"No Mayo?" Why Americans Are Fat

mayo = food lube


nom.

I was speaking from a calorie perspective, not from a nutrient perspective. A food being high calorie doesn't automatically make it bad, hence using an example of a high calorie fruit.

If I'm going to compare foods based on micronutrients and fiber, I would be comparing fruits and vegetables with other fruits and vegetables, or grains with other grains. Comparing a fat with a fruit and asking about fiber is silly. Olive oil has much less sugar in it than an apple, so which is healthier? It's an irrelevant comparison.

You simply made the comparison and nutrients are an integral part of food choices. Look, you made a bad comparison in an attempt to sound dismissive and glib, we all do it, best just to own up to it.

I asked you for a more complete comparison and you lost it with a rant about meat and eggs etc.

Its why the whole 'calorie deficit trumps all' argument is a bad one, is shamefully incomplete.

Yes, you can go into a calorie deficit parsing in any foods that you want, a pop-tart here some french fries there, but you will likely sacrifice nutrition.

Hence why mayo shouldn't be arbitrarily compared with avocado.

I was speaking from a calorie perspective, not from a nutrient perspective. A food being high calorie doesn't automatically make it bad, hence using an example of a high calorie fruit.

If I'm going to compare foods based on micronutrients and fiber, I would be comparing fruits and vegetables with other fruits and vegetables, or grains with other grains. Comparing a fat with a fruit and asking about fiber is silly. Olive oil has much less sugar in it than an apple, so which is healthier? It's an irrelevant comparison.

You simply made the comparison and nutrients are an integral part of food choices. Look, you made a bad comparison in an attempt to sound dismissive and glib, we all do it, best just to own up to it.

I asked you for a more complete comparison and you lost it with a rant about meat and eggs etc.

Its why the whole 'calorie deficit trumps all' argument is a bad one, is shamefully incomplete.

Yes, you can go into a calorie deficit parsing in any foods that you want, a pop-tart here some french fries there, but you will likely sacrifice nutrition.

Hence why mayo shouldn't be arbitrarily compared with avocado.

Nutrition is a completely separate concept. No food exists in a vacuum. Overall nutritional goals are important. Reaching those goals matter. Just comparing nutrition in mayo vs nutrition in an avocado is meaningless because it ignores the entire rest of the day's nutrition and food choices. If someone has already consumed enough micro nutrients, including fiber, and is looking to fill out discretionary calories, is an avocado automatically a better choice than mayo? Not, it isn't. It won't have a health effect either way, provided you use the same amount of calories for each. Humans don't eat foods in a vacuum, which is why picking on ANY individual food item as arbitrarily good or bad is silly.

If you were to hypothetically consume only mayonnaise and consumed over 6000 calories you wouldn't gain any fat at all. Mayo by itself doesnt make you fat carbohydrates do. Why? because of insulin. Mayo is pure fat and does not spike insulin at all. you are blaming something that does not make you fat carbs do. The problem with carbohydrates though is that they taste amazing.

Nutrition is a completely separate concept. No food exists in a vacuum. Overall nutritional goals are important. Reaching those goals matter. Just comparing nutrition in mayo vs nutrition in an avocado is meaningless because it ignores the entire rest of the day's nutrition and food choices. If someone has already consumed enough micro nutrients, including fiber, and is looking to fill out discretionary calories, is an avocado automatically a better choice than mayo? Not, it isn't. It won't have a health effect either way, provided you use the same amount of calories for each. Humans don't eat foods in a vacuum, which is why picking on ANY individual food item as arbitrarily good or bad is silly.

Hmm, I've never seen a difference between the calories in whole wheat bread and white bread. A quick comparasion on here of the same brand shows no difference.

What is it about the American lifestyle and way of eating that make it No. 1 in obesity stats?

two words for ya: industrial revolution.

Uhh... Yeah, because the U.S. is the only country to have gone through an industrial revolution, huh? Besides, the obesity problem really came after the U.S. de-industrialized, not during its industrialization. I have no idea where you were going with that point.

pretty clear, isn't it? as the country became more industrialized -- meaning less physical labor required to complete jobs -- it also became more sedentary. and, obviously, the U.S. isn't the only industrialized nation. look at the most obese countries. they are those that are most reliant on technology. that's why there is an increase in obesity in the developing countries. they are now seeing the effects of an inactive lifestyle combined with calorie-dense diets.

the U.S. used to be something like 90 percent farmers. it's down to, what, 2 percent now? where did those 88 percent go? desk jobs. how do they get to those desk jobs? cars. what do they do when they get home from those desk jobs? watch TV.

(and those farmers and ranchers -- the group that used to be the majority -- they have to eat way more than any of us do in order to simply maintain weight. 3,000 calories plus a day. because they are actively burning that off. so the problem comes in when we all eat like we're still farmers or ranchers instead of sedentary office workers.)

the biggest reason for obesity isn't what people are eating. it is how little they are moving. we used to have to move in order to survive. that isn't the case now.

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:huh: are you kidding? Where is the smiley banging its head into the wall when you need it? ... I actually stopped following the thread after that

......... Somebody missed a couple of history classes. People did not take on desk jobs during the IR in mass numbers. They went into factories (hard, dangerous, manual labor). Most of the population would have been small and malnourished because they didn't earn enough money to eat properly and worked long hours. Desk jobs did not start showing up in mass effect until way AFTER the IR. And that would also imply that the farmers did the labor themselves before the IR …. They didn’t because, you know, a little thing called slavery and indentured servants (who were not considered citizens and would not be called “Americans”). There were always fat people who had sedentary lifestyles because they could afford to have others do their work
I see where you are going with this but really just not quite right. Even IF this was right and desk jobs made Americans fat, what about all the other industrialized nations who progressed into the tertiary form of employment (desk jobs)? America is not the only country who has an office based style of work force.

Just soooooo much in this thread is just .... SMH

What is it about the American lifestyle and way of eating that make it No. 1 in obesity stats?

two words for ya: industrial revolution.

Uhh... Yeah, because the U.S. is the only country to have gone through an industrial revolution, huh? Besides, the obesity problem really came after the U.S. de-industrialized, not during its industrialization. I have no idea where you were going with that point.

pretty clear, isn't it? as the country became more industrialized -- meaning less physical labor required to complete jobs -- it also became more sedentary. and, obviously, the U.S. isn't the only industrialized nation. look at the most obese countries. they are those that are most reliant on technology. that's why there is an increase in obesity in the developing countries. they are now seeing the effects of an inactive lifestyle combined with calorie-dense diets.

the U.S. used to be something like 90 percent farmers. it's down to, what, 2 percent now? where did those 88 percent go? desk jobs. how do they get to those desk jobs? cars. what do they do when they get home from those desk jobs? watch TV.

(and those farmers and ranchers -- the group that used to be the majority -- they have to eat way more than any of us do in order to simply maintain weight. 3,000 calories plus a day. because they are actively burning that off. so the problem comes in when we all eat like we're still farmers or ranchers instead of sedentary office workers.)

the biggest reason for obesity isn't what people are eating. it is how little they are moving. we used to have to move in order to survive. that isn't the case now.

\



:huh: are you kidding? Where is the smiley banging its head into the wall when you need it? ... I actually stopped following the thread after that

......... Somebody missed a couple of history classes. People did not take on desk jobs during the IR in mass numbers. They went into factories (hard, dangerous, manual labor). Most of the population would have been small and malnourished because they didn't earn enough money to eat properly and worked long hours. Desk jobs did not start showing up in mass effect until way AFTER the IR. And that would also imply that the farmers did the labor themselves before the IR …. They didn’t because, you know, a little thing called slavery and indentured servants (who were not considered citizens and would not be called “Americans”). There were always fat people who had sedentary lifestyles because they could afford to have others do their work
I see where you are going with this but really just not quite right. Even IF this was right and desk jobs made Americans fat, what about all the other industrialized nations who progressed into the tertiary form of employment (desk jobs)? America is not the only country who has an office based style of work force.

Just soooooo much in this thread is just .... SMH

Well, I have a minor in history, actually. How bout you?

I didn't say it was an instant change. Boom. Industrial revolution, fat society. That is where it started. And as society got more modernized, more modernized, with more and more urbanization, people steadily got taller and fatter.

And if you read the entire post, you would see that I pointed out that other nations on the same track have the same weight issues.

There have been numerous academic papers written on this topic. Look up a few.

Some of you are taking what im saying too literally. Im just trying to say, since we are all trying to loose weight, i thought it would be wise to say... if you make a 200 calorie sandwich and you put 50 calories of mayo on it, mayo isnt really a food that fills you up. You could have some kind of fruit or veggie that is 50 calories instead of the mayo and it will fill you up because it is food.

It blows my mind how many people focused on the mayo anecdote. It was a real life example to show the choices that we make on a daily basis and how they affect our health. And I say "we" even though I am Canadian because the OP can't really talk about countries he hasn't seen. This happens in Canada too. Whether it's a dietary restriction (no wheaty croutons on Caesar Salad is blasphemous) or health-related (such as the OP's mayo example), people look confused at health-conscious choices.

It is our predisposition to fattening choices that the OP seems to be commenting on. Maybe simplifying it will help people stop attacking each other over technicalities.

Oh, and thanks to everyone speaking logically with scientific fact to back them up. :flowerforyou:

There is nothing you just said i dont agree with. Fat is not bad. Calories are not bad. Nothing is really bad, its the proportion size im talking about!!! Why is that not being understood.

There is nothing you just said i dont agree with. Fat is not bad. Calories are not bad. Nothing is really bad, its the proportion size im talking about!!! Why is that not being understood.

Because you have yet to actually SAY that until this post. You keep saying we should cut things out, not that we should consider portion size.

Go back and read what you actually wrote.

I totally agree mayo is super fatty. My questions is why do Europeans load their french fries with it and are still skinnier and healthier than Americans. I spent some time in Europe and all my friends their literally bought french fries on the street with mayo everyday for a snack. How is this fair.