Main reason why so many Americans are overweight

I chose "less physical day"...

If I don't go out of my way to exercise, I'd be sitting down the whole day: in the car ride to work, at work, car ride home, etc.

Also why there are a lot of fat kids out there: video games and computers. when I was a kid in the early to mid 80's, the fat kid was always the "atypical" kid who stood out... now, it seems far more commonplace...

 

none of the above, actually. The main reason, for lack of a better term, is the overall lifestyle of Americans in general. That's a very broad statement, I realize that, but it's an effect of the myriad components of the way we live.

 

Regardless of type and quantity of food intake, as a society we substitute oil for knowledge. "National" sports (baseball, football, hockey, basketball, soccer) are spectator, not active participant sports. We bus K-12 students to and from school (vs. walking and bicycle), our cities celebrate sprawl requiring the use of individual vehicles. Schools model anaerobic short-term team sports, not life-time individual activities.

Our diets consist of "fast" convenience food based on saturated and transaturated fats (that carry the flavors). We view heart bypass operations as tune-ups. Our medical profession is allelopathic, that is physicians "treat" illness, they do not strive to prevent illness.

Madison Avenue and Detroit constantly reminds us that "bigger and faster is better" - which permeates our culture meaning that few people see any need for restraint be it food, consumer goods, housing, transportation or entertainment. Fewer families sit down to breakfast or dinner - so when we do socialize, "celebration" food is a focal point. Celebration food is what we once ate on Sunday after six days of hard physical labor. Fewer and fewer people are involved in daily physical labor and we now eat "celebration" food (high fat, deserts) every meal.

We are the "frog in the pot of water" - where the frog was placed into a pot of cool water, then slowly brought to a boil. Temperature change is so slow, the frog does not recognize the rise in temperature and eventually boils to death. Incidence of obesity and diabetes is very high - not just in adults, but in elementary and high school students. We "train" our children for a lifetime of obesity. We do not train our children for a lifetime of excellent health.

We need a complete turn around that rewards long-term prevention, not short-term "cures."

 

I'll give you a snapshot. There is a McDonalds on a corner of a busy intersection not far from my office that had a 39 cent cheeseburger promotion going on this morning. The drive-through had a line of SUVs, pickup trucks and minivans that wound all the way through the parking lot in to the street. Too much food, too much food that isn't very nutritious, too much sloth, a sedentary lifestyle with, ipso facto, little if any exercise. Too much stress, too much fear, too much isolation, too much apathy. We're too numb to feel anything and we're too distracted to pay attention to what we're doing at the moment. There was a National Geographic issue not long ago that featured longevity. Read the article thoroughly and see how much of it applies to the U.S. That's enough for starters

 

Let me add the the inclusion of high fructose corn syrup in great excess in nearly all of the processed foods consumed. Take a look at any food label and you'll see.

High fructose corn syrup is an addictive substance which only serves to create a desire to consume more. Consequently, our portion sizes have steadily increased over the years, thus making our caloric intake excessive and obesity more common.

I've made it my goal to eliminate all processed foods and to consume primarily organics. Let the farmers produce ethanol, not addictive food additives.

 

The choices did not include 2 important things- Carbs & sugar. The more of those you eat the more pounds you gain. To watch your weight you must eat sensibly and exercise on a regular basis. I know what I'm talking about as I lost 100 pounds from permanantly changing my eating habits and exercising daily. I also weigh myself twice a day to see if I'm getting off the mark.

I became highly motivated 2 1/2 years ago when I was diagnosed with Diabetis type 2. In a way it's a double edged sword, but I like weighing & looking like I do now much better than before.

Many of the kids I see in school are way out of shape and over weight. I have observed what they eat and how much. key point: As a diabetic I have been told to eat smaller portions and perhaps 5 meals a day instead of 3 larger meals.

I also do 75 situps every night. Hope this helps.

 

Well said!

Look around at all the Americans - and Canadians - who are pear shaped. It really turns me off, the entire fascination with instant high-energy "food" and a sedantary lifestyle.

Want to know what will *really* bankrupt North America? The health care costs from all these pear-shaped people as they approach middle age and beyond.

 

It's probably that it's cheap, yes. But if the fast food companies didn't make it so tasty they probably wouldn't sell nearly as much. I didn't need to see Supersize Me to realize that eating that junk made me feel queasy. I haven't eaten a fast food meal in years. Maybe decades.

 

Disagree with you in part of that. We do as a society focus on the reactive part of medicine, instead of the prevention arm. But not all physicians share this bias! I do, however, completely identify with the frustration that underlies your statement.

I spend the greater part of each day talking through the same lifestyle issues with the very large number of diabetics in my practice. Americans often just want a pill to fix the problem, instead of Actually Doing The Work. As unattractive as it sounds, a lot of what I do each day is breaking down the basics with the sedentary obese, trying to disabuse them of their shortcut mentality and encouraging them to do what they fundamentally do know it takes to control weight. (Consume fewer calories, exercise more.)

Take for example this: I had an email exchange with a patient who wanted me to prescribe Meridia, which is an FDA-approved appetite suppressant. He had used it years ago and had lost some weight on it (and gained it back, though he didn't initially admit that), and "really needs to lose some weight right now" so wanted to buy it. The nonprofit health care organization I work for will not pay for Meridia (it's non-formulary). I told him what I always say to this request (I don't prescribe it, medications do not produce long-lasting weight loss and are expensive and potentially dangerous, and bottom line he needs to abandon the quick fix mentality and reduce calories and break a sweat). He replied that he didn't care if it costs a lot of out of pocket money... he just needs to lose some weight right now, and he's sure that the medication would "do the trick."

"Do the trick."

That is the essence of it, to me.

 

One of the choices for the poll ought to be:

"consume more calories than we expend."

 

I've always thought of weight like a bank account. If you put more in than you take out, your "savings" will grow. If you take out more than you put in, your "savings" will shrink. Unlike a bank account, when it comes to calories, you don't want to make large deposits or carry a big balance.

Yes, Virginia, there is a fountain of youth. It's called diet and exercise. No, it does not come in pill form.

 

Americans eat too much. The diet is loaded with carbs and is too energy rich for the sedentary life style that many lead. For some folks (Native Americans, for example) there is a genetic component as well.

 

Have you ever tried eating a truly low-sodium diet for a few weeks?

Your receptors for sodium change. If you truly eat a LOW sodium diet (and anything relative to what most of us eat is pretty low.. but try fewer than 2 grams daily) for a few weeks, you do change the way you taste salt.

We put so much extra sodium in everything that it takes quite a bit for us to taste it, and a low-sodium diet tastes like cardboard to us.. for a few weeks, until "your body gets used to it" (the receptors down-regulate).

 

One thing that doesn't help is that thirst is often confused with hunger. Salt absorbs water so perhaps the two work together, eh? That is, thirst and too much salt.