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Old 11-28-2014, 02:37 PM
 
Location: Østenfor sol og vestenfor måne
17,919 posts, read 24,183,302 times
Reputation: 39021

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I think the argument that there is a general diet problem in the U.S. is a given.

When people argue 'Well, I don't eat that way', it is not to imply that the bad diet problem doesn't exist in the U.S., but that it is not universal, and that there are excellent alternatives and lifestyles in the U.S. contrary to the oft repeated chant that Americans pig out on nothing but McDonald's.

And to a great degree, these lifestyle habits are both regional and class based. Some states, the size of entire European countries have comparable habits and a high level of quality food and fitness, while others have a much more significant problem.
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Old 11-28-2014, 03:47 PM
 
Location: Nice, France
1,349 posts, read 658,792 times
Reputation: 887
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fabio SBA View Post
We use to say in Brazil that McDonald's it's "the richest place visited by poor people".
Exactly!

Only "poor that want to look rich/trendy as in the movies" people used to go there in the 80's when it was new and different from how we used to do and presented as such by advertizing.

Any other knew better, or at least, to be true, didn't feel that need to assert themselves that way (fast food can be replaced by any other type of thing, way of talking - today, an intern of mine actually said out loud "Oh MY GOD" in the same way Chandler Bing would say it, not even understanding what it meant except a funny way to underline someting, truly, he couldn't even translate it and was baffled when I told him that he mentionned Dieu in relation to not believing something", relationship - dating for example is or was recently unheard of as a concept in France - fashion, etc). And it also used to be when USA actually represented a "dream", it doesn't anymore for any informed reasonnaly financed person (and Europe isn't either) but, wow, are your advertizing people good! (not that I'm not saying it's better here - any starving/harrassed person doesn't really choose the country they emigrate to, they choose the closest one, however difficult it is to reach. You have mostly Central Americans, we have Maghreb and Africa )

But then, we don't want to be our grandparents, do we? and I realize I might seem that way, talking with "used to"s, etc... It's not my point.

Talking about fast food, it's still true however regarding costs, comparing... It still costs very much, at least in proportion. A "start" meal combo at mcdonalds in France (and with such a small size some American friends wouldn't believe, biggest fries portion are about 3.50 ounces, soda fountains are also nearly unheard of) is about 8 euros, which is about 10 dollars before tax.

Advertising did very much (I include general advertizing, ie brands showed in movies, ideal life sitcoms such as Friends or any other tv show where they are all broke but still live in huge appartments in Manahattan, etc, this show being just an example).

Still, people go for that more and more.

Advertizing does get its rewards and we're in the same boat. And I'm French, the "so romantic/women don't get fat/everyone is happy not working and drinking wine" or "Brazilian women are so hot and spend their days in bikinis that can barely cover their huge breasts" so I include my country in that thinking. Everyone is a sucker in that regard but it is still advertizing

What I don't get, and I'd love for an American citizen to explain to me is why when you know the reality isn't such, some of you still believe in that poop!

Honestly, I'd like to know!

And from what I read it seems to me very cultural but not so majorly different from both angles.

We all have a way of thinking and that is wealth. It's just that sometimes I feel that we all take the worst from each other instead of the very best..

Imagine what a world that would be....

Last edited by personne; 11-28-2014 at 04:05 PM..
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Old 11-29-2014, 04:10 AM
 
1,471 posts, read 2,065,657 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rosa surf View Post
When I lived in Europe, I remember the McDonalds being full of young teens. It seemed like a 'cool' hang out for them. At least in Spain and France.

Here in the US, the McDonalds I've been to are kind of depressing- I like getting ice cream or coffee there, and I see mostly poor, obese, sad people eating there. Its kind of depressing sometimes.



Because in the US poor people, particularly black, hispanic and poor whites, eat industrialised franchises, cheap fattening junk foods because: Time, No Money and just "don't care".

Plus, "munching", there are people that are always munching because tension, eating all sorts of craps.

Blacks and Hispanics, Mexicans, due to the fact that many are partly Asian, are far more prone to obesity.

Plus, eating healthy is expensive, takes time and not compatible with the American way of life, in which many people don't eat at home.
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Old 11-29-2014, 07:12 AM
 
2,335 posts, read 2,897,432 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Miserere View Post
Because in the US poor people, particularly black, hispanic and poor whites, eat industrialised franchises, cheap fattening junk foods because: Time, No Money and just "don't care".

Plus, "munching", there are people that are always munching because tension, eating all sorts of craps.

Blacks and Hispanics, Mexicans, due to the fact that many are partly Asian, are far more prone to obesity.

Plus, eating healthy is expensive, takes time and not compatible with the American way of life, in which many people don't eat at home.
The US is the exact opposite of Europe in this regard. In the US, fast food is cheap and buying fresh, healthy groceries in a grocery store is very expensive. Over here it is the exact opposite, fast food is much more expensive than buying healthy food at the grocery store.

If they want to deal with their obesity rates they should deal with this. I've seen many examples where they pay 2 - 5 times the euro price for things like salads or fresh vegetables. In addition to getting rid of the car culture and the urban sprawl and have walkable and cyclable cities like in Europe. Not an easy task by any means.
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Old 11-29-2014, 07:20 AM
 
Location: Hong Kong / Vienna
4,541 posts, read 6,308,393 times
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Hungover and hungry. Getting a Hamburger Royal right now. Deal with it. Maybe the beer combo?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLtwFugudZE
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Old 11-29-2014, 08:15 AM
 
Location: MD's Eastern Shore
3,640 posts, read 4,771,506 times
Reputation: 6275
Quote:
Originally Posted by drro View Post
The US is the exact opposite of Europe in this regard. In the US, fast food is cheap and buying fresh, healthy groceries in a grocery store is very expensive. Over here it is the exact opposite, fast food is much more expensive than buying healthy food at the grocery store.

If they want to deal with their obesity rates they should deal with this. I've seen many examples where they pay 2 - 5 times the euro price for things like salads or fresh vegetables. In addition to getting rid of the car culture and the urban sprawl and have walkable and cyclable cities like in Europe. Not an easy task by any means.
Um! Fast food here isn't exactly cheap and eating healthy isn't expensive. Plenty of quality, fresh healthy foods around for pretty dang cheap.

And BTW, a lot of us couldn't care less about living in a packed city. We chose to live in more open areas where cars are a necessity. Personally I (and many others) couldn't care less about living within walking or bicycling distance to my job.
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Old 11-29-2014, 09:22 AM
 
Location: Finland
24,205 posts, read 24,659,149 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by viribusunitis View Post
Hungover and hungry. Getting a Hamburger Royal right now. Deal with it. Maybe the beer combo?
Same here, but ghetto pizza and yesterday's current events programmes for me.
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Old 11-29-2014, 09:42 AM
 
Location: San Diego, California Republic
16,581 posts, read 27,261,181 times
Reputation: 9002
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mistoftime View Post
If advertising didn't work you would soon see a disappearance of the ads. And yes, more Americans do read the labels but the list of non food ingredients have grown over 22% in the last 10 years. And the, "They" are PepsiCo, Kraft, Cargill, Kelloggs, Tyson and General Mills to name a few. Most people know these are the big companies that pretty much control our food supply without having to name each one. True, some American's do buy healthy food and prepare from scratch but by far the majority isn't there yet as you most likely know. American's stuff themselves with fast food, GMOs, Grocery store foods with more chemical ingredients than real food, and obesity rates, diabetes and gall bladder surgeries are at an all time high. These fact are indisputable. The percentage of people who buy all healthy food and prepare everything from scratch is nil compared to the average buying habits of our population. Whole Foods? Link: The dark secrets of Whole Foods The argument you have doesn't agree with the statistic and the chronic health problems plaguing our population. Our own family doctor has warned us against High Fructose corn syrup for years as the catalyst for diabetes and liver problems yet its hard to find anything on the shelves without it. The monopoly the large food companies have has changed our agriculture system to one that meets their needs for high profits and degraded ingredients in our food supply. Just take a look at the list of ingredients in most of the items on your grocery shelves and these chemical filled items are replenished regularly, so someone is buying them in large quantities.
Yeah one has to really look deeper for sure. I found this from that link interesting:
Quote:
"Almost all the organic food in this country comes out of California. And five or six big California farms dominate the whole industry."
This likely explains why such food is so much more expensive in most of the country and why many people have to make the choices they make when buying food.
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Old 11-29-2014, 09:46 AM
 
Location: San Diego, California Republic
16,581 posts, read 27,261,181 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rosa surf View Post
People who make these generalizing comments don't realize that the US is very mixed when it comes to food- I say half eat unhealthy, while the other half eat healthy and are athletic.

Here in CA, the healthy eating movement is intense and spreading like wildfire. I visit our farmers market every weekend and the green juice stand has a line winding around the corner practically the whole day. Items such as pasture raised eggs, fresh baked bread, raw milk, etc...are more and more popular. There is alot more access now to organic greens.

I personally love it. I follow the 80/20 philosophy- eat healthy 80% of the time. Lots of organic fruits and veggies, properly prepared grains clean meats. The investment is worth it.
A lot of the healthier foods are cheaper in CA (though still more than the norm) because most of it comes from here.
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Old 11-29-2014, 09:48 AM
 
Location: San Diego, California Republic
16,581 posts, read 27,261,181 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by drro View Post
Yes, the McDonalds in downtown Chicago or Dallas near the greyhound station were full of lowlifes and homeless people. We were literally standing in line with homeless people, really bizarre but interesting to experience nonetheless. I've never seen anything like that in Europe. The US is really a completely different world.
Fast food places in most downtown areas are like this. San Francisco is no different. Those in suburbs are completely different in their clientele.
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