why are Americans so obese?
OK, Levi,
You seem to have opened a can of worms...you have scratched an itch that just won't stop itching...opened Pandora's box, as it were. Enough metaphors?
I'm half German, and my son loves Germany...he lived in Berlin for 6 months last year and just had such a great time. He seemed to feel that Europeans and Orientals had less obesity in their populations...He is currently visiting Korea, and has spent months in Japan as well. He is planning to go to London to record the rock group, Longview -- and he travels all over. My other son has spent months in Scandinavia, and is heading back to Finland next month. I don't get around much, but I ask questions and listen to the answers.
What I am seeing is multi-faceted, as are the responses you have received. First of all, people feel offended not because you "notice" they are fat, but because they know they are fat and are working very diligently at improving their health and appearance. OK? It seems insulting to criticize when someone is working on it. It would make more sense to criticize (if one must) if people are unwilling to look at themselves honestly and try to do something about it.
On another note, however, as many have said, they HAVE BEEN TRYING, via low fat diets...personally, every time I cut calories, my metabolism STOPS COLD. I have gained 5 pounds every year for 15 years. That's frightening - I mean TERRIFYING. I ask myself, when will it stop? North Americans are gaining weight by the droves, and if you read the research, we have gained this weight during a period of time that we have also cut our fat consumption to an all-time, historical LOW! OK? So, we have been misled. Who misled us? The government and the doctors. Why? I don't have a clue...are they just plain stupid?
I was recently told (can't verify it) that the "food pyramid" was devised by a bunch of government lawyers. Now look at it...basically grains and fruits and vegetables, low on fats!!! Yet if you look at what is WORKING for the lovely people who are working so hard in these forums, you will see high protein, high fat, low carbs. Across the board. And we are losing weight. Not wasting away -- losing our fat. Many of us are increasing our activity to build muscle mass which, of course, fires up our stalled-out metabolisms.
The comments about poor people = cheap food? YES, decidedly. Comments about fast food? Absolutely, they're poison. How about if we mention the beef/pork/chicken industries feeding our animals with chemicals and hormones which make humans retain water and gain weight? No one has mentioned that Americans lead very complex, busy lives. I am on summer vacation (teacher), and you wouldn't believe how busy I am...I have tenants to manage, classes to take, insurance to deal with, a husband with surgery to tend to, relatives to assist, yard work, household work, the mail to answer, the pool to clean, filing to do, materials to find for next year...the list is endless...oh, yes, the dentist last week and the optomitrist this week. And the retirement seminar out of town. We've gotta pick up our boat next week, and have a cruise scheduled after that...on and on...THE POINT? Sometimes we get so overwhelmed with must-do stuff, we just grab food on the run (hence the need for fast-food joints). It takes time to plan low-carb meals, shop for them, read the recipes, cook the food...add to it the time our forum folks spend online "keeping the faith" and motivating each other...I mean, Americans are busy...it's easy for many people to give in to the junk food.
You may argue that all this busy stuff is meaningless...much of life is. But there is much to take care of.
then, too, are those of us who got hooked on carbs...I mean, hooked. I don't even LIKE meat. If left to me, the menu is pasta. If potatoes are served, I can eat 3 helpings. If a bag of Cheetos are opened, they are half-gone in half an hour. But like folks in here have said, I'm always left "hungry" -- in fact, painfully hungry, stomach growling, faint, cranky, headachey...after carb ingestion. I am happy my friend told me about insulin resistance...I have a feeling I was well on my way (weigh) to diabetes, if I hadn't found low carbing.
What have I left out? Anger/frustration/fear as a result of being mentally, physically, or sexually abused. Yeah, that's real. Lots of different psychological stuff enters in, but I don't think that's what's "causing" most Americans to get large. I think the most harm has been done by the rich telling the poor to go on a fat-free diet. Because, bottom line, most of our obesity has resulted during the last 20 years when fat-free was in...
So, now, you got it, Levi?
We all know what our personal demons are. We don't need someone to point out that we have them. Just let us do our work, encourage us, and don't feel picked on because we're (a bit, somewhat, or incredibly) ashamed of ourselves and so take what you say personally. You see, we have, some of us, bought in to the idea, like you may have, that somehow we are "bad" little girls and boys. But we're really OK. As a fellow German, I realize we can come across as awfully judgmental. I think we need to focus on the positive.
By the way, if that's your picture (avatar), good for you. I guess you won't be needing our forums any more, eh?
Auf wiedersehn,
Kathie
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Oops, I think I stepped into a firestorm. 
< slowly walks backwards, on tip toes, to exit the room > 
. I'm constantly amazed by the sheer number of twits inhabiting the world. Hope1
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