*Rereads my post* Nope, nothing about carbs in there. Just making a funny agreeable response to the idea that fast food isn't the problem.Metalix Knightmare said:
So what is making people from the USA so fat?
- Thread starter Quaidis
- Start date
Not really. The burger is perfectly fine and healthy for you. Make sure you eat less than 100g of carbs in your day and you should be fine. Worst case scenario: Buy two burgers and throw away the buns. You keep the flavor, the good proteins and the good saturated fats . I know it goes against common knowledge right now, but give it 10 years and the lipid hypothesis will have been crucified, as it should be.chadachada123 said:
Eating healthy is easy: Take in as much proteins as you can as long as you don't go over the need of your Basal Metabolic Rate calorific needs (if you are not doing anything physical). Get aprox 100g of carbs a day at most and have good fats such as animal fats, coconut oil and so on to cover the remaining missing calories.
It could be an over-awareness of obesity. It's not far-fetched to say that Americans are a bit vain, so being heavier than what the media considers acceptable will earn a person all kinds of hell even if they turn out to be healthier overall than the twigs that get plastered on popular magazines. You'd think that all the negative attention aimed at fat people is part of some plan to reward whoever lives off gym memberships and the latest dietary fad.
That said... The kinds of foods you'll find in the US aren't exactly angled towards healthiness. Sugar or salt gets added to a lot of things if they aren't being fried, and even then people will dunk them into sauces or sprinkle on extra salt. Not only that, but many places serve meals in portions that would astound people from 40 years ago. It's a land of over-abundance and wastefulness as well as a land where people try (or are forced) to find ways to get as much done as possible with the least amount of energy used.
It doesn't hurt marketing too much, of course, especially at the start of the year when lots of people vow to lose weight. Remind people about how being overweight hurts them socially, then throw in how it'll hurt them medically and monetarily. Now tell them how using this easy little thing will make it all go away. No more nasty comments from the skinny and pretty people, no more embarrassing need for bigger chairs and beds, and now a smaller chance of heart problems which will cost thousands of dollars to deal with. This drug and/or diet plan will make your life infinitely better without having to change much of anything! Yeah... But they neglect to say how one diet plan doesn't work for everyone the same way and some people have such horrible diets that they WOULD have to make massive changes. And pills always come with some kind of side effect that could put people in the hospital anyways.
I'm starting to think way too far into this and ramble...
TL
R- It's a combination of a society saturated with food, conserving energy, and ruled by corporations that obsessively draw attention to bad things that could be changed by ineffective changes (but at least they're cheaper and take less effort than the alternatives).
That said... The kinds of foods you'll find in the US aren't exactly angled towards healthiness. Sugar or salt gets added to a lot of things if they aren't being fried, and even then people will dunk them into sauces or sprinkle on extra salt. Not only that, but many places serve meals in portions that would astound people from 40 years ago. It's a land of over-abundance and wastefulness as well as a land where people try (or are forced) to find ways to get as much done as possible with the least amount of energy used.
It doesn't hurt marketing too much, of course, especially at the start of the year when lots of people vow to lose weight. Remind people about how being overweight hurts them socially, then throw in how it'll hurt them medically and monetarily. Now tell them how using this easy little thing will make it all go away. No more nasty comments from the skinny and pretty people, no more embarrassing need for bigger chairs and beds, and now a smaller chance of heart problems which will cost thousands of dollars to deal with. This drug and/or diet plan will make your life infinitely better without having to change much of anything! Yeah... But they neglect to say how one diet plan doesn't work for everyone the same way and some people have such horrible diets that they WOULD have to make massive changes. And pills always come with some kind of side effect that could put people in the hospital anyways.
I'm starting to think way too far into this and ramble...
TL
R- It's a combination of a society saturated with food, conserving energy, and ruled by corporations that obsessively draw attention to bad things that could be changed by ineffective changes (but at least they're cheaper and take less effort than the alternatives).
Food is an industry here so all sorts of crappy food are easy to get while healthy food is not as common.
Go to your average mid to low income area and you'll see a lot more KFC and Burger King than fruit stands.
This would be fine if the food they sold at those places was healthy but they get more profit from selling you a pink slime burger (have you heard of this stuff? they used to only put it in dog food) and french fries than real ground beef and a mix of vegetables. The fact is that most of the people in America are given very poor choices.
Go to your average mid to low income area and you'll see a lot more KFC and Burger King than fruit stands.
This would be fine if the food they sold at those places was healthy but they get more profit from selling you a pink slime burger (have you heard of this stuff? they used to only put it in dog food) and french fries than real ground beef and a mix of vegetables. The fact is that most of the people in America are given very poor choices.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the INSANE amount of sodium in fast food a problem? I don't have to worry about this stuff; my metabolism is insane, luckily.Yan007 said:
Fast food mostly. Also, I don't know if America makes it mandatory for physical education to be taught from kindergarten to grade 12.
Also, shitty cafeteria food in schools, bad parenting on some parts.
Mostly on demand fatty foods and lack of movement in my opinion.
Also, shitty cafeteria food in schools, bad parenting on some parts.
Mostly on demand fatty foods and lack of movement in my opinion.
600-800? Holy shit! My current lifestyle is requiring an average of 3000 daily to maintain a healthy balance. Your quip is appropriate, for you are withering away into dust. I could eat 3 of you and still be hungry. You are but a meal to me sir! I will have you with a side of fries and wash you down with a sprite to fill in the blanks.Sonicron said:
*****
OP...
It's laziness, plain and simple. I haven't found a more accurate reason than that. Sure, I've listened to people talk about glandular issues, and read things about fatty acids and the like, but it always seems to go hand in hand with laziness. Some people will always be fat, and some people will get off their fat asses.
Too many processed sugars and empty carbohydrates, too much soda, too much cheap beer, too much TV, and not enough walks or salads.
I definitely blame many people's reliance on processed foods more than anything. Gigantic plates of raw veggies every day won't make you fat. Little Debbie Cupcakes and Pepsi as part of a daily diet certainly will.
My first shocker moment was looking at a bottle of ranch that was in my fridge, and my jaw almost hit the floor when I saw that a mere two spoonfuls of ranch have as much pure fat as two, TWO McDonald's cheese burgers. Suffice it to say, I forgo ranch with everything now.
I've made it my goal to mostly cut processed foods from my diet, in favor of quantities of raw foods and whole proteins. My slowly-expanding waistline from the past couple years is already in retreat. It's phenomenal the difference good diet makes, even when high intensity activity isn't a part of the equation.
I definitely blame many people's reliance on processed foods more than anything. Gigantic plates of raw veggies every day won't make you fat. Little Debbie Cupcakes and Pepsi as part of a daily diet certainly will.
My first shocker moment was looking at a bottle of ranch that was in my fridge, and my jaw almost hit the floor when I saw that a mere two spoonfuls of ranch have as much pure fat as two, TWO McDonald's cheese burgers. Suffice it to say, I forgo ranch with everything now.
I've made it my goal to mostly cut processed foods from my diet, in favor of quantities of raw foods and whole proteins. My slowly-expanding waistline from the past couple years is already in retreat. It's phenomenal the difference good diet makes, even when high intensity activity isn't a part of the equation.
Basic trip to Taco Bell or McDonalds will set you back 5 bucks for enough food to feed a horse. 5 bucks at the grocery store -might- get you a loaf of bread and some sandwich meat.ElPatron said:
Also, notice my wording. "Optimal". I don't know about you, but my "optimal" diet includes downing 3-4 Chicken breasts a day on top of 4 eggs in the morning and enough salad and fruit to run up an astounding $32-day food bill. Compare that to something less ambitious (and much more realistic) like 1 Chicken Breast a day, 2 eggs, and a third of the necessary fruits and vegetables, and the daily food expenses drop down to $14-day.
And again, compare that to the Taco Bell diet, which quite literally can feed you an entire week on $15. It's no surprise that people go with the cheapest alternative, especially when nearly half of Americans are below the national poverty line when it comes to income.
I don't know about you, but I don't have enough money to buy a rack of dumbells nor the space to put a bench press and it's assorted weights.
Of course you can run outside and do calisthenics until you're blue in the face, but you won't reap the benefits the same way you would with some simple weight training.
But this is all beside the point. I said in my post that you quoted that I agree that it's only laziness and willing ignorance that causes obesity. However, being obese IS SO MUCH EASIER than being healthy here in 'merica, that it's frankly unsurprising the numbers are where they are.
Hazy992 said:
This, for starters. I'd also implicate increasingly hectic lifestyles. It could just be me, since my job has me constantly in the presence of over-achievers, but it seems like people in America feel guilty or anxious when they're not working or taking care of their kids, to the point where they do three things that cause weight problems.
1. Not eating right. They either eat too much fast food (so they can get back to work), or they eat home prepared food that's mostly processed and also bad for you. Nobody really knows how to cook anymore, or if they do, their schedules are already so stretched that they can't be bothered.
2. Nobody gets any damn sleep in this stupid country. This can cause weight gain, depression, makes people want to eat bad carbs and drink caffeinated sodas and high-cal coffee drinks, and makes it harder to exercise.
3. Which is, of course, number three. Ironically, when you have so many other responsibilities, taking time to exercise can make you feel like a slacker.
/soapbox
EDIT: Almost forgot about my favorite tragic irony, Americans like dieting, which has been proven to cause weight gain. I figure this is why we have so many fat women in this country (at least in my town, the number of really fat women easily outnumbers the number of really fat men). Going on a crash diet can mess up your metabolism and make it even harder to lose weight; I've seen that effect in members of my family.
Cheap large portions of food, and sedentary lifestyles.
Fast food is cheap, and you can get lots of high-fat, high-carb, low-anything good for you food for very little.
Like Soda. Oh God so much soda. And "French Fries".
Most cities aren't well designed for active modes of transportation like bicycling, walking, or running. We also have a general consensus, in most towns, that mass transit is for "poor people". We sit on our ass in the car on the way to work, we sit on our ass in front of a screen at work, then we sit on our ass in front of the TV. Sleep, repeat. All the while taking in about 3,000-4,000 calories per day.
Also, even eating at home, there's this "Food Pyramid" thing that everyone was taught through grade-school for about, well, ever, sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture that strangely exalted grains. As a result; people take in waaaaaaay more carbs than they should ("but it's not fat!", retards), but think it is "healthy".
So, commercial food, poverty, sedentary lifestyle, and poor nutrition education.
Fast food is cheap, and you can get lots of high-fat, high-carb, low-anything good for you food for very little.
Like Soda. Oh God so much soda. And "French Fries".
Most cities aren't well designed for active modes of transportation like bicycling, walking, or running. We also have a general consensus, in most towns, that mass transit is for "poor people". We sit on our ass in the car on the way to work, we sit on our ass in front of a screen at work, then we sit on our ass in front of the TV. Sleep, repeat. All the while taking in about 3,000-4,000 calories per day.
Also, even eating at home, there's this "Food Pyramid" thing that everyone was taught through grade-school for about, well, ever, sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture that strangely exalted grains. As a result; people take in waaaaaaay more carbs than they should ("but it's not fat!", retards), but think it is "healthy".
So, commercial food, poverty, sedentary lifestyle, and poor nutrition education.
I don't know for sure, but I'm fairly certain it would have to do with the massive amounts of Fast Food restaurants, the lack of knowledge on how to eat healthy, and the huge servings of corn everywhere. I can't remember why lots of corn makes you fat, probably the starch or something.
The way to fix it? Make the people informed about the food they are eating, and what the effects are. People will generally not do things they know is not good for them (although smoking and alcohol prove otherwise), so get them educated on that. Teach children, the children influence the family, things change.
The way to fix it? Make the people informed about the food they are eating, and what the effects are. People will generally not do things they know is not good for them (although smoking and alcohol prove otherwise), so get them educated on that. Teach children, the children influence the family, things change.
There's way too much access to fast food. Why cook and exercize when you can hit up one of the five McDonald's on you drive home in your massive SUV with extra big cup holders. Then go watch American Idol for the two hours it's on a night.
America is addicted to convenience. We eat fast-food because it's quick and easy to get your hands on for nearly no cost whatsoever, and our lifestyle has adapted so that we're no longer required to exert ourselves physically.
"Let's see, I can walk the one mile necessary to go to Blockbuster, or I can drive. Walking takes too long, and my Soap Opera is coming on in fifteen minutes. I'd better drive."
"Let's see, I can walk the one mile necessary to go to Blockbuster, or I can drive. Walking takes too long, and my Soap Opera is coming on in fifteen minutes. I'd better drive."
Quaidis said:
The thing is, a LOT of Americans are disgusted with the news, it's gotten to the point that I won't watch it personally, its really bad
OT: The more unhealthy foods are much cheaper, and the way they arem ade is almost made to make people huge. Im trying to lose weight right now, but I had to stop, because I can't afford the good healthy food, and I live in an apartment complex, so I can't grow my own stuff either. And in my area nothing is in walking distance and with school I don't have too much time to exercise when I really should be. Its infuriating
Ok, your problem is that all their foods are the same, they have this artificial stuff in everything they call 'cheese' but is actually yellow salted plastic that can melt, and isn't directly poisonus to eat.Quaidis said:
How do you fix it? Stop buying fast food, start eating better stuff, even if its not that much better and you make it, it'll still likely be cheaper in the long term - unless someone can go against the marketing of the omnipresent McDonalds, which I doubt would have much effect, if they stopped marketing right now, in 50 years, maybe people would start to forget them.
So yeah, the US has shit food, so therefore most of the people are what they eat - shit.