Why are we bigger than ever?

ITA with what others have said about eating too much and not moving enough.

I would also add: we're kidding ourselves more and more about the causes for our weight gain. I see so much these days about "health conditions," "genetics" or other reasons outside our control. If we can convince ourselves that we're the victims and we have no control, then why try to change? This is dangerous thinking. Couple this with the growing health at any size movement and you're going to find that obesity rates only increase from here on out.

Affluence

ilovefastcarstoo wrote: »

I was wondering the key reasons why and what we can do to spread the word to help others?

(1) We eat too much for how active we are.

(2) I think most people know about the obesity problem, so we don't need to spread the word. I personally am not willing to tell others not to eat so much or to be more active. If people are overweight, I suspect they know it.

Another thing we never had when I was a kid, is cup holders in cars. People are now constantly eating, but especially drinking, while driving. Since so many people spend hours a day in their cars, these calories add up. I know, I know, I'm ancient history, but I notice all this when I return home to the States for visits, since I've lived in Europe for 30 yrs, and we drive very little there.

Teach the kids from an early age. Stop eating processed food.

Eating too much and screens (tv, video games, internet surfing)

ilovefastcarstoo wrote: »

hapoy Friday everyone !
I was curious... Since we are supposedly more overweight than ever in the United States. I was wondering the key reasons why and what we can do to spread the word to help others? Thoughts?

If you want to think like a social scientists, there are very particular reasons that work together to make bad food choices either a) the easiest to make, b) the most widely available to make, c) momentarily necessary to make, d) unknowingly made, c) made subconsciously as part of changing "food culture."

Here are some issues:

1. Food is cheaper than ever, yet at the same time modern life requires/expects more expensive other gadgets. Food used to be ONE THIRD of the average US American budget. It is now ONE EIGHTH. Food is taken for granted, and is very CHEAP to over-consume.
2. People eat out at restaurants much, much more often. It is harder to control portion and ingredients at a restaurant than at home.
3. Calorie-dense foods that ignite our biological responses of satiety and pleasure are much more readily available.
4. Brands design their foods to market their foods towards children, who have an incredible buying power and influence on their parents' buying in the Western world. These foods also happen to be, by and large, incredibly sugar-dense.
5. Jobs in the the US and UK are mainly service and/or middle-management. This means sitting on your *kitten* or very minimal movement.
6. A large portion of our lives is spent at computers/TVs instead of out and active in the world.
7. There is a perception among many parents that the "world is more dangerous than it used to be" - and parents rarely let their children go out and play far and wide anymore.
8. People on average now live farther and farther from their places of work, and they generally use personal cars to get there. This means more hours of the day spent in commute and transit.
9. Wages have essentially flat-lined in relation to the cost of living. This means when it used to be enough for one parent to work, now often two have to work (at least to keep up a level of living that people expect, in some cases). This means less time is spent on procuring, cooking, and cleaning up for food. Parents are exhausted.
10. People have stopped acquiring the ability to cook and either don't learn or lose knowledge about food. The 1950s and 60s was all about modernization and automation. Frozen meals, home processors, pre-packaged "just add water" things, fast-food, restaurants, etc - replaced the deep care and knowledge about how to, a) have proper kitchen tools, b) buy and plan meals over a week/month, c) flavor foods so they are desirable by the family, d) re-purpose left-overs.
11. School food is absolutely abominable in most places, and regulations on school food are in serious need of updates.
12. The easy of access of kids to sweets, chips, and sodas on school grounds is absurd.

Here are some books on it (which are the sources for most of these ideas)
http://rajpatel.org/2009/10/27/stuffed-and-starved/#more-93

http://www.frederickkaufman.com/

http://www.foodpolitics.com/

If only the answer were simple! These are trends that I think coalesce to form large changes in your average person's life. But hey! Childhood obesity has dropped 43% since Michelle Obama started her programs!

RobD520 wrote: »

This will be very unpopular here; but the kind of food we are chosing to eat plays a big role as well.

I don't think that's "wrong" per se, I just don't think it gets us anywhere. Sure "what we choose" plays a role.

As a social scientist PhD with a degree in public health though, I am MUCH more interested in WHY certain "choices" even exist in the first place, WHAT shapes those choices (they're not just incidental), WHERE certain "choices" exist (geographically, because some places are 'fatter' than others), and WHY people make certain choice, and if they're even aware that they're making them.

I think you have to get to that level of questioning if you want answers.

ilovefastcarstoo wrote: »

hapoy Friday everyone !
I was curious... Since we are supposedly more overweight than ever in the United States. I was wondering the key reasons why and what we can do to spread the word to help others? Thoughts?

Fast food and not moving enough

We're on fad diets all the time, we believe in diet myths and 'set point' theories, and that's why it's so easy to give up on trying to achieve a healthy physique. Fooling yourself without realizing it. That's what happened to me personally, at least. I grew up listening to diet myths and I thought it was fact.