More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese • Hacker News Board

Re: More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

#211

Post by Balgair » Wed, Dec 30, 2020, 5:07 PM UTC

martindbp wrote: post #31

I still remember driving through some small town in Arizona 10 years ago, and I couldn't find a single non-obese person there. Not just overweight, full on obese. Parents, kids, everyone. It was the one of the most bizarre experiences I've had, as a visitor. Cities are not that bad though, but I'm sure many rural parts are close to 100%.

I had spent some time in South America and flew back into the US via Miami. We were a red-eye and so got in pretty early in the morning for Miami. The part of South America we were in is somewhat known as a fit place as well.

That said, it was shocking coming back to the US to see how fat and tired everyone was. I remember one of the TSA people who was just enormous. Literally wider than tall. Having been out of the culture for so long, I was a bit stunned at the size of that person and most of my countrymen too. I remember think to myself: how did this happen, how did we allow it to get so bad? That, and for being on a red-eye, most of the people in the US were more tired looking than the people that just got off the plane.

The combination of fatness and exhaustion was, obviously, quite memorable.

My big question is then: What is this doing to our society? Sure these changes must reflect in our education system just as they are reflected in our food system. Where else do they reflect? How have our politics been effected?

Re: More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

#212

Post by twelve40 » Thu, Dec 31, 2020, 3:04 AM UTC

Arnt wrote: post #206

thefz wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Exercise, in contrast, is filled with various forms of pain (short and long term) and lots of tedium. No, I wholeheartedly disagree. I strive for some exercise, daily. I really really long for those hours of solitude into the mountain, the physical exertion too. The sweaty and cold days. What you are referring to is mechanical repetition inside a gym or something, because one can feel forced to "work out". Exercise…

This. I'm about to go out bicycling for about four hours. Have been looking forward to it all week. It's a bit of a chore until I get into the flow, or perhaps until the traffic light density recedes as I leave the city, then it's so good .

Yeah, he literally mentioned what you said in the comment:

> If you're lucky, you get an endorphin rush to help offset these

And if you're not, you don't get it no matter how hard you try. Did hardcore biking for the last two years (2+ hours every single day, 9-hour bike rides on some weekends), took a break, probably will continue in 2021, but not even once got any good feelings from it, just an endless chore.

Re: More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

#213

Post by Arnt » Thu, Dec 31, 2020, 4:38 PM UTC

twelve40 wrote: post #212

Arnt wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. I'm about to go out bicycling for about four hours. Have been looking forward to it all week. It's a bit of a chore until I get into the flow, or perhaps until the traffic light density recedes as I leave the city, then it's so good .

Yeah, he literally mentioned what you said in the comment: > If you're lucky, you get an endorphin rush to help offset these And if you're not, you don't get it no matter how hard you try. Did hardcore biking for the last two years (2+ hours every single day, 9-hour bike rides on some weekends), took a break, probably will continue in 2021, but not even once got any good feelings from it, just an endless chore.

A friend doesn't, from biking. He swims instead. Another friend plays a team sport, one which is utterly incomprehensible to me.

That was my point, sort of. One size does not fit all, but different forms of bodily exercise exist. I believe GP did not try to say so.

Re: More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

#214

Post by feoren » Thu, Dec 31, 2020, 9:10 PM UTC

meowzero wrote: post #177

rsynnott wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I realized how much high-calorie ingredients you have to add to make the food taste delicious What are these ingredients? When I'm cooking the ingredients I tend to overuse to make things taste good are garlic, ginger, chilis, and sesame oil. I suppose sesame oil is high in calories, but you don't use much of it. Deliciousness can come from lots of places!

Mostly fats and carbs (sugars). A teaspoon of olive oil is about 40 calories. And most people use a lot more than they realize, especially when it requires sauteing. That can add up quick. Also, using fattier cuts of meat compared to leaner cuts (chicken thighs vs breasts). Of course that's part of the "fat" equation. Besides flavor, mouthfeel is part of what makes a food taste good. Fats usually provide good mouthfe…

I don't have evidence for this but my gut tells me that people are not getting fat off of olive oil, and in fact if they used more it would tend to offset a larger number of calories from other sources.

Re: More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

#215

Post by ekianjo » Sat, Jan 02, 2021, 10:26 AM UTC

robocat wrote: post #170

ekianjo wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I burn nearly 1000 calories in an hour of running (~12km distance). You get a lot more calories than you can physically burn in one day. A donut can be something like 500 kcal. Skipping on snacks is more much effective than exercising no matter how you look at it.

For losing weight, yes. However AFAIK fit and moderately overweight is better for your health than unfit and skinny.

It's a thread about people being overweight. We are not talking about other benefits here.

Re: More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

#216

Post by meowzero » Sat, Jan 02, 2021, 12:59 PM UTC

feoren wrote: post #214

meowzero wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mostly fats and carbs (sugars). A teaspoon of olive oil is about 40 calories. And most people use a lot more than they realize, especially when it requires sauteing. That can add up quick. Also, using fattier cuts of meat compared to leaner cuts (chicken thighs vs breasts). Of course that's part of the "fat" equation. Besides flavor, mouthfeel is part of what makes a food taste good. Fats usually provide good mouthfe…

I don't have evidence for this but my gut tells me that people are not getting fat off of olive oil, and in fact if they used more it would tend to offset a larger number of calories from other sources.

Olive oil is a fat. There is 120 calories for 1 tablespoon. Sure it’s healthy fat, but it still has a lot of calories. Butter actually has less calories per tablespoon than olive oil.

Re: More than 73% of American adults are overweight or obese

#217

Post by giantDinosaur » Sat, Jan 02, 2021, 1:25 PM UTC

meowzero wrote: post #216

feoren wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have evidence for this but my gut tells me that people are not getting fat off of olive oil, and in fact if they used more it would tend to offset a larger number of calories from other sources.

Olive oil is a fat. There is 120 calories for 1 tablespoon. Sure it’s healthy fat, but it still has a lot of calories. Butter actually has less calories per tablespoon than olive oil.

Nobody disputes olive oil's caloric content. It does seem like a stretch though to imply it has anything to do with the obesity crisis in the western world. Olive oil is not a recent introduction to our diets. Perhaps people are using much, much more - but that seems somewhat implausible, it doesn't actually taste that good by itself and I'd like to see something showing that the amount use to sauté the average unit of food has increased significantly in the past few decades. Either way, having tried/trying to gain weight I can confirm that olive oil is not particularly useful in that respect, it's easy to get ~80 calories with it but difficult to go beyond that. In a lot of cases you will not consume all the oil you used for frying or whatever anyway - so it is also misleading to imply that the volume used in cooking equals calories ingested, and unless you're cooking for yourself only, the amount needed to sauté e.g. onions is basically constant for 1-5 people, so you'd likely be consuming only a fraction.