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I don't think it's 100% the "fault" of the individual.
I think it's a combination of things:
1. personal responsibility, including what you said above.
2. living in what's known as a "food desert" where healthy fresh fruits and vegetables are either limited in variety/quality, or very expensive and not affordable to entire demographics living in the area.
3. genetic predisposition without access to medical professionals who can help them overcome that genetic predisposition with dietary options that are more efficient than whatever they've been trying.
4. the mistaken belief that being "on a diet" is the only option, and rejection of the idea that they'd have to live without certain foods, thus giving up on learning how they can eat healthier, with good tasting and easy to prepare options, affordably.
Food desert is a bad analogy - living in a desert requires resourcefulness , and there isn't anything resourceful about throwing a frozen pizza in the microwave.
I live in an area where all have equal access to fresh fruit and vegies, and there is still plenty of overweight people around - I know someone who works in the produce section in the local supermarket, and their observation was that it isn't those with less money that take advantage when fruit and vegetables are on sale.
People struggling with their weight don't need to make excuses, and even more so, they don't need other people making excuses for them.
Food desert is a bad analogy - living in a desert requires resourcefulness , and there isn't anything resourceful about throwing a frozen pizza in the microwave.
I live in an area where all have equal access to fresh fruit and vegies, and there is still plenty of overweight people around - I know someone who works in the produce section in the local supermarket, and their observation was that it isn't those with less money that take advantage when fruit and vegetables are on sale.
People struggling with their weight don't need to make excuses, and even more so, they don't need other people making excuses for them.
They tried to start a subsidized farmer's market near where I live in an "underserved" area. The locals were going in and lining up at the food truck and the only people buying the cheap produce were people driving in from expensive neighborhoods.
They tried to start a subsidized farmer's market near where I live in an "underserved" area. The locals were going in and lining up at the food truck and the only people buying the cheap produce were people driving in from expensive neighborhoods.
And the main city nearest where I used to live, that had a sizeable portion of the residents living in poverty, started a community garden. It was incredibly popular except in the winter, when it was frozen over.
Just because people in YOUR neighborhood didn't take advantage of opportunities doesn't mean no one does. And just because people in MY neighborhood took advantage of opportunities doesn't mean they all do.
A couple of weeks ago, DH and I watched an old movie on TCM which starred Bobby Driscoll, the young child actor who was active in the early 1950s. He looked to be about 10. I could not get over how scrawny he looked! He looked to be undersized and scrawny by modern standards.
I am now seeing pics of graduating HS seniors, and thinking how overfed they look. This is not in comparison with the young Bobby. It just appears to me that the guys and gals seem sort of full and soft.
You can’t make generalizations from small sets of cases, but seeing these things does get me wondering if maybe we are all eating too much? I mean, as a society or culture, is food too easy to obtain, and too tempting to eat in moderation? I am sure Bobby Driscoll looked quite normal for his time. I suppose the HS grads I am seeing in pics are normal for their time as well.
For those of us who work multiple jobs to get by, food is easily available even if it is unhealthy. For others of us, perhaps food is simply too available?
...I am sure Bobby Driscoll looked quite normal for his time. I suppose the HS grads I am seeing in pics are normal for their time as well.
He was an actor, chosen especially for the way he looked and his acting skills. I would never assume that an actor from any time period is typical of that period.
Movie makeup and costuming are often era specific, though; it makes me nuts when they do a period piece but use modern styles. For instance, the movie, "Roxie Hart" was set in the 1920s, but made in the 1940s. The star wears '40s makeup and costumes throughout the movie, while the rest of the cast is more 1920s. It's based on the same true story as the musical "Chicago" (which has better costuming).
Not everyone has a car. It’s not realistic to get a whole week’s worth of food in one go if you physically have to carry it from the store to your house/apartment. When I’ve not had a car, I also lived in places with a lot of stairs, so it’s not like having some sort of cart was an alternative either. I had to shop for 2-3 days at a time. I also have a very small freezer. There’s just no way to store tons of stuff in there. The people I know who do it have a separate freezer.
We don't have a car and shop only once a week or 10 days. If we don't ride with our neighbor, DH takes the bus and a taxi home with all the groceries. Like a dozen bags. We're on the 2nd floor, but the taxi pulls up to the stairs and we make a few trips up and down. Small freezer, so we hardly get anything frozen.
The downside is the freshness dictates what we have, not what we feel like having, lol.
It was the same in rural Utah where we lived 45 min. from town. Coolers and lots of planning,
Yes, that is another culprit - medications. Same with menopause. A woman can eat the same way (and amount) she's been eating for decades and then big M hits and overnight she gains 25-50 lbs. The weight just continues accumulating from that point.
Yep. Eat less and less just to maintain!
Re Europeans: We spent some time in Greece and Italy and I noticed the older women were ALL quite overweight/obese. Most of the men too. So even their healthy diets in the Med couldn't solve that.
We didn't have a car there, and what impressed me was the wonderful corner stores we could walk to. They had everything: fruits, veg's, nuts, meats, cheeses, local hand-made yogurt. During lock-down, we lived by going to the corner store instead of the supermarket several miles away. The owners loved us, since most folks just came in for a Coke or pack of beer, lol.
Even the stores so tiny, only one person could be in it at a time: still had "everything".
I was told the flour there is so different that Americans with gluten issues can safely eat their bread.
You gotta wonder what THAT tells you!
Sometimes it comes down to genetics. Not much one can do about that.
Then you wonder why peasant women the world over seem to be heavy, no matter what their diet is.
I've been watching documentaries (while I exercise! ) from all over the world and here are fat/obese Mongolian women, Pacific Islanders, Inuit, and many others. Our indigenous Quechua women here down from the Andes for market day, are all quite round and heavy. They have no money for junk food.
Same with our locals here on the coast. No one has money for junk food but everyone is chubby (not obese though). It's weird.
It seems the African continent is the last to get commonly fat.
I was told the flour there is so different that Americans with gluten issues can safely eat their bread.
You gotta wonder what THAT tells you!
That people don't actually have gluten issues. I mean, certainly some do but there's a lot who, well, don't. Overhearing people talk about spelt bread and oh how they could eat that one because it didn't have gluten is hilarious. Just roll your eyes and moving along.
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