but they will be fat later!
"With lower income families it actually is cheaper to buy fast food than to make food from scratch."
Absolutely not true!
Groceries cost the same for the low income person in line behind the higher earner at the store and Mcdonald's charges the same for both.
Knowing what and how to buy and how to cook (not to mention bothering to make the effort) is the difference
You need to pass a test to drive a car. There are no qualifications to reproduce and for some reason a lot of stupid people seem compelled to reproduce more stupid people. When a person can't take care of themselves how do we remotely believe they can take care of someone else? Instead we hope that the offspring of stupidity will somehow remarkably acquire intelligence. The truth be know they arent even genetically predisposed towards that. then we throw them into school systems where the teachers are often more ignorant than the students they teach.
.... Get this a teacher in a school here in Orlando asked the class what controls the value of the dollar. she rejected responses like money supply, confidence in an economy, and world responses to economic situations within a country.... no she said Bush makes the dollar lower so the British will come to Disney and spend their money.... really I'm not kidding she said and believed this.
Where is it that the kids are to learn? I came from a generation that education was pushed both in the home and outside. we were to learn and make ourself smarter and it was an on going process, not ending after college. Between the 4 members of my family we have 9 degrees. We have taken classes all our lives.
Today you have too many parents with inferior educations, coming from school districts bogged down with litigious parents looking for a way to make their fortune. Schools are so sluggish from an inability to act for fear of repercussions they spend little time teaching.
And we wonder how kids don't know to eat properly?
Everyone wants to stop at McDonalds instead of preparing real food. people don't understand how to use a kitchen or what it is like to make a meal and sit down to eat it. We teach kids... eat while I drive ..it will save time...translation I won't take the time to cook for you so eat this crap I want to believe is food. If McD's doesnt offer anything good the kids won't eat it or have the opportunity.
You want to know why we are fat? we eat at fast food, we watch tv, and we stay indoors all our life. We make our gyms indoors so we can stay inside to become fit.
Want a way to be heathier and save mony? have one tv in the house, limit its use, limit computer time, make the kids go out for entertainment, be sure bikes, skates, and running shoes are in their realm to use, and prepare dinners every night and breakfast every morning. You might actually get to know your kids and keep them from doing drugs, becoming pregnant, and learning something.... There is your recipe to lean America. and reduce other social woes.... Could moving away from the family unit lead to our undoing? something that makes you go HMMMMMM.
Processed food created during hard times to feed the poor and hungry became a whole different problem than it was trying to fix. Thats the issue. There were less fat people before processed food.
And then people cry about how they cant afford to be thin...Ummm...Simple math everyone...It takes less energy to support less mass so in the end it costs less to be thinner and it cost even less than that to be on a diet. But they dont bother to try to get back to basics. Everyone acts like its so hard to bake a loaf of bread or check the grocery flyer for whats on sale or god forbid grow your own in the summer.
People know what the problem is and have the means to research to change thier ways. So if they dont its just being lazy. The "S.A.D." (standard american diet) doesnt do much for motivational energy though...But no one wants to really change or they would. Its not that hard to lose weight. Its as simple as stepping away from the fork.
I think personal reasonability is the main reason why obesity is so common. Granted there are technological, transportation, and dietary contributers, but it is a personal issue above all else.
You drive more than you walk or cycle? Buy a treadmill, an exercise bike, or a copy of Sweatin' to the Oldies.
You like unhealthy food? Try eating healthier or at least eating less crap.
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