Why are americans fat?

MacGyver1968 said:
I'm sorry sam, I don't understand. Could you please explain what you meant using smaller words. Them "5 dollar" words confuse me. :)

thanks
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You cannot compare two people with different economic and social conditions. So when analysing the data, you adjust it, to eliminate the effects of such differences.
 
Actually, i don't think it's about exercise as much as it is healthy food choices. The more fattening foods you eat, the more exercising you need to do to burn it off. Just stop eating fattening foods and just day to day activity such as even walking will take care of the rest. If you sit at a desk all day, then you need to set aside some time for exercise. People who do enough walking on thier job or even climbing a few stairs, running errands, running after thier kids can be healthy if they don't compound the problem with poor food choices.
 
Why? said:
Americans are fat because we have lost our blue collar workers. Americans engage in sedentary jobs found in the service sector. We simply do not get the exercise we used to. In addition, our diets are full of cheap foods doctored with cheap but high calorie flavoring agents, such as fat, sugar, and corn oil. The cheap food is the result of capitalism attempting to make the most profit.
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Yup!
That's it in a nutshell.
Out of the five cheapest ingredients you can make almost anything.
Fat, Sugar, Flour, Salt and Flavouring.
Look on the wrapper of almost anything you buy.
 
peta9 said:
Actually, i don't think it's about exercise as much as it is healthy food choices. The more fattening foods you eat, the more exercising you need to do to burn it off. Just stop eating fattening foods and just day to day activity such as even walking will take care of the rest. If you sit at a desk all day, then you need to set aside some time for exercise. People who do enough walking on thier job or even climbing a few stairs, running errands, running after thier kids can be healthy if they don't compound the problem with poor food choices.
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That doesn't apply to everyone, Peta. I have a very fast metabolism. I'm 5'11" and weigh about 165-170 lbs. I'm not flabby either.
My diet is whatever I feel like at the moment. I eat McD's, Sonic, Burger King, KFC, several times during the month, along with Snickers bars and 3-4 cans of Mountain Dew per day. Even though I do eat normal foods, I would say I have a very not nutritious diet.
And even though I do ride my mountain bike, I don't ride it but maybe once a week. By that token, even though I do ride my bike, it's not enough to warrant me being as thin as I am if I didn't have a fast metabolism.
I know quite a few people like me with fast metabolisms that can more or less eat what they want and stay thin.
Yes, I know that's an unfair advantage that people like me have over people with slower metabolisms that gain weight much easier, but we are stuck with the hand that mother nature gave us to an extent.
 
mikenostic said:
That doesn't apply to everyone, Peta. I have a very fast metabolism. I'm 5'11" and weigh about 165-170 lbs. I'm not flabby either.
My diet is whatever I feel like at the moment. I eat McD's, Sonic, Burger King, KFC, several times during the month, along with Snickers bars and 3-4 cans of Mountain Dew per day. Even though I do eat normal foods, I would say I have a very not nutritious diet.
And even though I do ride my mountain bike, I don't ride it but maybe once a week. By that token, even though I do ride my bike, it's not enough to warrant me being as thin as I am if I didn't have a fast metabolism.
I know quite a few people like me with fast metabolisms that can more or less eat what they want and stay thin.
Yes, I know that's an unfair advantage that people like me have over people with slower metabolisms that gain weight much easier, but we are stuck with the hand that mother nature gave us to an extent.
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Yes, of course their are people with faster or slower metabolism but I'm talking about in general it does apply. Whether you have a faster or slower metabolism, your food choices can help or exacerbate the problem period. That's just a fact.
 
peta9 said:
Yes, of course their are people with faster or slower metabolism but I'm talking about in general it does apply. Whether you have a faster or slower metabolism, your food choices can help or exacerbate the problem period. That's just a fact.
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True: also the differences aren't dramatic. If one has a higher natural metabolism than someone of the same height and age then eat one less cookie a day (or the eqivalent).....that's 10 lbs of extra 'fat' accumulated on the body over a year. you can't have more gas in your car's tank after driving 10 miles unless you put more in and you can't gain weight by not refueling the body.

It's remarkable fat Americans don't get in shape after watching those floatng blubber butts being hoisted out of the water after Hurricane Katrina: "Send down the big chains,,,we've got another heavy one !"
 
American food industry has done serious research as to what tastes better. So, people go after fast food and restaurants and buffet places. In my younger days, I could eat at a buffet a lot of food in lunch time but could not eat much for dinner. I did not gain. My weight has been steady with +/- 2 pounds for the last 20 years. But I do eat salads, fruits, grains etc a lot too.

My kids grew up with fairly balanced food and now, even if they eat at the fast food places, they do it in moderation without any coaching. This means that, how one grows up in the early years defines what they will eat in adulthood.

So, do not expect, it will get any better.

The other day, I was flying to DC and the guy in the middle seat insisted to lift up the divider. He took 1/4 of my seat too.
 
The food plays a big role. When I moved to the US from Asia I had to adjust my eating habits big time. It's more fattening, more expensive, and tastes worse. Before I moved here I was struggling to gain weight for sports.
 
Nickelodeon said:
I thought food was cheaper.
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I don't think so. In my case I used to eat in food courts very often and have a something like a satisfying meal of chicken and rice and soup for ~1USD. The memory of this really makes me want to cry :(

My food bill has been higher on average here and I rarely eat out anymore. Maybe it's cheaper than in Europe.
 
Wai,

It is not the spoon that bends,
It is I who bends.
God is in me and thus is you,
you just need to realize there is no separation between anything
and information processes cognition as
where objects exist in time and space and reality does not because it is the set of all sets
this is why spacetime is invisible from within, because it is nowhere absent
the dual 2 stage process gives rise to hology
It is I who bends, thus reality bends.
It is within reality that I am invisible, formless, odorless, tasteless
I am the variations of all things as my grammar is self-configuration
this is like a circle with every point being infinite as my variations
unbound defines me
I am ... ?... not
I am and I am not because I am neither.
I am neither because I am and I am not.
I am that = "I" and non-"I".

8. What is the "I"-object?

a. The "I"-object is an assumed entity that results from identification of Awareness, which is real, with the "I"-concept, which is unreal. The "I"-object seems to exist, but clear seeing shows that it does not.
b. You are not an object and You do not exist--You are Reality (Awareness)
 
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The OP is:

spuriousmonkey said:
It is often thought that Americans are fat due to the excessive amount of fast food they consume in combination with a lessened exercise regime.

Although these factors may have caused minor increases in obesity levels we suggest an alternative theory that makes more sense; literally.

1. The brain uses 20% of the energy available to the body, although it is only 1/50th of the entire body.

2. Experiments with dogs have shown that you can raise the energy expenditure of these animals by stimulating their mind; by making them think. (ref: personal communication with scientist)

3. Americans not only suffer from a fast food culture; they also suffer from a uncomplicated mind culture. Culture is served in repeatedly limited easily assimilated chunks of low information content.

Taking all these facts together we propose that the American people are fat because they do not think enough.
Primary evidence:
1. Americans are one of the fattest people on earth.

Secondary evidence:
1. MTV'zation of TV culture
2. Dumbing down of college and other educational programs.
3. voting for Bush twice.

References:
- Increase in Obesity in the USA
- Child's brain uses more energy than adult's
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or in brief:

spuriousmonkey said:
Taking all these facts together we propose that the American people are fat because they do not think enough.
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Not necessarily so. If two groups of people think equally hard but one group
eat more or exercise less, and all other factors (genetic, etc) are equal,
certainly that group will becomes more fat. :confused:
 
I suspect that Americans are more fat because they are either:

  • eat more
  • exercise less
  • eat less fibrous foods
  • eat more fatty foods, or
  • less worried about weight
:confused:
 
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