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When I lived in Europe though, portions were often huge! I can never finish a meal dining out. One thing I noticed is my DH was taller than everyone. He is not fat/big/overweight, but over 6 feet tall. He towered over most if not all of the European men I would see when we were out and about, and traveling to other countries.
I would say the answer to the original question is like any other answer to a similiar question, like why do people from this country do this or that country look like that - trends and cultural choices.
As I was driving my son to work tonight, I thought about this post..I am going to give my own personal opinion of why there is such an obesity problem..I really think that if we could go back and rewind things about 100 years or so, and live as we did 100 years ago, then we wouldn't have this problem. If people would stay married and stop getting divorced and if men were still the bread winners, and if women would still spend their day not only caring for the family, but carefully planning healthy meals, and spending several hours preparing healthy meals, then we would all be so much better off..Unfortunately, more people get divorced then stay married, more children are from single parent homes, and more women have to spend most of their time earning a living instead of being able to carefully plan, shop, and cook healthy meals..
I am not judging anyone..in fact the opposite! I m just stating , in my own opinion, where we went wrong as a society of overweight persons..
So, in conclusion, I am blaming the obesity problem on the high divorce rate ...
Last edited by LuciaMomof6; 10-28-2012 at 09:57 PM..
Reason: had to ad something
Americans have of course a lineage with earily European immigrants German,Polish,Austrian,Swedish and Italian all of whom are somewhat husky,broad shoulder,stocky like. (not all of course but many fit that profile). Now obesity and morbid fat or dome-like profiles are a sign of an eating disorder. I'm 35 lbs overweight and fit that image as well so I'm not pointing fingers. The problem with 5' 7 and weighing in at let's say 280 lbs can manifest a huge list of conditions albeit diseases as our poster indicatied. Sleep Apnea ,diabetes,hypertension,PVD (peripherial vascular disease), body odor,limited mobility,challenging clothes selection,sterotyping as unkempt, hidden of real beauty in a dome, poor role model for kids . Sugar intake causes inflamation (everywhere). Wheat and carbs can be culprits in weight gain. Lack of walking as well . Youdon't really need me to continue as it's all out there if someone wants to trim down. Best of luck!
This is the best answer,even though I still believe Americans have larger skeletal frames than others from other countries.
Jersey, come on... quit kidding yourself. You can't fool Mother Nature, you know. There is no good in pretending that carrying around extra bags of fat is a good, reasonable life choice to make. It's not. You will die younger than you should. Americans need to wake up and take heed and realize it's time to make some "big" changes to how we eat.
When I was younger, I thought I was "big boned" because I was husky. Nope... I'm not big boned. Turns out my frame is small. I look big boned when I was eating crap (still a better than most Americans probably). I was actually big bellied.
I agree with everyone who mentioned overeating/poor diet but your last paragraph hit on something big (no pun intended). I think the culture of fat aceptance plays a role in the obesity epidemic. If there was more social pressure to be thin there would be more thin people. I would bet underweight (even slightly underweight) people get more negative comments than the overweight ever do.
I am overweight & I HATE fat-acceptance. I dont want people telling me I look good the way I am because I dont. Dont ridicule me or bully me either, but dont support my unhealthy habits. Fat acceptance means 'bad health' acceptance. Its misleading & discouraging for people trying to switch to a healthier lifestyle. Some people might do it to appear polite or overcompensate but by doing so you are only making that person feel comfortable & good about their unhealthy habits. The overweight person might think they are over reacting & will switch back to their old habits that they are trying so hard to break. Would you tell your kid failing school that he is good the way he is & start a failing students club or give him positive encouragement to work harder & improve his grades? Fat acceptance works the same way. Overweight people, like failing students need to work harder & become disciplined. With good diet & exercise, anybody at any age & any size can loose weight.
Clothing industry is the best in promoting a healthy image. Not feeling good about myself & not being able to fit into latest fashions is my biggest motivator in this fat battle. By promoting a fat image you are telling me to give in to the enemy & accept defeat. People have to figure out how to loose weight & a lot of us do when pushed over the edge. Its a long journey & I hope to get to my goals asap. There were so MANY bad habits & foods I had to give up & I dont regret it a bit. Thanks to our society for encouraging me to loose weight by giving more opportunities, money, love & importance to healthy people. Please continue to do so. If I want to be successful, I should study & develop habits of successful people. Its called self-discipline & by telling people to embrace their fat is to push them towards a life of disease, poverty, self-loathing & misery.
Healthy & beautiful people, please set an example through your actions, not words. Continue to dress sharp, eat healthy, flaunt your success & enjoy life so that overweight people would want to become more like you. Patronizing someone could be as bad as bullying as an overweight person will go into defensive mode. Just be your fabulous self & thats more than enough to encourage anybody to loose weight.
when i first came to this country as an adult my weight was 90 lbs, now i am 180 lbs. i am 5' 9" and 40 lbs overweight, when i was at 90 lbs, was that consider malnutrition ?.
when i first came to this country as an adult my weight was 90 lbs, now i am 180 lbs. i am 5' 9" and 40 lbs overweight, when i was at 90 lbs, was that consider malnutrition ?.
I wouldn't say malnutrition, but 90 lbs at 5'9" is very underweight..My Dad came to this country when he was 21, from Italy, and he was 5'10" 160#.. That was 60 years ago..He is now 5'9" and 170#.. dad is 80..He has never once eaten the typical American diet.. He has always avoided fast food also. He has always grown his own vegetables, buys meat and fish from butchers that don't use any hormones and feed only an organic diet, etc..Actually, he doesn't even eat meat anymore.. He looks about 60 and golfs every single day..
Yes when the food is tasty and satiating then one doesn't need to eat so much. I found that out eat a whole gallon of fat free ice cream. Every bite left me feeling not satisfied at all.
The last time I was in France the pastries were so good I had one small one for breakfast with coffee and all set. Quality over quantity.
I am sure you remember your times in America eating fine dining. With the exception of Morton's or the like have you ever noticed eating fine dining the meals are small and tasty not the TGIF plate that could feed a family of four in a third world country.
Yes, I've noticed in the US at the nicer restaurants that the portions are much smaller. In France you might have 5 or 6 courses but all are small.
Americans eat out too much and restaurants serve ridiculously large servings of usually-unhealthy food. Americans don't get enough exercise largely because we don't walk as much and as often as our European counterparts. Our food is too processed and too full of synthetic junk.
And finally, the extra vitamins, hormones, and supplements that have been added artificially to many of our foods have had the effect of making us taller and bigger boned.
That's it in a nutshell. No need for character assassinations.
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More damage than good
