Does just immigrating to the USA lead to weight gain?
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So is there something in the air, or culture, comforts, or availability of food, which creates undisciplined cretins in the US (and Canada)?0
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I wasn't going to comment in this thread (although I've been lurking), since I am from the US. However, I went looking for overweight/obesity levels by country after reading this thread, and though you all might appreciate this chart I found: healthintelligence.drupalgardens.com/content/trends-overweight-and-obesity-country-level
Also, FWIW, as a child/teen I was never taught portion control. I'm in my late 20s now, and am just starting to see food for what it really is in the US. A lot of the issues with weight in the US is lack of awareness, imo. Though in the past couple years there has been a lot more awareness of obesity raised in the US. I still feel that too many people here just don't understand what healthy eating looks like (portion control/moderation... not some sort of clean eating).0 -
Of course it's calorie surplus, but if you're going to say that environment isn't part of that variable, then you'd have to explain how people that come to live in the US have significant weight gain when they may have been at a normal weight previously for many years.phillipdean299 wrote: »Weight gain is caused by a calorie surplus and not geographic location.
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Of course it's calorie surplus, but if you're going to say that environment isn't part of that variable, then you'd have to explain how people that come to live in the US have significant weight gain when they may have been at a normal weight previously for many years.phillipdean299 wrote: »Weight gain is caused by a calorie surplus and not geographic location.
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personal attitudes, not geographic location.0 -
But in history, many of royalty were "chubby". It WAS a sign of prosperity. Our views may have changed about body image, but I think instinctively we may still "horde" food as a survival mechanism especially if one came from a poor background.Its very sad to think that prosperity and availability leads to FAT so in my opinion its simply a lack of discipline. period
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Yes..............the smell of bacon.So is there something in the air, or culture, comforts, or availability of food, which creates undisciplined cretins in the US (and Canada)?
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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I prefer world maps for looking at obesity world trends. It's visual. According to this map, we might ask what Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Chile, Argentina, and the US have in common.
http://www.targetmap.com/viewer.aspx?reportId=26403
The US however, shows a significant north/south statistical shift. The US is like two countries in one, and only some states have an obesity problem.
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Are Alaskans and American southerners lacking in discipline?0
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Very cool visualization, @jgnatca! Thanks for sharing.
That surprises me about Alaska, but I suppose in that case it could be due to lack of activity given the long cycles of cold.
As far as there being a greater propensity of obesity in the south (really what we'd call the "deep" south here), there's a ton of history there with unhealthy cooking habits. Deep frying foods is common there, and I've found an overall lack of nutritional awareness whenever I've traveled in those areas. There's nothing quite like walking into a Cracker Barrel in Mississippi and seeing at least 50% of the diners being morbidly obese. That actually happened to me a couple years ago - it was surreal. Oddly enough, there also tends to be a much higher poverty level in many of those areas. Not sure of any correlation there, but it's interesting to note.0 -
I noticed this personally when on deployments - always lost 10 or so lbs while outside of the US, put on 10 lbs when entering. Most of this is due to increased physical activity and decreased available food.
I have several friends who are on extended visas and nearly all of them put on weight while in the US. It's a combination of cheap available food, motor driven commute, and general sedentary lifestyle.0 -
I don't know about Alaskans, but in the deep South there is a ton of fried food!0
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Are Alaskans and American southerners lacking in discipline?
I saw a study that indicated that the midwest is actually the fattest part of the US. The south shows up higher because for whatever reason people are less likely to lie about their weight when self-reporting in the south. When the focus was on other ways of gathering the information the results were different.0 -
Ah, here's an article about it: http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-04/south-fat-or-just-honestStudies have shown that the South is the most obese part of the United States. From a 2012 Centers for Disease Control report: "The South had the highest prevalence of obesity (29.5%), followed by the Midwest (29.0%), the Northeast (25.3%) and the West (24.3%)."
But the CDC data on the topic was collected through self-reported surveys. University of Alabama at Birmingham recently took a look at the math by actually weighing people in a long-running study of obesity. When they did, obesity rates were found to be higher for every part of the country. But they also found that certain parts of the country increased less than others. For example, the researchers found that the Northern part of the Midwest had obesity rates up to 10 percent higher than Southern states like Mississippi and Alabama, which often rank near the top.
And more: http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2013/04/people_in_the_south_are_not_so.html0 -
Interesting how much that map aligns with this map:I prefer world maps for looking at obesity world trends. It's visual. According to this map, we might ask what Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Chile, Argentina, and the US have in common.
http://www.targetmap.com/viewer.aspx?reportId=26403
The US however, shows a significant north/south statistical shift. The US is like two countries in one, and only some states have an obesity problem.
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Very cool visualization, @jgnatca! Thanks for sharing.
That surprises me about Alaska, but I suppose in that case it could be due to lack of activity given the long cycles of cold.
The bright red parts are low population. Anchorage and (I think) Juneau are tan. The population in the red parts probably pretty high percentage Alaskan Native, which is going to skew it, probably.0 -
So is there something in the air, or culture, comforts, or availability of food, which creates undisciplined cretins in the US (and Canada)?
Post WW 2 prosperity & the timing of the development of our cities (ie around cars, once ppl had personal $ for that). Continual Sprawl since the 70s
+ slow erosion of labour laws that protect leisure time
+ feminism (greater inclusion of women in workforce + now necessity) + nuclear families (grannies also no longer cooking for folks)
+ mod cons0 -
So is there something in the air, or culture, comforts, or availability of food, which creates undisciplined cretins in the US (and Canada)?
Post WW 2 prosperity & the timing of the development of our cities (ie around cars, once ppl had personal $ for that). Continual Sprawl since the 70s
That's the car bit (although Canadians always tell me they are much less car-dependent than Americans), but there's also the crazy portion size bit and the cultural changes (eating constantly vs. how it used to be, as detailed in a list upthread). I think part of that is much less of a tie to cultural traditions surrounding eating and the general individualistic culture.
But that's just my theory! ;-)0 -
NB FEMINISM IS AWESOME just w capitalism etc creates this issue of no one to cook at home
& obviously not all men are so into picking up the slack
& of course many are0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »So is there something in the air, or culture, comforts, or availability of food, which creates undisciplined cretins in the US (and Canada)?
Post WW 2 prosperity & the timing of the development of our cities (ie around cars, once ppl had personal $ for that). Continual Sprawl since the 70s
That's the car bit (although Canadians always tell me they are much less car-dependent than Americans), but there's also the crazy portion size bit and the cultural changes (eating constantly vs. how it used to be, as detailed in a list upthread). I think part of that is much less of a tie to cultural traditions surrounding eating and the general individualistic culture.
But that's just my theory! ;-)
Agreed!!!
Yeah no we are just as bad as you guys, those ppl are lying0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »So is there something in the air, or culture, comforts, or availability of food, which creates undisciplined cretins in the US (and Canada)?
Post WW 2 prosperity & the timing of the development of our cities (ie around cars, once ppl had personal $ for that). Continual Sprawl since the 70s
That's the car bit (although Canadians always tell me they are much less car-dependent than Americans), but there's also the crazy portion size bit and the cultural changes (eating constantly vs. how it used to be, as detailed in a list upthread). I think part of that is much less of a tie to cultural traditions surrounding eating and the general individualistic culture.
But that's just my theory! ;-)
Agreed!!!
Yeah no we are just as bad as you guys, those ppl are lying
Have to agree with this - and the Canucks love to drink in volume, possibly only surpassed by the Scots and Aussies.0
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