Our culture is set up for obesity.

It doesn't matter how big the portions are anywhere...you not the culture is the person who says no thanks I am done box this up please. It is you who chooses to walk/lift/bike (exercise) or not.
Individuals are to blame for their weight issues....no one and nothing else...(regarless of why ie emotional eating etc)

Why was I afraid that the parroting of this enormous bunch of BS was going to be absent in this thread?
My fears have been calmed.
So predictable, so hopeless.

I am all for personal responsibility when it comes to weight loss. But, one has to acknowledge how crazily our culture is set up in making it an upstream swim much of the time.

A favorite topic of mine - thank you for bringing it up and yes, I WILL take the time to post even though I have none. So I will make.

Like you, I DO understand perfectly well that I need to take PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for my own weight and simply make choices within the constraints of the culture that is indeed SET UP for obesity. Or else.
Sometimes though I feel that the culture is not just "set up" for obesity but it is "conspiratorily" set up for obesity!! I wouldn't put it past the Powers that Be.

While I am making all the choices that I can possibly make, within the constraints of my personal situation, to fight the culture that is set up this way and to maintain a healthy weight, I really do believe that pointing at those cultural determinants and making people AWARE of them does not mean "whining, complaining, blaming others for your own shortcomings" and other "blame the victim" junk that Americans usually adore passing around.

It simply helps people fight back - not just with personal choices but politically too - at least this is what you would hope would happen eventually.

After reading tons of articles on obesity from Medicine, Sociology, Psychology and other cross-disciplinary fields - I could count a million ways in which the culture has become set up for obesity. Unfortunately, large portion sizes and a Mc at every corner is just the tip of the iceberg.

- The entire culture has engineered activity out of people's lives in the name of convenience and comfort (from something as simple as remote-control TV-s and buttons-everything to going everywhere by car or HAVING TO drive everywhere given time constraints, to no sidewalks and attractive public venues where people could go for strolls like Europeans do, etc). In order to move enough in this culture, you have to carve out special time during the day and turn it into an efficient task at the gym. This demand will compete with the million other demands that the average person has in this society - so good luck keeping it up and making "MOVING" the queen of all other priorities. Having grown up elsewhere, among people who were all thin despite nobody EVER exercising formally at a gym ...this part is all too clear.

- The Internet, Smart phones and other gadgetry is sucking spare-time out of our day like a sponge is sucking water.

- The TV is a classic.

- Women no longer cook, whether because they are "career women" or just SAHM-s who believe that it is more important to haul jrs. to 1 million organized activities during the day than stay at home to cut up onions. This is largely perceived as "non-sexy, backward, heck even oppressive". Never mind those who get the kids in the bus at 7:30 am so the rest of the day can be dedicated to volunteering at school, shopping, scrap-booking - anything BUT cooking appealing, nutritious and economic meals for the entire family (which by the way, takes A LOT of time usually).
The bottom line is, career or not, American women on average, no longer cook; or they believe that slapping together some convenience foods qualifies as cooking. For the gender sensitive, if you ask why I only "blame" women for this and not men - I am not blaming anyone. I am simply pointing that half of the population that used to cook checked out of this task and it's not like the other half checked in, rightfully or wrongfully so. Cooking has been outsourced - genie is out of the bottle. It is simply the way it has worked out, gender justice or not.

- The crap the the food industry puts in all of these convenience foods, take-outs or even restaurant food is surreal - from the tons of sugar and corn syrup to 1 million things you can't pronounce, to hormones in milk that makes girls get their periods at 9 and fibroids the size of the New Year's Eve NY apple at 40 ...and balloon like crazy by the time they are 18... ending up with a hanging-type belly that is recognizably American...you get the idea.

- The incredibly fast-paced lives with one million demands and obligations pulling the average Joe in all directions: overload in work-demands, children's school demands, children's activities demands, housework demands, groceries shopping demands, commuting demands, technology that acts as the most insidious time-thief despite having proclaimed the very opposite - to save people time...as well as going crazy over sets of "choices", the list could go on. Some of these demands can be very small *(such as sorting through papers from school or signing papers to send back to school). But between the 1 million big demands (such as work projects), the 1 million medium demands, and the 1 million small demands...people deal with an endless "to do" list that is simply eating away at their quality of life, places them in a constant state of stress, anxiety and restlessness, reduced authentic companionship and leads, for many, to overeating as a way of coping with stress.

- The non-social manner in which Americans tend to eat: fast, efficiently, often at their desks, often alone, often at midnight snacking on "feel good" foods to accompany some action movie, without any conversation or human interaction that help slow down the pace of eating.

- And what to make of those families needing to work 2-3 miserable jobs just to get by in today's society? Or those who have only one job that requires increasing over-time and energy (both physical and mental) so they can compete with zealous co-workers?

- What of genetically modified everything, chickens as big as ostriches (how in the world do they get them like that I will never understand), etc.

The list could go on - and on - and on.

I have met many people who react negatively when they see fat people - as if these unfortunate souls are begging to be hated given their "poor, poor, despicable personal choices".

When I visit back in my country, I hear many people talking condescendingly about how fat Americans are.
Having lived here for over a decade and having become, at some point, decently fat myself, I feel nothing but compassion towards fat individuals because I know how one gets there and I also know they are largely victims of a culture designed to F them up.

Now this culture of obesity is spreading elsewhere:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGL3iT5MMdQ


.... though I don't think it will ever have the virulent effects it has had here given some local traditions and ways of life that still linger and hopefully will for a while.

Now back to demands.

So men can't cook?! B.S

This is what you got out of this?

They can - but they don't. :-)
It's not like you have men cooking at the same rate as the 1950's housewives were doing.

Do differentiate between how things "SHOULD or COULD be' and how things actually ARE.

Of course your correct.

I just have trouble stomaching your self righteous attitude. My bad.

anything BUT cooking appealing, nutritious and economic meals for the entire family (which by the way, takes A LOT of time usually).

If that takes "A LOT of time," it's being done wrong.

BS.

Even the simplest meals can take a significant amount of time...between taking out containers, peeling or preparing the fresh food, and cleaning up, putting dishes away, etc. Do remember I also assume you cook economically. For example I never buy chicken breasts because I want them organic and organic chicken breasts are expensive as H.
So I buy whole organic chickens that come out less expensive, and I butcher them myself.
I can assure you that takes a significant chunk of time - just to get the meat ready for cooking.

Prepared food is also quite affordable. I remember when I was a kid, dining out was a luxury. Fast food was available, but the portion sizes were much, much smaller. In high school I worked at McDonald's. A happy meal drink was 8oz. and the kids could choose milk, orange or apple juice instead of soda. They offered small beverages, those were 12 ounces (it was .50-60 cents). If you were to hand an American consumer a 12 ounce soft drink (with ice) he or she would freak out at the tiny size today.

On the other hand, most families had a stay-at-home mom. We could live off of one income with blue collar service work as the wages hadn't become depressed yet. I knew men who had retail jobs at clothing stores or as grocery checkers making $15-17 an hour with bennies back in the 1980's.

Today, blue collar workers have to have two incomes to see any kind of reasonable lifestyle. Even construction workers, who once made some of the best union wages, are only earning $10-12 and hour in the private sector, and that is a skilled job that requires heavy labor.

We are exhausted and broke. So we'll call for Chinese or pizza delivery. Then we get fat.

Portion size is only one piece of the puzzle. I agree with the OP that our whole society is set up for obesity.

I am all for personal responsibility when it comes to weight loss. But, one has to acknowledge how crazily our culture is set up in making it an upstream swim much of the time.

A favorite topic of mine - thank you for bringing it up and yes, I WILL take the time to post even though I have none. So I will make.

Like you, I DO understand perfectly well that I need to take PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for my own weight and simply make choices within the constraints of the culture that is indeed SET UP for obesity. Or else.
Sometimes though I feel that the culture is not just "set up" for obesity but it is "conspiratorily" set up for obesity!! I wouldn't put it past the Powers that Be.

While I am making all the choices that I can possibly make, within the constraints of my personal situation, to fight the culture that is set up this way and to maintain a healthy weight, I really do believe that pointing at those cultural determinants and making people AWARE of them does not mean "whining, complaining, blaming others for your own shortcomings" and other "blame the victim" junk that Americans usually adore passing around.

It simply helps people fight back - not just with personal choices but politically too - at least this is what you would hope would happen eventually.

After reading tons of articles on obesity from Medicine, Sociology, Psychology and other cross-disciplinary fields - I could count a million ways in which the culture has become set up for obesity. Unfortunately, large portion sizes and a Mc at every corner is just the tip of the iceberg.

- The entire culture has engineered activity out of people's lives in the name of convenience and comfort (from something as simple as remote-control TV-s and buttons-everything to going everywhere by car or HAVING TO drive everywhere given time constraints, to no sidewalks and attractive public venues where people could go for strolls like Europeans do, etc). In order to move enough in this culture, you have to carve out special time during the day and turn it into an efficient task at the gym. This demand will compete with the million other demands that the average person has in this society - so good luck keeping it up and making "MOVING" the queen of all other priorities. Having grown up elsewhere, among people who were all thin despite nobody EVER exercising formally at a gym ...this part is all too clear.

- The Internet, Smart phones and other gadgetry is sucking spare-time out of our day like a sponge is sucking water.

- The TV is a classic.

- Women no longer cook, whether because they are "career women" or just SAHM-s who believe that it is more important to haul jrs. to 1 million organized activities during the day than stay at home to cut up onions. This is largely perceived as "non-sexy, backward, heck even oppressive". Never mind those who get the kids in the bus at 7:30 am so the rest of the day can be dedicated to volunteering at school, shopping, scrap-booking - anything BUT cooking appealing, nutritious and economic meals for the entire family (which by the way, takes A LOT of time usually).
The bottom line is, career or not, American women on average, no longer cook; or they believe that slapping together some convenience foods qualifies as cooking. For the gender sensitive, if you ask why I only "blame" women for this and not men - I am not blaming anyone. I am simply pointing that half of the population that used to cook checked out of this task and it's not like the other half checked in, rightfully or wrongfully so. Cooking has been outsourced - genie is out of the bottle. It is simply the way it has worked out, gender justice or not.

- The crap the the food industry puts in all of these convenience foods, take-outs or even restaurant food is surreal - from the tons of sugar and corn syrup to 1 million things you can't pronounce, to hormones in milk that makes girls get their periods at 9 and fibroids the size of the New Year's Eve NY apple at 40 ...and balloon like crazy by the time they are 18... ending up with a hanging-type belly that is recognizably American...you get the idea.

- The incredibly fast-paced lives with one million demands and obligations pulling the average Joe in all directions: overload in work-demands, children's school demands, children's activities demands, housework demands, groceries shopping demands, commuting demands, technology that acts as the most insidious time-thief despite having proclaimed the very opposite - to save people time...as well as going crazy over sets of "choices", the list could go on. Some of these demands can be very small *(such as sorting through papers from school or signing papers to send back to school). But between the 1 million big demands (such as work projects), the 1 million medium demands, and the 1 million small demands...people deal with an endless "to do" list that is simply eating away at their quality of life, places them in a constant state of stress, anxiety and restlessness, reduced authentic companionship and leads, for many, to overeating as a way of coping with stress.

- The non-social manner in which Americans tend to eat: fast, efficiently, often at their desks, often alone, often at midnight snacking on "feel good" foods to accompany some action movie, without any conversation or human interaction that help slow down the pace of eating.

- And what to make of those families needing to work 2-3 miserable jobs just to get by in today's society? Or those who have only one job that requires increasing over-time and energy (both physical and mental) so they can compete with zealous co-workers?

- What of genetically modified everything, chickens as big as ostriches (how in the world do they get them like that I will never understand), etc.

The list could go on - and on - and on.

I have met many people who react negatively when they see fat people - as if these unfortunate souls are begging to be hated given their "poor, poor, despicable personal choices".

When I visit back in my country, I hear many people talking condescendingly about how fat Americans are.
Having lived here for over a decade and having become, at some point, decently fat myself, I feel nothing but compassion towards fat individuals because I know how one gets there and I also know they are largely victims of a culture designed to F them up.

Now this culture of obesity is spreading elsewhere:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGL3iT5MMdQ


.... though I don't think it will ever have the virulent effects it has had here given some local traditions and ways of life that still linger and hopefully will for a while.

Now back to demands.

So men can't cook?! B.S

This is what you got out of this?

They can - but they don't. :-)
It's not like you have men cooking at the same rate as the 1950's housewives were doing.

Do differentiate between how things "SHOULD or COULD be' and how things actually ARE.

Of course your correct.

I just have trouble stomaching your self righteous attitude. My bad.

Self-righteous because I point to the cultural ugliness that has caused masses of people to become mountains of fat? Really? But those who blame fat individuals for making "bad choices" are not self-righteous.
You have it straightened out.

I also have traveled quite a bit all over the world and no where have I seen anything like the USA. It's refreshing that when you eat out in say, Scotland, they actually serve proper portions and you leave feeling full and happy, but not completely stuffed. Often, even, you actually have room for coffee and dessert, which is also properly portioned.

I am all for personal responsibility when it comes to weight loss. But, one has to acknowledge how crazily our culture is set up in making it an upstream swim much of the time.

A favorite topic of mine - thank you for bringing it up and yes, I WILL take the time to post even though I have none. So I will make.

Like you, I DO understand perfectly well that I need to take PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for my own weight and simply make choices within the constraints of the culture that is indeed SET UP for obesity. Or else.
Sometimes though I feel that the culture is not just "set up" for obesity but it is "conspiratorily" set up for obesity!! I wouldn't put it past the Powers that Be.

While I am making all the choices that I can possibly make, within the constraints of my personal situation, to fight the culture that is set up this way and to maintain a healthy weight, I really do believe that pointing at those cultural determinants and making people AWARE of them does not mean "whining, complaining, blaming others for your own shortcomings" and other "blame the victim" junk that Americans usually adore passing around.

It simply helps people fight back - not just with personal choices but politically too - at least this is what you would hope would happen eventually.

After reading tons of articles on obesity from Medicine, Sociology, Psychology and other cross-disciplinary fields - I could count a million ways in which the culture has become set up for obesity. Unfortunately, large portion sizes and a Mc at every corner is just the tip of the iceberg.

- The entire culture has engineered activity out of people's lives in the name of convenience and comfort (from something as simple as remote-control TV-s and buttons-everything to going everywhere by car or HAVING TO drive everywhere given time constraints, to no sidewalks and attractive public venues where people could go for strolls like Europeans do, etc). In order to move enough in this culture, you have to carve out special time during the day and turn it into an efficient task at the gym. This demand will compete with the million other demands that the average person has in this society - so good luck keeping it up and making "MOVING" the queen of all other priorities. Having grown up elsewhere, among people who were all thin despite nobody EVER exercising formally at a gym ...this part is all too clear.

- The Internet, Smart phones and other gadgetry is sucking spare-time out of our day like a sponge is sucking water.

- The TV is a classic.

- Women no longer cook, whether because they are "career women" or just SAHM-s who believe that it is more important to haul jrs. to 1 million organized activities during the day than stay at home to cut up onions. This is largely perceived as "non-sexy, backward, heck even oppressive". Never mind those who get the kids in the bus at 7:30 am so the rest of the day can be dedicated to volunteering at school, shopping, scrap-booking - anything BUT cooking appealing, nutritious and economic meals for the entire family (which by the way, takes A LOT of time usually).
The bottom line is, career or not, American women on average, no longer cook; or they believe that slapping together some convenience foods qualifies as cooking. For the gender sensitive, if you ask why I only "blame" women for this and not men - I am not blaming anyone. I am simply pointing that half of the population that used to cook checked out of this task and it's not like the other half checked in, rightfully or wrongfully so. Cooking has been outsourced - genie is out of the bottle. It is simply the way it has worked out, gender justice or not.

- The crap the the food industry puts in all of these convenience foods, take-outs or even restaurant food is surreal - from the tons of sugar and corn syrup to 1 million things you can't pronounce, to hormones in milk that makes girls get their periods at 9 and fibroids the size of the New Year's Eve NY apple at 40 ...and balloon like crazy by the time they are 18... ending up with a hanging-type belly that is recognizably American...you get the idea.

- The incredibly fast-paced lives with one million demands and obligations pulling the average Joe in all directions: overload in work-demands, children's school demands, children's activities demands, housework demands, groceries shopping demands, commuting demands, technology that acts as the most insidious time-thief despite having proclaimed the very opposite - to save people time...as well as going crazy over sets of "choices", the list could go on. Some of these demands can be very small *(such as sorting through papers from school or signing papers to send back to school). But between the 1 million big demands (such as work projects), the 1 million medium demands, and the 1 million small demands...people deal with an endless "to do" list that is simply eating away at their quality of life, places them in a constant state of stress, anxiety and restlessness, reduced authentic companionship and leads, for many, to overeating as a way of coping with stress.

- The non-social manner in which Americans tend to eat: fast, efficiently, often at their desks, often alone, often at midnight snacking on "feel good" foods to accompany some action movie, without any conversation or human interaction that help slow down the pace of eating.

- And what to make of those families needing to work 2-3 miserable jobs just to get by in today's society? Or those who have only one job that requires increasing over-time and energy (both physical and mental) so they can compete with zealous co-workers?

- What of genetically modified everything, chickens as big as ostriches (how in the world do they get them like that I will never understand), etc.

The list could go on - and on - and on.

I have met many people who react negatively when they see fat people - as if these unfortunate souls are begging to be hated given their "poor, poor, despicable personal choices".

When I visit back in my country, I hear many people talking condescendingly about how fat Americans are.
Having lived here for over a decade and having become, at some point, decently fat myself, I feel nothing but compassion towards fat individuals because I know how one gets there and I also know they are largely victims of a culture designed to F them up.

Now this culture of obesity is spreading elsewhere:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGL3iT5MMdQ


.... though I don't think it will ever have the virulent effects it has had here given some local traditions and ways of life that still linger and hopefully will for a while.

Now back to demands.

So men can't cook?! B.S

This is what you got out of this?

They can - but they don't. :-)
It's not like you have men cooking at the same rate as the 1950's housewives were doing.

Do differentiate between how things "SHOULD or COULD be' and how things actually ARE.

Of course your correct.

I just have trouble stomaching your self righteous attitude. My bad.

Self-righteous because I point to the cultural ugliness that has caused masses of people to become mountains of fat? Really? But those who blame fat individuals for making "bad choices" are not self-righteous.
You have it straightened out.

Like I said, many of your points are correct and I agree with them, I still don't have to like your manner of delivery