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Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

cdc.gov

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Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#61

Post by adrr »

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.

Healthy food isn't expensive. You can buy chicken breast for $3 to $5 a pound. You can buy a head of lettuce for $2. Oatmeal is dirt cheap. Most vegetables are less than $3 a pound.

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#63

Post by Avshalom »

throwthisawayt wrote: post #23
CharlesMerriam2 wrote: post #11

Methinks that if 70% of you population is affected, something is effecting them. It's not just "low will power" even if that explanation makes 30% of people smug.

Why can’t it be low willpower along with availability of instant cheap calorically rich unsatiating food? In the past even if you had low will power you didn’t have access to cheap 2000+ simple carb / sugar meals. Now we do.

Because if it's 70% it's not "low willpower" it's "average plus a standard deviation will power"

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#64

Post by maxxxxx »

hangonhn wrote: post #34
izietto wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

When we were in Italy even the freeway rest stops had excellent fresh food. Here you can't find anything even remotely edible on freeway stops.

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#65

Post by NTDF9 »

pm90 wrote: post #24
nawitus wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It should be plausible to design a scientific study on how much a car centric culture is causing overweightness.

Why is it only now that obesity is reaching such epidemic proportions though? We've had a car-centric culture since Post WW2. Why haven't we seen this epidemic before?

Suburbs are growing farther and farther away.

More indoor entertainment than ever (Internet, video games)

No free spaces, parking lots for kids and young adults to just go out to walk/play

Took some time for the cumulative effect of all this to show up.

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#66

Post by throwthisawayt »

Avshalom wrote: post #63
throwthisawayt wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why can’t it be low willpower along with availability of instant cheap calorically rich unsatiating food? In the past even if you had low will power you didn’t have access to cheap 2000+ simple carb / sugar meals. Now we do.

Because if it's 70% it's not "low willpower" it's "average plus a standard deviation will power"

Fair point !

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#67

Post by pascalxus »

pm90 wrote: post #24
nawitus wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It should be plausible to design a scientific study on how much a car centric culture is causing overweightness.

Why is it only now that obesity is reaching such epidemic proportions though? We've had a car-centric culture since Post WW2. Why haven't we seen this epidemic before?

If you look at the obesity charts, year by year, you can see precisely the year obestity took off like a rocket. It was the year following the US Gov announcement that Fat is evil. This caused all the food manufacturers to start pumping everything full of sugar. In the coming decades, gym memberships increased quickly to no avail - you can't out excercise a terrible diet.

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#68

Post by trophycase »

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.

Honestly this is only slightly true. Beans are 2 bucks a pound, cabbage is 2 bucks a head, bananas are 50 cents a pound, chicken is 4 bucks a pound, lentils are 2 bucks a pound, broccoli is 3 bucks a pound, yams are 1.5 bucks a pound, green bell peppers are 1 each, peanuts are 4.5 a pound, etc.

You get my point but I think it's more of a culture and convenience thing.

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#69

Post by nkkollaw »

AlphaSite wrote: post #60
nkkollaw wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meh, veggies, rice, etc. are super-cheap everywhere in the world. It doesn't take money to eat healthy. It's not that fast food restaurants are the only choice is you don't have money. You can go to a grocery store and eat extremely healthy if you want to. Those who eat at fast food restaurants all the time are more uneducated than poor (although both things might go hand-in-hand), and might not know how many calorie…

Veggies are not cheap here, its cheaper in the UK and even in Singapore where everything is imported than in California.

Aww, come on! How much is 1 kg of carrots or potatoes?

Banana (0.25 kg) 0.63 $

Oranges (0.30 kg) 1.04 $

Tomato (0.20 kg) 0.85 $

Potato (0.20 kg) 0.60 $

Onion (0.10 kg) 0.26 $

Lettuce (0.20 head) 0.28 $

Not the best source probably, but by looking at https://www.numbeo.com/food-prices/in/Los-Angeles it doesn't seem like one can easily go broke from buying vegetables.

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#70

Post by mhb »

tjr225 wrote: post #37
izietto wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

Subsidies are the opposite of freedom. But other than that, good point.
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