As a nation, we're getting steadily heavier - WHY?

sammniamii

Laziness is a big one, but also busy lifestyles which tend to overload people who then turn to look for cheap & fast.

I learned this first hand when I started cooking at home - takes 3-4 times longer to fix a meal. Between getting things ready, measuring, cooking and then clean-up & dishes later. Yes, it's better for me in so many ways, but damn.... I work 9hr a day, then have to fit everything else in afterwards including gym time & housework daily. I sacrifice hours of sleep to make sure I get everything done I need to in a day (i rarely get more than 5 hours a night - which isn't healthy, I know).

But also, another thing I blame is the cost of food - fast food is cheaper, hell JUNK food is cheaper. I was reading a cookbook/diet book and it was going on how the cost of a good meal should be less than fast food. They where listing prices of the items and compared to what I had recently paid for the same items, the prices where in some cases more than 100% more than she listed in the book.

Horrible case but true:

(2) BK single stackers + a side salad = 4.10
enough to cook 2 hamburgers (no bun, just cheese, meat, bacon and mustard) w/ a salad (for 1 person) = $8.56

Now, yes - if you buy larger sizes of things, the cost upfront may be higher, but the per meal cost is lower (or should be). I only cook 3 servings (1 for me & hubby for dinner + lunch for me the next day) at a time and my 2 week food bill runs between 97 - 120$ depending on what we want and where we shop.

I really wish the price of food that one had to prep would go down and the price of junk food would go up. It would help some people, but they would still make profit because alot of people wouldn't be able to go cold turkey on their guilty foods.

Lasirenn

Easily available bad foods. So many people have bad habits like drinking coffee loaded with sugar and/or cream every morning and probably accompany it with a scone, large muffin or over-sized bagel.

Also ignorance. Your most reliable customer is one who is ignorant and food companies know this. People want the results of a healthy lifestyle with no effort. Most don't even read nutrition fact and ingredient labels. Companies take advantage of this by hopping on the "healthy" food bandwagon through a marketing perspective. They throw words like "natural" "whole grain" and "fiber" on the label, when often these words are meaningless overall to the product. For example, I prefer real natural peanut butter. The only ingredient is peanuts (sometimes salt if I want saltier PB). It separates and you have to stir it every time. I had to laugh when recently my mom bought some "natural" peanut butter by Planters. I could look at it and see that it was just typical peanut butter. Then I read the label and saw that like other commercial PB, the ingredients were peanuts, palm oil, sugar and salt. What a joke.

I also think there's ignorance regarding activity levels. A lot of people here said laziness is the cause of obesity, but I have to disagree. Yes, physical activity is important for many reasons, but exercise does not make you thin. You can never out-exercise a bad diet. And people usually overestimate the calories they burn exercising by a lot. If my BMR burns 2,000 calories a day and I eat a 2500 calorie restaurant meal (along with my other meals during the day) my 300 calorie burn from going out jogging doesn't really do anything. I think a lot of people do initially put in an effort to exercise to lose weight because they're always told "just exercise." They stop or get discouraged when that doesn't work. Just exercising does not work. It's about the food. Past generations did not have to spend hours in the gym to avoid obesity.

jillybeanruns

I don't understand how people don't "know" that food is bad for them?!

How can you be that uneducated and out of touch with reality? Seriously?!?!?

Really? Considering how many myths there are about what's good and what's bad and how to properly structure a diet

How many people started MFP and had to adjust to the idea that cereal, while tasty, is essentially useless? How many people found their concept for a "moderate" sandwich, soup or salad, entered the calories and had their minds blown? People try to eat in moderation all the time, find little success and ultimately give up figuring that if they aren't going to be able to get healthy, they might as well enjoy the crap food they are familiar with.

You are the one who is way out of touch with reality if you think every person out there has the same kind of leisure time you do to research and understand the nuances of moderation and healthiness.

Thanks for the insult. Apparently I'm just more intelligent than the average person because I don't actually research as much as you claim I do. I don't buy into marketing ploys and I'm not easily influenced.

Sounds like you're just out to pick a fight. But I guess I was never overweight, unlike yourself?! Maybe my upbringing and parents who busted their *kitten* to put healthy food on the table, work full-time jobs while both getting advanced degrees and raising a family had a lot to do with it.

MaraDiaz

I don't understand how people don't "know" that food is bad for them?!

How can you be that uneducated and out of touch with reality? Seriously?!?!?

Really? Considering how many myths there are about what's good and what's bad and how to properly structure a diet

How many people started MFP and had to adjust to the idea that cereal, while tasty, is essentially useless? How many people found their concept for a "moderate" sandwich, soup or salad, entered the calories and had their minds blown? People try to eat in moderation all the time, find little success and ultimately give up figuring that if they aren't going to be able to get healthy, they might as well enjoy the crap food they are familiar with.

You are the one who is way out of touch with reality if you think every person out there has the same kind of leisure time you do to research and understand the nuances of moderation and healthiness.

And don't forget juice. I thought it was healthy. It's not. Stripped of the fiber in the pulp of the fruit, it's basically like soda. I'm still trying to get over that one.

doomspark

It starts early - many schools have cut recess and phys-ed programs so kids are getting less exercise. Kids who want to run around are called ADHD and parents are pushed to have them put on medication so they'll be easier to handle. DISCLAIMER: I'm not saying there's no such thing as ADHD. I *am* saying that it's overly diagnosed, and I know from personal experience that schools WILL pressure parents to medicate kids who don't want to sit still all day.

And then there's diet. Lots of people have already commented about that, so I won't rehash.

freckledrats

Ignorance.
Apathy.

Most people don't know what 500 calories looks like. Even people GOOD at eyeballing a plate for calories can be fooled. We Americans have our big plates and our big restaurant portions and it's "normal" because everywhere you go, you are overfed. Restaurants, cook-outs, work potlucks, and people will pressure you to eat more if you're trying to diet. Eating with people is accepting people, somehow. It's a social event, and it's "weird" if you don't eat much. And eating an actually normal amount definitely looks like not eating much when you're at a restaurant with friends where everyone else is eating an entree that's actually enough food for a 300 pound line backer.

Also, since it's become so normal to eat so much more than a healthy amount, most people don't CARE. If all of your friends are obese and you're in a relationship, a lot of people lack the motivation to get healthy. Why bother? No one else is doing it. This is partly because they don't really understand the health risks involved with being overweight for a long period of time. And partly just because it's too hard for some to imagine a different lifestyle.

We've made being this way easy. Think about it. If you're at a luncheon, it's rude to say to a chubby person "you're going to eat ALL that?" but no one thinks twice before saying to the normal weight or thin person "is that ALL you're going to eat??" All the pressure is on normal eaters to eat more.

MJEekhoff

- Lifestyle
- Environmental

beckajw

We spend more time in the office.

We actually eat fewer calories than past generations, but we spend so much more time at work, rather than mowing the lawn, carrying in/cutting wood, walking to work, vacuuming, etc. that we are gaining weight.

drmerc

You guys are really good at making something more complicated than it is

We are fat because we are wealthy, we can afford lots of food... When we can afford lots of food, we eat lots of food
Then we get fat

ItsCasey

I think this can all be chalked up to the fact that people don't care anymore. Personal responsibility and accountability are lost concepts these days. And it's going to get even worse now that insurance companies can no longer turn people away for being obese. There's no need to try to be healthy when you can just wait till you get sick to buy insurance ... which completely defeats the purpose of having insurance.

meggonkgonk

- Laziness
- Lack of willpower

That or less healthy food is cheaper in bulk and we've decreased the *need* for physical labor.

I'm not saying people shouldn't take responsibility for their bodies, they absolutely should, but this type of attitude is an oversimplification of a complex issue that has social and financial influences.

Sounds like you're going down the "excuses" road. Yes, there are influences. You do what you can do, and how long does a healthy dinner take versus taking the kids to the McDonald's drive through?! It's absolutely inexcusable to say "Oh the kids had practice tonight, so we just went to McDonald's" time and time and time again. Do it, or don't do it. Your health is important, isn't it?

Sounds like you aren't entirely sure what empathy is like.

As someone who struggled for years to live moderately, and finally realized what it took- which was ultimately putting a lot of things I cared about on the back burner while I made healthy living and learning about same a hobby for the better part of a year- all I'm saying is I can understand how not everyone has that kind of time to devote or could see the point in even trying. There are plenty of things that aren't McDonalds, that can seem perfectly good for you and are crap.

The question was regarding an overall trend of a large populace and the answer is because our lifestyles are more sedentary and less nutritious food is very cheap. Those are two large factors, and the plain truth is, yes, people will do what is easiest unless given a very good reason to do otherwise.

But shaming people for being overweight isn't a helpful attitude, either.

DelilahCat0212

It seems like many people have changed their standards to suit themselves. I've told a few people that I've joined MFP and what my goals are and they're shocked. They think I'm already skinny and they know I'm already an active runner and I have lots of energy compared to others. However, I see a steady pound increase here and there and I could definitely use more muscle.

Even here, I see lots of people like a 5'3" woman with a goal of 150 lbs. That's chubby. It might be a drastic improvement but it's still chubby.

I've also noticed how little people know about food. Lots of people have already mentioned all the "diet foods" available. They're awful!!! I personally didn't know how to eat fresh fruit until I was out on my own. Growing up, I thought canned fruit was healthy. I also had my own personal struggles with diet food and it took me forever to figure out how bad they are.

My favorite answer.

Totally agree. When I see people who are shooting for weights that would have gotten me in trouble with my ob/gyn, when I was 9 months pregnant, AND I'M 5' 8", that's just a whole new world of societal acceptance, having nothing to do with health. And way too many people claim it's all muscle - no it's not.

Wow. People are trying to get healthier and set smaller goals so 100 lbs doesn't feel so insurmountable and then we get people like this who criticize our goals. Splendid.

baptiste565

food industry tempting us with commercials

justal313

Ignorance plays a part too. I saw a person on here say they thought the deep-fried shrimp platter would be low in calories because it was shrimp. Every day there's another thread of people asking how to eat vegetables... one person thought "vegetables" meant those bags of frozen peas and carrots. I think a lot of people don't have a fundamental understanding of how to eat properly, so they just don't try.

Well, yes they are vegetables. And usually they are frozen fresh and still have a lot of their nutrients in them. A good alternative and a little cheaper than fresh.

And a gosend in the winter

myofibril

I blame the mice.

bcattoes

I think it is a sedentary lifestyle more than diet. I grew up in the 60's and 70's and while the diets of everyone I knew was healthier than it is now, it wasn't really healthy. We ate white bread and used white sugar and drank soda and Kool-Aid every day. There was far less fast food available, but preprepared meals were just becoming the rage. TV dinners, Hamburger Helper was fairly new and popular. KFC was what you got for mom's day off or picnics. There was a home baked dessert every night.

But we didn't sit around much.

lporter229

Fear of dietary fat consumption based on bad science, a food pyramid based on bad science, subsidising agriculture, politics and commercial interests overriding good health.

You are eating too much nutrient poor rubbish supported by recommendations that have no basis in fact.

Follow the money, there is no profit to be made in a healthy population.

Rampant diabetes and statins are a logical result of this madness.

Gluttony and sloth? Less so.

EXACTLY! It all comes down to the almighty dollar. The food industry will cut corners to save $$ in any way possible, all at the expense of the consumer's health. Additionally, BILLIONS of dollars are made annually off of marketing ploys touting health and fitness. If this stuff really worked, there would be no need for it, hence no money left to be made. Yet Americans are very accepting of these things and fall right into the trap because of the "I want it all and I want it now" mentality that has been ingrained in us.

On a side note, there seems to be this sudden "revolution" that we must eat clean, organic, unprocessed, yada, yada, yada. Has anyone noticed how this has played right in to the hands of the marketing companies? So much so, that the consumer has lost a significant amount of control over what he/she is actually eating, all because somebody stands to make a buck.

baptiste565

Obviously it is carbs that has caused all this, as they are the only thing that makes you fat

huh?

Acg67

meeper123

look what they put in our food :O and thank pink slime thing fpr example WHO DOES THAT its scary I want to eat all organic but its all so high! I am just going to have to cough up the extra dough or forever wonder what chemical can I eat today