being fat in Japan

haha, imagine that happening in the west, be great ot have one more excuse to lose weight!

hm, I sometimes do wonder about what pressures for being thin works. Whatever we're doing here is obviously not working, since obesity is still rising or perhaps it's because of the rampant fast food places and other factors that make unhealthy calorie dense food more appealing. What is viewed as normal weight here is viewed as fat in some other countries. At 5'3" and 138, I'm pretty sure my mom's home country would view that as obese in all honesty.

I just viewed your link. Wow, I didn't think they looked overweight at all.

If my company were facing millions in fines and a raise in health premiums I could defiantly get behind this. A raise to them means a raise to the employee and less money in everyone's pocket. And if the company can't afford it? Then jobs would be lost so they could. I would do it happily, and if the company is the on e facing the troubles than they should be the ones to help with the changes. I mean, take a way some fast food restaurants and that doesn't do much except send people other places to get lunch. Tell them their jobs and health care could be effected and to eat healthier AT work and that might get the message across to cross it over to other parts of their life.

asian bodies are smaller in general, in comparison to us americans. we're taller, and overall our measurements are naturally a few inches more. not just due to fat, but because of our bones. our ring sizes, shoe size, hat size, etc..are all generally bigger. so if that system were in place, i doubt many of us would fit in the 35 inches or less category.

but that's pretty much where the excuses for us stop. our traditional american meal is usually full of mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, casseroles, etc. stuff our grandmas used to make definitely did not total to 600 calories a meal lol

these days we chalk up our waistlines to our stressful jobs, marriage, having children, getting older, and not having enough time to work out, etc. god forbid you tell an american woman who had a kid, that she needs to lose weight or lose her job. you'll have everyone screaming unfair sexism. it's just become culturally acceptable to be overweight. it's rude to mention someone's weight, it's considered shallow not to date a woman because she's thick, and definitely not acceptable to not give someone a job because they're overweight. so i seriously doubt we will have someone in our company measuring waistlines anytime soon...

but! we can definitely take some of their good ideas. i'm sure alot of people who work in an office would relish the opportunity to stand up from their work twice a day and stretch, and take some relaxing deep breaths. socially speaking, it makes for a far more productive and friendly work enviornment! i've also heard they do a morning stretch in their classrooms to help the kid's improved brain function. definitely an easy addition that could have great results if we made it a country-wide practice.

I can sort of see something like this happening here as national health care broadens. Companies could be charged more for premiums for having overweight employees, kind of like higher premiums for smokers is becoming the norm. I could see us having to step on the scale just like we already may have to pee in a cup.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/04/us-food-costs-idUSTRE7734L620110804

"Eating healthier food can add almost 10 percent to the average American's food bill -- and that is just to boost a single nutrient like potassium."

Fix the fact that unhealthy, fattening foods cost less than healthy foods for starters. Then go from there. If regular Americans can't afford to eat healthy, no program in the world is going to change that except programs that lower the cost of healthy food.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/04/us-food-costs-idUSTRE7734L620110804

"Eating healthier food can add almost 10 percent to the average American's food bill -- and that is just to boost a single nutrient like potassium."

Fix the fact that unhealthy, fattening foods cost less than healthy foods for starters. Then go from there. If regular Americans can't afford to eat healthy, no program in the world is going to change that except programs that lower the cost of healthy food.

whats to fix? bad fatty meat is going to cost less than lean meat for example. you can't "fix" that.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/04/us-food-costs-idUSTRE7734L620110804

"Eating healthier food can add almost 10 percent to the average American's food bill -- and that is just to boost a single nutrient like potassium."

Fix the fact that unhealthy, fattening foods cost less than healthy foods for starters. Then go from there. If regular Americans can't afford to eat healthy, no program in the world is going to change that except programs that lower the cost of healthy food.

whats to fix? bad fatty meat is going to cost less than lean meat for example. you can't "fix" that.

the article isnt talking about lean meat vs fatty meat.. its talking about foods that would add more potassium, vitamin d, and other nutrients to your diet. fruits and vegetables vs boxed/canned/processed stuff

"Fix the fact that unhealthy, fattening foods cost less than healthy foods for starters." thats what i was responding to.