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No, Americans are unhealthy because the vast majority of them eat like crap, are lazy, and are fat as hell as a consequence. That's not a healthcare issue.

trey-jones 5y ago
If more of our doctors cared about people more than money, and kept nutritionists on staff, it might make a dent in things. So I find that it is a healthcare issue. Here, on HN, and in the industries that many of us work in, we have a lot of knowledge and understanding about our own bodies and the care of them. But a large portion of the populace lack that! For some people, nutritional advice would fall on deaf ears, but there are some people as well who, if told by a true expert, "Here is a diet plan. If you follow it closely you won't be so out of breath when you go upstairs. Your ankles and knees won't hurt constantly. You'll be able to keep up with your grandkids better. You'll live longer (on average!)." If told they would actually do it, and improvements would be made.
- kgin 5y ago
  That might be one (fairly expensive) strategy to address it. But the rest of the world doesn’t avoid the US problem because they’re all seeing nutritionists all the time.
  - trey-jones 5y ago
    Much of the world is better educated in general. Much of the other ones don't have the problem/luxury of too much to eat.
  - infecto 5y ago
    I won't argue that the US is at the top but there are many other developed countries following behind. I think education is definitely a part of it.
kgin 5y ago
Something started in the 70s and I’ve never seen a good explanation of what it was. But you can see in the stats that obesity hit an inflection point in the mid-1970s, started going up and has never looked back. Now we’re at 80% overweight and 40% obese and still rising. Pinning it on willpower or individual choices seems way off base. Something system-wide happened here and it’s crazy that we don’t know what it is.
- rubyist5eva 5y ago
  In the middle ages, only royalty and elites were fat because they were the only ones who had access to the abundance of food that made it possible. It was seen as a good thing to be fat. Hell, in today's society the "Health At Any Size" movement portrays morbid obesity as no big deal at best, and a good thing at worst. > But you can see in the stats that obesity hit an inflection point in the mid-1970s This is about where mass production of hyper-processed foods hit critical mass of cheapness and availability. Americans have easier and cheaper access to nearly infinite amounts of food that middle age kings could only dream of.
- 0_____0 5y ago
  My bet is that a significant chunk of this is the push of populations out of cities and into car-focused suburbs. Matches up quite well timeline wise as second-order effect of the post-war suburban boom.
infecto 5y ago
Comments like yours are just not helpful or productive. There are definitely lazy people all over the world but I think what you said is more of a symptom than a cause. When entire communities are generationally stuck in a trap of eating highly processed foods for how easy/cheap they are it can be difficult to escape. But of course it's a lot easier to go the uneducated simpleton route and just say they are lazy.
- rubyist5eva 5y ago
  If you're 300+ lbs, you are lazy, period. Sugar coating it isn't doing anyone any favours.
  - infecto 5y ago
    I am sorry for you.
jdhn 5y ago
A staggering amount of money thats spent in the healthcare industry is directly due to Americans unhealthy lifestyles, primarily obesity and its secondary symptoms.

trey-jones 5y ago

If more of our doctors cared about people more than money, and kept nutritionists on staff, it might make a dent in things. So I find that it is a healthcare issue. Here, on HN, and in the industries that many of us work in, we have a lot of knowledge and understanding about our own bodies and the care of them. But a large portion of the populace lack that! For some people, nutritional advice would fall on deaf ears, but there are some people as well who, if told by a true expert, "Here is a diet plan. If you follow it closely you won't be so out of breath when you go upstairs. Your ankles and knees won't hurt constantly. You'll be able to keep up with your grandkids better. You'll live longer (on average!)." If told they would actually do it, and improvements would be made.

kgin 5y ago
That might be one (fairly expensive) strategy to address it. But the rest of the world doesn’t avoid the US problem because they’re all seeing nutritionists all the time.
- trey-jones 5y ago
  Much of the world is better educated in general. Much of the other ones don't have the problem/luxury of too much to eat.
- infecto 5y ago
  I won't argue that the US is at the top but there are many other developed countries following behind. I think education is definitely a part of it.

kgin 5y ago

Something started in the 70s and I’ve never seen a good explanation of what it was. But you can see in the stats that obesity hit an inflection point in the mid-1970s, started going up and has never looked back. Now we’re at 80% overweight and 40% obese and still rising. Pinning it on willpower or individual choices seems way off base. Something system-wide happened here and it’s crazy that we don’t know what it is.

rubyist5eva 5y ago
In the middle ages, only royalty and elites were fat because they were the only ones who had access to the abundance of food that made it possible. It was seen as a good thing to be fat. Hell, in today's society the "Health At Any Size" movement portrays morbid obesity as no big deal at best, and a good thing at worst. > But you can see in the stats that obesity hit an inflection point in the mid-1970s This is about where mass production of hyper-processed foods hit critical mass of cheapness and availability. Americans have easier and cheaper access to nearly infinite amounts of food that middle age kings could only dream of.
0_____0 5y ago
My bet is that a significant chunk of this is the push of populations out of cities and into car-focused suburbs. Matches up quite well timeline wise as second-order effect of the post-war suburban boom.

infecto 5y ago

Comments like yours are just not helpful or productive. There are definitely lazy people all over the world but I think what you said is more of a symptom than a cause. When entire communities are generationally stuck in a trap of eating highly processed foods for how easy/cheap they are it can be difficult to escape. But of course it's a lot easier to go the uneducated simpleton route and just say they are lazy.

rubyist5eva 5y ago
If you're 300+ lbs, you are lazy, period. Sugar coating it isn't doing anyone any favours.
- infecto 5y ago
  I am sorry for you.

jdhn 5y ago

A staggering amount of money thats spent in the healthcare industry is directly due to Americans unhealthy lifestyles, primarily obesity and its secondary symptoms.