Question - Why is Healthy so hard for Americans (the world i

trelm249

Observations on the topic -

Over scheduling - cooking takes time and cuts into whatever else is scheduled (get to this function, take so&so to that practice, etc.). Convenience trumps health in this one.
Geographical challenges - Our activities our spread out. From a time perspective this does not lend itself to walking or biking.
Technology - Stuff we had to work for is now pre made or is a service provided. For example, washing clothes or fencing a yard.
Failing to teach the next generation - I am astounded at the number of people I know and work with that can't even scramble an egg.

msjamartin

A lot of good responses on the Why/how did we get here part of the question.

What about how to change it going forward? What do we need to do to move toward healthy as the norm rather than the exception?

albayin

A lot of good responses on the Why/how did we get here part of the question.

What about how to change it going forward? What do we need to do to move toward healthy as the norm rather than the exception?

This may take generations to see result or may not even see anything. I mainly focus on my and my family's health. I tried to promote it to some of the friends but I am not always getting postive feedback.

One thing I could think of is that maybe, maybe governments should start promoting organic food and diets in a big way, just like how they subsidized corn farms, to make them available, cheaper, and with wider selections. LOL

But that's just a tiny part of the whole story.

Cityperks

Great thread!
It's def not just a problem in the states......the junk food did start there though.
I travel a fair bit and in the last few years I have noticed the children in places such as Bali, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong are getting fatter. Some are obese at a very young age. With there new wealth and spread of fast food outlets as well as the introduction of bread and dairy (they loooove iced chocolate and coffee all with cream on top), there diet has changed and the meals are 5 x bigger. The poorer ones or people from rural areas can't afford the new food. Of course I'm generalizing a little here!

On another note, I can't believe how many female teenagers in Australia have love handles....this is now a normal acceptable look for them. Food is just a major temptation and it's everywhere. It's a bit of a worry when 3 packets of Tim Tams (a popular biscuit) costs under $5.....apples cost $6 a kilo and bananas $9 a kg. It can be expensive to eat wholesome food for a lot of families out there, parents are busy and many mums work. It is a massive effort to get healthy if you have fallen off the wagon....it's hard work and people especially children need to be educated.

albayin

Great thread!
It's def not just a problem in the states......the junk food did start there though.
I travel a fair bit and in the last few years I have noticed the children in places such as Bali, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong are getting fatter. Some are obese at a very young age. With there new wealth and spread of fast food outlets as well as the introduction of bread and dairy (they loooove iced chocolate and coffee all with cream on top), there diet has changed and the meals are 5 x bigger. The poorer ones or people from rural areas can't afford the new food. Of course I'm generalizing a little here!

On another note, I can't believe how many female teenagers in Australia have love handles....this is now a normal acceptable look for them. Food is just a major temptation and it's everywhere. It's a bit of a worry when 3 packets of Tim Tams (a popular biscuit) costs under $5.....apples cost $6 a kilo and bananas $9 a kg. It can be expensive to eat wholesome food for a lot of families out there, parents are busy and many mums work. It is a massive effort to get healthy if you have fallen off the wagon....it's hard work and people especially children need to be educated.

I agree on this. MacDonals, KFC were novelty in my country about 15 or more years ago but now they are part of daily life for many people. But of course we can't just all blame these food chains. However making them availabe and easier to access definitely plays part of it.

UsedToBeHusky

This is exactly the topic of the book, "The Pleasure Trap" by Douglas Lisle, Ph.D. It explains in great detail our biology and how we are programmed to seek out calorie and nutrient dense foods and why they give us pleasure. It is the artificially manufactured foods that are high in sugar and sodium and fat that short circuit our pleasure centers and keep us feeling unsatisfied and needing more. Unfortunately, these foods are the cheapest to produce and the most profitable for agribusiness, so our society is now living the consequences of this rapidly growing problem.

I've never read this book but I think PBS did a documentary on the subject. It was really interesting.

UsedToBeHusky

A lot of good responses on the Why/how did we get here part of the question.

What about how to change it going forward? What do we need to do to move toward healthy as the norm rather than the exception?

Education. Also, boycott junk and buy more healthy. A lot of restaurants have seen a healthy trend coming and have adjusted their menus to offer more healthy options. Of course, they haven't completely eliminated the garbage, but that is to be expected. Refuse to eat anywhere that doesn't offer a nutrition guide. This will be hard on small businesses but not terribly difficult to correct. Tell everyone you know about MFP (I do so much that I've been told they should pay me). Encourage your family and friends to make positive lifestyle choices.

UsedToBeHusky

When you're ALWAYS going going going, it's really hard to make "healthy" decisions.

I have to disagree with this. I found that once I became "conciously" aware of the choices that I made that making "healthy" decisions was relatively easy. I think people just have to come to a point where they want to be aware of their bodies. Most people do not realize how truly out of control their eating habits are until they pay attention to it.

ninerbuff

A lot of good responses on the Why/how did we get here part of the question.

What about how to change it going forward? What do we need to do to move toward healthy as the norm rather than the exception?

Make PE a standard to graduating (unless of course there's a physical limitation). Bring back nutrition classes to school. Encourage physical fitness at work by having exercise breaks (walking, climbing stairs). Have people be able to telecommute more so they can be free from commute times. Learn to make meals. There's so much to help.
My biggest thing now it not to "tell" people who are sedentary to work out, but "how to" just make an everyday thing more physical.

BigDaddyBRC

but our society created a few lazy generations and there will be more to follow

IMO it's because Americans have it way easier than the rest of the world.

Some decent thought out answers in here, as well as a lot of BS that society and the news feeds the world.

The facts are Freedom of Choice, Greed, and Society. Feel free to debate this, but before you do...recognize this...

We have the Choice to be greedy, or not at an individual level. In turn, our own views on Greed impact the wants and needs of Society. When Society chooses Greed, comes Propserity. Prosperity has allowed the conditioning of everyone to accept that laziness is OK. It's not just Americans, though we lead the world in overweight population due to the many years of being one of the leading societies. The biggest issue within this is that humankind has been conditioned for centuries...changing Society's outlook and to recondition....will take take longer than you or I to see.

For those that think it's technology, you're a fool. You CHOOSE to be active or inactive. You CHOOSE what you eat or dont eat. Begin the change with yourself...

Hope you don't take this the wrong way cause I totally agree with you but...

for some reason your post sounds so Marxist to me. LOL!

Never thought of it that way...but I can see what you mean