Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S • Hacker News Board

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#31

Post by pascalxus » Fri, Feb 23, 2018, 7:56 PM UTC

izietto wrote: post #20

3pt14159 wrote: post #8

This is directly related to the way American cities are designed. It’s a car centric culture where big houses are far away from each other. That means driving everywhere. That means long commutes. That means TV over communal activity. That means big grocery runs with shelf stable food. Then pile on hyper sweet drinks and nutritional misinformation campaigns, and of course Americans are going to be overweight. The wor…

I'm italian and I visited united states a couple of months ago. In my opinion the biggest problem is that you don't have decent food at affordable prices. Healthy food has nonsensical high prices and if you want something at a human price you don't have much choice except fast food. What a shame.

That's partly because much of the government subsides go towards subsidizing corn, ending up in high fructose corn syrup and all the junk food most people consume. It's quite sad, that everyone is so okay with this.

Personally, I try to eat as healthy as possible and use my nutrient finder (https://kale.world/c) to find high nutrient, low calorie foods, which end up being mostly beans, vegetables and fruits.

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#32

Post by mFixman » Fri, Feb 23, 2018, 7:56 PM UTC

The interesting thing is that obesity and overweightness rates are very different between States.

Most coastal States have regular rates among rich countries (albeit still high). 23.1% of Californians are obese, which is a lower rate than France, Ireland, and most of Western Europe.

There's a completely different story in the South, where more than a third of Mississipi's population is obese.

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#33

Post by TekMol » Fri, Feb 23, 2018, 7:56 PM UTC

The majority of websites are overweight too.

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#34

Post by hangonhn » Fri, Feb 23, 2018, 7:56 PM UTC

izietto wrote: post #20

3pt14159 wrote: post #8

This is directly related to the way American cities are designed. It’s a car centric culture where big houses are far away from each other. That means driving everywhere. That means long commutes. That means TV over communal activity. That means big grocery runs with shelf stable food. Then pile on hyper sweet drinks and nutritional misinformation campaigns, and of course Americans are going to be overweight. The wor…

I'm italian and I visited united states a couple of months ago. In my opinion the biggest problem is that you don't have decent food at affordable prices. Healthy food has nonsensical high prices and if you want something at a human price you don't have much choice except fast food. What a shame.

I was in Bologna not too long ago and I was baffled by how fresh, high quality ingredients are available at affordable prices. I've seen similar quality ingredients in the Bay Area but they charge an arm and a leg for it. I don't know how the Italians do it or why we Americans have such a hard time doing something similar.

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#35

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Feb 23, 2018, 7:56 PM UTC

3pt14159 wrote: post #8

This is directly related to the way American cities are designed. It’s a car centric culture where big houses are far away from each other. That means driving everywhere. That means long commutes. That means TV over communal activity. That means big grocery runs with shelf stable food. Then pile on hyper sweet drinks and nutritional misinformation campaigns, and of course Americans are going to be overweight. The wor…

[deleted]

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#36

Post by lamename » Fri, Feb 23, 2018, 7:56 PM UTC

3pt14159 wrote: post #8

This is directly related to the way American cities are designed. It’s a car centric culture where big houses are far away from each other. That means driving everywhere. That means long commutes. That means TV over communal activity. That means big grocery runs with shelf stable food. Then pile on hyper sweet drinks and nutritional misinformation campaigns, and of course Americans are going to be overweight. The wor…

tangentially relevant and interesting summary on mass-transit in the US https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cjfTG8DbwA

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#37

Post by tjr225 » Fri, Feb 23, 2018, 7:56 PM UTC

izietto wrote: post #20

3pt14159 wrote: post #8

This is directly related to the way American cities are designed. It’s a car centric culture where big houses are far away from each other. That means driving everywhere. That means long commutes. That means TV over communal activity. That means big grocery runs with shelf stable food. Then pile on hyper sweet drinks and nutritional misinformation campaigns, and of course Americans are going to be overweight. The wor…

I'm italian and I visited united states a couple of months ago. In my opinion the biggest problem is that you don't have decent food at affordable prices. Healthy food has nonsensical high prices and if you want something at a human price you don't have much choice except fast food. What a shame.

I wonder if there are any subsidies paid for by taxpayers to the businesses that sell us cheap, unhealthy food.

Freedom to kill ourselves and each other, it seems...

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#38

Post by jacquesm » Fri, Feb 23, 2018, 7:57 PM UTC

adrr wrote: post #18

jacquesm wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did a small investment in a food oriented start-up and I really hope they will succeed in their dream of feeding people healthy stuff. Many companies claim to want to 'change the world for the better' when actually they are just looking to make bank. These guys are driven because of their ideals, they're super nice and have a good idea + track record. Time will tell if it works out.

Its not about eating healthy food, obesity is about the over consumption of food. You can maintain a healthy weight eating hamburgers and fries every day. The problem is portion size.

It's a combination of:

- food quantity

- genetics

- physical activity or lack thereof

- food quality and make-up (plant / animal for instance)

- and an addictive element thrown in for some individuals

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#39

Post by matte_black » Fri, Feb 23, 2018, 7:57 PM UTC

IMO the only way for this number to go down is to educate future generations better on nutrition and the importance of taking care of their bodies. I have no faith that the vast majority of people currently overweight will ever weigh much less than what they do today, and studies have backed this up. 95% of people who lose significant weight gain it back after a year. The few stories of people who keep weight off for good does not scale out to the general population. Indeed, it still seems the best way to lose weight is to go back in time and never gain it in the first place. It is never too early to talk to your children about responsible food consumption.

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#40

Post by nicolashahn » Fri, Feb 23, 2018, 7:57 PM UTC

Anyone have statistics on what % of those overweight adults are actually healthy, or at least have an acceptable body fat %? Many athletes and weightlifters would be considered overweight by BMI due to muscle mass. And according to the "Adults" PDF, that's the metric they're using. It's probably not a large percentage but I get ticked off a bit to know that you can be in the "overweight" BMI category and have clearly defined abs.

I've also noticed that the muscle-building culture is much, much smaller in the rest of the world than America. So while I'm sure we have a lot more fat people, we also have a lot more buff people, both of which are contributing to this percentage.