8 ms·

I still remember driving through some small town in Arizona 10 years ago, and I couldn't find a single non-obese person there. Not just overweight, full on obes

I still remember driving through some small town in Arizona 10 years ago, and I couldn't find a single non-obese person there. Not just overweight, full on obese. Parents, kids, everyone. It was the one of the most bizarre experiences I've had, as a visitor. Cities are not that bad though, but I'm sure many rural parts are close to 100%.

rsynnott 6y ago
I've only ever visited San Francisco in the US, and the first time I was there I was slightly surprised that in terms of obesity it seemed pretty similar to Dublin (which wouldn't be the thinnest city around, but is middle of the road European). Then I flew back via O'Hare, and really saw the difference when waiting for the transfer; quite dramatic levels of obesity. I wonder how much of it is just down to urban Americans walking places, and rural and suburban Americans less so. I did also notice that there was added sugar in virtually _everything_.
- lotsofpulp 6y ago
  There are probably multiple factors, walking more and fewer time sitting in cars is quite possibly one of them. Urban areas also have more young people. The added sugar in the US is a shame. Just this year, the nutritional labels are mandated to show added sugars in products now. I hope that helps.
  - konjin 6y ago
    Would showing added lead in baby formula help? Kind of shocked how in the US an issue that is obviously a health issue is treated as a personal failing. If you want sugar in your food you're free to add some after the fact, or buy it from a non-food store. Warning people that all the food they have access to is poison is not a solution to anything.
    - dwaltrip 6y ago
      > Warning people that all the food they have access to is poison is not a solution to anything. It sounds like you are suggesting all food in American grocery stores is equally bad when it comes to sugar. Perhaps I misunderstood you, as that is obviously absurd. While I do wish there were more healthy options, I can assure you that the mainstream grocery stores (Ralph's, Safeway, etc) contain many products with low or no sugar. Empowering people to make better decisions is actually one of the best things we can do. What is your alternative proposal? I read nutrition labels, looking at the sugar content. I eagerly await the requirement to list the amount of added sugar, as it will inform my food purchases.
      - konjin 6y ago
        >What is your alternative proposal? Ban over the counter sale of processed food, the same way heroin stopped being sold as Mr. Jims Magical Cure All. It's not like banning additives that have proven detrimental to health is a radical new idea. We have killed hundreds of industries that killed people before, most of them in much smaller numbers than the food industrial complex. >Empowering people to make better decisions is actually one of the best things we can do. Looking at the state of the US, it really isn't. Taking advice from Americans on food is like taking bathing advice from Catholics in 900AD.
        dwaltrip 6y ago
        What's the definition of processed food? I think most people will think your proposal is very extreme.
        konjin 6y ago
        >I think most people will think your proposal is very extreme. As would most heroin addicts in 1890. When 73% of your country is losing between 5 and 20 years of life expectancy drastic measures are in order.
        6y ago
  - robocat 6y ago
    > walking more I remember how much everyone has to do some (or a lot) of walking in London, New York, and other cities where you use public transport to get around. I suspect that daily walking makes a huge difference.
- vecter 6y ago
  It’s all diet. I visited Nashville a couple of years ago and everything on the menu was fried or just terrible for you. Most of weight is diet. Exercise helps a tiny amount but is more for your cardiovascular health and strength. Running for an hour burns far fewer calories than half of a muffin.
  - titanomachy 6y ago
    > running for an hour burns far fewer calories than in half a muffin As a guy who runs pretty hard and weighs over 200 lbs, I burn nearly 1000 calories in an hour of running (~11km distance). I've tried a few different models to estimate this and they all more or less agree. A lightweight person jogging at low intensity for an hour, maybe.
    - ransom1538 6y ago
      A Burger King Whopper with cheese, for example, has 710 calories. You would need to run 10km. Running and exercise is worthless. Don't eat the Whopper. Cancel the gym membership. Workouts cause calorie cravings - and most Americans will just eat processed garbage [ or unless you are super healthy - then you drink the "Mocha Mojo" from jamba juice 680 calories ].
      - titanomachy 6y ago
        > running and exercise is worthless A bold claim indeed. Not everyone who exercises is trying to lose weight.
        ekianjo 6y ago
        It's a discussion about weight, so in context, that statement is completely valid.
    - lotsofpulp 6y ago
      Use an elliptical and it will show you exactly how many calories per minute you can burn. For reference, Olympic athletes only manage to burn 30 calories per minutes at their best. I would put most people’s capacity at 10 to 15 calories per minute sustained. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/23/sports/olympics/cross-country-skiing-food.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/23/sports/olympics/cross-cou...
hombre_fatal 6y ago
We stopped for burgers in a Texas McDonalds in a tiny town off the beaten path. Every single person inside was obese. It was actually embarrassing trying to squeeze by people on my way to find the end of the line, and we decided to just have one person order the food instead of all three of us contributing to the awkwardness of the human body version of bumper cars. I'd never seen anything like it in my life. Living in Austin, I would wonder where exactly this 73% of the population lived. But after that rest stop in McDonalds, it was obvious that they simply live everywhere between the urban centers. Our society is failing its people tremendously and on so many levels.
- hossbeast 6y ago
  That last sentence doesn't seem to follow. Why do you place the blame on "the society"?
  - fantod 6y ago
    Unhealthy food can be hard to avoid.
- RickJWagner 6y ago
  Sort of conflicts with the narrative that urban centers are being victimized by Dollar General and the like, contributing to ill-health for city dwellers. IMHO, the problem is wide-spread. (No pun intended.)
colinmhayes 6y ago
Cities not being that overweight just means that rural areas are more than 73% overweight. That's the craziest thing to me. Low urban overweight numbers require the overweight areas to be 80+% to catch up.
Balgair 6y ago
I had spent some time in South America and flew back into the US via Miami. We were a red-eye and so got in pretty early in the morning for Miami. The part of South America we were in is somewhat known as a fit place as well. That said, it was shocking coming back to the US to see how fat and tired everyone was. I remember one of the TSA people who was just enormous. Literally wider than tall. Having been out of the culture for so long, I was a bit stunned at the size of that person and most of my countrymen too. I remember think to myself: how did this happen, how did we allow it to get so bad? That, and for being on a red-eye, most of the people in the US were more tired looking than the people that just got off the plane. The combination of fatness and exhaustion was, obviously, quite memorable. My big question is then: What is this doing to our society? Sure these changes must reflect in our education system just as they are reflected in our food system. Where else do they reflect? How have our politics been effected?

rsynnott 6y ago

I've only ever visited San Francisco in the US, and the first time I was there I was slightly surprised that in terms of obesity it seemed pretty similar to Dublin (which wouldn't be the thinnest city around, but is middle of the road European). Then I flew back via O'Hare, and really saw the difference when waiting for the transfer; quite dramatic levels of obesity. I wonder how much of it is just down to urban Americans walking places, and rural and suburban Americans less so. I did also notice that there was added sugar in virtually _everything_.

lotsofpulp 6y ago
There are probably multiple factors, walking more and fewer time sitting in cars is quite possibly one of them. Urban areas also have more young people. The added sugar in the US is a shame. Just this year, the nutritional labels are mandated to show added sugars in products now. I hope that helps.
- konjin 6y ago
  Would showing added lead in baby formula help? Kind of shocked how in the US an issue that is obviously a health issue is treated as a personal failing. If you want sugar in your food you're free to add some after the fact, or buy it from a non-food store. Warning people that all the food they have access to is poison is not a solution to anything.
  - dwaltrip 6y ago
    > Warning people that all the food they have access to is poison is not a solution to anything. It sounds like you are suggesting all food in American grocery stores is equally bad when it comes to sugar. Perhaps I misunderstood you, as that is obviously absurd. While I do wish there were more healthy options, I can assure you that the mainstream grocery stores (Ralph's, Safeway, etc) contain many products with low or no sugar. Empowering people to make better decisions is actually one of the best things we can do. What is your alternative proposal? I read nutrition labels, looking at the sugar content. I eagerly await the requirement to list the amount of added sugar, as it will inform my food purchases.
    - konjin 6y ago
      >What is your alternative proposal? Ban over the counter sale of processed food, the same way heroin stopped being sold as Mr. Jims Magical Cure All. It's not like banning additives that have proven detrimental to health is a radical new idea. We have killed hundreds of industries that killed people before, most of them in much smaller numbers than the food industrial complex. >Empowering people to make better decisions is actually one of the best things we can do. Looking at the state of the US, it really isn't. Taking advice from Americans on food is like taking bathing advice from Catholics in 900AD.
      - dwaltrip 6y ago
        What's the definition of processed food? I think most people will think your proposal is very extreme.
        konjin 6y ago
        >I think most people will think your proposal is very extreme. As would most heroin addicts in 1890. When 73% of your country is losing between 5 and 20 years of life expectancy drastic measures are in order.
        6y ago
- robocat 6y ago
  > walking more I remember how much everyone has to do some (or a lot) of walking in London, New York, and other cities where you use public transport to get around. I suspect that daily walking makes a huge difference.
vecter 6y ago
It’s all diet. I visited Nashville a couple of years ago and everything on the menu was fried or just terrible for you. Most of weight is diet. Exercise helps a tiny amount but is more for your cardiovascular health and strength. Running for an hour burns far fewer calories than half of a muffin.
- titanomachy 6y ago
  > running for an hour burns far fewer calories than in half a muffin As a guy who runs pretty hard and weighs over 200 lbs, I burn nearly 1000 calories in an hour of running (~11km distance). I've tried a few different models to estimate this and they all more or less agree. A lightweight person jogging at low intensity for an hour, maybe.
  - ransom1538 6y ago
    A Burger King Whopper with cheese, for example, has 710 calories. You would need to run 10km. Running and exercise is worthless. Don't eat the Whopper. Cancel the gym membership. Workouts cause calorie cravings - and most Americans will just eat processed garbage [ or unless you are super healthy - then you drink the "Mocha Mojo" from jamba juice 680 calories ].
    - titanomachy 6y ago
      > running and exercise is worthless A bold claim indeed. Not everyone who exercises is trying to lose weight.
      - ekianjo 6y ago
        It's a discussion about weight, so in context, that statement is completely valid.
  - lotsofpulp 6y ago
    Use an elliptical and it will show you exactly how many calories per minute you can burn. For reference, Olympic athletes only manage to burn 30 calories per minutes at their best. I would put most people’s capacity at 10 to 15 calories per minute sustained. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/23/sports/olympics/cross-country-skiing-food.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/23/sports/olympics/cross-cou...

hombre_fatal 6y ago

We stopped for burgers in a Texas McDonalds in a tiny town off the beaten path. Every single person inside was obese. It was actually embarrassing trying to squeeze by people on my way to find the end of the line, and we decided to just have one person order the food instead of all three of us contributing to the awkwardness of the human body version of bumper cars. I'd never seen anything like it in my life. Living in Austin, I would wonder where exactly this 73% of the population lived. But after that rest stop in McDonalds, it was obvious that they simply live everywhere between the urban centers. Our society is failing its people tremendously and on so many levels.

hossbeast 6y ago
That last sentence doesn't seem to follow. Why do you place the blame on "the society"?
- fantod 6y ago
  Unhealthy food can be hard to avoid.
RickJWagner 6y ago
Sort of conflicts with the narrative that urban centers are being victimized by Dollar General and the like, contributing to ill-health for city dwellers. IMHO, the problem is wide-spread. (No pun intended.)

colinmhayes 6y ago

Cities not being that overweight just means that rural areas are more than 73% overweight. That's the craziest thing to me. Low urban overweight numbers require the overweight areas to be 80+% to catch up.

Balgair 6y ago

I had spent some time in South America and flew back into the US via Miami. We were a red-eye and so got in pretty early in the morning for Miami. The part of South America we were in is somewhat known as a fit place as well. That said, it was shocking coming back to the US to see how fat and tired everyone was. I remember one of the TSA people who was just enormous. Literally wider than tall. Having been out of the culture for so long, I was a bit stunned at the size of that person and most of my countrymen too. I remember think to myself: how did this happen, how did we allow it to get so bad? That, and for being on a red-eye, most of the people in the US were more tired looking than the people that just got off the plane. The combination of fatness and exhaustion was, obviously, quite memorable. My big question is then: What is this doing to our society? Sure these changes must reflect in our education system just as they are reflected in our food system. Where else do they reflect? How have our politics been effected?