America is doomed

I hope I am not misinterpreted for what I'm about to say, but I have to agree with the OP when he says that food chain restaurants are creating bigger portions each day and I think that in itself makes it harder for people to estimate accurately the amount of food they need to sustain themselves without gaining weight.

Yes, people need to take full responsibility for what they eat and shifting the blame to the big companies doesn't really fix anything. The problem is, we are wired to eat what's in front of us and underestimate how much we really eat, so if we live in an area where one normal serving can actually contain enough calories to sustain one adult for 2 days, how many of us is well informed to see that? How many of us would choose to eat just half of it and not eat anything else the rest of the day?

I have only been the the US once and was appalled at the gigantic servings in fast food restaurants. I mean, do companies think that US people hungrier and thirstier than people in my country? Because they certainly serve smaller portions and the mega portions are nowhere to be seen here. I can attest that.

So is it possible to be healthy and eat what's right for you in the US? Absolutely. But in my opinion, it's got to be a lot harder to eat the right amounts of food when the servings are so disproportionate with people's actual requirements to sustain a healthy diet. I hope this made sense.

There shouldn't be confusion over why so many Americans are overweight when a popular pizza chain advertises on the radio a new "double pepperoni and bacon" pizza. I'm sure most people who eat something like that don't know or care how much fat and calories they are getting. The restaurant would say they are just giving people what they want.

So the solution is what, go back to struggling for food? Or maybe having food that is so nasty nobody wants to overeat it?

What's poutine? I thought Canada had beer, maple syrup, cheese (IDK why), and hockey.

POUTINE IS AMAZING. It's cheese curds, gravy, and fries. We make our own every so often. I've even made poutine gnocchi (using gnocchi instead of fries) with homemade gravy. Definitely one of my favorite indulgent meals. SO filling, though!

<--- Not a big fan of pepperoni on pizza.
Let me know when they introduce triple bacon pizza. That I would get excited about.

The arguments seem to be mounting in favour of moving to Canada. They even have a sophisticated-sounding name for that mess of grease and gunk (tasty, tasty grease and gunk...)

Maybe it's because I lived in Quebec for a long time, but the notion that anything about poutine could be considered sophisticated (or mock-sophisticated) made me lol.

I hope I am not misinterpreted for what I'm about to say, but I have to agree with the OP when he says that food chain restaurants are creating bigger portions each day and I think that in itself makes it harder for people to estimate accurately the amount of food they need to sustain themselves without gaining weight.

Yes, people need to take full responsibility for what they eat and shifting the blame to the big companies doesn't really fix anything. The problem is, we are wired to eat what's in front of us and underestimate how much we really eat, so if we live in an area where one normal serving can actually contain enough calories to sustain one adult for 2 days, how many of us is well informed to see that? How many of us would choose to eat just half of it and not eat anything else the rest of the day?

I have only been the the US once and was appalled at the gigantic servings in fast food restaurants. I mean, do companies think that US people hungrier and thirstier than people in my country? Because they certainly serve smaller portions and the mega portions are nowhere to be seen here. I can attest that.

So is it possible to be healthy and eat what's right for you in the US? Absolutely. But in my opinion, it's got to be a lot harder to eat the right amounts of food when the servings are so disproportionate with people's actual requirements to sustain a healthy diet. I hope this made sense.

FFS.

Weight is not an accurate indactor of health. Health is a moving target. Health is an individual template, not a set standard for everybody. There's no way it can be the latter.

You can be "overweight" and still be pretty healthy.

People all have different dietary needs. The amounts of salt and cholestrol I can consume with my autosomal recessive disorder are healthy for me, and the sodium especially to keep my heart beating. But someone with hypertension may not ever be able to see such foods as healthy for them.

We're not obligated to keep our weight a certain number, or be healthy, nor is anyone obligated to subscribe to healthist elitism and judge others for not eating what we deem to be "right." Stop associating morality with food. Weight shouldn't be so political- it's personal. That's all. If they want cake, or pizza, or big portions, or whatever, it's not up to governments or companies to police. Why would the government or companies regulate food portion sizes any more than they do alcohol? People can be addicted to either, it's a personal problem, and companies just sell for profits.

As far as I'm concerned, 1 in 3 adults being obese isn't some pseudo epidemic- that's just a number. There is no in-depth analysis of health and weight accurately posted anywhere at this time. How many of those 1 in 3 obese are actually sick or currently suffering complications? Being "at higher risk" =/= currently "unhealthy" as a default diagnoses. I've also know many of those 1 in 3 BMI below 25 (AKA "healthy) population who -are- actually sick, with cancer, with diabetes, or like me with a hereditary disorder that has squat to do with my weight.

All I'm saying is weight is just a number. Stop policing people under the guise of "health concern" it's actually pretty degrading when you face the numbers. "Fat is bad" is not a thorough argument in favor of sizism.

Ouch, I apologize for unthinkingly saying the wrong thing to tick off so many people. All I meant to say is that the restaurant business keeps coming up with new ways to increase fat and calories in readily available food. I think the American food landscape makes it hard to eat right, it takes effort to research better choices. Of course it's not my business what the guy down the street eats. I just feel concerned about our calorie-rich eating culture.

Honestly...this really just shows that you still have a lot to learn. You can have any pizza you want when losing weight. I have pizza almost weekly and have lost weight. The American food landscape doesn't make it hard to eat "right". You go to McDonald's and you can get a side salad with your burger instead of fries and get this....most locations will do the swap without charging extra *GASP* (at least at the McDonald's I go to does)...same thing with the pizza places, and all the "calorie-rich" eating there is. It is the person's choice to get the large fries instead of small or to eat the entire pizza instead of one or two slices (which honestly, a slice of hand-tossed medium supreme pizza from Dominos is only like 300 calories so really even someone eating oly 1200 could fit that in).

If I want to eat something really indulgent, I can workout a little harder and do it. Health is relative to function. Even if I eat the whole pizza, one pizza isn't going to un-do my function in one day. Also consider:

No one is obligated to be healthy.

No one is obligated to be skinny.

No one cares if you don't approve.

It's not just "America," we're not even the worst per capita, we just have more "obese" people because we're a huge country.

Obesity rates have been pretty leveled out with the American population for a while now, and in the years where the rates seem to have drastically risen were due to changes in how obesity is diagnosed, particularly in children obesity rates.

Being fat isn't the worst thing you can be. There are plenty of hard-working fat people who enjoy life being able to eat whatever they want and who don't enjoy exercising. That's okay.

Correlation is not causation, and not everyone who is fat will experience diseases that show correlation with higher weights. And even if they are diabetic and unhealthy, they are still human beings worthy of treatment for managing illnesses and aren't obligated to ever get healthy or lose weight if they don't want to put in the work to do that.

No one else's habits or diet or anything are really any of your business if they didn't ask you for commentary on their life choices. If you wouldn't approve of people judging you for your sexuality, your race, your nationality, your hair color, or any other trivializing comments to pick apart your identity, then you shouldn't be doing this to other people and their diets/weights.

I like the way you think, PennyVonDread!

I would totally eat that pizza. And wash it down with a beer or two. And fit it into my goals for the day. :drinker:

i had bacon cheeseburger pizza last night. And leftover pizza for lunch today. It fit in to my calorie limits. Not that I've had heaps of success with this weight loss business, but I truly believe we cannot blame any type of food, or restaurant for our problems. I made the choice to eat the pizza. I'm not going to blame Casey's for selling it.

I hope I am not misinterpreted for what I'm about to say, but I have to agree with the OP when he says that food chain restaurants are creating bigger portions each day and I think that in itself makes it harder for people to estimate accurately the amount of food they need to sustain themselves without gaining weight.

Yes, people need to take full responsibility for what they eat and shifting the blame to the big companies doesn't really fix anything. The problem is, we are wired to eat what's in front of us and underestimate how much we really eat, so if we live in an area where one normal serving can actually contain enough calories to sustain one adult for 2 days, how many of us is well informed to see that? How many of us would choose to eat just half of it and not eat anything else the rest of the day?

I have only been the the US once and was appalled at the gigantic servings in fast food restaurants. I mean, do companies think that US people hungrier and thirstier than people in my country? Because they certainly serve smaller portions and the mega portions are nowhere to be seen here. I can attest that.

So is it possible to be healthy and eat what's right for you in the US? Absolutely. But in my opinion, it's got to be a lot harder to eat the right amounts of food when the servings are so disproportionate with people's actual requirements to sustain a healthy diet. I hope this made sense.

FFS.

Weight is not an accurate indactor of health. Health is a moving target. Health is an individual template, not a set standard for everybody. There's no way it can be the latter.

You can be "overweight" and still be pretty healthy.

People all have different dietary needs. The amounts of salt and cholestrol I can consume with my autosomal recessive disorder are healthy for me, and the sodium especially to keep my heart beating. But someone with hypertension may not ever be able to see such foods as healthy for them.

We're not obligated to keep our weight a certain number, or be healthy, nor is anyone obligated to subscribe to healthist elitism and judge others for not eating what we deem to be "right." Stop associating morality with food. Weight shouldn't be so political- it's personal. That's all. If they want cake, or pizza, or big portions, or whatever, it's not up to governments or companies to police. Why would the government or companies regulate food portion sizes any more than they do alcohol? People can be addicted to either, it's a personal problem, and companies just sell for profits.

As far as I'm concerned, 1 in 3 adults being obese isn't some pseudo epidemic- that's just a number. There is no in-depth analysis of health and weight accurately posted anywhere at this time. How many of those 1 in 3 obese are actually sick or currently suffering complications? Being "at higher risk" =/= currently "unhealthy" as a default diagnoses. I've also know many of those 1 in 3 BMI below 25 (AKA "healthy) population who -are- actually sick, with cancer, with diabetes, or like me with a hereditary disorder that has squat to do with my weight.

All I'm saying is weight is just a number. Stop policing people under the guise of "health concern" it's actually pretty degrading when you face the numbers. "Fat is bad" is not a thorough argument in favor of sizism.

Look, I'm not trying to antagonize anyone here. Nor am I saying that weight equals health or that fat is bad. I love fat, I eat all sorts every day. And, contrary to what you may have interpreted from my post, I only know what's good for me and for me alone.

I don't consider the fact that big companies have increased servings in the US over the years is irrelevant. When McDonald’s first opened, a soda was 7 ounces. Today, the child size is 12 ounces, a small is 16 ounces, and the large 32 ounces. (I googled this bit) I don't know how much of this has impacted people's eating habits, but I do know that if I had to deal with those larger than life servings every day, it would be harder for me to make the right choices for my body. That is all. Not trying to police anyone as you implied. I'm just saying that I would have a harder time if I was constantly faced with those mega portions and I imagine others like me would feel this way too. English is not my native language so forgive me any mistakes.