Chewin’ the Fat (Why Americans are so fat)

MSNBC ^ | September 18, 2003 | Gersh Kuntzman

[Nachum]

Sept. 15 — You may have heard that America is fat. You may have heard that nearly two-thirds of us are overweight and 31 percent of us are obese. You may have even heard last week that the Department of Agriculture will soon decrease the number of calories a person should eat every day, an admission that there’s no point in designing diets for the healthy average American when the healthy average American no longer exists.

WE MUST BE fat. After all, Katie Couric did a two-hour special on it on Friday night. And even Dr. Phil, who previously spent his time shrinking heads, has moved on to shrinking bodies.
That’s why I was so happy to see that my favorite academic publication, the American Journal of Public Health, had devoted its entire September issue to why Americans are so freakin’ fat.
If you guessed, “Because we eat so freakin’ much,” guess again: The supersized portions are only the half of it.
You may not be a regular reader of the august AJPH (and when I say “august,” of course I mean, “widely unread”). That’s understandable. There’s not a hot celebrity on the cover or articles that offer new details of why Ben dumped Jen. Second of all, the writing isn’t too stylish. For instance, they keep using academic terms like “the built environment” when they really just mean houses, roads and neighborhoods.
But this issue is chock full of reasons why we’re a flabby nation:

1. We’re the only animals on the planet that live in communities that make us more obese. We’ve built suburbs (“the built environment”) so spread out that people must rely on cars because walking or biking simply isn’t an option. Many developers today don’t even bother to install sidewalks and some communities intentionally build new schools on the edge of town, hindering children’s ability to safely walk or bike to school (whatever happened to President Bush’s “Run No Child Over” education reforms?).

[Nachum]

Hmph

Not one mention about all the white flour, white rice, and sugar Americans eat.

[Rodney King]

To the extent that people choose to be obese, I have no problem with it. I have a problem with it when I have to bear the costs of their lard-assedness because health care is not a free market. I also have a problem with it when I go to Walmart and have to look at their disgusting whale-turd selves ride around on the little Walmart electric scooter because they are too fat to walk to the twinkie department.

[Lib-Lickers 2]

It's these damn M&Ms,,, yumm yum yum,,,,,,

[Restorer]

Pretty good article. A major reason for obesity is that our cities and suburbs are designed so that it is extremely difficult, even dangerous, to use any method of transportation other than a car.

Thus, exercise has to be something that you do for its own sake, rather than something you do in accomplishing something else, such as getting to work.

I travel a lot, and often try to get along without a car when in a strange city. Getting from a hotel to a restaurant without a car, even if it's quite close, can be a harrowing experience.

I'm not one of those who wants to ban the car. But a person should be able to get where he needs to by bike or on foot, if he wants to, without risking his life.

[Dan from Michigan]

We’ve built suburbs (“the built environment”) so spread out that people must rely on cars because walking or biking simply isn’t an option

How come the fattest are in the inner city?

But public health officials are rarely, if ever, consulted, so our subdivisions actually make us fatter and lazier.

In the subdivisions, there were lots of football, basketball, and roller hockey games. Exercise is there and availible. People walk all the time in those as well.

Suburban sprawl also makes us lonely

I did alright in the country, let alone suburbia.

and cause “a lack of social networks and diminished social capital,

Ever hear of making your own networks?

which can contribute to obesity, cardiovascular disease, mental health problems, and increased rates of mortality.”

How so?

Instead of designing walkable cities, we build sprawl that makes us even more dependent on the automobile

Why are people moving to sprawling areas and moving OUT of cities?

[meyer]

To the extent that people choose to be obese, I have no problem with it. I have a problem with it when I have to bear the costs of their lard-assedness because health care is not a free market.

So, would you say that the correct solution would be to limit their behavior to conform to a less expensive lifestyle, or would it be better to move towards making health care a free market item?

[w1andsodidwe]

How about the fact that we give mommy food stamps to feed her kids, then we provide three square meals for the kids at school. No wonder the kids are fat.

Everytime I am in a restaurant and I hear a parent say "Clean your plate" I want to scream "NO". We are a society who cannot leave food on our plate because we are trained from birth that it is bad.

A couple weeks ago, there was an article here about a school in Iowa that impossed silence during the lunch hour, so that the kids would concentrate on eating and clean their plate. Outrageous.

In TV guide this tonight I was reading about a couple of kids who got an award for feeding the hungry. Providing birthday cakes of all things. Where are the hungry? Why are they hungry?

It's a vast left wing conspiracy to force feed everyone.

[najida]

Yep,
I have a relative that doesn't own a car, and goes everywhere on his bike.

I have watched him stoke himself on close to 3000 kcal a day (50% or more of it carb) and his body fat is around 9%.

Also, friend who worked in the Baltimore Zoo where she literally ran after birds all day. The girl could put away her weight in Krispy Kremes, and couldn't keep her weight up.

For most (granted not all, but most) it is activity.

[HairOfTheDog]

Oh good grief..... poor ~you~ having to ~look~ at a 'lard-ass' in the store. How upsetting that must be.

[meyer]

Why are people moving to sprawling areas and moving OUT of cities?

Very good question. If the "elites" would look at why people choose to live where they do, perhaps they'd find the real reason that people leave the inner city in the first place. Then they could formulate a solution.

I saw a similar article a week or two ago - their general point was that "sprawl" was responsible for people being overweight. How did they come up with this conclusion? By comparing the BMI (not even the body fat composition) of people in various counties. I would think that the best conclusion they ought to be able to come up with is that people in certain counties tend to have a higher BMI when compared to those in other counties.

[meyer]

Plus, I might add, I recall that they only used data from "select" counties, kind of like the Gore-ons.

[Rodney King]

So, would you say that the correct solution would be to limit their behavior to conform to a less expensive lifestyle, or would it be better to move towards making health care a free market item?

Free market, of course.

[meyer]

I have watched him stoke himself on close to 3000 kcal a day (50% or more of it carb) and his body fat is around 9%.

I eat around 3500 Kcal per day - My weight is steady. I don't ride my bike nearly enough, but I do work out and do a good deal of yard work. Exercise is an important key.

Seriously, most people just don't pay attention to the intake/output equation, nor do they pay attention to what they eat. That alone is probably a bigger factor in people being overweight than anything else.

[GOP_Proud]

I agree.

I wonder. Does it offend him to see a stick with a potato on top walking around? You know. A guy who turns side ways and ya lose him.

Why is it so easy to believe that Skinny Joe just can't gain a pound but Fat Joe is just lazy?

Haven't figured that one out yet.

[meyer]

Free market, of course.

Thanks! A refreshingly good answer to an admittedly pointed question. :)

[Rodney King]

Oh good grief..... poor ~you~ having to ~look~ at a 'lard-ass' in the store. How upsetting that must be.

Well, its not so much looking at them as it is that they expect to be treated like quadrapalegics. For example, when I see a truly handicapped people stores I get out of their way, I help them get things down from the shelves, etc. These lard asses want to be treated the same way simply because they have no self control and like to stuff their fat faces.

[John Robertson]

I also have a problem with it when I go to Walmart and have to look at their disgusting whale-turd selves ride around on the little Walmart electric scooter because they are too fat to walk to the twinkie department.

Dude, i was taking a gulp of caf-free diet pepsi when i read that, and only through a pretzel twist did i spare my new dell UltraSharp 18" monitor (installed today!) from a cola bath. I sprinkled down a bunch of papers.

I guess I'm saying, good line.

When I lived in S. Cal., I'd go to Price Club, and load up my giant grocery cart. But, for the really big buyers, they provided those major rolling carts--upon which the dad would heave major feedsacks of rice, cereal, etc.

the typical family i saw pushing those carts consisted of: a 400 pound dad; a 325 pound mom; a 225 pound daughter, a 275 pound son. they were breathtakingly disgusting. i followed one such family out into the parking lot once... and they blotted out the sun. badda bing.

i fight weight all the time, for years now, but i never understood getting that obese...i mean, i feel different physically after putting on 5 pounds. do these people look in the mirror, see they've put on 150 pounds since they hit 30, and say, Hey, Dude, looking good!

[Rodney King]

Why is it so easy to believe that Skinny Joe just can't gain a pound but Fat Joe is just lazy?

I don't have an opinion about skinny joe. However, I have known a lot of obese people in my life and all of them were simply lazy and preferred stuffing their faces to being healthy. Sure, there are people who suffer from certain medical conditions that make them obese, but its very rare.

To assert that medical conditions account for obesity would be to assert that there is some medical problem in Oklahoma that does not exist in New England. I moved to OK from CT a little over a year ago. There are very few morbidly obese people in CT, but they are all over in OK. I also lived in Switzerland this summer. I did not see a single solitary obese person under 60 years old my entire time there. What medical problem do Oklahomans suffer from that the Swiss don't?

[HairOfTheDog]

The attitude is beyond arrogant... and I am sure RK doesn't give a crap what I think nor is such a person going to suddenly develop courtesy... But it needed to be answered.

[Rodney King]

Right, I have been overweight before. What I am talking about are the 250+ pounders. However, according to some posters on this thread they all just have medical problems.