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Because that’s a lazy idea. Do you really think everyone everywhere suddenly all at once decided to eat more and walk less?
by shiftpgdn 5y ago
Because that’s a lazy idea. Do you really think everyone everywhere suddenly all at once decided to eat more and walk less?
- pizza234 5y agoThere's no mention of "sudden change" in parent's post. The reference is to "modern age", which is consistent: shift from manual to sedentary job, increase of processed foods, increase of food availability, increase of pressure from industry to eat more and more processed foods; it's a very linear phenomenon.
- bamboozled 5y agoProbably yes, you can click a button and have pretty much anything you need delivered the same day (in some places).
- nicoburns 5y agoNot everywhere, but it certainly seems like that's happened in the US. Most people I know (from here in the UK) who have been on trips to the US have come back shocked at both the portion sizes and the lack of opportunities for exercise in everyday activities (apparently this is a lot to do with a culture of driving everywhere). And if it was a longer trip (weeks/months), they've often also put on a noticeable amount of weight that they then quickly lose once they're back home.
- arethuza 5y agoThe very first thing I ate in the US (in 1995) was a club sandwich - it was huge and had been battered, deep fried and served sprinkled with icing sugar. Even by Scottish standards that seemed a bit much!
- namlem 5y agoYes? Suburban, car-centric lifestyles have become the norm.
- spywaregorilla 5y agoAverage american calorie consumption was up 24% between 1961 and 2013. Can you increase your caloric intake by 24% without putting on weight? edit: src https://www.businessinsider.com/daily-calories-americans-eat-increase-2016-07 https://www.businessinsider.com/daily-calories-americans-eat...
- pc86 5y agoNot only that but I'll bet my next ten paychecks the average American is more sedentary in 2013 than they were in 1961. So I would expect the net surplus calorie increase to be a lot more than 24%.
- throwawaylinux 5y agoChanges in food, availability, cost, marketing, etc would be obvious things that could cause it. Whereas plastics -- When you look at the staggering amount of plastics pollution coming out of rivers in East and South East Asian and the subcontinent, it correlates pretty well with some of the lowest obesity rates in the world.
- brimble 5y agoUnlimited free refills on sodas at restaurants didn't become normal to the point of being the expected default, IIRC, until the mid 90s or later. I think the effects of the unlimited-refills thing, and (relatedly) of to-go soda cup sizes becoming insanely large, doesn't explain the whole thing but probably is a big enough factor to be worth looking at.