Europe vs US
nomorepuke
Posts: 320 Member
I was fortunate to travel around East&Western Europe few years back. I was envious with the fact that 90% people I saw in Europe were so fit!!! Only few people that were a bit overweight were in their 60s, 70s (assuming) I was in Europe for only 7weeks, I'm sure there're people in Europe who struggle with their weight as much as we do in the US. But I could see the huge difference
What's the secret? Why so different?
What's the secret? Why so different?
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Depends on where you go. I'm sure people in NYC are slimmer too, because they walk much more than the average suburban American, for example.
And smaller portion sizes in restaurants (couple examples - sandwiches never came with fries when I grew up in France, and a scoop of ice cream here is 3 times as big as a scoop over there).0 -
I was going to say people tend to walk more I think. Look at big cities many are probably in better shape because they walk instead of drive everywhere0
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Portion sizes, stress, convenience, a lot of factors.0
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I was going to say people tend to walk more I think. Look at big cities many are probably in better shape because they walk instead of drive everywhere
This^^^^^ more or less, plus portion sizes are smaller. At least, here in Italy, there is a strong food culture. Quality is stressed over quantity. Also, alot of people go to the beach in the summer and tend to get in shape for that.2 -
Canada is the most fit I would say... all they do is SHOVEL SNOW!3
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You will notice a similar trend in large U.S. cities that aren't urban sprawl as well...because more people walk everywhere.
Also, there tends to be more of a traditional food culture in much of Europe vs. the U.S.0 -
snowflake954 wrote: »I was going to say people tend to walk more I think. Look at big cities many are probably in better shape because they walk instead of drive everywhere
This^^^^^ more or less, plus portion sizes are smaller. At least, here in Italy, there is a strong food culture. Quality is stressed over quantity. Also, alot of people go to the beach in the summer and tend to get in shape for that.
The quality of the food was amazing! Our friend guided us the whole trip. We visited the tiny village in Hungary where he grew up. His grandma had a little farm. He was proud to say that they never have to buy anything from the grocery stores. A very simple life they live, but very happy and healthy0 -
Real food, lots of walking, long, slow enjoyment of meals.
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Cutaway_Collar wrote: »Been to Europe many times. Never impressed. Lot of castles, yeah, but you won't imagine the amount of things you can find in a 10 mile radius of Raleigh, NC but not in Naples, Italy. The US economy is built like that.
As for the people, they do have obesity, just not in the cities where you visit.
Oh I'm sure they do have obesity but not like here in the US.
Speaking of "lots of castles" , I was personally very impressed with them actually, knowing the fact that they were built in the 1300s, 1400s.., where the high tech was yet to be developed and the world history revolves around them. So yes, I was very impressed.0 -
We walk a lot... we don't share your fast food culture (although that is changing) and there's mostly free health care, alas our governments benefit from taking action against obesity... Oh and thanks to Romania we've now got Lipo sucking vampires... Thanks Fatcula
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We walk a lot... we don't share your fast food culture (although that is changing) and there's mostly free health care, alas our governments benefit from taking action against obesity... Oh and thanks to Romania we've now got Lipo sucking vampires... Thanks Fatcula
Lol why is Romania responsible for liposuction?0 -
nomorepuke wrote: »We walk a lot... we don't share your fast food culture (although that is changing) and there's mostly free health care, alas our governments benefit from taking action against obesity... Oh and thanks to Romania we've now got Lipo sucking vampires... Thanks Fatcula
Lol why is Romania responsible for liposuction?
Dracula...2 -
My ancestors are from there! 0
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There's lots of obesity in the UK. It will get worse due to kids staying in their bedrooms and playing on their consoles and not excercising. Type 2 diabetes is going to be the biggest drain on our Health service in the coming years. Kids don't drink water it's all fizzy drinks and they never wean themselves off it. Fast foods are the norm for a lot too. Take a walk down any high street and it's mainly food stores or fast food chains. We'll soon catch up to the US2
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davedoubleu wrote: »There's lots of obesity in the UK. It will get worse due to kids staying in their bedrooms and playing on their consoles and not excercising. Type 2 diabetes is going to be the biggest drain on our Health service in the coming years. Kids don't drink water it's all fizzy drinks and they never wean themselves off it. Fast foods are the norm for a lot too. Take a walk down any high street and it's mainly food stores or fast food chains. We'll soon catch up to the US
I actually find this description more correct about a lot of countries in Europe. Britain is by far the worst though but Germany, Spain and Greece are right up next to it. Scandinavia is still on the fitter side and so are the eastern nations but it won't be long until we'll follow in your food prints. I believe French will be the last one to have a huge obesity problem. But we're just as bad as the USA. But you won't see our obese people working as tour guides or in the tourist places as those jobs and those places seem to attract more fit people. A fat person isn't gonna go hike that hill to look at a castle when they can sit at home and eat.
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Well it is a sterotype that all Amercians are fat b@stards1
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The food is different , portion sizes as well
Even Canadian portion sizes are smaller than USA1 -
I lived in the UK until I was 19. I weighed a lot less with little effort when I lived there. I live in the US now. Portions are very distorted here, and it is difficult to walk anywhere. I don't think there is a pavement within 20 miles of me. Lack of physical activity was definitely a big part in the weight I gained here.0
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The food is different. So many carbs on store shelves in the US. Never seen as much space for candy anywhere else but the US. I'll be in the US six months, will try to remind myself to go into the stores as little as possible.1
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Plates here are 13" for 1 person. A 13" plate in Europe would be for 2-3 people. Our biggest issue in the US is that EVERYTHING has to be big. Big houses, big yards, big cars, so of course big portions. And it definitely shows.
It only takes eating 100 calories over one's TDEE a day to gain 10lbs a year. And LOTS OF PEOPLE in the US surpass that easily.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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I can't say a lot about obesity in Europe vs America; I've spent far more time in America (5+ years) vs. holidays in Europe. It's also been over 5 years since I've been to Europe. But from my recollection of the places I did visit (Greece, the Netherlands, France, Austria, Switzerland, some of them 6 years ago, some of them 20+ years ago), obesity was less of a thing there.
In my more recent visit, I've noticed a few differences: Europe has smaller portion sizes, an emphasis on less "junk food", more emphasis on walking and cycling (particularly in the Netherlands), and a huge emphasis on taking your time to eat. The last one really blows my mind; last Thanksgiving, people slaved for hours over the food, and it was eaten in 15 minutes. Americans seem to eat so fast, it's insane to me. I'm from Asia, and we eat so much slower (as well as have much smaller portion sizes; I still rarely finish a meal).2 -
Maybe it's all the smoking instead of eating? Spent a week in Sevilla and man a lot of smoking!
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Plates here are 13" for 1 person. A 13" plate in Europe would be for 2-3 people. Our biggest issue in the US is that EVERYTHING has to be big. Big houses, big yards, big cars, so of course big portions. And it definitely shows.
It only takes eating 100 calories over one's TDEE a day to gain 10lbs a year. And LOTS OF PEOPLE in the US surpass that easily.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
This... and also, I've heard you guys teach your kids to "finish" their meal and eat everything that's on the plate.. You should never force kids to eat everything that's on their plate. It'll teach them to overeat.1 -
davedoubleu wrote: »There's lots of obesity in the UK. It will get worse due to kids staying in their bedrooms and playing on their consoles and not excercising. Type 2 diabetes is going to be the biggest drain on our Health service in the coming years. Kids don't drink water it's all fizzy drinks and they never wean themselves off it. Fast foods are the norm for a lot too. Take a walk down any high street and it's mainly food stores or fast food chains. We'll soon catch up to the US
Agree with this ^^
I'd also add that, it seems to me at least, that in the UK, obesity is more common in lower income families and areas and so someone visiting the tourist areas of cities are likely to see other (relatively high-income) tourists and the affluent locals who populate the tourist areas.1 -
For a lot of Americans it's normal to eat out a couple of times a week. For Europeans (or at least Dutchies like me) it's more a rare treat. You go out and have a nice evening spending a few hours at the restaurant rather than going out to grab a quick bite. The portion sizes are also a lot smaller and fast food is less of a thing. I know when I lived in the US for a few years everyone in my class looked at me weird that my parents cooked dinner almost every night.
Also, for us Dutchies, bikes are everything. We don't have school busses, we bike to school growing up. Afterwards, if we work close-ish to home we bike to work too.3 -
When I moved the UK nearly 15 years ago, I would have agreed with you. People walked more, ate better. But since I've been here, I've seen the US (fast food) diet and (lack of) exercise program take root here too, and obesity is surging. I don't think it's my fault, but there is a strong correlation in the timing. Oops.
ETA: When I'm back in the US, I'm astounded by the portion sizes when I go out to dinner, or go to someone's house for dinner. When I'm out for a meal in Europe, it is a much more reasonably sized meal.1 -
Plates here are 13" for 1 person. A 13" plate in Europe would be for 2-3 people. Our biggest issue in the US is that EVERYTHING has to be big. Big houses, big yards, big cars, so of course big portions. And it definitely shows.
It only takes eating 100 calories over one's TDEE a day to gain 10lbs a year. And LOTS OF PEOPLE in the US surpass that easily.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
This... and also, I've heard you guys teach your kids to "finish" their meal and eat everything that's on the plate.. You should never force kids to eat everything that's on their plate. It'll teach them to overeat.
We teach that because unless you're going to put the leftovers from your plate in the fridge, it's wasteful. Plus a lot of kids take a few bites and say they're done, so it's more wanting your kid to get enough calories so they're not coming up to you 10 minutes after dinner saying they're hungry.0 -
Plates here are 13" for 1 person. A 13" plate in Europe would be for 2-3 people. Our biggest issue in the US is that EVERYTHING has to be big. Big houses, big yards, big cars, so of course big portions. And it definitely shows.
It only takes eating 100 calories over one's TDEE a day to gain 10lbs a year. And LOTS OF PEOPLE in the US surpass that easily.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
This... and also, I've heard you guys teach your kids to "finish" their meal and eat everything that's on the plate.. You should never force kids to eat everything that's on their plate. It'll teach them to overeat.
We teach that because unless you're going to put the leftovers from your plate in the fridge, it's wasteful. Plus a lot of kids take a few bites and say they're done, so it's more wanting your kid to get enough calories so they're not coming up to you 10 minutes after dinner saying they're hungry.
All things considered, perhaps it would be better to be slightly "wasteful", than excessively "waistful".
Plus, parents should then soon learn to put out a smaller serving, and prevent the waste at the subsequent meals.4 -
Plates here are 13" for 1 person. A 13" plate in Europe would be for 2-3 people. Our biggest issue in the US is that EVERYTHING has to be big. Big houses, big yards, big cars, so of course big portions. And it definitely shows.
It only takes eating 100 calories over one's TDEE a day to gain 10lbs a year. And LOTS OF PEOPLE in the US surpass that easily.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
This... and also, I've heard you guys teach your kids to "finish" their meal and eat everything that's on the plate.. You should never force kids to eat everything that's on their plate. It'll teach them to overeat.
We teach that because unless you're going to put the leftovers from your plate in the fridge, it's wasteful. Plus a lot of kids take a few bites and say they're done, so it's more wanting your kid to get enough calories so they're not coming up to you 10 minutes after dinner saying they're hungry.
I got brought up having to finish my plate too in The Netherlands, as did everyone else my age. I don't see the problem with that because the point was to get us to eat enough of everything: veggies, lean proteins and carbs. My parents never made us eat too much food, but in turn made sure we didn't whine for dessert or candy 1 hour after dinner because we didn't want to eat the healthy veggies.
I do however see a problem with this same tactic when you're eating out, because those portions (specially in the States) are way to big, even the kids meals.3
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