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Does where you live influence your weight & fitness?
Replies
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As an aside: isn't it remarkable that in our society, for pretty much the first time in history, poor people are more likely to be overweight than affluent people? That's kind of amazing. Starvation has been a scourge of mankind since we started walking upright, and within two generations we've gone from starving to excoriating our society because lower income people have too much food.17
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AliciaHollywood wrote: »Actually junk food does make you fat. All the salt, sugar and chemicals makes you crave more salt and sugar so you eat more junk food full of empty calories and chemicals. And healthy nutritional foods are used by the body as fuel while junk food just clogs arteries, is stored as fat, gives you high cholesterol, is conducive to diabetes and otherwise reeks havoc on the body. It’s not even all about weight, but health and nutrition. I can never understand how people are basically putting poison in their bodies every day and food corporations are getting away with poisoning Americans. There is literally no value whatsoever to “foods” like Cheetos or Twinkies and still people consume them. Why? Not only is there no nutritional value to them, they are BAD for you, poisonous! Sodas like Coke and Pepsi, even the zero calorie kind are pure poison! People have to think less about losing weight and more about nutrition. If people stuck to healthy, pure, non-prepackaged foods with high nutritional value, they would automatically lose weight and feel so much healthier!
It's been a couple years since I lived in Southern California (Orange County), but I recall they sell your version of "poison" on pretty much every block (artisan donut shops and cupcake shops).7 -
As an aside: isn't it remarkable that in our society, for pretty much the first time in history, poor people are more likely to be overweight than affluent people? That's kind of amazing. Starvation has been a scourge of mankind since we started walking upright, and within two generations we've gone from starving to excoriating our society because lower income people have too much food.
I was thinking this too, often I think socio-economic position plays a massive role.2 -
I live in north Alabama. According to the above maps, we have high obesity and low median incomes. I think a few things play into the bigger sizes around here. Our food culture: we fry everything! Fried okra, squash, mushrooms, cauliflower, tomatoes, pumpkin, potatoes, skillet-fried corn -- I've eaten them all! Our religious culture: Pre-pandemic church socials involved a lot of potluck meals. And of course you had to try a little bit of Bro. Jim's squash casserole and Sister Jean's triple layer fudge cake. And I'm not even mentioning family reunions with enough food to feed generations!
But then there's the low incomes. I grew up in a home where Daddy worked and Mom would babysit to bring in extra money. Food for us, a family of five, consisted mostly of pots of pinto beans with cornbread, spaghetti with a bit of hamburger in it, occasional meatloafs, frozen pot pies if they were on sale, and occasionally bbq chicken quarters to brighten a weekend. Lunches were canned soups or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Nothing marked "diet" or "organic".
I think my problem with food came with making sure to "clean my plate" and bowing to pressure of seconds, which became too much of a habit. I also had to learn how to cook in a different way than my mom and relatives. Not that I won't eat my mom's fried okra when given the chance!
Just my 2 cents worth in this conversation.8 -
As an aside: isn't it remarkable that in our society, for pretty much the first time in history, poor people are more likely to be overweight than affluent people? That's kind of amazing. Starvation has been a scourge of mankind since we started walking upright, and within two generations we've gone from starving to excoriating our society because lower income people have too much food.
In most more highly developed countries, that can be the case. Still way, there way too many poor people in the world who are underfueled and undernourished, elsewhere.
Issues of food quality or food choice in the more developed countries, as they interplay with socio-economic factors, are pretty complicated IMO.
It's good that we have less starvation in these more-developed places, but now we have a different set of mortality-increasing (and disability increasing) problems.
Though I do consider individuals to be responsible for what they eat, those broad-scale problems of diet quality are still all of our problem . . . and I don't think it requires empathy or its equivalent to feel that way. As just one example, poorly nourished children are likely to become less educated, less healthy adults, and that has a bunch of economic costs and civil-society implications. Reasonable self-interest would seem to drive toward more well-off people throwing money in that direction. And yet . . . .5 -
AliciaHollywood wrote: »There is literally no value whatsoever to “foods” like Cheetos or Twinkies and still people consume them. Why? Not only is there no nutritional value to them, they are BAD for you, poisonous! Sodas like Coke and Pepsi, even the zero calorie kind are pure poison! People have to think less about losing weight and more about nutrition. If people stuck to healthy, pure, non-prepackaged foods with high nutritional value, they would automatically lose weight and feel so much healthier!
Soda has saved its share of athletes that were beyond the point of majorly bonked. Quick dense carbs and sugar do have their place, and are almost a requirement for endurance athletes to meet their calorie needs. Just because you might be nearly sedentary, doesn't mean everyone is.
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When supply is generous the supermarkets will cater to demand. The only reason any store has more of one type of food than another is because of demand. They are not trying to solve obesity in a specific area they are just trying to make more money.
When I moved I started shopping at a new store. I eat 10 servings of egg whites at least 5 days a week. When I started going to the store they carried 2 cartons and of course I bought both. I had to get more from another store. After 3 weeks of this their supply increased and instead of buying 2 I was able to buy 4 which I purchased all of again. After 3 more weeks of this they carried 8 and now they carry 12. I buy 8 so I am finally leaving some behind. Shelf space, especially refrigerated and frozen, is precious and outside of some staple items it is going to be devoted to proven winners. People are going to buy the food they want.
I suspect that I'm almost-single-handedly responsible for the somewhat growing pork rind section in my small nearby bodega. (the salt & vinegar ones are my favored post-ride snack when not in a sweet ice cream mood).3 -
AliciaHollywood wrote: »There is literally no value whatsoever to “foods” like Cheetos or Twinkies and still people consume them. Why? Not only is there no nutritional value to them, they are BAD for you, poisonous! Sodas like Coke and Pepsi, even the zero calorie kind are pure poison! People have to think less about losing weight and more about nutrition. If people stuck to healthy, pure, non-prepackaged foods with high nutritional value, they would automatically lose weight and feel so much healthier!
Soda has saved its share of athletes that were beyond the point of majorly bonked. Quick dense carbs and sugar do have their place, and are almost a requirement for endurance athletes to meet their calorie needs. Just because you might be nearly sedentary, doesn't mean everyone is.
0.5% of the US population has ever run a marathon, 70% of the US population is currently overweight or obese.
Nothing wrong with some soda occasionally but it has more likely contributed to more heath issues than it has "saved".5 -
ShredWeek1 wrote: »I grew up working poor, and my parents were factory shift workers.
We lived on oatmeal, cheap hamburger meat, browned produce, bags of rice, and bread/pastry.
Oatmeal and rice have a long shelf life and they are filling. Hamburger meat could be stretched with oatmeal or rice molded into patties and frozen. Bread and pastry could be bought in abundance at the week old bread store.
Everything was made or purchased in bulk, cause the car was unreliable, they didn't have time and they could batch prep as much as they could. They came home almost dead white with exhaustion from their shifts (my mother assembled windshield wipers, my father moved steel in a mill) so whatever could be reheated was what we ate. When we got older we made it so they could sleep.
Their concerns weren't nutrition. Their concerns were 1) not getting evicted 2) not getting injured on the job cause that meant losing their jobs 3) being able to pay for food...you don't buy fresh produce, cause if that rots that means you've wasted the money that you shifted over from buying milk 4) being able to buy clothes at the Salvation Army thrift store.
Today, I'm affluent. The people in my neighborhood view their bodies as status symbols (just like their cars and the private schools their children attend.) No one cleans their own house, does their own landscaping, buys their own groceries. There is money, there is time and there is energy.
Had my parents had those, we would have eaten differently.
Adding to this: what food can be easily transported plays a role too... low calorie density-high volume items take up valuable space in a backpack for someone walking a long distance or taking buses to/from the grocery store. (This is one of the reason's I've found it weird that soda and potato chips are as commonly eaten in low-income areas as they are..much too cumbersome to carry. Bread is a 'squishing' issue, but too practical for use and cheap to let that stand in the way).0 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »AliciaHollywood wrote: »There is literally no value whatsoever to “foods” like Cheetos or Twinkies and still people consume them. Why? Not only is there no nutritional value to them, they are BAD for you, poisonous! Sodas like Coke and Pepsi, even the zero calorie kind are pure poison! People have to think less about losing weight and more about nutrition. If people stuck to healthy, pure, non-prepackaged foods with high nutritional value, they would automatically lose weight and feel so much healthier!
Soda has saved its share of athletes that were beyond the point of majorly bonked. Quick dense carbs and sugar do have their place, and are almost a requirement for endurance athletes to meet their calorie needs. Just because you might be nearly sedentary, doesn't mean everyone is.
0.5% of the US population has ever run a marathon, 70% of the US population is currently overweight or obese.
Nothing wrong with some soda occasionally but it has more likely contributed to more heath issues than it has "saved".
Certainly true. I don't disagree with that in the slightest. But I definitely wouldn't refer to them as "poisonous" and having absolutely no nutritional value. And in the OP's case, it sounds like she might be largely surrounded by those who do value their fitness (or at least the visual appearance produced by said fitness).. so likely a significantly higher % of athletes than typical in the US overall.8 -
AliciaHollywood wrote: »laurenq1991 wrote: »Living in a non-walkable area definitely influences weight and fitness. It's easier to stay fit when you have the option of walking places, or running outside.
Any supermarket that removed junk food would face a huge backlash and probably go out of business. You can't dictate something as personal as food on that scale. Some communities do have a culture of healthy eating and tend to have lower rates of obesity. But you can't force people to change their culture, at least not without a backlash, and that raises ethical questions.
Also, even "healthy organic specialty" supermarkets have plenty of junk food. You have the causality backwards -- the supermarkets in your area stock more healthy foods because there is more demand due to the local culture of being healthy/fit.
And anyway, junk food doesn't make you fat. It's the quantity of calories that makes you fat, regardless of where it comes from.
Actually junk food does make you fat. All the salt, sugar and chemicals makes you crave more salt and sugar so you eat more junk food full of empty calories and chemicals. And healthy nutritional foods are used by the body as fuel while junk food just clogs arteries, is stored as fat, gives you high cholesterol, is conducive to diabetes and otherwise reeks havoc on the body. It’s not even all about weight, but health and nutrition. I can never understand how people are basically putting poison in their bodies every day and food corporations are getting away with poisoning Americans. There is literally no value whatsoever to “foods” like Cheetos or Twinkies and still people consume them. Why? Not only is there no nutritional value to them, they are BAD for you, poisonous! Sodas like Coke and Pepsi, even the zero calorie kind are pure poison! People have to think less about losing weight and more about nutrition. If people stuck to healthy, pure, non-prepackaged foods with high nutritional value, they would automatically lose weight and feel so much healthier!
Guess my body didn't get the memo on that (currently eating a Drumstick ice cream as I type this, definitely not even close to fat ) that is quite a generalization... junk doesn't make me crave more at all and my health is just fine.
I eat fairly nutritious overall but geez at 3000+ calories a day I would be a bloated mess with 100% clean/nutritious non-processed food and I'd be miserable and my workout performance would plummet and I would likely be underweight. No thanks. In the past I was obsessed with "clean eating" and consuming no sugar and once I had some BBQ sauce on some grilled meat my Mom made and I cried my eyes out when I got home. I was in a really bad place and I never want to go back there, I hope your post doesn't send people thinking that if they eat one non-nutritious food it is poison and they have failed. That would be sad. I am here to say there is nothing wrong with it and you can fit that stuff in and lose weight and be healthy (and look great too).
this.
(also: <10 miles of hard riding for a typical single scoop ice cream cone).
The 1 week I crammed in multiple time trials (and restaurants were closed due to COVID), I had to keep going into the bodega and getting an armful of junk food to get those calories back in.5 -
WandaVaughn wrote: »I live in north Alabama. According to the above maps, we have high obesity and low median incomes. I think a few things play into the bigger sizes around here. Our food culture: we fry everything! Fried okra, squash, mushrooms, cauliflower, tomatoes, pumpkin, potatoes, skillet-fried corn -- I've eaten them all! Our religious culture: Pre-pandemic church socials involved a lot of potluck meals. And of course you had to try a little bit of Bro. Jim's squash casserole and Sister Jean's triple layer fudge cake. And I'm not even mentioning family reunions with enough food to feed generations!
But then there's the low incomes. I grew up in a home where Daddy worked and Mom would babysit to bring in extra money. Food for us, a family of five, consisted mostly of pots of pinto beans with cornbread, spaghetti with a bit of hamburger in it, occasional meatloafs, frozen pot pies if they were on sale, and occasionally bbq chicken quarters to brighten a weekend. Lunches were canned soups or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Nothing marked "diet" or "organic".
I think my problem with food came with making sure to "clean my plate" and bowing to pressure of seconds, which became too much of a habit. I also had to learn how to cook in a different way than my mom and relatives. Not that I won't eat my mom's fried okra when given the chance!
Just my 2 cents worth in this conversation.
I grew up in southern WV which is mostly lower income, and what you described in your post is pretty much the culture of my area up to the last decade or two.
But from what I've observed and reflected upon looking back at my growing up years, it wasn't the type of food that was the problem - it was the amount. You can be healthy eating what I grew up with - beans and cornbread, cheap cuts of beef or pork, fried chicken, canned corn, peas, and green beans, mashed potatoes, spaghetti with hamburger, etc. What is the ongoing cause of obesity that I've seen in my own family, including myself, and in the community around me is that people are simply eating too much. It doesn't really matter whether they are eating fast food every day or eating fresh produce - I see person after person eating way more than their bodies need.
In my own family and community, though, I see the reason for why people are eating too much to be cultural. I live in a rural area where most people in times past were farmers or miners meaning they had very labor intensive jobs, and the families at home were taking care of gardens and working hard to keep body and soul together. So while they ate heartily and had big meals, such as farmer's breakfasts with gravy and biscuits and sausage and eggs and pancakes - they were also working very hard and needed those calories to fuel their daily grind. This was my great-grandparents' generation and the way of life that my grandparents grew up on, and even my parents describe their childhoods in this manner.
But then modern times finally penetrated the mountains and the local area slowly caught up with technology that made life easier during my own childhood. And many folks were giving up the farms and the mines were closing, so people were shifting to lifestyles that were much less physically demanding. But they were still eating the way grandma and grandpa did back in the day. The problem is, that people today are not nearly as physically active as grandma and grandpa were back in the day, so people today are eating 2 to 3 times as much food as they physically need.
And it doesn't help that the local culture revolves around food and the encouragement to eat lots of it - such as the eat everything on your plate and getting seconds and thirds.11 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »AliciaHollywood wrote: »There is literally no value whatsoever to “foods” like Cheetos or Twinkies and still people consume them. Why? Not only is there no nutritional value to them, they are BAD for you, poisonous! Sodas like Coke and Pepsi, even the zero calorie kind are pure poison! People have to think less about losing weight and more about nutrition. If people stuck to healthy, pure, non-prepackaged foods with high nutritional value, they would automatically lose weight and feel so much healthier!
Soda has saved its share of athletes that were beyond the point of majorly bonked. Quick dense carbs and sugar do have their place, and are almost a requirement for endurance athletes to meet their calorie needs. Just because you might be nearly sedentary, doesn't mean everyone is.
0.5% of the US population has ever run a marathon, 70% of the US population is currently overweight or obese.
Nothing wrong with some soda occasionally but it has more likely contributed to more heath issues than it has "saved".
This isn't really relevant to the claim that soda is "pure poison."
The claim wasn't "soda helps more people than it hurts." The claim was that this food was poison and to refute that, it's merely sufficient to point out *some* instances where it is not only not poisonous, but helpful to someone. Oh, and it also refutes it to point out the obvious truth that it is not poison, merely a calorie-dense food with low nutritional value.11 -
AliciaHollywood wrote: »I’m wondering if people’s neighborhoods can influence people’s weight, health and nutrition levels. I have no overweight friends. I rarely see anyone above the “normal” weight in charts when I’m out and about. Most people are definitely on the low end of normal. People here actually look like the people in movies and on TV (because they often ARE or want to be lol.) If other areas started removing junk food from supermarkets and stocking more healthy nutritious food, would that change the health of America? Is eating healthy or unhealthy just a habit that people get used to depending on where they live and what their circle of friends/family eat? I know there are many psychological reasons people either overeat or develop eating disorders, but is it possible than many overeat unhealthy food just because it’s “normal” where they live? Just curious...
If I thought someone would pay me thousands for looking a certain way I would probably have paid more attention to it over the last 20 years.
There are lots of other things that play into this. Food culture, transport structure - is it possible and safe to walk places? Habit, availability and cost of different types of food. Confidence, equipment, space and power required to cook.
It's all very well that I know how to make a pan full of vegetable soup cheaply. I have access to the space, time, energy (both my own and power for the hob), equipment, and motivation to do it. Those things do not apply to everyone.
I also have a car, access to lots of supermarkets, have money to spend on what I want, don't have to lug heavy bags up flights of stairs along with several small children...can pay for a gym membership and have the time and energy to use it. If I had worked a 12 hour warehouse shift that might not be the case.
It can play a part but it is a simplification, money buys you choices that make these things a lot easier.7 -
I do feel location plays a role. Whenever I visit NYC, I am shocked at how few fat people there are in the city. Then I realized that a typical day in the city garnered me 20000 steps easily so I see why. I am from Los Angeles as well and there are plenty of overweight people here, but less so than in the Deep South where nearly everyone there seems to be obese.
I feel standards of beauty and what’s normal weight or overweight are different also. In the south, I was called “skinny” at 5’0”, 125 lbs but in L.A. I am considered “chubby”.
Grocery stores probably cater to their customers. If their customers aren’t going to pay more for organic and specialty products, then they probably won’t stock them. You can put healthy produce in stores but if the customers want junk food, it doesn’t make sense.9 -
Definitely the above.
- Walking will be way more common in some places just to get around. (even if you have a car, if in a dense city, you won't have the option of waddling a mere 3 yards out the door and jumping in it, or from the parking lot sea in front of your destination).
- different places will have a different 'standard' of what is considered normal. If you live somewhere where you are considered a twig (despite being overweight, but just no where near as much as pretty much everyone else), there will likely be much less drive to lose it. (and you might not even realize that you are overweight).4 -
Just weather alone makes a huge difference. I left Cincinnati, where in 3 of the last five years they've had over 60 inches of rain and likely less than 100 sunny days. Now, I'm Southern AZ with 9 or 10 months of great weather, not three like in Cincinnati.
When it rains 26 of 30 days, you tend to eat a LOT more out of depression. Cincinnati is equal in wealth (or even wealthier) than Tucson overall, with the exception of a few affluent areas near the mountains and resorts. But I see 1/5th of the heavy people here in AZ than I did in Ohio.4 -
I think where you live can play a roll...but I'd say it's not on a large geographical scale, but rather "bubbles" or "pockets".
New Mexico has more than ample opportunities for outdoor recreation from hiking in the mountains to the numerous miles of multi use paths that traverse the city of Albuquerque and everything in between...never mind that we have roughly 360 days of sunshine a year and pretty incredible weather year around save for January. But that doesn't mean everyone takes advantage...many do, and I spend a lot of time on those multi use trails and trail riding in the mountains and hiking and if that were my only reference point I'd say that we're pretty healthy and fit up in here...but that's really not the case overall, and the bottom line is that a lot of people simply don't have the ease of access to things that I do...the opportunity is limited...or I should maybe say ease of opportunity is limited.
I live in a "bubble"...I don't ever really think of myself on these lines, but statistically I'm in the top 5% of wage earners relative to cost of living in the nation and I live in a fairly affluent area of the metro and I'm about 3.5 miles from access to the largest multi use trail head in the state and a quick car drive to the foothills for some of the best trail riding and mountain biking in the state...my "privilege" gives me much easier access to many recreational opportunities that keep me active, not to mention it's not really a big deal for me to get in the car and drive 1.5 hours to some great hiking in the Jemez Mts or skiing in the winter. Never mind that I don't have to work multiple jobs to make ends meat or have to decide if I'm going to pay my bills and eat Ramen or not meet my bills and feed my family better...these aren't choices I have to make. I think there's a huge socioeconomic component to all of this. Money gives you time and gives you access...or more time and easier access. I really have zero excuse for not getting out and being active...I'm very privileged to be able to do so and do so quite easily.
You also have to figure in your social circle. Most of me and my wife's social circle are active people...we all like to get outside and ride or mountain bike or hike or ski or whatever...not so much gym rat types, just active people. Getting together for...say, breakfast on a weekend is usually a ride to Bike In Coffee which has excellent food and subpar coffee (they should call it "Bike In Food") and ends up in a roughly 20 mile round trip bike ride when all is said and done...we like it because we get to ride and you can't get to the shop by car, and it's just a beautiful thing to do on a Saturday morning. Or we might get the families together for a hike or a ski trip in winter, etc. It doesn't really have anything to do with "weight" or "weight loss" or even fitness, those things almost never come up...we just enjoy these things and enjoy doing them together and getting our families together. This is obviously not everyone's cup of tea...
There is also a huge food culture component here which, as a gringo I'm not really a part of...don't get me wrong, I love some NM food...but it's a huge food culture thing here with long standing Hispanic communities and natives. Everything is a celebration, and every celebration comes with food...lots of food...lots and lots of food.
TLDR: So yeah...I think where you live can play a roll...but it's probably pretty minor in the bigger picture geographically and likely has more to do with "bubbles" and "pockets" of prosperity than anything else. Have or have not...the middle has been pinched...you're either pinched down or up...9 -
I have never eaten a McDonald's Big Mac in my life and instead went from large-ish to morbid obese slowly over a 15 year period by simply eating a bit more than I should. There is more to it of course, quite a bit more in fact, how come I did not care enough about myself to nip it in the bud but that is a story for another day.
But now I am shifting it and am doing that by eating less than I need and not one morsel of my current diet is an organic superfood because I do not have more money than sense. I eat nice food I enjoy, always have, but now I am calorie counting.
Just saying that a lot of stuff that gets trotted out when discussing obesity is a load of tosh and very little of it comes from actually talking to people who are or who have been obese to understanding how they got there.
Would living in California, surrounded by skinny people and shops that sell organic bananas for 4 times the price of ordinary ones have stopped me from getting so fat? No, not unless all the other factors were removed also.
As another Californian (SoCal), it’s not about the people around me—they do them, I do me—that inspires fitness. It’s the weather and the geography. Great temps year-round, everything from beaches to forests to desert to mountains (and 🍷 country!) within a couple hours. So many opportunities to be active! I go hiking a couple weekends a month.
And my grocery bill has gone down from when I lived in the middle/south. Could be some of my fav foods are grown here 🥑 🍊 etc. and therefore they’re less expensive. I have my own olive tree! I also think it’s supply and demand. Places to go shopping galore! Very different than when you only have a few grocery stores in town.
Never bought an organic banana. Don’t imagine I ever will. 😊
I do think Socio-economic status, access to healthcare, and access to healthy food can impact obesity rates along with other co-morbidities. I lived in one of those states, saw it firsthand for over a decade. Educational level does make a difference in deciphering all the crazy advertising madness brands and charlatans throw at you. So does access to the internet. Another thing that can be lacking in areas with lower median incomes.5 -
bmeadows380 wrote: »WandaVaughn wrote: »I live in north Alabama. According to the above maps, we have high obesity and low median incomes. I think a few things play into the bigger sizes around here. Our food culture: we fry everything! Fried okra, squash, mushrooms, cauliflower, tomatoes, pumpkin, potatoes, skillet-fried corn -- I've eaten them all! Our religious culture: Pre-pandemic church socials involved a lot of potluck meals. And of course you had to try a little bit of Bro. Jim's squash casserole and Sister Jean's triple layer fudge cake. And I'm not even mentioning family reunions with enough food to feed generations!
But then there's the low incomes. I grew up in a home where Daddy worked and Mom would babysit to bring in extra money. Food for us, a family of five, consisted mostly of pots of pinto beans with cornbread, spaghetti with a bit of hamburger in it, occasional meatloafs, frozen pot pies if they were on sale, and occasionally bbq chicken quarters to brighten a weekend. Lunches were canned soups or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Nothing marked "diet" or "organic".
I think my problem with food came with making sure to "clean my plate" and bowing to pressure of seconds, which became too much of a habit. I also had to learn how to cook in a different way than my mom and relatives. Not that I won't eat my mom's fried okra when given the chance!
Just my 2 cents worth in this conversation.
I grew up in southern WV which is mostly lower income, and what you described in your post is pretty much the culture of my area up to the last decade or two.
But from what I've observed and reflected upon looking back at my growing up years, it wasn't the type of food that was the problem - it was the amount. You can be healthy eating what I grew up with - beans and cornbread, cheap cuts of beef or pork, fried chicken, canned corn, peas, and green beans, mashed potatoes, spaghetti with hamburger, etc. What is the ongoing cause of obesity that I've seen in my own family, including myself, and in the community around me is that people are simply eating too much. It doesn't really matter whether they are eating fast food every day or eating fresh produce - I see person after person eating way more than their bodies need.
In my own family and community, though, I see the reason for why people are eating too much to be cultural. I live in a rural area where most people in times past were farmers or miners meaning they had very labor intensive jobs, and the families at home were taking care of gardens and working hard to keep body and soul together. So while they ate heartily and had big meals, such as farmer's breakfasts with gravy and biscuits and sausage and eggs and pancakes - they were also working very hard and needed those calories to fuel their daily grind. This was my great-grandparents' generation and the way of life that my grandparents grew up on, and even my parents describe their childhoods in this manner.
But then modern times finally penetrated the mountains and the local area slowly caught up with technology that made life easier during my own childhood. And many folks were giving up the farms and the mines were closing, so people were shifting to lifestyles that were much less physically demanding. But they were still eating the way grandma and grandpa did back in the day. The problem is, that people today are not nearly as physically active as grandma and grandpa were back in the day, so people today are eating 2 to 3 times as much food as they physically need.
And it doesn't help that the local culture revolves around food and the encouragement to eat lots of it - such as the eat everything on your plate and getting seconds and thirds.
I will piggyback off you and Wanda since there is some parallel. I grew up in rural, southern Illinois (around 17,000 people in a pretty large county). We ate cheap meat (80/20 ground beef was the big staple), pasta, canned veggies, bread, and most things were fried... we also had plenty of “junk foods” around. Baking was big throughout the generations (bonding, potlucks, bake sales, etc.) Most grocery/convenient stores in the small towns were smaller than a Hollywood boutique, which mostly meant shelf stable and non-“nutrient rich” options. You had to drive 20+ minutes to the 1 “big grocery store” in the county to even see produce other than your own garden. I can agree with the old-school farming lifestyle playing a roll as I feel we had plenty and overate often just due to trans-generational habits. I chalk part of that up to socioeconomic status as well- it’s a poor area where there is plenty of food insecurity, you ate what you had because you knew you were poor and weren’t going to pass it up while you had it. I had the “clear your plate” mentality pushed on me, pretty heavily engrained as I catch myself doing it to my own kids at times, even though it did create unhealthy habits into adulthood. (Actually why I recently started using a smaller plate!) There were plenty of outdoor activities- hunting, ATVs, farming/gardening, fishing, etc. (Nothing of great benefit to your fitness, More so survival) but nothing like recreational areas, walking trails, forest preserves. After joining the military I moved to Northern Illinois in the Chicago suburbs. Seeing a different way of life, eating new things, having many outdoor recreational areas (free at that) changed plenty. There’s still plenty of bad habits I had to deal with from my youth, and still do. But being in an area where you can get to 10+ grocery stores in 20 minutes opposed to 1, higher average socioeconomic status, and other opportunities certainly played a role in me realizing I wasn’t being healthy. Back home you “eat good,” work hard, food is at the center of a lot of gatherings, and fitness/well-being/health really are never talked about or prioritized. There are certainly far more people who are “heavy” there than where I currently live.
All of that to say I think there’s largely a “cultural” and socioeconomic impact that leads to a “geographical” impact as these 2 tend to cluster hand in hand in geographical areas. (Also- previously shared maps were based on self reporting, so I question their true accuracy).
Sorry that got so long winded! Lol1 -
I think this is great insight! I think it has something to do with the area where you live, particularly if there are a lot of health conscious people there. If someone were to open a fast food restaurant there, it might tank because not many people would want to go there.
I think giving people access to affordable healthier options in their neighbourhoods, as well as education and support on things like nutrition, health and exercise would help.1 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »I think where you live can play a roll...but I'd say it's not on a large geographical scale, but rather "bubbles" or "pockets".
New Mexico has more than ample opportunities for outdoor recreation from hiking in the mountains to the numerous miles of multi use paths that traverse the city of Albuquerque and everything in between...never mind that we have roughly 360 days of sunshine a year and pretty incredible weather year around save for January. But that doesn't mean everyone takes advantage...many do, and I spend a lot of time on those multi use trails and trail riding in the mountains and hiking and if that were my only reference point I'd say that we're pretty healthy and fit up in here...but that's really not the case overall, and the bottom line is that a lot of people simply don't have the ease of access to things that I do...the opportunity is limited...or I should maybe say ease of opportunity is limited.
I live in a "bubble"...I don't ever really think of myself on these lines, but statistically I'm in the top 5% of wage earners relative to cost of living in the nation and I live in a fairly affluent area of the metro and I'm about 3.5 miles from access to the largest multi use trail head in the state and a quick car drive to the foothills for some of the best trail riding and mountain biking in the state...my "privilege" gives me much easier access to many recreational opportunities that keep me active, not to mention it's not really a big deal for me to get in the car and drive 1.5 hours to some great hiking in the Jemez Mts or skiing in the winter. Never mind that I don't have to work multiple jobs to make ends meat or have to decide if I'm going to pay my bills and eat Ramen or not meet my bills and feed my family better...these aren't choices I have to make. I think there's a huge socioeconomic component to all of this. Money gives you time and gives you access...or more time and easier access. I really have zero excuse for not getting out and being active...I'm very privileged to be able to do so and do so quite easily.
You also have to figure in your social circle. Most of me and my wife's social circle are active people...we all like to get outside and ride or mountain bike or hike or ski or whatever...not so much gym rat types, just active people. Getting together for...say, breakfast on a weekend is usually a ride to Bike In Coffee which has excellent food and subpar coffee (they should call it "Bike In Food") and ends up in a roughly 20 mile round trip bike ride when all is said and done...we like it because we get to ride and you can't get to the shop by car, and it's just a beautiful thing to do on a Saturday morning. Or we might get the families together for a hike or a ski trip in winter, etc. It doesn't really have anything to do with "weight" or "weight loss" or even fitness, those things almost never come up...we just enjoy these things and enjoy doing them together and getting our families together. This is obviously not everyone's cup of tea...
There is also a huge food culture component here which, as a gringo I'm not really a part of...don't get me wrong, I love some NM food...but it's a huge food culture thing here with long standing Hispanic communities and natives. Everything is a celebration, and every celebration comes with food...lots of food...lots and lots of food.
TLDR: So yeah...I think where you live can play a roll...but it's probably pretty minor in the bigger picture geographically and likely has more to do with "bubbles" and "pockets" of prosperity than anything else. Have or have not...the middle has been pinched...you're either pinched down or up...
This makes me think if the two years I was stationed in Okinawa. As far as my circle was concerned, there were tons of indoor and outdoor recreational opportunities, and we took advantage of them, all the time.
Others moped around the dorm, complaining about nothing to do, or spent their time drinking.
Since we were all close in age and income level, it wasn't *current* socioeconomic status. I wonder how much was related to family-of-origin and how much was personality/sense of adventure.
I grew up middle class with a mother who valued outdoor activity. (She's 83 and still does, lol.)1 -
AliciaHollywood wrote: »laurenq1991 wrote: »Living in a non-walkable area definitely influences weight and fitness. It's easier to stay fit when you have the option of walking places, or running outside.
Any supermarket that removed junk food would face a huge backlash and probably go out of business. You can't dictate something as personal as food on that scale. Some communities do have a culture of healthy eating and tend to have lower rates of obesity. But you can't force people to change their culture, at least not without a backlash, and that raises ethical questions.
Also, even "healthy organic specialty" supermarkets have plenty of junk food. You have the causality backwards -- the supermarkets in your area stock more healthy foods because there is more demand due to the local culture of being healthy/fit.
And anyway, junk food doesn't make you fat. It's the quantity of calories that makes you fat, regardless of where it comes from.
Actually junk food does make you fat. All the salt, sugar and chemicals makes you crave more salt and sugar so you eat more junk food full of empty calories and chemicals. And healthy nutritional foods are used by the body as fuel while junk food just clogs arteries, is stored as fat, gives you high cholesterol, is conducive to diabetes and otherwise reeks havoc on the body. It’s not even all about weight, but health and nutrition. I can never understand how people are basically putting poison in their bodies every day and food corporations are getting away with poisoning Americans. There is literally no value whatsoever to “foods” like Cheetos or Twinkies and still people consume them. Why? Not only is there no nutritional value to them, they are BAD for you, poisonous! Sodas like Coke and Pepsi, even the zero calorie kind are pure poison! People have to think less about losing weight and more about nutrition. If people stuck to healthy, pure, non-prepackaged foods with high nutritional value, they would automatically lose weight and feel so much healthier!
I feel the same way.
4 -
It definitely can! I lost about 10 pounds, when my daughter was little, moving from a suburban type neighborhood to an apartment next to a University. I could just step out my door and walk to work. Plus to a variety of restaurants, coffee shop, library, parks, etc. instead of having to drive somewhere just to walk. I did have quite a few overweight neighbors that wouldn't or maybe couldn't take advantage of the location, and still drove everywhere, though. I think if a person works fulltime at a sedentary job, it might be hard to make up for that no matter where they live.1
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Individually I'd say no because a determined person will FIND a way. However as a society, I'd say yes. Just look at all the Southern to mid West states that have the highest obesity rate per capita. Lifestyles like that make a difference.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
4 -
Lol, obviously you've been listening to too many food "gurus".AliciaHollywood wrote: »laurenq1991 wrote: »Living in a non-walkable area definitely influences weight and fitness. It's easier to stay fit when you have the option of walking places, or running outside.
Any supermarket that removed junk food would face a huge backlash and probably go out of business. You can't dictate something as personal as food on that scale. Some communities do have a culture of healthy eating and tend to have lower rates of obesity. But you can't force people to change their culture, at least not without a backlash, and that raises ethical questions.
Also, even "healthy organic specialty" supermarkets have plenty of junk food. You have the causality backwards -- the supermarkets in your area stock more healthy foods because there is more demand due to the local culture of being healthy/fit.
And anyway, junk food doesn't make you fat. It's the quantity of calories that makes you fat, regardless of where it comes from.
Actually junk food does make you fat. All the salt, sugar and chemicals makes you crave more salt and sugar so you eat more junk food full of empty calories and chemicals. And healthy nutritional foods are used by the body as fuel while junk food just clogs arteries, is stored as fat, gives you high cholesterol, is conducive to diabetes and otherwise reeks havoc on the body. It’s not even all about weight, but health and nutrition. I can never understand how people are basically putting poison in their bodies every day and food corporations are getting away with poisoning Americans. There is literally no value whatsoever to “foods” like Cheetos or Twinkies and still people consume them. Why? Not only is there no nutritional value to them, they are BAD for you, poisonous! Sodas like Coke and Pepsi, even the zero calorie kind are pure poison! People have to think less about losing weight and more about nutrition. If people stuck to healthy, pure, non-prepackaged foods with high nutritional value, they would automatically lose weight and feel so much healthier!
I'll put money that I'm much much healthier than many "clean eaters" and I eat junk food daily. No meds, no HBP, no cholesterol issues, no heart issues, etc.
You misunderstand how the body works. It can't tell the difference between an organic steak or hamburger meat. All it does is break it down to the simplest form (amino acids) and absorbs it.
And all this "poison" talk can easily be disputed because a "poison" kills you if dosage is high enough. Feel free to keep posting garbage rhetoric like this, and I'll gladly refute it and provide actual peer reviewed studies to back it.
What's IRONIC here is that you post of "poisonous" foods when you enjoy alcohol. So I'll bet you $1000 dollars, I can drink a gallon of Pepsi and you drink a gallon of vodka and let's see who dies first from being "poisoned".
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
21 -
Luluetduet8 wrote: »AliciaHollywood wrote: »laurenq1991 wrote: »Living in a non-walkable area definitely influences weight and fitness. It's easier to stay fit when you have the option of walking places, or running outside.
Any supermarket that removed junk food would face a huge backlash and probably go out of business. You can't dictate something as personal as food on that scale. Some communities do have a culture of healthy eating and tend to have lower rates of obesity. But you can't force people to change their culture, at least not without a backlash, and that raises ethical questions.
Also, even "healthy organic specialty" supermarkets have plenty of junk food. You have the causality backwards -- the supermarkets in your area stock more healthy foods because there is more demand due to the local culture of being healthy/fit.
And anyway, junk food doesn't make you fat. It's the quantity of calories that makes you fat, regardless of where it comes from.
Actually junk food does make you fat. All the salt, sugar and chemicals makes you crave more salt and sugar so you eat more junk food full of empty calories and chemicals. And healthy nutritional foods are used by the body as fuel while junk food just clogs arteries, is stored as fat, gives you high cholesterol, is conducive to diabetes and otherwise reeks havoc on the body. It’s not even all about weight, but health and nutrition. I can never understand how people are basically putting poison in their bodies every day and food corporations are getting away with poisoning Americans. There is literally no value whatsoever to “foods” like Cheetos or Twinkies and still people consume them. Why? Not only is there no nutritional value to them, they are BAD for you, poisonous! Sodas like Coke and Pepsi, even the zero calorie kind are pure poison! People have to think less about losing weight and more about nutrition. If people stuck to healthy, pure, non-prepackaged foods with high nutritional value, they would automatically lose weight and feel so much healthier!
I feel the same way.
And you would also be wrong.
(Not about the feeling part but about the believing that bs is right part.)13 -
I also agree. I seriously doubt that you all are eating very much of those foods, and probably eat healthy most the time. You all know you're healthy despite eating a little junk not because of it! I grew up eating frozen dinners and junk food and hardly any vegetables except corn. If I hadn't gotten on a health kick at 16, I'd probably have the same chronic diseases, by now, that my parents have.Luluetduet8 wrote: »AliciaHollywood wrote: »laurenq1991 wrote: »Living in a non-walkable area definitely influences weight and fitness. It's easier to stay fit when you have the option of walking places, or running outside.
Any supermarket that removed junk food would face a huge backlash and probably go out of business. You can't dictate something as personal as food on that scale. Some communities do have a culture of healthy eating and tend to have lower rates of obesity. But you can't force people to change their culture, at least not without a backlash, and that raises ethical questions.
Also, even "healthy organic specialty" supermarkets have plenty of junk food. You have the causality backwards -- the supermarkets in your area stock more healthy foods because there is more demand due to the local culture of being healthy/fit.
And anyway, junk food doesn't make you fat. It's the quantity of calories that makes you fat, regardless of where it comes from.
Actually junk food does make you fat. All the salt, sugar and chemicals makes you crave more salt and sugar so you eat more junk food full of empty calories and chemicals. And healthy nutritional foods are used by the body as fuel while junk food just clogs arteries, is stored as fat, gives you high cholesterol, is conducive to diabetes and otherwise reeks havoc on the body. It’s not even all about weight, but health and nutrition. I can never understand how people are basically putting poison in their bodies every day and food corporations are getting away with poisoning Americans. There is literally no value whatsoever to “foods” like Cheetos or Twinkies and still people consume them. Why? Not only is there no nutritional value to them, they are BAD for you, poisonous! Sodas like Coke and Pepsi, even the zero calorie kind are pure poison! People have to think less about losing weight and more about nutrition. If people stuck to healthy, pure, non-prepackaged foods with high nutritional value, they would automatically lose weight and feel so much healthier!
I feel the same way.
0 -
I also agree. I seriously doubt that you all are eating very much of those foods, and probably eat healthy most the time. You all know you're healthy despite eating a little junk not because of it! I grew up eating frozen dinners and junk food and hardly any vegetables except corn. If I hadn't gotten on a health kick at 16, I'd probably have the same chronic diseases, by now, that my parents have.Luluetduet8 wrote: »AliciaHollywood wrote: »laurenq1991 wrote: »Living in a non-walkable area definitely influences weight and fitness. It's easier to stay fit when you have the option of walking places, or running outside.
Any supermarket that removed junk food would face a huge backlash and probably go out of business. You can't dictate something as personal as food on that scale. Some communities do have a culture of healthy eating and tend to have lower rates of obesity. But you can't force people to change their culture, at least not without a backlash, and that raises ethical questions.
Also, even "healthy organic specialty" supermarkets have plenty of junk food. You have the causality backwards -- the supermarkets in your area stock more healthy foods because there is more demand due to the local culture of being healthy/fit.
And anyway, junk food doesn't make you fat. It's the quantity of calories that makes you fat, regardless of where it comes from.
Actually junk food does make you fat. All the salt, sugar and chemicals makes you crave more salt and sugar so you eat more junk food full of empty calories and chemicals. And healthy nutritional foods are used by the body as fuel while junk food just clogs arteries, is stored as fat, gives you high cholesterol, is conducive to diabetes and otherwise reeks havoc on the body. It’s not even all about weight, but health and nutrition. I can never understand how people are basically putting poison in their bodies every day and food corporations are getting away with poisoning Americans. There is literally no value whatsoever to “foods” like Cheetos or Twinkies and still people consume them. Why? Not only is there no nutritional value to them, they are BAD for you, poisonous! Sodas like Coke and Pepsi, even the zero calorie kind are pure poison! People have to think less about losing weight and more about nutrition. If people stuck to healthy, pure, non-prepackaged foods with high nutritional value, they would automatically lose weight and feel so much healthier!
I feel the same way.
Yeah, but what that second means is that they're not health food or an entire diet because they are missing stuff. That's not because what they do have is 'poison'. If I ate nothing but whole fruit, I wouldn't be particularly healthy, either.8 -
If eating low quality food for years ACTUALLY caused chronic disease, then explain how prison inmates have been in penitentiaries for decades eating some of the lowest quality foods 3 times a day and NOT suffering many of the maladies that the average very overweight/obese population is suffering from?I also agree. I seriously doubt that you all are eating very much of those foods, and probably eat healthy most the time. You all know you're healthy despite eating a little junk not because of it! I grew up eating frozen dinners and junk food and hardly any vegetables except corn. If I hadn't gotten on a health kick at 16, I'd probably have the same chronic diseases, by now, that my parents have.Luluetduet8 wrote: »AliciaHollywood wrote: »laurenq1991 wrote: »Living in a non-walkable area definitely influences weight and fitness. It's easier to stay fit when you have the option of walking places, or running outside.
Any supermarket that removed junk food would face a huge backlash and probably go out of business. You can't dictate something as personal as food on that scale. Some communities do have a culture of healthy eating and tend to have lower rates of obesity. But you can't force people to change their culture, at least not without a backlash, and that raises ethical questions.
Also, even "healthy organic specialty" supermarkets have plenty of junk food. You have the causality backwards -- the supermarkets in your area stock more healthy foods because there is more demand due to the local culture of being healthy/fit.
And anyway, junk food doesn't make you fat. It's the quantity of calories that makes you fat, regardless of where it comes from.
Actually junk food does make you fat. All the salt, sugar and chemicals makes you crave more salt and sugar so you eat more junk food full of empty calories and chemicals. And healthy nutritional foods are used by the body as fuel while junk food just clogs arteries, is stored as fat, gives you high cholesterol, is conducive to diabetes and otherwise reeks havoc on the body. It’s not even all about weight, but health and nutrition. I can never understand how people are basically putting poison in their bodies every day and food corporations are getting away with poisoning Americans. There is literally no value whatsoever to “foods” like Cheetos or Twinkies and still people consume them. Why? Not only is there no nutritional value to them, they are BAD for you, poisonous! Sodas like Coke and Pepsi, even the zero calorie kind are pure poison! People have to think less about losing weight and more about nutrition. If people stuck to healthy, pure, non-prepackaged foods with high nutritional value, they would automatically lose weight and feel so much healthier!
I feel the same way.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
9
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