[OT] Why are so many Americans "overweight"

[ColonelHardisson]

I put that up to see if it was correct since I have no personal experience with much american media and how they portrait certain people. But if you are correct about this point than that is most certianly a very sad buisenss indeed.

I don't see how I could be incorrect.

This I have learned from personal experience and from what people who live in the states tell me. So it has NOTHING at all to do with what the media tells me. And we are talking about certian parts and places in America in specifique alot of parts of tje major cities and as someone put up as even in some small towns.

Well, I live here, and have lived here, all my life. I'm telling you it's not the "Escape From New York" scenario you're saying it is.

Y'know, I know a guy who was a victim of violent crime. He was mugged and beaten up fairly badly. He's really the only guy I know this has happened to. Know where it happened? Amsterdam. So, is Amsterdam a hotbed of violent crime? Based on your reasoning, I guess I could look at it that way. But I don't.

 

[The Forsaken One]

I don't see how I could be incorrect.

Y'know, I know a guy who was a victim of violent crime. He was mugged and beaten up fairly badly. He's really the only guy I know this has happened to. Know where it happened? Amsterdam. So, is Amsterdam a hotbed of violent crime? Based on your reasoning, I guess I could look at it that way. But I don't.

You are exaggerating (or however it is spelled) and you are taking it up different then intended as to what I'm saying. America is a hotbed of crime compared to other western countries and that's a plain fact.

And offcourse what I know isn't that much but what I am told from people who live in the states and more then one I have the tendancy to believe them Especially since more then 1 guy is saying it.

And if you might have taken the liberty to actually read what I posted it would point towards certain regions and parts of cities and it might just be the coincidental fact that you don't live in a bad neighbourhood or that you and your friends don't venture to places at night where they and you know they better not be because I'm quite sure that you are aware of such locations.

(Btw and you are starting to push to personal, and sticking you finger at personal things that are meant to be personal and can be corrected not attacked. And in a sort of elss arrogant way. And euh.. this aint even about the topic so lay it off and get back to it. If you don't have anything else to say about that leave the thread alone please instead of this kind of posts... not very constructive. and merely unsettling.)

 

[Warchild]

Cities tend to be dangerous, armed or not. I come from a well-armed small town in Texas where pretty much everyone has at leas one gun, but there is very little crime and what violent crime there is almost invariably is committed by people who came there from a big city. I've lived in a large city for the last 5 years and I've never witnessed a violent crime. You hear about it on the news all the time, but it's always in the same "poor" neighborhoods. I think it's got more to do with the people involved than anything else.

Thats a major point. I've lived in the city the vast majority of my life, although my family background is in the "boon docks" as they say. I went back upstate for a couple years and after my experiences living in a small town, i have to say that there is just as much crime going on in the small town as as the city, proportionately. Its different crime usually and its rarely reported in the news, but its all there i assure you. In the small town everyone knows everyone and when the cops show up, its not "Hello officer, let my explain the problem", its "Hey Bob, hows the truck running? Nah, theres is no problem. Lucy and i just had an agruement. See you at the softball game, tomorrow". Thats almost a direct translation i might add. Everyone knows everyone and that makes the situation different/more difficult. Another thing is that the news stations around here are in the cities. They rarely go out into the small towns that surround the city and scare up news reports. Especially when there is a hundred stories going on in the city. But its the same news reports that the po dunk farmers get and its all about the city folk committing so much crime. I've sat at a table and listened to someone talk about how bad it is in the city, then shift to talking about who got the crap beat out of them by some sister's brother getting revenge for a near-rape or even just an insult (!!!)...and not think twice about it, because "Thats different. This is happeneing out here and we all know Charlie was having a bad day and blah blah blah".
It all boils down to if you see it on the news its terrible, if you see it next door or even in your family...well thats just life.

ANYWAY, on the weight thing. I'm always amazed at the amount of soft drinks people around me put away. I never drink them. I am, however, fat. My problem, and I think this is overlooked a lot, is metabolism. I was fine until I got to college. A busy schedule where I didn't eat meals at regular times, skipped meals entirely and then overate at the next meal and snacked a lot to stave off cravings really threw my metabolism off. It went into 'survival mode', and I started gaining weight.

I think our hectic "on the go" culture has a lot to do with it. That and the soft drinks. I have nieces and nephews who won't touch water and would survive on nothing but soft drinks if given a choice. As it is, they drink the things way too much. I think that's a big part of the problem with kids. That and not being outside enough. Either they don't want to go out because there is no tv/video games or their parents won't let them out (like one of me nephews) because they're sure the kid is going to get kidnapped and killed (and this nephew is 14) so you get lots of kids spending their time inside instead of outside.

Another thing that comes to mind on that score is air conditioning. When I was a kid we didn't have it and staying inside was too stuffy in the summer, even in Texas. Nowdays, given the choice, I wouldn't leave the air conditioning if I didn't have to. That probably has something to do with it.

I agree, The answer is not just one thing, its an amalgamation of different things and that even will be different from person to person. America is so damn huge that generalizations are completely useless.
I do notice that so many parents that in my day literally would kick the kid out of the house and tell them to go DO something, where as now you are told to go play your computer games and don't go running around in the streets with your "hoodlum" friends!! At least around here.

 

[S'mon]

On crime - they reported a few months ago that mugging rates in London (where I live) are now six times those in New York. Probably higher now, teenagers are mugged for their mobile phones (cellphones) here with astonishing frequency. Rates of many property crimes are also higher here in the UK than in the USA, burglary is much higher. OTOH murder rates in the USA, while they have fallen, still vastly exceed those in any other first world country, and that seems to be the case even for small-town USA, compared to small-town England, say. I don't think there's much doubt that guns are the reason for that, just as cars are the reason for American obesity. British people have bad diets too, and our children are getting less exercise and getting fatter, but most of us _have_ to get some exercise, because often walking - walking to the bus stop, maybe - is the only practical way to get anywhere.
BTW I'm sceptical of the argument that long working hours are the cause of obesity - unemployed people tend to be among the fattest, in the USA as in the UK.

 

[Wicht]

America is a hotbed of crime compared to other western countries and that's a plain fact.

LOL

You made my day with that hotbed of crime quote. Not that I agree, but you sound so sure of yourself I just had to laugh. (Some interesting articles have been published lately comparing the crime rate of the US with the crime rate of Britain - you might hunt them up.)

Whoever is feeding you this line from this country is giving you a somewhat skewed view.

 

[Zarrock God of Evil]

If, as an American, you travel to Paris in the summer, you will see many, many other Americans, and you will have no trouble at all spotting them. The locals, obviously, see hordes of Americans every summer. Now, Paris isn't all of France -- despite what Parisians think -- but it is literally half of France (by population).

I'm sure it's even easier to spot Americans in Rio.

Uh - have to correct some facts here:

Population (France): 58 million
Population (Paris): 2 million
Population (Paris+suburbs): 10 million

Hardly half the population I would say...

-Zarrock

 

[gariig]

Someone mentioned "on to go" culture. American's are usually rushed during the day (say 7-7) to get up for work, dressed, get to work, have their 30 minute lunch break, get home through traffic, pick up little Suzy and John from school or day care, get a meal on the table, etc. By the time they have "free time" they have the tendecny to sit there.

I know I suffer from this as a college student. Some days I wake up at 6-8 depending on the day and may not walk into my apartment until 10 at night, and that is before I might head to the gym. I'm consistently doing 8-12 hour days and I don't really commute (only 20 minutes total which I think the average American commute is 45-60 minutes one way).

Also, to reiterate Pop culture has a problem with it getting people hooked on sodas, the softdrink industry has had charges of hooking people on soda with caffeine (ala tobacco). Drinking too much soda, as stated nondiet soda is damn near lethal in the sugar/calorie department. Portion sizes are to blame, I remember growing up and the average soda was 10 oz. bottle, then 12 oz. cans, then 16 oz. bottles, and now 20 oz. bottles are considered "personal" sizes. Reliance on cheap/fatty foods to feed us: fast food, frozen dinners, cheap cuts of meat.

There are quite a few more reasons, but a few that I'd like to reiterate. It is a problem and my girlfriend and I are both battling our weight. It is hard living in a culture that idiolizes thiness and physique so readily. I'm a little above average weight and I probably couldn't get a date for the life of me. Also, eating disorders are rampant in America, diet related goods is one of the fastest growing markets. Also, 80% of 4th grade girls have reportedly dieted...now doesn't that make you sick???linky

Gariig

 

[Haffrung Helleyes]

fast food

Americans are overweight because we eat bad food -- McDonalds, candy bars, and sodas.

I've travelled a lot in Asia over the years and have noticed with dismay that as I see American fast food become popular there, I start seeing obese people in those countries where I never did before.

Go to Thailand and visit the malls -- you'll see fat Thai. Now, go to Laos and look for a fat Laotian. You won't find one. And no, the Laotians are not malnourished at all.

Ken McKinney

 

[Umbran]

This I have learned from personal experience and from what people who live in the states tell me. So it has NOTHING at all to do with what the media tells me.

People who live here are affected by the media. What they tell you can easily be influenced by media representation.

Personal experience? Not to belittle the fact if you've been a victim, but unles syou've been mugged in multiple cities, this isn't a good argument. One person's experience is not enough to posit a nation-wide phenomenon. You could just be unlucky.

 

[Melan]

[offtopic]
Haffrung Helleyes: you have the Best. Username. Ever!
[/offtopic]