How prevalent is obesity where you live?

[WriterDom]

K said there is hardly none where she is. Here is it awful. I would say over half the people I see here are obese. I walked around Walmart and counted all the obese people I saw. 139. The second lap I counted the slim people. 30. I go there to walk anyway so it kept my mind occupied. I live in a kind of isolated hick county. Less than 14% are college educated. Twice as many high school dropouts.

It's hard to find a man over 30 who doesn't have a huge belly. Heavy girls of all ages.

 

[WriterDom]

I wonder why the top ten fattest states are all southern? Because of fried food I guess. And more black women who tend to be heavier. 50% of black women are obese.

 

[ImOnIt]

New Zealand here, at my campus there are say 5% people I would consider obese, At a local shopping centre, closer to 15%? The stats website suggests the nationwide figure is 20/22% for males and females, which is pretty appaling.

Sigh, it's bad.


You go to a shopping centre to walk... curious, is that the best place to walk nearby? Or do you go at the same time as grocery shopping. It's inside, right?

 

[ImOnIt]

I wonder why the top ten fattest states are all southern? Because of fried food I guess. And more black women who tend to be heavier. 50% of black women are obese.

Correlation=/= causation (in before people pro and anti black or heavy girls and boys).


*sprays Samuelx repellant*

 

[WriterDom]

New Zealand here, at my campus there are say 5% people I would consider obese, At a local shopping centre, closer to 15%? The stats website suggests the nationwide figure is 20/22% for males and females, which is pretty appaling.

Sigh, it's bad.


You go to a shopping centre to walk... curious, is that the best place to walk nearby? Or do you go at the same time as grocery shopping. It's inside, right?

I do it when it is too cold or raining. It's 600 yards a lap. I have a cart with me with a few things in it so I don't look like an idiot. Yeah it's inside. Huge store.

 

[*Twisted*]

it's not to bad here, certainly not bad as compared to the SE US. I just came from Europe though, so it's kinda weird as you see so few people over there who are obese

 

[WriterDom]

548 meters might have made more sense to you.

 

[ImOnIt]

I for one can understand yards <.< When I was in europe, the scale of things in IKEA store was indeed mindboggling.

Somewhat related -->

a pallet of chocolate pretzels? a pallet?


EDIT to make sense

 

[BiBunny]

I wonder why the top ten fattest states are all southern? Because of fried food I guess. And more black women who tend to be heavier. 50% of black women are obese.

A greater percentage of the population is poor. Poor people generally have a hard time affording "healthy" food, and, even here, there really aren't that many people who grow veggies in a garden anymore.

 

[smallgirl]

K said there is hardly none where she is. Here is it awful. I would say over half the people I see here are obese. I walked around Walmart and counted all the obese people I saw. 139. The second lap I counted the slim people. 30. I go there to walk anyway so it kept my mind occupied. I live in a kind of isolated hick county. Less than 14% are college educated. Twice as many high school dropouts.

It's hard to find a man over 30 who doesn't have a huge belly. Heavy girls of all ages.

same here. was at a concert last summer...i couldnt believe the obese people..hands full of sodas, nachos, candy...popcorn. i told my daughter..wow...and they wonder why they are overweight. its just everywhere. pitiful. people need to get up off the couch and exercise, and leave the junk food alone.

 

[WriterDom]

A greater percentage of the population is poor. Poor people generally have a hard time affording "healthy" food, and, even here, there really aren't that many people who grow veggies in a garden anymore.

I have a garden. I end up giving much of it away to the neighbors. I don't like raw tomatoes. My siblings think a mater sandwich is the best thing in the world but I never liked them. This year was pretty harsh. The most rain in 50 years but the lakes needed to be filled.

 

[BiBunny]

I have a garden. I end up giving much of it away to the neighbors. I don't like raw tomatoes. My siblings think a mater sandwich is the best thing in the world but I never liked them. This year was pretty harsh. The most rain in 50 years but the lakes needed to be filled.

My grandparents had a garden every year until my Granddaddy died. It's still weird to me not to be able to go to the deep freeze and get out whatever vegetables you need to cook with. Unfortunately, my thumbs couldn't be blacker.

 

[minx1]

There is an obesity problem here and I must admit it came as quite a surprise when I moved here. I guess I have previously imagined the complete opposite lol and a nation of fit surfer types

I must admit I get a little torn because I do think a lot of it is down to socio economic reasons and affordability of healthy food, but I also think that equally its down to lack of education and poor choices.

 

[goodgirlfl]

I live in South FL and yes there are plenty of obese people here, just take a walk in a Walmart like WD said or an airport. It amazes me how many people are obese. men and women both.

Its sad really.

 

[WriterDom]

I don't buy the poverty bit. I think someone obese would gain weight if they won the lottery.

 

[intothewoods]

K said there is hardly none where she is. Here is it awful. I would say over half the people I see here are obese. I walked around Walmart and counted all the obese people I saw. 139. The second lap I counted the slim people. 30. I go there to walk anyway so it kept my mind occupied. I live in a kind of isolated hick county. Less than 14% are college educated. Twice as many high school dropouts.

It's hard to find a man over 30 who doesn't have a huge belly. Heavy girls of all ages.

Haven't you heard? Guns make you fat.

 

[sb2009]

There's been a lot of research into why this is, and yes, poverty does have a lot to do with it.

Access to good nutritional information, access too healthy food within economic means, time and equipment to prepare the food.

Also, education - people eat crappy because they don't know any better. Sure, any fool can get on the internet and learn something. But if you really don't know where to start? It's easier said than done.

And emotional reasons - food high in carbs can make someone feel good for a short time. It's also gives a full feeling quicker than protein.

It goes on and on.

But yes, I see a lot of fat here in VA. I"m chubby myself, that's for a a few reasons - injury that took a long time to heal; a couple of other medical things; and I am kind of lazy. I'm slowly losing weight and getting into shape, though. I make sure to prepare healthy food for my family and we don't eat a lot of junk, but I still got chubby LOL

 

[lennythelion]

In the country where I live, there are not so many obese people as in the other country on this part of the continent. I understand (though haven't been able to verify it yet) that there are also less obese people in this province than in others.

I happen to live in an underprivileged part of town, and I absolutely buy the poverty thing, though I firmly believe it's a correlation rather than a causation. There are far more obese people here than in wealthier parts of town.

I personally believe it's a lack of education, both in terms of nutritional knowledge (currently being tackled by the government from Kindergarten level), as well as actual cooking skills (bring back Home Economics). I love to cook "peasant food" - meat and vegetable stews that have simmered for hours... mmmyum! This is what poor people used to eat - cheap cuts, less meat, more bones etc. In addition, vegetarians spend a lot less on their food budget, so lack of education really must be at the root of it, no?

I also wonder about today's "instant gratification" society. Frankly, I love fried food. I'd eat more of it but the salt content in this country puts me off (I'm European). However, I also was brought up to eat a balanced diet. This was drummed into me, and I am drumming it into my child. I'd rather have chocolate mousse for dessert, but I'll have a fruit pot because I know I haven't eaten my 5-10 today.

 

[AbiNormyl]

Well, I was going to write a pssy reply to this but figured that really wouldn't answer any question except that I am pissy about the topic.

You want to know why people are fat, here are some things that I found in my search for my final project this semester.

First, high fructose corn syrup is the devil. Most other countries refuse to use it at all. It is highly addictive, it causes your sugar vs. insulin to be out of whack and honestly it makes you crave more sugar. Look up the research on this, it is scary.

2. The diet industry. Did you know that only two percent of people that try to loose weight keep it off? That is a sad statistic. You want to know why, well geez if people weren't fat there would be a lot of money lost. Oh and just so you know, this includes people that have weight loss surgery.

3. Fat people are educated on how to lose weight, how could we not be. Everyone tells us how, Being fat is like wearing a sign saying I need free advice. With that being said, there is usually more going on than just not eating right or not exercising. For me I believe it is a form of self punishment. Other people will give you other answers.

4. Portion sizes are bigger, a lot bigger. Have you ever thought about the amount of calories is in that "healthy" salad you are eating? According to the Ironic Politics of Obesity, in the United States the food supply provides 3800 kilocalories per day per person to eat and this is twice the amount that most people need to sustain a healthy lifestyle (Nestle, M., 2009).

5. . Many industries compete and push the sale of food including agriculture, food product, grocery, restaurant, diet and drug industries (Nestle, M., 2003).

6. As the article The Ironic Politics of Obesity states “promoting healthful eating is not in the best interests of industry, and government agencies are caught in conflicts of interest, how can any society address it’s obesity epidemic” (Nestle, 2003).

7. Our nation is less active. You get up; you go to work, you come home and you sit in front of a television or a computer. Now, personally I used to get up at 6am to get to work by 8 which included an hour commute between work and home. I would be at work for 9 hours a day sitting in front of a computer listening to people yell at me. Now, my drug of choice is food, the job is stressful so I would eat to fix the stress because there was no other readily available outlet at hand while i was chained to a desk and a phone so to speak. I would get off work at 5pm to get home by 6 or later depending on if we needed to stop at the store or not. My husband would cook while I would start to work on school work. I would do school work for an hour or more and then all i wanted to do is relax. Yes, yes I hear exercise will help you relax but by the time i got home i was exhausted and after the homework forget moving. I know i am not the only one that feels like this. All I wanted then was to relax and then go to bed so i could start over again.

8. Oh and yes it is more expensive to eat healthy than it is to eat crap. I know this for a fact through my own grocery bills. When I eat healthy, meaning I buy fresh and frozen veggies and fruit more whole grain foods instead of processed and things like steel cut oats instead of quaker oats it cost me about 100.00 every week for our family to eat. When I buy processed foods it costs my family 150.00 at the most every two weeks to eat though I have been spending only about 100.00 every two weeks

Have i said food is addicting?

Oh and to answer your original question about 30% of people are considered obese in over 30 states now. Not a single state had a drop in obesity this year. If I remember right Mississippi is the fattest with Colorado coming in as the least obese.

So, now that i have bored you, I will let you go back to your rant about how fat people are

Oh and here is my reference for some of the above stuff.

Nestle, M. (2003, February 7). The Ironic Politics of Obesity. Science, p. 781. http://search.ebscohost.com.kaplan.uah.edu

 

[Cattypuss]

Provincial England here. Probably 25% of people are noticeably overweight (including me - I have binge eating disorder, but the last 7 weeks I've lost 13 pounds, so I remain hopeful). I was in Amsterdam last week and commented to my companion that there were no fat people there (maybe because they all go everywhere on bicycles? I dunno... the national cuisine is fairly stodgy...). On the flight home, on a small plane, I saw more fat people than I did in 6 days in Amsterdam.

 

[WriterDom]

I didn't lose 41 pounds this year by spending more money on food. I spent less. A lot less. I don't eat out anytime I want but maybe once a week. No eating after my last meal. No unhealthy snacks. No desserts to speak of. No needless calories in drinks. If you are heavy it takes a lot of calories just to maintain that weight.

 

[Cattypuss]

No needless calories in drinks. .

I know lots of people who could save LOADS of money by starting to drink tap-water instead of canned drinks.

That's one area where I'm lucky - I've always drunk a lot of tap-water, by choice.

 

[minx1]

I personally believe it's a lack of education, both in terms of nutritional knowledge (currently being tackled by the government from Kindergarten level), as well as actual cooking skills (bring back Home Economics). I love to cook "peasant food" - meat and vegetable stews that have simmered for hours... mmmyum! This is what poor people used to eat - cheap cuts, less meat, more bones etc. In addition, vegetarians spend a lot less on their food budget, so lack of education really must be at the root of it, no?

I also wonder about today's "instant gratification" society. Frankly, I love fried food. I'd eat more of it but the salt content in this country puts me off (I'm European). However, I also was brought up to eat a balanced diet. This was drummed into me, and I am drumming it into my child. I'd rather have chocolate mousse for dessert, but I'll have a fruit pot because I know I haven't eaten my 5-10 today.

This is me.

I have had to live on a very tight food budget at times and was brought up on the same ''peasant food''.
I find that i can spend the same as I would if i were buying supermarket convenience food for 3/4 nights by buying ingredients for stew or chicken casserole. I cook a big batch of it...enough for 3 nights. I usually have some left over too, but by the third night I usually need to switch to something else lol.
Since I started eating like this (out of financial necessity mainly) I have lost 3 stone. Sometimes it gets a little dull, but I know its packed with veggies and I am getting the nutrients I need. I love food so treat myself by having a break from the regime once or twice a week.

 

[WriterDom]

I know lots of people who could save LOADS of money by starting to drink tap-water instead of canned drinks.

That's one area where I'm lucky - I've always drunk a lot of tap-water, by choice.

There is a girl down the road whose recycle basket is filled with soda cans every week. She's not fat but she isn't skinny either. That's like eating 8 spoons full of sugar. Talk about needless calories. I gave up diet soda too.

 

[Luna_Wolf72]

Where I live, I don't notice obesity. I do note alot of people in the gym who are larger than what one would consider normal but to me if they are lifting and breathing easily, than they are in much better shape than alot of skinny people.
I can't judge, though. By most people's standards, I am considered chunky. I bench twice my body weight (About 250 max) and squat a little more than that.

I do believe it has much to do with one's standard of living as well as education. Even genetics play a role (My family on both sides is filled with thick women and hefty, muscular men...)

I am sure that MD has quite a few *overweight* people but I never really pay attention unless the person is grossly obese and I haven't really noted very many of them in my neck of the woods.