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Is the U.S. a nation of gluttons? -
October 3rd, 2012, 10:44 AM
According to the CDC, more than one third of Americans are obese and that percentage is expected to increase. Although there are medical reasons which make it hard for some people to maintain a healthy weight, how much of obesity is the result of gluttony? While there are other factors to consider, such as poor food choices or lack of exercise, is it really because Americans simply eat far more food than their bodies require?
Yes, I think we're a gluttonous nation. Not limited to food.
Not everyone, of course. But I think overall we're gluttonous.
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There are many factors involved. Our systems are designed to crave fat and sugar because we evolved in an environment of food shortage. Now we live in an environment of plenty, but our bodies still crave fat and sugar as if we were still living with shortage. This makes it very difficult for most of us to avoid eating too much fat and sugar.
We also live in a "consumer culture" now, where consumption, and over-consumption, are being pushed on us constantly. And this makes it even MORE difficult for us to deny what our bodies crave, and ignore the constant plea to consume.
And add to that the deliberate strategies of big corporations to get us to by their food products, regardless of how bad they are for us. And they use advanced technologies to make that fat and sugar especially desirable. And in some cases even addictive.
And if all this isn't enough, we are living increasingly sedentary lifestyles. We simply don't need the number of calories that we once did to get through our day. Yet even though we move around less, we still have little time to exercise deliberately.
When you combine all these forces arrayed in favor of our eating too much, and too much fat and sugar, and not getting any exercise, it's no wonder that so many of us are over-weight. In fact, it's amazing to me that we're not ALL obese.
Yes, I think we're a gluttonous nation. Not limited to food.
Not everyone, of course. But I think overall we're gluttonous.
No, not limited to food. At all. There are a lot of ways for a materialistic and consumerist society to feed a monstrous appetite. Maybe I should have made the OP less specific.
There are many factors involved. Our systems are designed to crave fat and sugar because we evolved in an environment of food shortage. Now we live in an environment of plenty, but our bodies still crave fat and sugar as if we were still living with shortage. This makes it very difficult for most of us to avoid eating too much fat and sugar.
We also live in a "consumer culture" now, where consumption, and over-consumption, are being pushed on us constantly. And this makes it even MORE difficult for us to deny what our bodies crave, and ignore the constant plea to consume.
And add to that the deliberate strategies of big corporations to get us to by their food products, regardless of how bad they are for us. And they use advanced technologies to make that fat and sugar especially desirable. And in some cases even addictive.
And if all this isn't enough, we are living increasingly sedentary lifestyles. We simply don't need the number of calories that we once did to get through our day. Yet even though we move around less, we still have little time to exercise deliberately.
When you combine all these forces arrayed in favor of our eating too much, and too much fat and sugar, and not getting any exercise, it's no wonder that so many of us are over-weight. In fact, it's amazing to me that we're not ALL obese.
All good points.
It's been in the news recently that the wheat being grown in the U.S. today isn't our grandparents' wheat. I don't know if the claims made by the doctor are supported, but he alleges that wheat's genetic modifications make the protein in it, gliadin, bind to opiate receptors in the brain.
As for consumer culture, going to Wal-Mart is getting increasingly painful. I only go there because it's the closest store to my house, at 2 miles away. Now I can't pass a food aisle without a motion-detected video screen popping on and screeching at me, trying to sell me a product. The TVs over the main entrance are blaring sales pitches, and I'm even walking on advertisements stuck on the floor. So much of what they sell is cheap plastic stuff that nobody needs but they buy it anyway because it's too cheap to pass up.
Last edited by annabenedetti; October 3rd, 2012 at 12:16 PM.
It's been in the news recently that the wheat being grown in the U.S. today isn't our grandparents' wheat. I don't know if the claims made by the doctor are supported, but he alleges that wheat's genetic modifications make the protein in it, gliadin, bind to opiate receptors in the brain.
As for consumer culture, going to Wal-Mart is getting increasingly painful. I only go there because it's the closest store to my house, at 2 miles away. Now I can't pass a food aisle without a motion-detected video screen from popping on and screeching at me, trying to sell me a product. The TVs over the main entrance are blaring sales pitches, and I'm even walking on advertisements stuck on the floor. So much of what they self is cheap plastic stuff that nobody needs but they buy it anyway because it's too cheap to pass up.
Capitalism is a poor economic system for large technologically advanced populations. These things are just going to get worse and worse until we finally decide to take control of our commerce and force some restraints on it. Everyone cries and whines predicts the end of the universe when they hear the word "socialism", but the truth is that we need to reign in commerce in this country and make it more socially responsible.
There are many factors involved. Our systems are designed to crave fat and sugar because we evolved in an environment of food shortage. Now we live in an environment of plenty, but our bodies still crave fat and sugar as if we were still living with shortage. This makes it very difficult for most of us to avoid eating too much fat and sugar.
If people went back to a more simple way of eating, they would be so much healthier.
It's a sad irony of our times that instead of the poor being thin and the rich fat, it's the other way around today.
Last edited by annabenedetti; October 3rd, 2012 at 12:23 PM.
However, in sharp contrast with the suggestion that a secular drift towards high fat diets has induced people to overeat, there is evidence, based on the National Food Survey's annual measures of household food consumption, that the British are becoming fatter in spite of consuming less energy than in the 1970s.11 Even after adjustments for meals eaten outside the home, and for consumption of alcohol, soft drinks, and confectionery, average per capita energy intake seems to have declined by 20% since 1970(fig 4.)Analysis of cross sectional surveys corroborates the data from the National Food Survey.
Probably both. I don't know about Britain, but Americans are in love with their cars, and in many places for good reason. Anyone living outside an urban area isn't going to be able to walk their way to work so that's understandable. But long commutes and then lots of TV and internet time leave little room for the physical activity that was a big part of life before the last two generations.
Capitalism is a poor economic system for large technologically advanced populations. These things are just going to get worse and worse until we finally decide to take control of our commerce and force some restraints on it. Everyone cries and whines predicts the end of the universe when they hear the word "socialism", but the truth is that we need to reign in commerce in this country and make it more socially responsible.
How are you connecting obesity and capitalism, and how would socialism fix that? Not that I necessarily agree or disagree, but where does, say, crass commercialism end and personal responsibility begin?
Capitalism is a poor economic system for large technologically advanced populations. These things are just going to get worse and worse until we finally decide to take control of our commerce and force some restraints on it. Everyone cries and whines predicts the end of the universe when they hear the word "socialism", but the truth is that we need to reign in commerce in this country and make it more socially responsible.
Which part of capitalism is it where we subsidize corn so much, which is borderline magical in it's ability to put weight on people, and everything else that eats it, that it winds up in virtually everything we eat, whether as an ingredient or as a feed?
Some Notable Fat Countries
Kuwait - 74.2%
United States of America - 74.1%
Argentina - 69.4%
Egypt - 69.4%
Greece - 68.5%
Mexico - 68.1%
Venezuela - 65.2%
Some Notable Skinny Countries
Ethiopia - 5.6%
Cambodia - 11.3%
Afghanistan - 15.1%
India - 16.0%
Pakistan - 22.2%
Japan - 22.6%
I don't think political system has anything to do with it. Clearly impoverished countries are not as fat as rich ones .What other conclusions can you draw from it?
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October 3rd, 2012, 12:55 PM
Just an observation, my wife and I visited Korea in 2011. We traveled the entire country (spent 8 days there) and I rarely saw any overweight Koreans.
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