How do you feel about rising obesity levels in America and Europe? (Read 458 times)

Check out obesity elvesl in South Korea and Japan. These two countries have the lowest in the developed world.
II read that in Japan the cause of that is that people have to walk a lot and use the public transport a lot.

But I haven't seen this in Korea. I was really amazed by the fact that there weren't even chubby people. I only saw one extremely obese person, but chances were that he suffered some disease (of the non-self inflicted kind I mean).

Here in Holland we are not too bad either, and despite rising levels of obesity we are still on the lower part of the spectrum and a well known explanation is our excellent network of bike paths, real bicycle highways. We use bicycles for everything, because it's so easy and practical. These same bicycle paths can also be used to run, that's why we have more than 4 million runners.

The diet here is actually crap: Would we eat like the Koreans or the Spaniards (well, or as any other country in the world because our food is really, really crap) we would be even more slender as the Japanese and Koreans.

Thus, a good incentive to get people to move is: TAX THE HECK OUT OF CAR USERS. Yes, I know, for must Americans taxes are like Satan and Hitler in one single thing...but I thing it's more than justified to make those people pay who pollute the common air,  occupy the common space and (here in Europe at least) cost us a lot of money in health insurance due to all the extra health care obese people use. We should consider it a fine more than a tax.

Thus, a good incentive to get people to move is: TAX THE HECK OUT OF CAR USERS.

This would be a horrible idea unless major infrastructure changes were first undertaken.  There are a lot of areas in the US where it is not very feasible to not have a car. 
I can't imagine what this would create here... and how discriminatory it would be to the highly impoverished working poor we already try to shit all over here.

I'd love if we took some subsidies off things like corn that make junk food soo much cheaper than fresh ingredients... I'd love more lanes for people to ride bikes or run to work, more available public transit (most cities here it is terrible if not non-existent), actual consideration of people not in cars.. people not needing to work 80 hours to pay rent...

 

... is that you serve food in such HUGE portions. And I mean HUGE!

True. Sickens me sometimes. Any meal you get could easily feed 2-3 people. We just like to stuff our stomachs to the point of vomiting, and having a little extra in a doggie-bag to eat later that evening.

I attended two different elementary schools in the late 1950's and early 60's and I only remember there being one or two overweight students at each school, now when they show elementary students on TV there appears to be only one or two normal weight students at each  school. Portion sizes in restaurants have gotten larger, I totally avoid sit-down restaurants and when I eat at a fast food restaurant I order the kids meal and have plenty to eat. It was mentioned that they should tax auto drivers, but why not address the problem directly and tax each individual based on body mass index.

There is a book called "Sugar, Salt, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us" by Michael Moss.  It's worth reading to understand how the consumer has been manipulated by food manufacturers.

i found a website that gives a general overview of the book, here is a link and an excerpt.

"The book starts off with exposing an unprecedented secret meeting that took place in April of 1999, which brought together all of the major players in the food industry. Previously, those leaders never got together because their primary job was to fiercely compete against one another. But this night, in Minneapolis, the CEOs of all the major companies agreed to this secret meeting to discuss a growing problem: obesity.

The government was starting to talk about sugar taxes, and after seeing what happened to the Tobacco industry, with lawsuit upon lawsuit making the makers of cigarettes partly financially responsible for the health crisis they had created by pushing their products onto the masses, the food companies got nervous. The most thoughtful CEOs knew very well that they had a part to play in what was just at the time a growing obesity trend, and that one day they could very well be held responsible.

Some of the presenters tried to convey the gravity of the situation. One quarter of the population was considered obese. Growing social costs. A list of diseases like diabetes, heart disease, cancer — all on the rise. And then the role of the food companies in this crisis.

This was an unprecedented opportunity for the leaders of the field to change many things for the good. And many leaders, in fact, wanted something positive to come out of that meeting.

In the end, nothing was accomplished. People were buying products that contained the most salt, sugar and fat — and if one company created a tasty formula (albeit an unhealthy one), other companies had no choice but to respond with a similar offering of their own. That’s how the Oreo cooking was branched out into parallel product lines such as the Banana Split Creme Oreo or the Triple Double Oreo. In the end, whoever made the tastiest food for the consumer won more marketshare, and the pressure was too high for this game to stop."

http://renegadehealth.com/blog/saltsugarfatreview

The bottom line, it's all about the money.

There is so much talk in the media and society about obesity, but up to now, it's all just mouth service. There is no action behind it. I don't know what the answer is, but poor food and bad choices are engrained. The Coke machines in the schools are a big fundraiser, so they don't want to get rid of those bc then that money has to made up elsewhere. People are so busy running from work to grab kids from daycare/babysitter to go to soccer/ball/swimming lessons/etc that it's quick to just drive through somewhere to grab something to eat on the way. Drive through is readily available.

Anthony Bourdain might have been right when he said one big way to take a big bite out the obesity crisis is to teach people to cook. A lot of people just don't know how to cook and don't know how to eat better given their circumstances. Maybe you can't afford to buy meat, but you could get beans or peanut butter. Maybe you don't have a close grocery store for fresh veggies, but you could have a small container garden with a few plants. There are options.

But for anything to change, it's going to have to be a big movement involving governments, schools, city planners, parents, etc.

ETA: Yes, I meant parents too. Edited to add that in.

Im in New Zealand and we are ranked 3 or 4 now.

What I see are lots of people eating the usual big brand junk food for morning tea, lunch, and dinner.

Also a more sedentary lifestyle of computers etc and less getting out and doing real stuff.

If you are happy been fat then theres no helping you.