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I am putting this in health because I believe that this is a serious health issue.
We went on vacation recently to the midwest area. We very quickly noticed the abundance of obese people. The worst was when we went into a buffet restaurant one day for lunch. Now, typically I would not go to a buffet, but after about as many Subway sandwiches as we could stand, we thought we could get the kids some veggies, salads, and noodles for something half way healthy. Well, we were appalled by the size of the clientele who obviously belly up to this buffet for all you can eat on a regular basis. I went for a run the next morning through a residential area and was looked at like some freak! Is this the U.S. standard? Is this what we have come to? I have always lived in cities where this is not typical, so when I travel in the States outside of large urban areas, I am reminded how bad it is out there.
Last night I had the television on and I saw a commercial for a breakfast restaurant advertising all you can eat pancakes with this fat guy sitting there shoveling them down. No wonder this country is in a serious health crisis and it is apalling. Can this ever be turned around or it too late? I find it very sad.
I got news for you, things are only going to get worse. The price of food is rapidly going up and most people simply wont be able to afford to eat healthy.
Come on...there are plenty of fat people in big US cities as well. Pretending this is endemic only to the Midwest is being pretty disingenuous.
And the argument that "rising food prices" prevent people from eating healthy is disingenuous. I can make a perfectly healthy meal for less than a "value meal" at McDonald's.
Come on...there are plenty of fat people in big US cities as well. Pretending this is endemic only to the Midwest is being pretty disingenuous.
And the argument that "rising food prices" prevent people from eating healthy is disingenuous. I can make a perfectly healthy meal for less than a "value meal" at McDonald's.
Hi MaseMan, I'm actually from Wi myself. Plenty of beer and brat bellies there!
I realize there are fat people all over, big cities as wel. However, there are not the number of OBESE people on the east coast that I witnessed recently visiting South Dakota. MORBIDLY OBESE. I am by no means pretending anything! I see overweight people on a regular basis. But I'd be willing to bet that the percentages of obesity are higher in middle America than on either coast.
I am putting this in health because I believe that this is a serious health issue.
We went on vacation recently to the midwest area. We very quickly noticed the abundance of obese people. The worst was when we went into a buffet restaurant one day for lunch. Now, typically I would not go to a buffet, but after about as many Subway sandwiches as we could stand, we thought we could get the kids some veggies, salads, and noodles for something half way healthy. Well, we were appalled by the size of the clientele who obviously belly up to this buffet for all you can eat on a regular basis. I went for a run the next morning through a residential area and was looked at like some freak! Is this the U.S. standard? Is this what we have come to? I have always lived in cities where this is not typical, so when I travel in the States outside of large urban areas, I am reminded how bad it is out there.
Last night I had the television on and I saw a commercial for a breakfast restaurant advertising all you can eat pancakes with this fat guy sitting there shoveling them down. No wonder this country is in a serious health crisis and it is apalling. Can this ever be turned around or it too late? I find it very sad.
Hmmmm. Is self-righteousness and a jugmental attitude something you learned at home, or has it just sprung full-blown from your own hubris?
I'm not sure what L.K.'s point was, but it's a legitimate topic for discussion. Health care costs are rising rapidly and many, many diseases are caused or exacerbated by obesity. Diabetes, heart disease, cancer and arthritis have all been linked to obesity. The increased costs affect us all.
I'm not sure what L.K.'s point was, but it's a legitimate topic for discussion. Health care costs are rising rapidly and many, many diseases are caused or exacerbated by obesity. Diabetes, heart disease, cancer and arthritis have all been linked to obesity. The increased costs affect us all.
This is a very good point.
A lot of it just has to do with our increasingly sedentary lifestyle and easy access to junk food.
I am putting this in health because I believe that this is a serious health issue.
We went on vacation recently to the midwest area. We very quickly noticed the abundance of obese people. The worst was when we went into a buffet restaurant one day for lunch. Now, typically I would not go to a buffet, but after about as many Subway sandwiches as we could stand, we thought we could get the kids some veggies, salads, and noodles for something half way healthy. Well, we were appalled by the size of the clientele who obviously belly up to this buffet for all you can eat on a regular basis. I went for a run the next morning through a residential area and was looked at like some freak! Is this the U.S. standard? Is this what we have come to? I have always lived in cities where this is not typical, so when I travel in the States outside of large urban areas, I am reminded how bad it is out there.
Last night I had the television on and I saw a commercial for a breakfast restaurant advertising all you can eat pancakes with this fat guy sitting there shoveling them down. No wonder this country is in a serious health crisis and it is apalling. Can this ever be turned around or it too late? I find it very sad.
Blame it on processed foods (pasta too, by the way). People are NOT preparing good, wholesome food. They are eating fast food, as MaseeMan so astutely mentioned.
I got news for you, things are only going to get worse. The price of food is rapidly going up and most people simply wont be able to afford to eat healthy.
I know that this is a popular argument regarding obesity, but I don't believe that high food prices are the cause of obesity. While it's true that an overweight person might be malnourished because he cannot afford fresh fruits and vegetables, it doesn't follow that he necessarily must consume more calories to make up for it. If you look at pictures of people who lived through the Great Depression, when people truly could not afford to "eat healthy," you never see a fat person.
Soft drinks are a big contributing factor to obesity, but no one is forced to drink them instead of water. That's a choice people make. The same is true of eating at a fast food restaurant. The meals often contain huge amounts of calories, but nothing is stopping a person from ordering the smallest burger and fries and drinking water. Beans and rice are some of the cheapest food out there and they're filling and nutritious. Deciding to forego them for some cheap fatty meat like hot dogs or fried chicken is another choice people make.
I can see that if someone does not have access to a grocery store, or does not have the means to cook a simple meal, that their choices may be very limited. But if someone has running water, a stove, refrigerator, basic cooking implements and a little bit of time, they can almost always prepare a cheap nutritious meal at home that does not exceed the number of calories they need to be eating.
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