Overweight in USA : the reason ?

1. Overeating
2. Sitting and watching TV
3. Driving everywhere and not walking
4. No exercise
5. Eating fast foods ... supersize
6. Snacking while watching TV
7. Eating prepared foods instead of cooking from scratch

The list could go on and on.

 

Part of the problem is bad for you food is cheap, and many can not afford to buy healthy foods, another problem is working mothers feed their family junk food, fast food, and rarely homecooked healthy foods, after all isn't that they are working so they can afford to take better care of their family, then feed them slop. Some of the biggest problems are video games and the computer, why bother being active when sitting still for hours is more entertaining and enjoyable.

 

People are overwight because they are forced to eat more and move less.

Okay that was sarcasm, but hey...

 

Bad nutrition and a sedintary lifestyle.

Even a lifestyle with little physical exersion but a proper diet...people would not be as overweight.

I am living proof. I changed eating habits and started exercise, lost 50lbs in 5mo.

 

It all depends on who you ask.

There's a lot of cheap food available. Most of the cheap stuff is also very bad for people. Animals are injected with hormones, and we get them in our meat and milk unless we want to pay a whole lot extra. They stick high fructose corn syrup in just about everything, and use tons of refined white sugar and bleached white flour.

There are people who can afford better, but don't want to because the fattening stuff tastes better.

There is a whole lot less gardening going on. People are buying stuff at the store instead, and the store offers pre-made stuff that people like. It tastes good to them and is easier than learning how to cook decent stuff. It's marketed to appear healthy when it's often not.

There's a lot less home cooking going on. So many people don't have time or their mom's didn't teach them. It's shocking to find out how many people just don't know how to cook. They have no idea how to make the basics.

Think about all the stuff we don't have to do.

We don't have to garden.

We don't have to walk.

Desk and management jobs are looked at as the best ones, and actual physical labor is looked at in this country as demeaning. There really is no respect towards those who sweat and actually put in a hard day's work in order to pay bills and feed families. There really are reasons why illegal immigrants can find work in this country, because there really are jobs that people think are too low-class for them.

We can take elevators instead of steps.

Shoot...we don't even have to open doors ourselves in most stores! They open as you walk up to them, or you can push a button to get through.

One grocery store I used to shop at would take your groceries out of the cart, scan them, put them on a conveyer belt, give you cards, and then you drove your car up and a worker loaded them. Don't even have to load your own groceries!

 

"Supersize Me" is not an accurate portrayal.

It all comes down to what we eat, how much we eat, and then what we do. I was raised a country boy, so I wasn't bellying up to McDonald's and such every day. However, my granny cooked the old fashioned way (with lard and real butter) and still cooked like she had a house full of young'uns. So I ate a LOT of greasy, fattening food growing up. Fried potatoes are mighty hard to pass up.

As an adult I have grabbed the easy stuff to eat, as well as whatever is cheapest. This means the value menu at McDonald's (as well as other places), cheap frozen pizzas, frozen dinners, whatever. I also developed a very sedintary lifestyle, especially as I ahve gotten older.

DonnA is right, though. The cheapest food you can buy is 99% of the time the absolute worst things for you. This is why the poor in the US are so morbidly obese and continue to remain so (and are getting bigger). I mean, for a dollar I can buy a box of snack cakes... or 2-3 ounces of lean meat (if you can get them to sell you that little). I can go to the grocery store and buy $100 worth of stuff... if I buy the cheap crappy stuff I will bring home a heaping buggy load, but only a few bags of good healthy food.

Man, talking about Granny's cooking had made me hungry.

 

Not necessarily true.

I do not have convenience foods in the house and very much cook like Grandma, but I still battle with weight/food issues.

It's a matter of temperance/moderation and laziness (except in cases of underlying medical conditions).

 

I'm guilty of yankee thrift when shopping, and financially, I don't need to be. The notion that the cheapeast foods are the worst for you is usually not true. Rather, the most convenient foods are usually the worst. Even there, it's a mater of degrees.

For example, A hot dog for lunch isn't going to kill you. But there's a difference between two hot dogs/a side of fries/a large soda and a hot dog/a side of corn or friut/a serving of fruit juice.

 

What you describe for some families means eating all week, or only a few days, if they are to eat all week they can't buy the good for you foods.
I saw on tv last night that people in this country that weight 550 pounds or more now numbers 2million, much greater then I thought.

If your grandma cooks like Trotters grandma and most all grandmas of old then this would be why you battle with your weight.
Grandmas always fried everything, used lard, fatty butter, fatty meat no fat cut off. And it was good, until we found it was killing us.

Johnv, prehaps you aren't grocery shopping where the rest of the country is. Here fatty not good for you hamberger costs $1.59, and good for you lean ground beef is $3.99, I call that ab ig difference, and a difference poorer people can not afford if they want to feed their kids all wekk or just part of it. these people can not afford fresh fruit and vegetables, lean meats, or low fat foods, beleive it or not they do cost more.

 

Ah, I see you've met my Grandma.

Actually, she didn't fry everything. She raised a huge family and lived off the land. I am the same. Yet somehow I still think I shall end up with her flabby arms. We're a huge family of huge people. Not huge----stout. Yeah, that's what we are, stout.

 

"Fluffy" is the word we use. And "big-boned".

I do have a large frame... but I have a XXXL body mounted on it.

 

LOL, no, never met your grandma, sorry, but I had one just like her, lol.
Hey, stouts not that bad.
When it's genetic you battle it a lot more then others do, I suspect thats you too, I know it is me.

 

Not as much agriculture as there used to be, actually. We raised a small garden this year (between a third and a half an acre), so we had fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, corn, okra, squash, bell peppers, cabbage, and onions. We cooked most of it and put up the rest. Even the stuff we cooked we cooked the way we grew up eating it... we freied the okra and most of the squash.

Most buy all their produce from a store. While some of it is not overly expensive, much of it can be. Either way it has to be prepared, which is too big of a hassle to many. Why go through the trouble of buying and fixing fresh when you can just open a can? Never mind that most of the nutrition is no longer in that can...

 

I have to buy moine, but I search out affordable farmer's markets whaen i can, buy from the grocery the rest of the time. And it is expensive. I try to cook as much fresh as possible, not a lot in winter becasue it is outrageously priced. I rarely fry anything.

 

Well, I almost said that us gals had man legs, but I didn't want to be mean :laugh:

Yes, genetics play a big part in my stout frame. And big nose, too. Now that's a sight---big nose and man legs. :laugh:

 

"Fluffy" would be fightin' words!

Actually, when I was at my highest weight, my kids used to call me "Puffy Mom". They thought it was cute, but I certainly didn't. It was one of the reasons I decided to change my eating and lose the weight. I've not been called "Puffy Mom" in seven years.

In my family, if a man is 180 or under, he is considered thin (and someone will inevitably say that he must take after his other family). If a woman doesn't wear plus-sized clothes, she is skinny.