America is doomed
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There shouldn't be confusion over why so many Americans are overweight when a popular pizza chain advertises on the radio a new "double pepperoni and bacon" pizza. I'm sure most people who eat something like that don't know or care how much fat and calories they are getting. The restaurant would say they are just giving people what they want.
In the UK, there are plenty of programmes and press releases on problems in America. I believe around 10 years ago some Americans tried to sue McDonalds for their obesity. Supposedly, they ate huge meals their every day after McDonalds allegedly gave them the impression that they served healthy food. Confusion ain't the problem. Ignorance and denial is.
Then there are American TV programmes glorifying the eating challenges at restaurants, whereas at the same time, there are other programmes showing record levels of people wanting gastric bands.
Confusion is not the problem. Severe ignorance is, especially if schools are providing chocolate milk as a 'healthy source of protein'.
I have to say I find TV shows like Man versus Food disgusting and offensive. In a world where a child dies every few seconds from malnutrition, to have a man stuff his face and pay him to do so for 'entertainment', is so, so wrong.0 -
I have to say, the portion sizes in the States boggle me.
I am Australian, and every year a group of my friends and I go to Melbourne for the Formula One race.
(As an aside: this is an amazing weekend if you want to lose. Stairs everywhere, and lots, lots, and LOTS of walking. Just bring your own lunch, because the trackside stuff is all chips-and-hot-dogs fare.)
This year, we explored around our hotel a bit, looking for somewhere different to eat, and came across an American restaurant (it stylised itself as a burger place, but there was some other stuff on the menu too). My friends (who are all men, with rather huge appetites) and I went, "sure, why not?".
When the food was brought out, there were dropped jaws all along the table. How on earth where we ever going to finish all that? The burgers were MONSTROUS, the "small" chips was probably the size of a large, and everything was dripping in fat and cheese! :O
The dripping with fat and cheese part I could have handled (that was right up my alley, unfortunately). The size I couldn't. I couldn't finish my burger, and I wasn't the only one.
So I guess portion sizing varies by culture. But whoa my god, none of us needed breakfast the next day either, and there were even some reluctant to have lunch!0 -
america is fat because food is.oversized, including those that serve healthier options
take for example the burgers here. did you know that the kiddie size is the regular size burger in asia? the smallest soda in the us is actually the biggest in asia.
it.also does not help that people no longer eat family style so kids will learn portion size!
umm no, americans are fat because they choose to over eat on food..
you can get a big mac from mcdonalds for about 300 calories add in fries and it goes to 500…0 -
Nah, a Big Mac is 550 calories by itself. The fries are about 300.america is fat because food is.oversized, including those that serve healthier options
take for example the burgers here. did you know that the kiddie size is the regular size burger in asia? the smallest soda in the us is actually the biggest in asia.
it.also does not help that people no longer eat family style so kids will learn portion size!
umm no, americans are fat because they choose to over eat on food..
you can get a big mac from mcdonalds for about 300 calories add in fries and it goes to 500…0 -
That's true, Caesar salad is actually Mexican in origin. The chef was an Italian immigrant named Caesar, but the dish was created in a restaurant in Tijuana. Real Caesar salads don't use anchovies, either. Worcestershire sauce is basically the secret.Actually, I tend to agree.
I've been quite disappointed by the pizza I've found in Italy.
All too often it's just, say, cheese or tomato. No, that's not cheese AND tomato, but OR!
As it goes, also a bit disappointed by both the pasta I had when I was last there AND the caeser salad - and one of the big reasons I went that way was to have some nice Italian food!
HOWEVER, the cheese I got in the Swiss alps was THE. BEST. THING. EVER. - a mature Gruyère or similar (picked at random due to 'communication' issues. Seriously; I was gutted when my £400 motorcycle sat nav was stolen from my van mostly because it had the tracks stored showing where I stopped to get the cheese!
Also, the very expensive chocolatey *thingy* I got in Martingy (bottom of the St Bernard pass) was exquisite.
Sorry for your disappointment. If you think Italy has "Ceasar Salad" I can see why you were left wanting--it isn't real Itallian. Any place that has it caters to tourists not Italians. Strange about your pizza, we go to pizzarias all over here and many have 50 varieties of pizza. Next time you plan on coming down to visit ask me and I'll give you some advice.
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If I want to eat something really indulgent, I can workout a little harder and do it. Health is relative to function. Even if I eat the whole pizza, one pizza isn't going to un-do my function in one day. Also consider:
No one is obligated to be healthy.
No one is obligated to be skinny.
No one cares if you don't approve.
It's not just "America," we're not even the worst per capita, we just have more "obese" people because we're a huge country.
Obesity rates have been pretty leveled out with the American population for a while now, and in the years where the rates seem to have drastically risen were due to changes in how obesity is diagnosed, particularly in children obesity rates.
Being fat isn't the worst thing you can be. There are plenty of hard-working fat people who enjoy life being able to eat whatever they want and who don't enjoy exercising. That's okay.
Correlation is not causation, and not everyone who is fat will experience diseases that show correlation with higher weights. And even if they are diabetic and unhealthy, they are still human beings worthy of treatment for managing illnesses and aren't obligated to ever get healthy or lose weight if they don't want to put in the work to do that.
No one else's habits or diet or anything are really any of your business if they didn't ask you for commentary on their life choices. If you wouldn't approve of people judging you for your sexuality, your race, your nationality, your hair color, or any other trivializing comments to pick apart your identity, then you shouldn't be doing this to other people and their diets/weights.
This :-)0 -
Being Frank, you sound like a zealot who would want the government to come in and regulate it because you think people are too stupid to make choices for themselves.
I think people are that stupid. I felt stupid when I first started MFP and saw the weight coming off. I was just like "Seriously, that's all I've had to do?!" I think the portion control is ridiculous. A whole pizza is fine, but I think they should double slice it, because that is a more realistic portion. The mind is still thinking "two pizzas" when it is really having one. Let the government regulate whatever they want, as long it is an effort to improve their people. I find no harm in it. (shhh, they're listening....)0 -
America isn't even top 15 in obesity rates.....0
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meh. natural selection.0
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america is fat because food is.oversized, including those that serve healthier options
take for example the burgers here. did you know that the kiddie size is the regular size burger in asia? the smallest soda in the us is actually the biggest in asia.
it.also does not help that people no longer eat family style so kids will learn portion size!
So the 'healthier' option is just a kiddie size?
And I thought that McDonald's salads was progress.....0 -
Biggest meal I was ever served was in Prague, in Czech Republic. It was so large and memorable that I remember it 20 years later. HUGE, breaded, fried piece of cheese the size of the plate on top of a huge breaded, fried piece of meat as large as the plate, on top of a pile of fried potatoes, with some kind of thick creamy sauce over the whole thing. Then there were the side dishes.
I won't deny that portion size contributes to the obesity epidemic...but Americans don't have the monopoly on ridiculous portions.0 -
Most restaurants have lighter dishes on their menue now. Tells you the exact amount of calories. For example, instead of ordering a huge rib eye steak, order salmon or chicken breast. It is all about your own choice and never the restaurants fault, when people get fat.0
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Couldn't read 11 pages of comments, sorry!
Anyway, I'm Italian, I travelled several times in the US, and your idea of a portion is much larger than the average portion of anything in Italy and Europe.
And size, sometimes, do really matter...
I remember I was incredulous observing a teenager eating in one go a plate of pasta that I would have considered enough for 3 or 4 people...
Also, your processed food tends to be higher in calories than ours. You like more intense taste, and the recipe of, e.g, coke and kitkat is different, with more sugar. i cite those because I directly compared them, and wow, I couldn't almost swallow my US kitkat, and I love sweets!
Your burghers have to be accompanied by a lot of sauces, and so on.
So, if you put together, more caloric food, in higher quantities... here you are.
Obviously, if you have high caloric food in small quantity, everyone is happy 0 -
America isn't even top 15 in obesity rates.....
Depending on who is compiling the list, I just found US also at the second place...0 -
meh. natural selection.
It isn't natural selection when many poor people are obese because they can't afford healthy food. It's extermination. And if allowed to continue, America should be doomed.0 -
you do not become obese by eating what you consider nutritionally deficient food. you become obese by eating too much food, nutritious or not.meh. natural selection.
It isn't natural selection when many poor people are obese because they can't afford healthy food. It's extermination. And if allowed to continue, America should be doomed.0 -
Couldn't read 11 pages of comments, sorry!
Anyway, I'm Italian, I travelled several times in the US, and your idea of a portion is much larger than the average portion of anything in Italy and Europe.
And size, sometimes, do really matter...
I remember I was incredulous observing a teenager eating in one go a plate of pasta that I would have considered enough for 3 or 4 people...
Also, your processed food tends to be higher in calories than ours. You like more intense taste, and the recipe of, e.g, coke and kitkat is different, with more sugar. i cite those because I directly compared them, and wow, I couldn't almost swallow my US kitkat, and I love sweets!
Your burghers have to be accompanied by a lot of sauces, and so on.
So, if you put together, more caloric food, in higher quantities... here you are.
Obviously, if you have high caloric food in small quantity, everyone is happy
That is so true, I moved 4 years ago to the US and was almost disgusted by all that sugar in every food. They put sugar in bread and lunch meats etc. The cakes have almost more frosting an top than the caked own size. Everything is to big, to sweet, to processed etc. but people are not FORCED to eat that crap. By the way, I love and miss the real fire wood cooked italian pizza. Not many nice italian family restaurants here where I live. I can't stand all these chains anymore.0 -
you do not become obese by eating what you consider nutritionally deficient food. you become obese by eating too much food, nutritious or not.meh. natural selection.
It isn't natural selection when many poor people are obese because they can't afford healthy food. It's extermination. And if allowed to continue, America should be doomed.
Actually, many of us find when we eat food with a lot of sugar and little nutritional value we have issues with satiety and cravings. So while you are technically correct, I believe you are wrong. And if not, so what? Years or decades of being unable to fulfill nutritional needs, especially going back to childhood, is harming and killing people, is it not? Therefore, it's still extermination, even for the ones who die thin.0 -
meh. natural selection.
It isn't natural selection when many poor people are obese because they can't afford healthy food. It's extermination. And if allowed to continue, America should be doomed.
This is a myth: -
a) healthy food is not more expensive
b) if people are so poor then surely they can only afford small amounts of unhealthy food anyway. You wouldnt put on weight....0 -
you do not become obese by eating what you consider nutritionally deficient food. you become obese by eating too much food, nutritious or not.meh. natural selection.
It isn't natural selection when many poor people are obese because they can't afford healthy food. It's extermination. And if allowed to continue, America should be doomed.
Actually, many of us find when we eat food with a lot of sugar and little nutritional value we have issues with satiety and cravings. So while you are technically correct, I believe you are wrong. And if not, so what? Years or decades of being unable to fulfill nutritional needs, especially going back to childhood, is harming and killing people, is it not? Therefore, it's still extermination, even for the ones who die thin.
So why is it that all the people with money arent skinny then? America has a food culture embedded with gluttony. The gluttony has been optional.0
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