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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

#211

Post by nicoslepicos »

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…

Just wrote a little Medium article about your post, as your comments about car culture made me wonder:

Will Autonomous Cars & Mobile Gyms Help With America's Obesity Epidemic: https://medium.com/@nicolaerusan/will-autonomous-cars-mobile...

Def, the nutritional issues are still there & so are the issues around communal activity - but I think for a lot of people I know who have long commutes to work, the opportunity to exercise in transit would be compelling.

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#212

Post by lhorie »

lobster_johnson wrote: post #148
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'm curious about this. I lived in a predominantly Latino (mostly Puerto Rican) neighborhood of Brooklyn for a while a couple of years back. The supermarkets were full of fresh, cheap food, yet the customers (who were consistently overweight and often obese, including the kids) were piling their shopping carts up with terrible stuff -- sugary cereals (Froot Loops etc.), sugary drinks (sodas, fruit juices, Caprisun, i…

Maybe the reason is that in a large part of the US, there isn't a strong home cooking culture. You can really tell the difference if you walk into a Daiso store (japanese dollar store). The variety of cooking-related gadgets and trinkets is mind boggling. In japan, they also do home economics (cooking) in school and culturally, ability to cook is often portrayed in media as one of the "checklist" qualities when looking at a romantic partner.

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#213

Post by seanmcdirmid »

0942v8653 wrote: post #78
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 don't understand this. Rice, potatoes, vegetables are still cheap here. I guess if you're looking at restaurants, this is true. If you are with a group and have to go eat somewhere, they usually provide healthy options which are not too expensive compared to the unhealthy ones (though sometimes, that's just due to smaller portions). Maybe you have a different experience, having just visited, instead of living here.…

I found buying fruits and veggies in LA to be much cheaper than Seattle, unfortunately. Both are still cheaper than Switzerland (but then...what is cheap in Switzerland?).

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#214

Post by ghaff »

factsaresacred wrote: post #201
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.

Decent by Italian standards is pretty decent. But if we're talking about fresh fruit and vegetables, go to any Asian market. Or Walmart. It's not that expensive. There's few good reasons to be eating tripe if you live in a city or live in a 'food desert' (spare me) and have a car. The real problem is the overabundance of crap choices crowding out the sensible ones. For example, here's Walmart's online store: https://…

My local Walmart isn't my favorite store in the world to go to for fresh produce and meat. The selection and quality are generally inferior to a couple of local regular supermarkets. But I could absolutely shop for food there that isn't all highly processed.

The thing is that, as you suggest, the pre-packaged deli section is bigger than the unprocessed meat section. And then there's the soda aisle, the chip aisle, etc. Shelf space is hugely tilted toward "junk" and other highly processed food.

My regular supermarkets have lots of processed food too of course. (And nothing wrong with a lot of that in moderation.) But it's far less skewed than in the case of Walmart.

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#215

Post by peterwwillis »

justboxing wrote: post #167
Joeri wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

One of that article's sources is cracked.com. They're not really known for the strictest journalistic standards. Here's a USDA website describing conditions of meat in stores: https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety...

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#216

Post by nsxwolf »

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.

Why would "fresh" and "high quality" make you lose weight?

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#217

Post by seanmcdirmid »

always_good wrote: post #93
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 watched a good youtube video that compared the 7/11-level food available in japan vs america and was convinced that this is one of the biggest issues. What's the healthiest thing you can get in a 7/11 in the States? An apple? One of those shitty packaged sandwiches that has a slice of ham with a mysterious wad of splooge? A hotdog that's been turning on the spit all day? Then you realize this is how it is every ste…

This isn't really a fair comparison: not a lot of people in the states buy food at 7/11, while it is much more common in Japan. With the volume that 7/11's do in the states, they can't really support bento boxes or whatever you'd find at the grocery store lunch counters (which, actually, are very comparable to Japan 7/11, but not as widespread).

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#218

Post by smn1234 »

zaroth wrote: post #141
adrr wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It may be true that these ingredients are available in certain markets for those prices, but that isn't accounting for a significant portion of the true overall cost of healthful eating. Healthy food tends to spoil, and if you're not able to go shopping multiple times a week and have unpredictable availability for meal preparation, you're going to see a lot of spoilage. If 30% of your fresh produce ultimately spoils,…

you're suggesting that humanity has historically had easier access to healthy (fresh) food as they went shopping multiple times a week? I doubt this. What makes you think there was improved transportation options or significant amount of free time ?

Re: Obesity and Overweight Prevalence for the U.S

#219

Post by anthony_romeo »

arikr wrote: 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.…

I don't disagree with what you've written, but regarding your brief point on exercise... On my journey to lose 100 pounds I came across a meta-analysis of studies on weight loss* which indicated that, while exercise wasn't a significant contributor to short-term weight loss, exercise was correlated to successful long-term weight loss (a much less likely occurrence, since the vast majority of people who lose weight regain it within a decade).

*I read this analysis a decade ago, so I can't really find it to share.

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