eating ourselves to death

[stevesmi]

average american male in 1966 weight: 166
average american male in 2011 weight: 194

2M per year are diagnosed with diabetes.

if you aren't eating healthy and exercising DAILY you are opening yourself up to diabetes. 350M people worldwide now have diabetes, as the western diet spreads it will grow.

0 states 30 years ago had obesity rates
today 30 states have majority of people obese

junk food, dairy, sugar, bad fats. cannot blame this on genetics sorry.

 

[cuthroat]

It is no wonder the stereotypical american is depicted as a cheeseburger fry munching fattie by other nations.

 

[ronc26k]

Need to outlaw soda here in the states.... get people back to drinking water as well...

(as I type this I have 6 water bottles on my desk and one shaker with water and no2shotgun)

 

[stevesmi]

what is the difference between what males did in 1966 compared to today?

here is some ideas as to why, this is IMO.. feel free to add to the list or disagree

1. jobs. back then most jobs were blue collar.. you sweat, you picked things up, you were moving around.
today jobs are sitting on the computer or at your desk all day.. or driving, and when you come home from work you sit on the couch watching tv.

2. stuff in foods that did not exist back then. high fructose corn syrup, strong sugars, soybean oil, hydrogenated oils

3. processed food existed but you didn't eat much of it back then.. today many people eat nothing but processed junk. instead of fixing their own burger made from scratch they eat mcdonalds, instead of baking chicken they get KFC, instead of making a sandwich themselves they get subway. less home-made food

4. restaurants... I don't have the stats but I bet back then people went out to eat RARELY as a treat.. today people eat out daily, restaurants and fast food joints are on every street corner.

5. DRUGS... back then hardly anyone was on any drug.. today there are a CVS or walgreens on every street corner, and people are on prescription drugs and growing. every little ailment the doc puts you on drugs.

 

[die faster]

i see it in walmart, fat piece of shit parents filling up the shopping cart with all kinds of garbage. then you see their fat kids following behind them. they really are physically harming their children and setting them up for diabetes.

 

[shanarama]

I think the last prediction I saw was that 69% of Americans would be overweight or obese by 2020, that is just insane really. I think alot of the problem can be linked to convience foods and especially fast foods. The change from working a physical job to a desk job for the majority of people didn't help, but fast food is generally cheap and is very easy, so people fall victim to it. The other issue is portion size, not many people really know what a true single portion is of most foods, and "super" sizing is made to seem like a great deal for your wallet (despite being a horrible deal for your health). Its sad how many of the health care problems can be linked to poor nutritional habits and lack of exercise.........and it is costing us billions annually to pay for the health care of people who are experiencing the negative health effects of their choices. America needs a wake up call...

 

[stevesmi]

I think there is a segment of Americans who are eating healthier. example being publix which is the major supermarket in FL, most every store has organic food now... 10 years ago it was rare, heck even 5 years ago it wasn't very common. also places like Whole Foods are doing extremely well and everytime i go its packed solid.

keep in mind those Walmart shoppers who eat processed crap, if they started eating like us then food prices on produce and healthy food would skyrocket, and we would run out of food very fast.

 

[firewally1966]

I saw an article one day last week that said that researchers have attributed potatoe chips to be one of the top reasons that Americans are fat

 

[stevesmi]

I saw an article one day last week that said that researchers have attributed potatoe chips to be one of the top reasons that Americans are fat

they are loaded with hydrogenated oils.

people have to read ingredients.. but they are either too lazy or too ignorant to do that.

there was a time ingredients were not even shown, people fought their lives to change that.. guys like Ralph Nader... and then people don't even take advantage.. sad.

chain restaurants will be required to show stats on their menu's starting next year thanks to the new healthcare bill. i think people will be shocked to see what they are really putting in their bodies, but then again there will be a segment who doesn't even care.

 

[ExtraMile]

people simply dont understand and/or dont care about basic nutrition