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I agree with your general idea that America’s obesity problem is not generally genetic. It’s fairly recent, and much too recent for genetics to be a major facto
by BytesAndGears 3y ago
I agree with your general idea that America’s obesity problem is not generally genetic. It’s fairly recent, and much too recent for genetics to be a major factor.
But I disagree that it’s a willpower problem. It’s a society problem.
I moved from America to Europe and there is little obesity here — because you get daily exercise automatically by walking around (due to good city designs), and toxic food is illegal.
Compared to the standards in America where you walk to your car in the driveway (and that’s the extent of walking that your city provides), and none of the food in the grocery store is actually what the box says (because it’s all chemical imitations).
In Europe, there are no hurdles to overcome because you get good food and exercise automatically just by living there. In America, you can overcome the hurdles with willpower, but you shouldn’t need to in the first place, if society just created a healthier environment.
- itsoktocry 3y ago>and none of the food in the grocery store is actually what the box says (because it’s all chemical imitations) Grocery stores here are packed with junk, yes. But they also have an abundance of healthy foods. Probably more than any nation on earth. I don't know if "willpower" is the right term, but it conveys the idea.
- tomrod 3y agoCost, good design, and knowledge of nutrition are all factors here. In short, it's less mentally costly in Europe to be fit, whereas in the US life is optimized to minimizing healthy activity. I think it's a myopic take to observe a society-wide increase in obesity and shrug it off to not enough people watching their CICO.