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

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  • HotAndSpicy10
    HotAndSpicy10 Posts: 19
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    Read the book "Wheat Belly" - it explains it all. I've given up wheat as a result and it's worked wonders.

    I disagree. I was in Paris this year for the first time and they serve bread and pastry with literally every meal....sometimes it is the whole meal....and usually it's white, not whole wheat. Yet most Parisians are fairly thin. Why? It's called portion control.

    On that note, I was in Prague as well and they mostly eat non-lean meat and dumplings, etc.....yet they also do not experience nearly the level of obesity there as the U.S. does. Again, portion control....

    I'm not trying to be rude, I'm just pointing out what I've observed....
  • Art3m1s
    Art3m1s Posts: 9 Member
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  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
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    So mid 90's and before what was going on?

    I think...

    1. Overweight kids of the 90's (myself included) who spent a lot of time at home on the new computer and that new internet thing grew up to be overweight adults.

    2. I remember riding my bike and walking to school all the time. You don't see that as much anymore.

    3. If I'm correct we were in an economic upswing that was the dot.com revolution and there was money available and

    4. Don't think we had as much convience food back then. There was no such thing as prepackaged salad mix. You had to stand and cut your veggies.

    5. Seemed there were more venues for physical activity. I could rave all night around the city, gym memberships were relatively cheap, and there were more community activities such as building bike trails or opening community rec centers. A lot of that has been stopped d/t crime, police force, terrorist paranoia, and huge government cut backs on community.

    6. You actually had PE in school

    7. Supersize was a new word

    8. Baby boomers were younger than. Now they are getting older and more sedentary

    9. Giant chicken breasts were introduced

    10. Crime/terrorist paranoia and more reliance on technology. Back in the 90's you had to go down to the DMV and stand in line to renew your license now you can do it online along with everything else.

    I don't know if the food producers have more regulation or less today, but I do know back then we didnt know what GMO or organic foods where.
  • rextcat
    rextcat Posts: 1,408 Member
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    fixed it for you:flowerforyou:
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    the weight problem in america is due to high fat diets (fast food, junk food, etc.) and an increasingly sedentary lifestyle thanks in part to tv and computers

    This clashes with the facts - the amount of fat if anything is declining, as carbs increase. If fats are increasing in grams per day it will be as a smaller percentage of a bigger food intake.

    The daily energy expenditure of slow moving fat westerners is the same as skinny hunter-gatherers tearing around the savannah.
  • meeper123
    meeper123 Posts: 3,347 Member
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    Just look at how many events we have that are all about food. Its part of our social structure its really crazy!
  • cefuhrmann
    cefuhrmann Posts: 4
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    I think that a lot has to do with the foods available, eating out being cheaper, more processed foods, etc. But it also has to do with a lot of the attitudes that I see that I think are very dangerous:

    1. Attitudes that say that skinny people don't work at it and those who are overweight are that way because of glands, metabolism, etc. There is some truth to this, as with all stereotypes, but it's mainly complete bunk. People are grossly overweight if they eat more calories than they burn, period, and it's hard to lose weight no matter who you are. People need to stop giving themselves this excuse.

    2. Adds and sayings that valorize being overweight. Pictures of nude 300 lb women, "Somewhere inside me is a skinny person wanting to get out, but I kill her with cookies," that kind of crap. I think that there was a reaction against people being anorexic because of poor body image, and I completely agree that we should have more normal weight women as models, etc., but this has gone way overboard. Being overweight kills you and restricts what you can do in life. If you know that and are trying, that's one thing, but if you somehow imagine that being overweight is a good thing, I find that a very insidious attitude.
  • waldo56
    waldo56 Posts: 1,861 Member
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    Its just our culture.

    Its not safe for kids to be outside and phys ed in school is too expensive. Kids have to pass tests in schools so less play more work. The kids come home to fast food and a night of video games. It is the safest and easiest way for their parents.

    Parents are increasingly becoming zombies who work so many hours to pay for the house that is too big for them to afford, driving cars too expensive for them to afford. This overworking for their nice material things leads to half as much sleep as they need, thus a general almost stoned state that is the norm of life where they don't have the energy to be good parents or care for themselves, instead all they are physically capable of doing after an unproductive day at work sitting at the computer is to come home and sit on the couch all night watching some can't miss shows and chatting online. This of course keeps their attention too effectively, they stay up too late, wake up a zombie the next day and do it all over again.

    Life in America.

    Make as much money as you can. Move as little as possible. Live a life of convienience in a big house and don't miss a second of American Idol.
  • AMHouse85
    AMHouse85 Posts: 285 Member
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    Lack of knowledge and personal responsibility. I refer to it as the Wall-E Effect. Everyone points the finger at someone/something else. It's not my fault, it's not my job, let's just take the easy way. Don't complain when you have the power to change with in you! I hear a few family members say all the time I just wish there was a pill I could take that would make me loose all the weight and make me healthy again as they eat a double cheese burger or 4.
  • ASDavis72
    ASDavis72 Posts: 77 Member
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    Some factors are laziness; being uneducated about the food we put in our bodies; not understanding portions; not taking exercise serious; and not listening to our bodies, many suffer from serious illnesses that may cause weight gain but refuse to listen to their bodies (example: hypothyroidism). These traits are being passed down to our children making it more acceptable.
  • Josie_lifting_cats
    Josie_lifting_cats Posts: 949 Member
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    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.

    Also, for the people that are ripping on 150 being overweight:

    Screen-Shot-2011-07-21-at-9.23.11-AM.jpg

    Believe it or not, she’s 11 pounds HEAVIER (142 pounds) in the picture on the right (May 2011) compared to the picture on the left (131 pounds, October 2010).

    ***** Taken from Nerd Fitness @ http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/ ****
  • macpacman
    macpacman Posts: 64
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    A lot of valid points in the thread. The most contributing factor is portion control. You can be lazy all you want, stressed, eat overly-processed foods but at the end of the day, if you didn't portion your meals, you will gain weight.
  • Kazenouta
    Kazenouta Posts: 27
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    I think it's the combination of laziness, a sedentary work environment (majority), the extreme lack of food education, and the pervasiveness of food companies in selling us crap for cheap while good healthy food is more lucky to break the bank.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    I think another reason we've become fatter is simply that it's become acceptable to be fat. It's acceptable to not be fit. Everyone gets to join the team, even the fat kid that won't practice. Fat children used to be a really rare thing. And fat adults were not very common either. People who were 10 - 20 lbs overweight were considered fat.
  • cpaman87
    cpaman87 Posts: 193 Member
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    I have noticed, since I started eating better, that we are bombarded with temptation everyday. The tv commercials are relentless pushing bad food at us. Restaurants are full of bad things. We seem to be getting away from personal responsibility and blaming these outside forces. I have also noticed that when I try have a serious discussion about weight that I am labeled as insensitive. We need to start treating this problem seriously and stop allowing people to hide from their responsibility for themselves.
  • wtfusernameisnttaken
    wtfusernameisnttaken Posts: 192
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    The average American has gained about one pound each year since the mid-1990s. The average American man weighed 194.7 pounds in 2006, up from 181 pounds in 1994. The average American woman weighed up 165 pounds, up from 154. Two thirds of us are overweight or obese. ~ Face The Facts USA

    Curious why people think this is. I can think of many, many reasons. I feel, as a nation, we have just gotten lazier and lazier and technology underlies a lot of it. Add that to poor diets (which is also stems in part from technological dependance = laziness and just lack of caring) and to a greater societal acceptance and bam!

    What do you think?
    I think there's a few factors. Laziness being at the top, combined with poor eating habbits and heavily processed EVERYTHING. Have you taken a trip around the grocery store and really looked at the shelves.... In my local supermarket, there are more aisles and shelves for cookies, snack cakes, chips, and soda's, than there are produce and fresh meats. We are a society of convenience. People have this misconception that cooking a wholesome, fresh meal takes too long, when the reality is, one of those stoffers family meals takes on average 60 minutes in the oven, You can make fresh grilled chicken breasts and veggies in far less time.
  • Mellie289
    Mellie289 Posts: 1,191 Member
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    7. Food is less nutritious than it was in the 1940s and 1950s. It takes two apples today to match the nutrition of one apple from the 1940s. The calories are the same, but your body is going to be screaming for the nutrients, causing you to eat more. The reasons for this are several, one being that the ground is being stripped of its nutrients and the second being that GMO food is often less nutritious than organic.

    I would love to know your sources on this. It sounds so sciencey and at the same time, it sounds completely made up.

    Edit to add: Otherwise I thought you made a lot of good points, although I'm not sure about the gluten genes either. That's also something I'd like to see more info on, but I can probably find that myself.
  • gauchogirl
    gauchogirl Posts: 467 Member
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    I don't think it's laziness. A study I read recently compared energy expenditure of native cultures to current civilizations and found little to no difference. (I'm going to try and go find the link to post here.)

    I think it's processed franken-food and liquid calories. We need to eat real food, that comes from or lives off of the earth, with as few steps as possible coming in between it's natural state and putting it in our mouths.

    ETA: The summary is at http://www.sciencecodex.com/huntergatherers_westerners_use_same_amount_of_energy_contrary_to_theory-95568 with the original linked to at the bottom at the Public Library of Science.
  • jeet1966
    jeet1966 Posts: 32 Member
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    Various reasons:

    1. Technology has taken over work that used to require muscle power, thus people are not burning off the calories that they eat.

    2. Children are wrapped up in technology and no longer play outside.

    3. Crime prevents many people from taking part in activities outside and parents are fearful for the safety of their children outside, so they keep their children inside if they can't be outside to watch them.

    4. The food industry has been using many things to sale their products. Two of the major things used is sugar and fat. This makes their products taste better and people will eat more and buy more.

    5. Food is made salty in order to get people to eat more and, in restaurants, salt causes you to drink more. Bars often serve salty food to boost their sales of alcohol.

    6. The food industry has been supersizing meals and people will buy them. People buy them because they believe that they are getting more bang for their buck. Unfortunately, they don't realize that this kind of eating is costing them healthwise.

    7. Food is less nutritious than it was in the 1940s and 1950s. It takes two apples today to match the nutrition of one apple from the 1940s. The calories are the same, but your body is going to be screaming for the nutrients, causing you to eat more. The reasons for this are several, one being that the ground is being stripped of its nutrients and the second being that GMO food is often less nutritious than organic.

    8. Animals are being raised in feedlots and confined barns. This means the animal is not moving around and will have more fat than animals that are raised in open pastures. This fat is passed off in the food we eat. In the 1960s, chicken used to be about 13%-17% fat. Now they are around 25% fat.

    9. Hormones that are given to animals to make them grow bigger and faster are passed down through the food chain and being eaten by humans. Thus, those hormones are affecting the growth patterns of humans.

    10. Wheat has been hybridized to the point that the gluten content is very high. This is because when wheat is bred, the total number of gluten genes will be from the combination of both wheat forms used to hybridize the wheat. In order words, if wheat A has 12 gluten genes and wheat B has 5 gluten genes, then the new form of wheat will have 17 gluten genes. Why is this important? Because gluten has detrimental effects on the pancreas and insulin levels. It causes the body to store fat more readily, especially around the waist. Fat around the waist places the person at high risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Think of all the foods you eat that is made from flour and you will understand why this is affecting the weight of Americans.

    11. Hidden sugar, high fructose corn syrup, flour, and other elements in our food. Sugar is a poison to the body. It affects just about every system in the body, but mostly the pancreas, liver, and nervous systems. If sugar is a poison, then high fructose corn syrup is the devil itself. HFCS is not metabolized the same way sugar is metabolized. The body is not satiated when HFCS is used, thus leaving the person hungry. HFCS is deposited as fat on the body. This means that the person has ingested 150-200 calories of HFCS and they are still hungry. That's 150-200 calories that are empty calories.

    12. People are ignorant about what the food industry is thrusting upon us as food. Many 'foods' that people eat are actually food-like materials concocted in a laboratory. Like that yogurt that comes in the tube: It is all chemicals without one ingredient that even resembles real food.

    13. People are so busy running here and there that they don't have time to cook. So these people pull out the latest convenience food that is loaded with either sugar or fat, or maybe both, to make them taste good and think that they are eating healthy. Additionally, labeling is deceptive. Something that is marketed as 'fat free' may not be any better for a person that the original that has fat in it. With all the running around that people do, they may be eating out more often. I look at some of my friends' journals and some eat out or use package foods all the time. They may not cook a single meal! Maybe they cook for Thanksgiving.

    14. Deceptive packaging doesn't help. If you buy a package of chips, it may say that it contains 2.5 servings. Are you going to eat just under half the bag in order to get that 1 serving or the whole bag, since they taste so good?

    In general, it is not about laziness or over-eating. There are a myriad of reasons why people are getting fatter and the food industry doesn't help with their deceptive advertising and making foods taste good so that they can sell more and more of the product. It used to be that even a simple-minded person could eat healthy. Now you almost need a PhD in order to understand the various reasons why people are obese and how to avoid becoming so yourself.

    Yep, this just about covers all bases!
  • KuroNyankoSensei
    KuroNyankoSensei Posts: 288 Member
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    Too much food that is readily available ;3.

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