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[Sulik2]

Ban refined white sugar and high fructose corn syrup as a regular food additive and regulate sugar like alcohol.

Ban all food advertising to children
End the corn subsidy
Subsidize fruit and vegetables growers instead

You have to make healthy food cheaper then junk food of you are going to have any shot at stopping the epidemic. Especially since it starts with children now and messes up their bodies for life.

 

[H.Protagonist]

Unhealthy meals are cheaper and quicker to obtain than good food for the vast majority

The portions we get at a lot of restaurants are way beyond what we actually need

Our lack of work/life balance means we have more stress and less sleep which are big factors

We eat until we're stuffed instead of eating until we're no longer hungry

The culture in the US is going to have to change before we see any real improvement.

Add to that the visual skewing that's taking place. What's considered 'heavy' today is waaay past what would have been considered heavy in the past. They've changed all the clothing measurements to vanity sizing and people just see themselves as not big. Today's 'average' is part of the problem.

 

[Nealand Liquor]

Obesity is out of fucking control in NA and it is a bit depressing tbh. I was at an affluent resort just outside of my city back in August and when I took the kids to the pool I was totally fucking shocked that my wife, kids and I were the only people not overweight. At first I didn't really notice but then it sorta hit me that every single person there was not just out of shape but quite obese. Shit there must have been close to 30-40 adults there and every single one was very large. 40 years ago you wouldn't have seen this same thing but now it's like everyone is overweight.
I can't give a shit with what people do with their lives and just because I am in shape that doesn't mean I judge or preach; but holy fuck I was shocked that every single person was overweight and not just chubby either. Christ and these are also people that make enough damn money to afford to eat healthy and buy a gym membership if they wanted.

 

[Dice//]

Canada recently introduced including the amount of calories/portions menu items are... it's wonderful. (EDIT, my bad it's in other places)

Weirdly, I feel like i can't really share this article on social media at fear of upsetting someone since I feel this is also a touchy subject even if detrimental.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

Canada recently introduced including the amount of calories/portions menu items are... it's wonderful.

We have that here too.

 

[LumpOfCole]

I truly think in 30 years, we’ll be looking back on soda use today the way we look back on cigarette use in the 60s and 70s.

 

[Dice//]

I truly think in 30 years, we'll be looking back on soda use today the way we look back on cigarette use in the 60s and 70s.

Coca-cola is the real 'coke addiction' to me.
I'll admit I love that shit and it's my one vice besides smoking up.

Ban refined white sugar and high fructose corn syrup as a regular food additive and regulate sugar like alcohol.

Ban all food advertising to children
End the corn subsidy
Subsidize fruit and vegetables growers instead

You have to make healthy food cheaper then junk food of you are going to have any shot at stopping the epidemic. Especially since it starts with children now and messes up their bodies for life.

Another thing is that it's simply cheaper to buy bulk, both for personal groceries or when restaurants do their own ordering.

 

[tcrunch]

I don't even see how we can solve this outside of educating people. How's the rest of the world fighting this problem?

Education is based on individual level changes and flat education (no social marketing) ignores cultural aspects of obesity as well. All scientific evidence points to the contrary for health, i.e. that we should be looking at it this way to actually encourage healthy lifestyles:

You must create an environment conducive to healthy behavior if you want people to have healthy behavior.

This seems really obvious but government efforts rebesity have been targeted around education instead of environmental change until fairly recently. Unfortunately politics gets in the way of true transformative change to American environments, ex. lobbyists maintaining subsidies for unhealthy foods, and conservative attitudes toward people who are obese or poor.

edit: The most effect means of changing minds at the government and private sector level is probably by telling them how much money the healthcare for an obese population costs compared to a healthy population. Talking billions extra at the state level in some cases. Of course the truly psychotic (ex. Trump) will just choose to delete healthcare and let everyone die, but there is a possibility that the more reasonable business owner or government official can be convinced if you explain that it will cost their business or institution in particular a lot of extra money.

 

[ClosingADoor]

I truly think in 30 years, we’ll be looking back on soda use today the way we look back on cigarette use in the 60s and 70s.

I stopped drinking soda a few years back. I take a coke every once in a while now when going out and not drinking. But damn, the though of drinking that stuff daily makes me sick.

I do see that more around me, that people stop drinking it and switch to water. But obesity rates here are still rising. Hopefully the trend will reverse over time again, but I'm not counting on it.

 

[Shake Appeal]

Education is based on individual level changes

Americans think personal responsibility in the marketplace will solve all problems. It's the Puritan/Calvinist influence that always fucks them.

 

[Nikodemos]

It would if you taxed sugar and subsidized healthy food, but it won’t happen.

You don't need to tax sugar. All you need to do is remove corn subsidies.

You don't even need to remove sugar beet subsidies, since sugar beet is inferior to corn (with subsidies) and cane (without subsidies) in terms of carbs-per-dollar.

 

[Subpar Spatula]

Stop feeding your fucking kids mcdonalds. Have some dignity, parents of USA.

 

[Hesemonni]

Meanwhile I clock in at a nice 120 at a height of 5'7.

120kg.

 

[Alebrije]

Not shocked , also maybe US has the more cases of morbid obesity. There is a culture of eating canned food, frozen stuff, sodas, fast food...

Health system will implode next years sisce it seems nothing will change.

 

[Lucky Forward]

Commander in chief leading by example

If you go to the website for the President's Council on Physical Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition and look at the "Meet the Council" page you'll see:

https://www.hhs.gov/fitness/meet-the-council/index.html

Why am I not surprised?

 

[LostMyNarbles]

At least the USA has a great healthcare system to.....handle.....this....mess..

 

[Nikodemos]

No one is cooking and high caloric fast food options are everywhere.

I reject the lack of exercise hypothesis. Car culture has been around for decades and only recently have we've been getting fatter. I think the lack of exercise is making the trends go faster, though. But you cannot out-exercise high caloric intake long term.

Yep.

People were couch potatoes in the 60s and 70s as well. Heck, the whole gym/fitness thing originated in the gay culture of the mid-late '70s.

What they didn't have is the gargatuan portions of refined processed garbage of today.

 

[mjc]

I truly think in 30 years, we’ll be looking back on soda use today the way we look back on cigarette use in the 60s and 70s.

Definitely. I cut out soda entirely about five years ago and I lost a good 25lbs in a matter of a few months with exercise mixed in. It's horridly unhealthy.

 

[entremet]

Yep.

People were couch potatoes in the 60s and 70s as well. Heck, the whole gym/fitness thing originated in the gay culture of the mid-late '70s.

What they didn't have is the gargantuan portions of refined processed garbage of today.

Not only that, we have way more gyms today. More people going to gyms. More personal trainers, more diet books, more health food stores, more fad diets, yet we continue to get fatter as an aggregate.

The food landscape is just too toxic to avoid for most people. Fat should not be the default and that's what we've made it.

Not to say people cannot lose weight and keep it off. You definitely can, but it usually involves long-term habit change, and it is not the default behavior for most.

 

[shira]

Ban refined white sugar and high fructose corn syrup as a regular food additive and regulate sugar like alcohol.

Ban all food advertising to children
End the corn subsidy
Subsidize fruit and vegetables growers instead

You have to make healthy food cheaper then junk food of you are going to have any shot at stopping the epidemic. Especially since it starts with children now and messes up their bodies for life.

 

[Infinite]

No one is cooking and high caloric fast food options are everywhere.

I reject the lack of exercise hypothesis. Car culture has been around for decades and only recently have we've been getting fatter. I think the lack of exercise is making the trends go faster, though. But you cannot out-exercise high caloric intake long term.

And "no one is cooking" because work/life balance is completely out of whack and education surrounding food is contradictory to nonexistent.

 

[Sunster]

We need to ask Asians for their secret.

They and most of the world do not put sugar in everything. We started doing this In the 70s. obesity has risen since. Stop consuming insane amounts of sugar.

 

[teh_pwn]

We need to ask Asians for their secret.

Just compare real Chinese food to Americanized Chinese food. We add sugar, oil, spice, etc. It makes you eat more. Nobody got fat off bland food.

 

[Sunster]

Just compare real Chinese food to Americanized Chinese food. We add sugar, oil, spice, etc. It makes you eat more. Nobody got fat off bland food.

lol we literally colonized swaths of Asia to get at their spices. No one is eating bland food except the people who need to add sugar to make it edible.

 

[Sapiens]

It’s nice being on the winning side for once.

Obese and proud.

 

[Haines]

To people who blame everything but themselves. Its easy as fuck to make small changes.

When i buy juice, like pure OJ?

I do half water, half oj in a small glass. Boom moderation of sugar.

Just a little effort and a little awareness goes a long way.

 

[teh_pwn]

lol we literally colonized swaths of Asia to get at their spices. No one is eating bland food except the people who need to add sugar to make it edible.

Sure but we put it in everything and combine with with sugar, MSG, oil, fry it, give it a pleasing texture.

 

[entremet]

We need to ask Asians for their secret.

More unified food culture.

The US is a hodgepodge of food culture and business has a part in it. Business being the fast food and restaurant industries.

 

[JordanN]

I truly think in 30 years, we’ll be looking back on soda use today the way we look back on cigarette use in the 60s and 70s.

I once proposed that maybe all fast food items should have warning labels, similar to tobacco products. Maybe it's time?

 

[ClosingADoor]

To people who blame everything but themselves. Its easy as fuck to make small changes.

When i buy juice, like pure OJ?

I do half water, half oj in a small glass. Boom moderation of sugar.

Just a little effort and a little awareness goes a long way.

Now convince a few hundred million people to do that. That takes a combined effort of having them make changes, but also changing the environment they live in.

A little effort and a little awareness does not work. Everyone in the world knows that eating too much crap is bad for you. They still eat it.

I once proposed that maybe all fast food items should have warning labels, similar to tobacco products. Maybe it's time?

It's not just fast food though. It's also all the crap people eat at home or in regular restaurants. Portion sizes are too large, too much sugar in it.

For people from Europe visiting America is truly strange when you see how large your soda containers are in shops, free refills on them, the sizes when going out for diner, etc.

 

[Gutek]

I once proposed that maybe all fast food items should have warning labels, similar to tobacco products. Maybe it's time?

That label could be on any food that is not veggies.

 

[nekkid]

I took our son for his first Happy Meal a couple of weeks ago, and only because it’s his birthday.

He’s 3. One McDonalds in 3 years.

We’ve been told that we’re too strict with that, by some people. People whose kids look overweight, I might add.

 

[Bitch Pudding]

 

[Infinite]

More unified food culture.

The US is a hodgepodge of food culture and business has a part in it. Business being the fast food and restaurant industries.

Even without fast food and restaurant industries running amok pulling a "more unified food culture" here in the U.S. of A would be next to impossible.

 

[DriftingSpirit]

Meanwhile I clock in at a nice 120 at a height of 5'7.

I have a similar build and I'm trying to gain weight/muscle mass.

I've completely flipped my lifestyle by working out, cooking much more and just generally being more active.

 

[Sunster]

like, literally just follow the AHA guidelines for daily sugar intake. 38 grams for men, 25 for women.

 

[teruterubozu]

It's not just food - it's general American lifestyle. Driving everywhere, working at a desk, surfing the internet, binge watching Netflix, etc. Almost zero mobility.

 

[Astral Dog]

I remember reading Mexico got higher on average

 

[poppabk]

I truly think in 30 years, we’ll be looking back on soda use today the way we look back on cigarette use in the 60s and 70s.

Soda consumption has dropped precipitously while obesity continues to rise. You are looking in the wrong place.

 

[Plum]

The only way this is going to stop is through some major changes both culturally and legally, we can't be expecting it to stop if we 'educate'/shame obese people enough.

I'm currently losing weight (and doing a decent job of it, 5lbs in 2 weeks!) but I'm not so self-centered that I think every obese person can do the same thing. It's a difficult path to take and I'm extremely privileged in the position I'm in to make those changes with the least amount of stress.

To people who blame everything but themselves. Its easy as fuck to make small changes.

When i buy juice, like pure OJ?

I do half water, half oj in a small glass. Boom moderation of sugar.

Just a little effort and a little awareness goes a long way.

See, this is the exact type of thing I'm talking about.

 

[Nikodemos]

lol we literally colonized swaths of Asia to get at their spices. No one is eating bland food except the people who need to add sugar to make it edible.

This is actually the main problem. As Heston Blumenthal showed in his sugar water banana test, you can subtract actual spices if you replace them with sugar (for 'sweet' spices), salt (for 'savoury' spices) and fat (for 'mouthfeel'). Food used to be spicier. Just look at Medieval recipes which had 6+ different spices in them. Agrobusiness corps replaced a large part of the expensive (and even the cheap) spices ('graynes of paradys', 'cubeb peper', 'star anys', 'root of gingevre', 'bark of the cassia tree' and that's only off the top of my head) with subsidised refined mass-processed garbage. They use only traces of the original spices and bulk up the flavour with sugar, salt and fat.

 

[Martinski43]

I was watching Man vs Food this afternoon (they show it on the Food Network here in the UK), and I was disgusted at the way overeating is celebrated in the US.

Don't the UK have the same culture of unhealthy eating and pretty much same obesity numbers though?

 

[Shake Appeal]

I remember reading Mexico got higher on average

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

This isnt sustainable, we cant have more than half of our population with diabetes and heart disease and then expect to be able to afford health insurance.

We have to tax the shit out of unhealthy food and subsidize healthy food. We cant count on americans to control themselves, it doesnt work.

We have to make fruits, vegetables, and lean meats the cheap food, salt, sugar, and fats should be expensive.

 

[entremet]

Even without fast food and restaurant industries running amok pulling a "more unified food culture" here in the U.S. of A would be next to impossible.

I agree. All I'm saying the food culture in the US determined by commerce, not public health authorities.

And commerce wants you to be entertained and addicted--repeat customers--so they value tastiness, not health.

I mean, I love pizza and burgers on occasion, but eating that stuff every day is a disaster for health. But it sure tastes great.

 

[Nordic4tKnight]

Too much celebration food has become everyday food.

 

[Fancyarcher]

They're subsidizing different foods, and they have smaller portion sizes, even at unhealthy restaurants like McDonalds.

Yet in some other countries, they're also getting "fatter", not as much, but they are. I really don't know how to solve this problem. Cutting back on the kinds of foods you eat can help, but people like it cheap and simple, which is a big issue.

 

[Rice-Eater]

My wife and I are currently apart of the problem and we're trying our best to fix it. We started 4 weeks ago and I'm 5'7 and was 192 and my wife is 5'0 and was 182. I'm 177 now and she is 172, so that's 15 for me 10 for her in the past month. We both have a long way to go and we're committed to keep it up as long as we have to.

Funny thing is that we're not staying away from the fatty food. We're actually eating a lot of it because we just recently switched from a normal low fat diet to the keto diet. My wife has always had a lot of trouble losing weight. But it seems like this might be exactly what she is looking for. So we'll see how it works out in the coming months. I should reach my goal before she reaches hers but I'll do what I need to do to keep her at it even when I'm not dieting the same way anymore. I'll just eat the same fatty food, but add some rice to my meals lol.

 

[Vuci]

That label could be on any food that is not veggies.

Not true.

 

[nekkid]

I was watching Man vs Food this afternoon (they show it on the Food Network here in the UK), and I was disgusted at the way overeating is celebrated in the US.

The thing is, I like that show. So does my wife. So do a lot of people I know - none of which are overweight.

The problem comes when people see that and say “this is how we should eat every day” rather than what sensible people say, which is “this looks like a great experience, once in a blue moon”.

You can take this stuff off the air, but it’s pathetic that that sort of coddling is required to get people to eat better.