Our culture is set up for obesity.
Replies
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When did humans stop being responsible for what they put in their mouths?
We are an intelligent species, we have common sense. Use it.0 -
When looking through menu's of restaurants (those that have them, and thank you NYC at least for that) I can't help but notice how out of whack portion sizes are.
Restaurants are responding to people's individual choices. If you want those types of things off the menu, then stop ordering them - I guarantee that if patrons consistently choose smaller serving sizes, then restaurants will oblige them.
Culture is nothing more than the collective sum of individual actions.0 -
It is not about blaming some one else..I myself am committed to being informed and making good decisions.. what I am voicing when I agree that the setup is whack is that as a consumer I want truly healthier options.. if we keep the message going loud and clear the companies will have to supply a demand or loose profit.. espescially if we can get more people informed about how to make healthier choices. The problem here is that consumers are often uneducated (by budget restraints, by way of habits, traditions, by need of convienence, by fear, choosing to ignore the problems, by their priority systems. etc.) and that food companies and restaurants are playing on that by making their food in a way that makes more profit for them and hooks their client in. Some even go to the point of falsely labelling food as healthier thank it actually is. What we are advocating when we say it is an uphill battle is more transparency, more information, better quality products. ..that will make it easier for us to live our healthy lifestyle and for others to make truly healthier choices.0
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When looking through menu's of restaurants (those that have them, and thank you NYC at least for that) I can't help but notice how out of whack portion sizes are.
Restaurants are responding to people's individual choices. If you want those types of things off the menu, then stop ordering them - I guarantee that if patrons consistently choose smaller serving sizes, then restaurants will oblige them.
Culture is nothing more than the collective sum of individual actions.
Oh wow, that last sentence was what I was about to post verbatim.0 -
Very true.When looking through menu's of restaurants (those that have them, and thank you NYC at least for that) I can't help but notice how out of whack portion sizes are.
Restaurants are responding to people's individual choices. If you want those types of things off the menu, then stop ordering them - I guarantee that if patrons consistently choose smaller serving sizes, then restaurants will oblige them.
Culture is nothing more than the collective sum of individual actions.
The biggest expense in running a restaurant is food costs. Restaurants don't give larger portions because they want to make people fat. They do it because that is what people buy and what makes money for the restaurant.0 -
There are no "evil doings" here. A restaurant offers a product/service. You choose between your options.
Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by ignorance.
Either way, it's still a cutural issue when restaurants as a matter of course serve portions that are in fact 3 servings/a full days worth of calories. They do it because they want consumers to feel like they got their money's worth, but they're doing that by giving you more of the cheapest thing involved (usually cheap carbs) which are giving you a lot of calories and less nutrition.
It's not necessarily 'malice' nor need it be attributed to malice. But despite not being caused by 'evil' intent, that doesn't negate there being negative effects on a macro scale because we are being habituated to being served three portions when we should only be eating 1 (and yes, there's plenty of documented psychological studies that we are subconscously effected by serving size. When served more, people have a tendency to eat more, assuming that serving size is related to ...well... a serving size (imagine that).
Now, can someone choose to eat less? Heck yeah. But they can also choose to serve less, but don't. Seriously, why must we have to request a child sized order of pop corn because the only other option is 'ginormous' and super-ginormous extra. 30 years ago they managed while selling human sized portions.
It's not JUST a matter of individual excess but one of corporate excess as well. It's not either/or, it's that BOTH are being amped by a culture of excess.
It always makes you wonder why is it that individuals must always be burdened with making "the right choice" to defend themselves against "natural" business-as-usual rights, but businesses should never be asked to make the morally right choice in exchange of slightly less gain.
Apparently they cannot be held to the moral standards an individual is held - but they do claim the right to be considered A PERSON when it is legally convenient.
Again, businesses (in this case food industry) largely cater to the consumers... do they also make it look pleasing, sure they do... however, in the case of the portion sizes if a place like Chili's reduced their portion sizes to what they should be people would be in an uproar and the resturant would shut down... and so would any other that tried (sans the ones that market and operate themselves as a health food resturant). Like the posts earlier in the conversation pointed out... people note in the comments and recommendations about a place to eat that it has huge portions is because that is most likely what they are looking for... I doubt they are trying to warn people. We ourselves as individuals and as a part of the collective are responsible for this shift just as much as anything else. We want more bang for our buck... or at least we want to feel that we have more bang for our buck anyway.0 -
in because I'm working late.0
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I drink unsweetened ICED tea. I'm from the south! So, I routinely get 32/whatever sonic's large is sized drinks and drink them all morning afternoon for zero calories. The zero calorie drinks are sold in the same containers as the full calorie drinks. I don't want my zero calorie basically flavored water to disappear because people are concerned that somebody else may be drinking their calories. I am glad the NYC ban got chucked out and when I went on vacation to San Francisco I swear it cost a fortune to stay hydrated because nothing came larger than 16/20 oz's!
Could people please stop trying to make all the drink sizes smaller? I drink unsweet tea and sometimes I need more than a swallow. They do sell things other than cokes.It always blows my mind when I go to get a burger at a fast food place, and I order the smallest one there, on it's own, but then want to share a "large" drink with my boyfriend - and the "large" drink is always twice the size that I think it's going to be (other than at a few select places).
Just so you know, I didn't say I got a coke. I meant I mostly see others doing it. And I was referring to fast-food chains only (and I'm not 100% certain, but the sizes of hot drinks/caffeinated drinks are all smaller than the sizes of the cold drinks to begin with)
And I don't know where you go to get your tea, but any large-chain coffee place I've gone to has not decreased their sizes but increased them. Maybe you should get your tea elsewhere if you think the size is too small?0 -
Restaurants are responding to people's individual choices. If you want those types of things off the menu, then stop ordering them - I guarantee that if patrons consistently choose smaller serving sizes, then restaurants will oblige them.
Culture is nothing more than the collective sum of individual actions.
Oh wow, that last sentence was what I was about to post verbatim.
I agree with these statements as well.
Very true.When looking through menu's of restaurants (those that have them, and thank you NYC at least for that) I can't help but notice how out of whack portion sizes are.
Restaurants are responding to people's individual choices. If you want those types of things off the menu, then stop ordering them - I guarantee that if patrons consistently choose smaller serving sizes, then restaurants will oblige them.
Culture is nothing more than the collective sum of individual actions.
The biggest expense in running a restaurant is food costs. Restaurants don't give larger portions because they want to make people fat. They do it because that is what people buy and what makes money for the restaurant.
I should have refreshed before I posted...
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There are no "evil doings" here. A restaurant offers a product/service. You choose between your options.
Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by ignorance.
Either way, it's still a cutural issue when restaurants as a matter of course serve portions that are in fact 3 servings/a full days worth of calories. They do it because they want consumers to feel like they got their money's worth, but they're doing that by giving you more of the cheapest thing involved (usually cheap carbs) which are giving you a lot of calories and less nutrition.
It's not necessarily 'malice' nor need it be attributed to malice. But despite not being caused by 'evil' intent, that doesn't negate there being negative effects on a macro scale because we are being habituated to being served three portions when we should only be eating 1 (and yes, there's plenty of documented psychological studies that we are subconscously effected by serving size. When served more, people have a tendency to eat more, assuming that serving size is related to ...well... a serving size (imagine that).
Now, can someone choose to eat less? Heck yeah. But they can also choose to serve less, but don't. Seriously, why must we have to request a child sized order of pop corn because the only other option is 'ginormous' and super-ginormous extra. 30 years ago they managed while selling human sized portions.
It's not JUST a matter of individual excess but one of corporate excess as well. It's not either/or, it's that BOTH are being amped by a culture of excess.
It always makes you wonder why is it that individuals must always be burdened with making "the right choice" to defend themselves against "natural" business-as-usual rights, but businesses should never be asked to make the morally right choice in exchange of slightly less gain.
Apparently they cannot be held to the moral standards an individual is held - but they do claim the right to be considered A PERSON when it is legally convenient.
Wait...what?! :noway:
So now you are lamenting that people are burdened with having to make the right choice?! :laugh:
I don't even...:laugh:0 -
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Read / Digest/ comprehend/respond
Or, in the case of your posts, "try to discern some meaning from what was written"/say to myself, "did she really just type that?"/try to comprehend how someone could seriously write that/respond in as nice a way as possible, given the absolute abuse of logic that occurred in the original post....what I said was NORTH AMERICAN CULTURE is not responsible for it's rampant obesity...our culture is setup to hate obesity, make fun of it, poke it, make it pay more for cloths, or two plane tickets and all around be disgusted by it and always has been.
Ohhh, now that you wrote it IN ALL CAPS AND BOLD, it makes sense. I didn't realize that each culture has only one influence. Thanks for clearing that up for me.Culture is defined as
the sum of total of the learned behavior of a group of people that are generally considered to be the tradition of that people and are transmitted from generation to generation.
Culture is a collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another.
I'm assuming this is the "thing I quickly googled" section of the post. Most humorous, given that it contradicts your point -- it's the sum total of learned behavior for a group. That's generally more than one influence.
[/quote]
That's fine that you don't agree with me and many others here who disagree that our "the North American" culture has set us up for obesity.
If you want to take the route of "it's not my fault" that is fine I prefer to be an adult and quit blaming everything but myself for my choices and my decisions. Even if I don't offer up my reasons as eloquently as you would prefer....
on a side note I bet if a book was written called "Why you being overweight is not your fault" it would sell millions of copies and all the author would have to do is read these forums.:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:0 -
I could really go for a huge bowl of spaghetti right now, but I'm gonna keep it light. ;D0
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I happen to be a person with a naturally large appetite.
Then it would seem the obvious choice of action is to simply not walk into a restaurant that primarily serves large portions.
Problem solved.0 -
You think something quick is a miracle? Fish takes 5-10 minutes to cook, fruit requires chopping, there are tons of quick veggies or sides - and even if something isn't quick on it's own, like soup, prep time is still short. Maybe we just need to introduce you to this miraculous thing called a crock pot.It's totally a cultural issue. I don't think any other country (well, Canada maybe) even lets you take leftovers home. I've never seen it in Europe at least... and portions were much smaller there.
I also don't know anybody where I am coming from who claims to be able to slap together "miracle recipes" in minutes flat (including prep, cleaning up, distributing leftovers in containers, etc) - which recipes are also tasty, healthy, fresh, all natural, etc. Definitely not for an entire family!0 -
I happen to be a person with a naturally large appetite.
Then it would seem the obvious choice of action is to simply not walk into a restaurant that primarily serves large portions.
Problem solved.
...and who told you that I walk in restaurants that serve large portions? Who told you I walk in any restaurants period?
Then again, I am not talking just about myself here. We are talking about culture and what many people do routinely.
While I don't use restaurants but very rarely, and when I do use them, I do control portions and take the rest 2/3 at home (yes, with abstinence-related effort!)- that doesn't mean that many Americans don't use restaurants on a very regular basis.
Keep your posts and posters straight, please.0 -
...and who told you that I walk in restaurants that serve large portions? Who told you I walk in any restaurants period?
Well, if you don't, then there no issue.
Either way, problem solved.
PS I never used the word "you" in the post you are responding to. Please keep your posts and posters straight, thanks.
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You think something quick is a miracle? Fish takes 5-10 minutes to cook, fruit requires chopping, there are tons of quick veggies or sides - and even if something isn't quick on it's own, like soup, prep time is still short. Maybe we just need to introduce you to this miraculous thing called a crock pot.It's totally a cultural issue. I don't think any other country (well, Canada maybe) even lets you take leftovers home. I've never seen it in Europe at least... and portions were much smaller there.
I also don't know anybody where I am coming from who claims to be able to slap together "miracle recipes" in minutes flat (including prep, cleaning up, distributing leftovers in containers, etc) - which recipes are also tasty, healthy, fresh, all natural, etc. Definitely not for an entire family!
I have all the kitchen gadgets I will ever need.
No nutritious and tasty meal for a family of four (that my kids would eat too!) is quick enough for me to leave me with ample time for all of my other commitments and obligations.
Let's leave it here, OK?0 -
...and who told you that I walk in restaurants that serve large portions? Who told you I walk in any restaurants period?
Well, if you don't, then there no issue.
Either way, problem solved.
No, it's not solved. Because the influence of the American culture on obesity does not boil down to going or not going to eat at the restaurant. See how the problem is NOT solved yet? :-)0 -
You think something quick is a miracle? Fish takes 5-10 minutes to cook, fruit requires chopping, there are tons of quick veggies or sides - and even if something isn't quick on it's own, like soup, prep time is still short. Maybe we just need to introduce you to this miraculous thing called a crock pot.It's totally a cultural issue. I don't think any other country (well, Canada maybe) even lets you take leftovers home. I've never seen it in Europe at least... and portions were much smaller there.
I also don't know anybody where I am coming from who claims to be able to slap together "miracle recipes" in minutes flat (including prep, cleaning up, distributing leftovers in containers, etc) - which recipes are also tasty, healthy, fresh, all natural, etc. Definitely not for an entire family!
I have all the kitchen gadgets I will ever need.
No nutritious and tasty meal for a family of four (that my kids would eat too!) is quick enough for me to leave me with ample time for all of my other commitments and obligations.
Let's leave it here, OK?
Perhaps you need to become more efficient in the kitchen0 -
That's just a complicated way of saying your priorities lie elsewhere. And that's fine.
But it's certainly not the job of "culture" to compensate for that.
Same goes for me and for everyone else.0 -
You think something quick is a miracle? Fish takes 5-10 minutes to cook, fruit requires chopping, there are tons of quick veggies or sides - and even if something isn't quick on it's own, like soup, prep time is still short. Maybe we just need to introduce you to this miraculous thing called a crock pot.It's totally a cultural issue. I don't think any other country (well, Canada maybe) even lets you take leftovers home. I've never seen it in Europe at least... and portions were much smaller there.
I also don't know anybody where I am coming from who claims to be able to slap together "miracle recipes" in minutes flat (including prep, cleaning up, distributing leftovers in containers, etc) - which recipes are also tasty, healthy, fresh, all natural, etc. Definitely not for an entire family!
I have all the kitchen gadgets I will ever need.
No nutritious and tasty meal for a family of four (that my kids would eat too!) is quick enough for me to leave me with ample time for all of my other commitments and obligations.
Let's leave it here, OK?
If you cannot do it in a reasonable amount of time, then maybe you should consider cooking courses.
And you keep talking about how constrained on time you are, yet you have been here for...two hours now? Could have done quite a bit of meal prep in that time. Just sayin'.0 -
I love when restaurants give me massive sized portions... I get lunch for the next few days!0
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Given how many people here argue that American culture has nothing to do with obesity (only poor individual choices do), then how in the world do they explain Americans on average being so fat compared to other parts of the world?
With this logic, we infer that Americans are much more likely to make poor choices (that is they are non-virtuous) compared to people in other parts of the world who must be so much more virtuous.
And if that is so, isn't this self-whipping and self-blame?
So you do believe that many Americans are inherently worse than other people elsewhere?0 -
You are far too busy to cook but have plenty of time to post 10k word posts on an internet post. Or alternately your kids are way too picky. Gotcha.I have all the kitchen gadgets I will ever need.
No nutritious and tasty meal for a family of four (that my kids would eat too!) is quick enough for me to leave me with ample time for all of my other commitments and obligations.
Let's leave it here, OK?0 -
Given how many people here argue that American culture has nothing to do with obesity (only poor individual choices do), then how in the world do they explain Americans on average being so fat compared to other parts of the world?
With this logic, we infer that Americans are much more likely to make poor choices (that is they are non-virtuous) compared to people in other parts of the world who must be so much more virtuous.
And if that is so, isn't this self-whipping and self-blame?
So you do believe that many Americans are inherently worse than other people elsewhere?
Culture reflects the choices and values of a collection of individuals. Nutritional choices have nothing to do with "virtue".
The logic of this post is rather poor.
But I am pretty sure you have me on ignore, so meh.0 -
Delete. No point.0
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Given how many people here argue that American culture has nothing to do with obesity (only poor individual choices do), then how in the world do they explain Americans on average being so fat compared to other parts of the world?
With this logic, we infer that Americans are much more likely to make poor choices (that is they are non-virtuous) compared to people in other parts of the world who must be so much more virtuous.
And if that is so, isn't this self-whipping and self-blame?
So you do believe that many Americans are inherently worse than other people elsewhere?
I personally have only myself to blame for the shape I am in today. On that same note, I know full well that I am the only one who can fix it. I think a lot of people look for someone to blame instead of taking that responsibility themselves. To me, it's just irresponsible.
But that is just my opinion. Obviously you and I don't agree, but that is okay...0 -
Just because someone puts a massive portion of something in front of you means that you need to eat all of it.0
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If I go to a restaurant and pay $20+ for an entree, there had better be plenty of food on that plate.
Specious argument is specious.
They could serve a smaller plate for $10.0
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