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Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

cdc.gov

161–170 of 271 posts

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#161

When you're poor, you prioritize calories over nutrition, and Americans are becoming increasingly "poor". From https://twitter.com/hugwins/status/963282840292032512?lang=e... : > When you are in a place where it's eat food that gives you no vitamins, no protein, no micronutrients, etcetera, or eat food that does not give you enough basic breakdown of glucose to get your body through another day, you do not have the l…

But McDonalds and fast foods are much more expensive than healthy foods like rice, beans, rolled oats and potatoes, onions (all can be had for less than 1$ per pound). They should allow people to purchase those foods, and maybe even publish a guide on how to stretch each dollar farther. as i said before, Beans especially are very well balanced, super high in fiber, protein and micronutrients.

I can't feed yourself on onions. And diet based on rice and potatos is not all that better for you. And you have to know hoe to prepare these so that they are remotely tasty.

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#162

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…

I would fall into this category. I am 5'11", weighing 220lbs, which equates to a BMI of 30.7. My hobby is powerlifting, 1,300 lbs total.

I have a clean diet, but do eat a heavy animal fat diet. Though all my meat comes from a local small farm e.g., I was able to watch the pig grow from a baby to right before it was slaughtered. I saw them feed the pigs (6 in total) 15 gallons of goats milk etc...

The beef I got was done a similar matter but a slightly larger farm - which was grass finished. While I eat a meat heavy diet, I feel great, the best I have in my entire life (I am 32 years old).

I also tested my cardio recently via swimming and I was able to swim 500 yards in 11 minutes. Not breaking records but felt good enough. Though I did notice swimming is more form and I basically muscle my way through the water i.e., I don't have good swim form.

Could I loose some weight? I am certain I could and probably be a little healthier. However, the feeling of being strong is incredible and I don't wish to give that up.

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#163
post #2

This might be a good YC "request for startups." Virta Health is one I've seen. And the Robert Johnson Wood Foundation is working on this cause: https://www.rwjf.org/en/our-focus-areas/topics/childhood-obe... -- Diet seems crucial. Obesity isn't really helped by exercise. ( https://www.vox.com/2018/1/3/16845438/exercise-weight-loss-m... ) "Significant weight loss was observed with any low-carbohydrate or low-fat diet.…

We applied and interviewed twice with Bitesnap/Bite AI but got feedback that they weren't sure if the market was big enough. Blame probably falls more on us and our ability to sell the vision though.

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#164
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…

The reason Americans eat that much sugar is not the "one won't hurt" mentality, but the fact that the government singled out fat as the only source of evil, and companies started adding sugar to everything because without fat everything tastes like cardboard. I bet most of the sugar consumed is from things that no one would think contain as much sugar as they do (like--bread, meat, etc.), which is added to make it mo…

I was curious so I checked the bread in my cupboard. The generic loaf of white bread has high fructose corn syrup, and the fancy whole wheat loaf has sugar. Both are pretty high up in the ingredient list.

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#165
post #20
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.

My (potentially incorrect) impression was that the Common Agricultural Policy in Europe meant that the affordable food prices you get used to could just be the result of subsidies. So any country with different subsidies would have surprisingly high food prices and give you sticker shock, but that wouldn't really mean all that much, it's like the difference between paying for it in the store vs paying for it with taxes. Is this plausible?

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#166

How many of these people are actually "overweight" as far as health and how many are "overweight" according to BMI? When I was in the best shape of my life from my mid 20s to my mid 30s, working out 12 hours a week (part time fitness instructor and a runner) with a body fat of 12% (measured with calipers) and a 29-30 inch waist, I was according to the BMI calculations 30 pounds overweight. Even now weighing 10 pounds…

>Where exactly am I suppose to lose 40 pounds from?

At your best shape you still had 5% lower you could go on your bodyfat, assuming you are male. It can be rather stricking, I used to be 208lbs and didn't feel like I was overweight at all. Got into endurance sport and dropped to as low as 165. (normally hover around 175 now that I'm not hardcore about it) I can look at pictures and see now where it went, but couldn't have imagined it before.

I think a lot of people in America suffer from skewed expectations. The kind of body mass that is healthy is perceived as sickly and unrealistic at this point. Yet it used to be common, or is common in other parts of the world.

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#167
post #106

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.

It's the food. I've visited the U.S. several times, and every time I'm shocked by how hard it is to find affordable healthy food. Even so called "healthy" options like salads are often loaded with egg yolks, fatty dressings, bacon bits and all kinds of unhealthy ingredients. Portion size is also way off.

... and salt, sugar and butter. I was surprised to learn that supermarket chicken and meat is routinely injected with salt water and other chemical in a process known as 'Plumping'....

Source: https://www.naturalnews.com/037153_food_industry_chicken_fil...

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#168
This is a big problem. Americans are eating poorly due to many different reasons. Easy ways for people to stay healthy is understanding your body a bit better and understanding your body composition, https://latechnews.org/results-understanding-body-compositio... , and what body composition is healthy for you. Another easy fix is to set SMART health goals that are attainable and realistic. https://latechnews.org/setting-smart-health-goals/

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"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." New York City is perhaps one of the most walkable cities in the world. It's also a place where you absolutely do not need a car and the majority of residents don't have a car. Yet 34% or New Yorkers are overweight and 22% are obese.[1] The BMI statistic for the EU are none too…

Even if it doesn't explain 100% of it, it's still striking that the overweight rate in NYC is, according to your figures, less than half of the US average.

But even at half of the US average its still at a level considered epidemic.

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#170
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My ex has a degree in biology, yet can't understand that feeding the kids box mac-and-cheese and pasta multiple times per week (because it is easy to prepare) is what's making them fat, not just the portion sizes. So yeah, what you describe is real. I'd take it one step further though - not only do most Americans not really understand the content of their food, but most can't cook. They have really no understanding o…

I would suspect most kids learned to cook because a parent was home doing all the cooking, and when they got home from school they would be expected to assist with meal prep. With both parents working, less time to prepare meals, we are raising a generation who on average has a lot less first-hand experience with how to cook, and certainly how to cook healthy balanced meals.

Here's what's weird for me... my mom came from a traditional farm family - so she really knew how to cook. She was also a home economics teacher for many years, so she taught middle schoolers how to cook. While I remember vaguely being in the kitchen with her as a kid, I really don't remember her ever teaching me anything in particular. It certainly wasn't an every-day thing for me to help with meal prep. But, today I'm a really good cook and have done the majority of meal prep for my family (3 kids) both in and out of being in a two-adult household. I guess what I'm saying is -- I agree with you, but I also think that too many adults cop out on "I don't know how to cook!!!!" when it is actually not that hard to figure it out. Anyone can make a salad, throw some veggies in a wok, make some rice and beans, etc. The healthiest meals are in many cases the easiest to make, but somehow people think it is even easier to grab that frozen lasagna out of the freezer.
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