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Why is there an obesity epidemic?

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Replies

  • Qskim
    Qskim Posts: 1,145 Member
    Blame the Americans?

    No.

    Blame your own fat lazy butt for your own personal choices.

    Accountability. Look it up.

    Of which many Americans have...the obesity problem in America is far more expansive and problematic than the obesity problem elsewhere in the world. Our portions are too large, our food is too processed, and our couches are too comfortable.

    True, but no one forces me to eat the entire portion. Huge proponent of personal responsibility. I do not blame Ben & Jerry for my fat butt. Or antibiotics. Or processed food. Or anything in the original post other than my own personal choices.

    Australia surpassed the US at one stage and England not too far behind. Other westernized countries prob the same. I agree with both of you but in a new age of choices (economics and technology and food industries) people need a renewed awareness or education about those choices. A lot of people don't realise HOW bad their choices are these days until they visit a site like this. And they are consistently making bad choices thinking that little itty bit doesn't matter. (that was me and I had healthy food knowledge but not a great awareness of (how) bad food choices could be..so my shopping trolley had both). Yes I knew certain fats were bad, yes I knew bread and sugars if you overate it was bad, but if you asked me by how much? Clueless until MFP. Education on health/history/lifestyle so important.
  • KristineW78
    KristineW78 Posts: 42 Member
    Because too many people don't understand how nutrition affects them
    They eat for 2, sometimes 3 people DAILY
    They are toxic and unaware.
    They eat on the run, hitting fast food restaurants
    There is a plethora of reasons and excuses..
    It's sad, really
  • annepage
    annepage Posts: 585 Member

    I am not in America and have never been there - but if 2/3 are overweight and 1/3 are obese, that means nobody is normal weight or underweight as 3/3 equals the whole total??

    Surely your figures are not right - absolutely everyone cant be overweight or obese?

    2/3 are overweight and OF THOSE, half are obese. America isn't alone - in the UK 39% of the population is overweight and an additional 22% are obese. The real brain teaser is why poor people in both the US and UK have a much greater likelihood of obesity than middle or upper income people. People like to say it's about high calorie food being cheaper, but I seriously doubt that poor obese folk are sitting around snarfing up fried pork rinds but wishing they could afford broccoli. So are people fat because they're poor, or are they poor because they're fat? Some of each, I think.

    want to know why americans are obese three words = Breakfast & Fast Food

    Does have a point about the fast food. I understand being pressed for time, but why have 400 calorie oatmeal when you can make it yourself for less than that and know exactly what goes into it?
  • mistesh
    mistesh Posts: 243 Member
    Past generations ate just as much, or more, sugar than we do today.

    "In the last 20 years, the amount of sugar each person consumes yearly in the United States has soared from 26 pounds per person to more than 135 pounds per person."

    http://www.sharecare.com/question/sugar-consume-every-year

    "Processed food means the addition of sugar; of the 600,000 items in the food supply, 80 percent are laced with added sugar (added by the food industry for its own purposes)."

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-lustig-md/home-ec-for-boys_b_2360666.html
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member

    I am not in America and have never been there - but if 2/3 are overweight and 1/3 are obese, that means nobody is normal weight or underweight as 3/3 equals the whole total??

    Surely your figures are not right - absolutely everyone cant be overweight or obese?

    2/3 are overweight and OF THOSE, half are obese. America isn't alone - in the UK 39% of the population is overweight and an additional 22% are obese. The real brain teaser is why poor people in both the US and UK have a much greater likelihood of obesity than middle or upper income people. People like to say it's about high calorie food being cheaper, but I seriously doubt that poor obese folk are sitting around snarfing up fried pork rinds but wishing they could afford broccoli. So are people fat because they're poor, or are they poor because they're fat? Some of each, I think.

    want to know why americans are obese three words = Breakfast & Fast Food

    Does have a point about the fast food. I understand being pressed for time, but why have 400 calorie oatmeal when you can make it yourself for less than that and know exactly what goes into it?

    400??? hell if you get that steak bagel thingy from McDonalds that is like 800 cals....
  • redheaddee
    redheaddee Posts: 2,005 Member
    biblebeltobese_zpsdec3b61d.jpg
  • waldo56
    waldo56 Posts: 1,861 Member
    Just read a great article that says that as the low fat..no fat craze started..so did the size of Americas waist. We got fat when we got away from natural food. period.

    Was it written by Gary Taubes?

    That hypothesis completely misses/dismisses the fact that the pre-low fat diet crazy, diets were even worse than they are now. TV dinners, fast food, "processed food", etc.., this stuff didn't start with the low-fat craze, much of it goes back to WW2.

    Incidentelly, right about the same time the low fat thing began, cable TV, video games, and computers began to become mainstream, and with it the modern fully sedentary lifestyle, where a walk to the mailbox is the most exercise that one gets in a day. Prior to those things, sitting that much every day was just too darn boring.
  • smantha32
    smantha32 Posts: 6,990 Member
    Just read a great article that says that as the low fat..no fat craze started..so did the size of Americas waist. We got fat when we got away from natural food. period.

    That happened because in the early 80's the American heart association decided that dietary fat was the cause of heart disease. So food companies started replacing fat with sugar. Which has really done nothing for heart disease because your body turns all the extra sugar into fat anyway.
  • smantha32
    smantha32 Posts: 6,990 Member
    Well, let's see now. "In the late 1970s, due to the development of new fructose enrichment technology, corn started being processed into high fructose corn syrup. The result? From 1980 to 2009, our intake of HFCS had risen from almost zero to 13.2 teaspoons per day." Some restaurant chains have become something more like "socially sanctioned, fully legal, heavily advertized crack houses." The Hunger Fix by Pamela Peeke.
    Past generations ate just as much, or more, sugar than we do today. Candy bars, sodas and other sweets weren't just invented within the last 30-40 years. With the advent of artificial sweeteners, there are many more options to avoid sugar nowadays. And despite all the HFCS quackery and propaganda, HFCS is approximately 50% fructose and 50% fructose, which is identical to sucrose (table sugar).

    No, back in the 70's sugar wasn't in EVERYTHING like it is now. We weren't consuming as much of it.

    I will agree there's no real difference between sugar and fructose, and probably artificial sweeteners too, but it's impossible to not consume it unless you eat nothing processed.
    In the 70's, if you didn't want to get fat you just didn't eat candy bars.
  • smantha32
    smantha32 Posts: 6,990 Member
    Just my experience... but it's funny that there are all of these ideas and theories out there about how overly processed and unnatural food has become, and that this has led people to gain weight and be generally unhealthy - yet when I started out to lose weight and get healthy, I didn't give up any foods except for sugary beverages.


    Sugary beverages are definitely the biggest kick in the @ss.

    I remember when I was a kid though, a coke was a treat. We could only have one now and then. These days too many people drink sodas and let their kids drink sodas like they're water. That can't help.
  • waldo56
    waldo56 Posts: 1,861 Member
    Just read a great article that says that as the low fat..no fat craze started..so did the size of Americas waist. We got fat when we got away from natural food. period.

    That happened because in the early 80's the American heart association decided that dietary fat was the cause of heart disease. So food companies started replacing fat with sugar. Which has really done nothing for heart disease because your body turns all the extra sugar into fat anyway.

    De Novo Lipogenisis (converting sugar into fat in the body) is a largely irrelevant process in a normally functioning human, obese or not.

    The process can happen in the body, but it is more of a failsafe against blood sugar poisoning than a normal regulatory function,

    This is pretty much accepted scientific fact (google is your friend), despite it being a common talking point among certain diet peddlers and their followers.
  • RMNPHike
    RMNPHike Posts: 89 Member
    Personally, I think it's the *kitten* Burgers - LOL!
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,217 Member

    I am not in America and have never been there - but if 2/3 are overweight and 1/3 are obese, that means nobody is normal weight or underweight as 3/3 equals the whole total??

    Surely your figures are not right - absolutely everyone cant be overweight or obese?

    2/3 are overweight and OF THOSE, half are obese. America isn't alone - in the UK 39% of the population is overweight and an additional 22% are obese.

    Ah, ok - that makes more sense.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    Past generations ate just as much, or more, sugar than we do today.

    "In the last 20 years, the amount of sugar each person consumes yearly in the United States has soared from 26 pounds per person to more than 135 pounds per person."

    http://www.sharecare.com/question/sugar-consume-every-year

    "Processed food means the addition of sugar; of the 600,000 items in the food supply, 80 percent are laced with added sugar (added by the food industry for its own purposes)."

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-lustig-md/home-ec-for-boys_b_2360666.html
    LOL @ quoting Dr. Lustig, who demonizes sugar for all society's ills. Now, here's a link to an article by Alan Aragon (a well-known fitness and nutrition researcher, in case you've never heard of him) who researched and rebutted/debunked much of Lustig's rhetoric:

    http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/

    Note that, in actuality, sugar consumption went DOWN by 1% between 1970-2007. There was, however, a 603 kcal increase in overall food consumption (from 2172 to 2775 kcal/day).

    And once again, as Aragon mentions further into the article, context and dosage come into consideration when talking about the "evilness of sugar". Context and dosage matters.
    ...Which has really done nothing for heart disease because your body turns all the extra sugar into fat anyway...
    Quote a reputable source for this, please. While in a caloric deficit, nothing is converted into fat.


    As far as the '70s - I was a pre-teen and teenager through the '70s. I remember TV dinners, boxed instant meals like mac n cheese, more candy/chocolate bars than are on the market now, full-sugar sodas, Ding Dongs, Chocodiles, Twinkies, Fruit Pies and all other manner of sugary/processed things. I don't for one second buy the notion that there were less sugary things around in the '70s....I lived them. Anecdotally, I'll also note that in the '70s, I walked and/or rode my bicycle to and from school, delivered a daily paper route on my bicycle, and was outdoors playing and running around until after dark every day, as were most kids. I played sports, so I had practices/games all week long, then I raced bicycles and/or rode dirt bikes on weekends. Our activity levels were far higher than most children today. We didn't sit on our butts while our parents drove us to/from school, then go home and sit on our butts some more in front of a gaming console.
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member

    I am not in America and have never been there - but if 2/3 are overweight and 1/3 are obese, that means nobody is normal weight or underweight as 3/3 equals the whole total??

    Surely your figures are not right - absolutely everyone cant be overweight or obese?

    2/3 are overweight and OF THOSE, half are obese. America isn't alone - in the UK 39% of the population is overweight and an additional 22% are obese. The real brain teaser is why poor people in both the US and UK have a much greater likelihood of obesity than middle or upper income people. People like to say it's about high calorie food being cheaper, but I seriously doubt that poor obese folk are sitting around snarfing up fried pork rinds but wishing they could afford broccoli. So are people fat because they're poor, or are they poor because they're fat? Some of each, I think.

    Because the poor have more antibiotics. Dontchaknow.
  • safaribear1107
    safaribear1107 Posts: 3
    That awkward moment when a Mcdonald cheese burger is cheaper than a salad
  • wikitbikit
    wikitbikit Posts: 518 Member
    I am too drinkies and too lazy to read this thread. I'll tell you what I told my daughter recently, when explaining to her why we're trying to eat more whole foods...

    Once upon a time, people had farms. They grew things and they sent them around the country for people to eat. Growing things and sending things started costing more money, so they started stretching out the food--using fillers and preservatives so it would last longer and be cheaper to produce. People just wanted to fill their bellies, so they were happy with this fake, stretched out food. Companies realized they could make a profit around it, and found new and "improved" ways to make it "taste good" to the consumers. They used less and less Real Food and made more and more Profit. We were already used to this 'compromised' food, so the companies--now actually Corporations--decided we need ways to make "food" even more "convenient" and came up with more and more ways to pump us full of filling, but ultimately unFULLfilling, food-type products. And now we're in a position where we are eating a diet of chemicals that is full of 'energy' (calories) and thinking it 'tastes good,' instead of actual food that is nourishing to our bodies. And because our bodies are not being nourished, we desire more and more of this fake food, with all of its 'energy,' to fulFILL us, and it never can.

    You know, or something.
  • Shadowknight137
    Shadowknight137 Posts: 1,243 Member
    The same reason why people pay more money for less calorie-dense food, i.e., PB2 vs peanut butter, low fat whatever vs full-fat, sugar free syrup vs honey.

    Because people are gluttonous.
  • kmm7309
    kmm7309 Posts: 802 Member
    Believe it or not, there's a lot of psychology behind overeating. Stress eating, eating disorders, socialized eating, psychology of advertising, environmental learning, etc. Your brain is wired to derive pleasure in the easiest way possible. The link between having a delicious restaurant meal with friends and having a great time associates itself in your mind. A friend's reaction to eating vegetables can cloud your own judgment about how they taste, even if you liked them before.

    Obviously these things can be overcome, but I think it takes some acknowledgment and understanding of these issues to be successful, and a vigilant approach to it. When a person makes the decision to change their lifestyle, they start to witness and understand these issues (even if it's not a conscious thought) and can mentally combat it easier.

    Hope this makes sense. I'm very exhausted and ready for bed! :yawn:
  • volume77
    volume77 Posts: 670 Member
    I dont know what the hell all that science crap was....but I will tell you the culprit ...breakfast, yup that is right all that crap you consume first thing in the morning is making you pack em on ....


    i dont know where youve been all my life?????

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