Yeah, there's plenty of cushion for the pushin' down here in Atlanta. Thankfully, I'm not one of lard-butts.
Even worse though, tourist locations have the fattest people on Earth. I was in California last week (I was in a Disneyland parade), and I'll tell ya', if I see another completely fat family, I'm gonna steal their churros. In about 1/4 of the groups I saw, the mom was fat, the dad was fat, the children were fat. Hell, even the BABY was fat (even fatter than most babies). Probably 3/4 of the groups had at least 1 fat person.
Maybe if America lost some of its fast food restaurants, people would slim down. I mean, how many places do I need to get a burger in under a minute? Then again, if McDonalds used actual meat in their burgers instead of processed boots, that would help too
Yeah, there's plenty of cushion for the pushin' down here in Atlanta. Thankfully, I'm not one of lard-butts.
Even worse though, tourist locations have the fattest people on Earth. I was in California last week (I was in a Disneyland parade), and I'll tell ya', if I see another completely fat family, I'm gonna steal their churros. In about 1/4 of the groups I saw, the mom was fat, the dad was fat, the children were fat. Hell, even the BABY was fat (even fatter than most babies). Probably 3/4 of the groups had at least 1 fat person.
Maybe if America lost some of its fast food restaurants, people would slim down. I mean, how many places do I need to get a burger in under a minute? Then again, if McDonalds used actual meat in their burgers instead of processed boots, that would help too
Their probably all from someplace like Alabama
In northern Ca you have health nuts and organic food
There is no mention specifically of income disparities being the cause of these distortions, so I think to toss the entire distortion on income disparities is a bit naive.
An interesting possible series of propositions I just formulated in my head is that poor people, in general, are obese because they are lazy. Inactivity is a major cause of obesity. Which also explains why they are poor. In that case, I could deduce that minorities in America are lazy.
Just a thought.
Okey Dokey. Since broadly racist formulations are apparently now OK in AO (as opposed to any talk of Texan truck drivers), I guess I'll speak to your "point".
Take a look here From the CDC, a chart of obesity trends in the US.
Of note: Black obesity rose by 61% in the decade 91-01. White obesity rose by 73%. I guess white people are getting lazier.
Also please note that while the percentage of blacks who are obese is larger than the percentage of whites, blacks comprise just 13% percent of the US population, meaning there are far, far more fat white people. I'm sorry, "lazy"people.
Notice also that obesity drops sharply for all populations as education increases-- from 27.4% for less than a high school diploma to 15.7% for a college graduate. So access to education, not one of the strengths of the poor, is a strong indicator of obesity.
Finally, and this is not on the chart, consider that in most places, fresh fruit and vegatables, resaurants with healthy menus, and access to an appealing variety of prepackaged foods are concentrated in the more affluent areas.
For instance, in Oakland, it's food paradise once you go north to Berkeley, but as you move south into Oakland's poor black neighborhoods, not only are there no grocery stores overflowing with organic produce and vegitarian frozen entrees, there are no grocery stores period.
People who live in these neighborhoods have three choices: they can shop at much more expensive corner stores, which sell mostly sugary drinks, cereal, canned meat products, pasteries, booze and cigarettes, they can eat at the fast food outlets (which do have a strong prescence in the areas), or they can travel 5-10 miles, often on public transit, to go to a "real" grocery store.
So while you might look at some figures and deduce that they show minorities in America are lazy, I would characterize that as very simply racist.
I have lost 15 pounds since January by eating what I would say resembles a "French" diet. The food is better, I have more energy and I do not miss the old ways.
BTW, congrats BR I am proud of you and I know what you mean about watching others stuff themselves. It is just insane.
Fellows
Thanks. Good job yourself.
As far as poor people...our poor people are fat. I don't think we can complain much about poverty in this country when our poor people are fat. Call me when their stomachs are large from being distended due to malnutrition. Then I might care.
I think a lot of it is attitude. We love to assign blame but never to ourselves. Just look at the idiot smokers suing tobacco companies and that retarded McDonald's lawsuit. We also hate hard work. Well, too fvcking bad. You want to get skinny? It takes a bit of work. It's not always pleasant. It's not a fvcking walk in the park (although that helps). Before my body got used to eating 1000 - 1200 calories a day, some days were absolute hell and I was so close to just stuffing my face and losing a week's worth of work. It just took a powerful will and a dedication to the cause to get through it. Now I'm stuffed after a chicken sandwich. Screw stomach stapling. You can shrink your own stomach if you just eat less over a period of time.
Okey Dokey. Since broadly racist formulations are apparently now OK in AO (as opposed to any talk of Texan truck drivers), I guess I'll speak to your "point".
Take a look here From the CDC, a chart of obesity trends in the US.
Of note: Black obesity rose by 61% in the decade 91-01. White obesity rose by 73%. I guess white people are getting lazier.
Also please note that while the percentage of blacks who are obese is larger than the percentage of whites, blacks comprise just 13% percent of the US population, meaning there are far, far more fat white people. I'm sorry, "lazy"people.
Notice also that obesity drops sharply for all populations as education increases-- from 27.4% for less than a high school diploma to 15.7% for a college graduate. So access to education, not one of the strengths of the poor, is a strong indicator of obesity.
Finally, and this is not on the chart, consider that in most places, fresh fruit and vegatables, resaurants with healthy menus, and access to an appealing variety of prepackaged foods are concentrated in the more affluent areas.
For instance, in Oakland, it's food paradise once you go north to Berkeley, but as you move south into Oakland's poor black neighborhoods, not only are there no grocery stores overflowing with organic produce and vegitarian frozen entrees, there are no grocery stores period.
People who live in these neighborhoods have three choices: they can shop at much more expensive corner stores, which sell mostly sugary drinks, cereal, canned meat products, pasteries, booze and cigarettes, they can eat at the fast food outlets (which do have a strong prescence in the areas), or they can travel 5-10 miles, often on public transit, to go to a "real" grocery store.
So while you might look at some figures and deduce that they show minorities in America are lazy, I would characterize that as very simply racist.
I was merely presenting that as a possible series of deductions to demonstrate the type of logic which was being used earlier in the thread.
By the way, how do you define racism?
Ascribing negative traits to a group of people based on race. Denying a group of people certain freedoms and access based on race. The two are inimately connected since one leads to another, i.e; "black people are lazy", if taken seriously, has broad repercussions regarding social policy. For that matter, as per BRs post, "poor people are lazy" does the same thing, it just hides the fact of disproportionate minority poverty in a more general formulation. Clearly, "laziness" is a very different matter than "structural poverty" or "inequality of economic access" or, well, you know, racism.
Saying something about any race with which he disagrees.
BR, that's utter horseshit and you know it. I was responding to Ganandorf's completely unsupportable assertion that obesity=minorites=lazy.
I realize you're the king of personal responsiblity, I also realize that you are self satisfied child whose opinions about who and what "poor people" are uninflected by experience, insight or compassion.
It takes leisure TIME to be able to excercise and to be able to afford getting decent foods from distant locations . . . as well as time and energy enough to prepare the food (processed foods are aweful) and, also to be able to know about diet.
This is a real situation that undermines the poor with regards to obesity in our country
and, if you haven't noticed, health is a class moniker: looking like you work out at Gold's is a status look . . . it takes time and effort at one's own free time to get in shape . . .people wear it like a badge or like their BMWs . .
The thing about obesity and the poor is that many poor people have few alternatives due to place of work, hours and place of residence etc. . .
and, since it is a class moniker, as is apparent hygiene (being able to dress well and get good haircuts and nice teeth) people who can't afford all of the above find it difficult to manoever into different class/work environments . . . blame it all on them if you feel superior, but these are just a few of the real issues that beset the poor . .
There are some other wierd side effects of being poor and diet: the notion of Status-Foods: when I lived in a poor naighborhood in a major city, many people I knew indirectly, would buy fat-rich meats with their income as it was a sign of disposable income . . . even if they didn't seem to have a 'disposable' income . . . (I even heard people talk about it "I am not going to buy vegetables with this money Im going to get ribs!")
Bingo! And bingo again Eugene. You know that stuff doctors say about 20 - 30 minutes of exercise a day? Total and utter CRAP.
The funny thing is how I don't consciously exercise...at all, and I eat like a pig. To me, it really doesn't seem like it takes that much work. When I stand up, I pace a lot. I walk the dogs twice a day, 30 minutes at a time, but at a leisurely pace.
I think I burn more calories on average because I don't sleep very much...
I've played DDR twice...which was enough to know I should never play it again.
The funny thing is how I don't consciously exercise...at all, and I eat like a pig. To me, it really doesn't seem like it takes that much work. When I stand up, I pace a lot. I walk the dogs twice a day, 30 minutes at a time, but at a leisurely pace.
I think I burn more calories on average because I don't sleep very much...
I've played DDR twice...which was enough to know I should never play it again.
You probably have a hingh metabolism . . and are still young
Let's drop the dumb race and obesity thing if everyone's going to get their panties in a bunch about it. If you have a complaint about a post, please report it to the mods rather than call attention to it in the thread. I took the comments by Ganondorf to be facetious if off-color (no pun intended), but we are a bit high-strung here in the AO, and one's tone in the text doesn't always get to the audience so clearly.
As for exercise, it doesn't help as much as people think, or rather, in the way they think. It's really important, but a moderate workout will burn, what 300-500 calories, and assuming you do it every day, that's 1 pound a week. Whoop dee doo. so you cancel out the excess calories and at you ate right after you left the gym. What's more important about exercise is long-term changes in metabolism, and just feeling better anyway. At the end of the day, you need to eat well too, and limiting calories without starving yourself of nutrition will have a bigger effect on your weight in the near term. Remember too that just walking, even casually, is exercise. Hell, standing up burns more calories than sitting down.
We talk about sitting on the couch and watching TV as being part of the problem, but I think a bigger problem is that Americans are workaholics, many of whom (in the middle class anyway ) sit behind a desk for 9-10 hours a day, then commute (sitting in a car or even train) for another hour on average and simply don't move much for at least two-thirds of the day. The thing about regular exercise and the culture of the workout is that we don't move around consistently enough the rest of the day. We wouldn't need yoga and treadmills if we had reason to get up and saunter around a bit more through the day.
I know a guy who is 40, and it seems no matter how much he eats, he's a stick. The big difference with him is that he eats when he actually likes something, and doesn't just finish what's in front of him compulsively, and most importantly, he loves to cook for himself. Cooking at home is so much healthier than eating out. and I don't think a lot of people do either much cooking for themselves or take much care in it to get a balanced meal.
Another thing that occurred to me when living in Italy is that American meals put all the parts of a day's balanced meal on the plate at the same time. Traditional Italian cooking doesn't mix starches with meats in substantial quantities at the same time, and lunch is often just a starch but not much meat. America is the land of meat and potatoes, sandwiches and bread before appetizers. It's like we're getting the four food groups (remember that?) and a day's serving of certain things at each meal rather than taking it in over the course of the day.
It's also not good to avoid sugars at all costs, or avoid carbs, or avoid fat, etc. Fats and sugars especially make a meal satisfying, and what's the point of eating when you have the opportunity to enjoy it, not just require it? Besides, low-fat foods substitute sugars, low-carb foods just hide the carbs in other forms, low-sugar or sugar-free foods just substitute carcinogens, and if you avoid both sugars and fats, any food that has flavor is probably sky-high in sodium.
As for exercise, it doesn't help as much as people think, or rather, in the way they think. It's really important, but a moderate workout will burn, what 300-500 calories, and assuming you do it every day, that's 1 pound a week. Whoop dee doo. so you cancel out the excess calories and at you ate right after you left the gym. What's more important about exercise is long-term changes in metabolism, and just feeling better anyway. At the end of the day, you need to eat well too, and limiting calories without starving yourself of nutrition will have a bigger effect on your weight in the near term. Remember too that just walking, even casually, is exercise. Hell, standing up burns more calories than sitting down.
Exactly. Since I started working out 4 months ago I now have less appetite and more energy on less sleep. Oh, and if insist on sitting at least you can sit on a swiss ball. That keeps your back and stomach working as you are sitting to maintain balance.
Exactly. Since I started working out 4 months ago I now have less appetite and more energy on less sleep. Oh, and if insist on sitting at least you can sit on a swiss ball. That keeps your back and stomach working as you are sitting to maintain balance.
I gave up french fries for Lent last year and never looked back. Love 'em to death, but they'd be my death if I didn't stop eating them. The 1-2 hours of exercise thing is true, but I simply cannot find the resolve to drag my lazy ass to a gymnasium to just work out...it isn't in my nature. If I had a job to accomplish, something to make/build/create in that same time period I would do it. I need to do it, but I can't seem to create a cycle of daily exercise. I'm one of those people who need a peer group to do that kind of activity.
THAT is a real problem for a LOT of Americans, regardless of the French style of living/eating.
The one thing I want to do when I finally get to Paris is to sit on a park bench and make out with my girlfriend/wife for a couple of hours. That would certainly burn some calories. Please tell me that's still allowed in Paris.
Speaking to racial typologies and typical consumer fare in America, there was a program that ran on PBS several years ago (either NOVA, Frontline or Scientific American) that followed some Native Americans in the Southwest whose bodies reacted incredibly badly to the fats in our "normal" foodstuffs. The results? Diabetes and chronic illnesses....they were all HUGE.
So as many of you have already stated, genetic history does seem to play a part in how we process the foods...but exercise is permanently wedded to the equation.
Speaking to racial typologies and typical consumer fare in America, there was a program that ran on PBS several years ago (either NOVA, Frontline or Scientific American) that followed some Native Americans in the Southwest whose bodies reacted incredibly badly to the fats in our "normal" foodstuffs. The results? Diabetes and chronic illnesses....they were all HUGE.
So as many of you have already stated, genetic history does seem to play a part in how we process the foods...but exercise is permanently wedded to the equation.
It's not just the Native Americans. When I was in the States 20 years ago, my body seemed to literally reject the food. There's a lot of places I might travel where I'd expect to be wary of the food but the US wasn't one of them. Without going into gory details, let's just say Metamucil and I became much better acquainted than I would have preferred. And it was because everything was cooked in fat.
Question for the Americans re: the meat and potatoes thing. Have the eating habits of migrants not been adopted in US home cooking? A large proportion (perhaps not majority) of Australians have adopted food and cooking styles of people who have immigrated here. In particular, Asian and Italian cuisine. Also Middle Eastern and Indian. The Japanese really seem to have their shit together when it comes to healthy eating.
And just by the by, Ethiopian food is freakin' fantastic.
I can tell you that Atlanta has an ever-increasing number of "ethnic" restaurants, our population is tremendously adventurous and are early adopters. I would venture to say that the same thing goes for most of the larger cities. The pendulum is swinging back and away from the ZOWEE factor of the 1950's atomic science and traditional deep-fried-anything.
Interestingly there was a story I ran across on the Scotsman that put out a curry alert for you folks in the UK. Stop putting those crazy dyes in your curries Lister, you silly smeghead!*
* Mods, this is a reference to the ever-popular television series Red Dwarf. Please do not smack, shackle, ban or spank me in any fashion due to the use of this terminology. Read a book! Get out of the house!
Comments
Even worse though, tourist locations have the fattest people on Earth. I was in California last week (I was in a Disneyland parade), and I'll tell ya', if I see another completely fat family, I'm gonna steal their churros. In about 1/4 of the groups I saw, the mom was fat, the dad was fat, the children were fat. Hell, even the BABY was fat (even fatter than most babies). Probably 3/4 of the groups had at least 1 fat person.
Maybe if America lost some of its fast food restaurants, people would slim down. I mean, how many places do I need to get a burger in under a minute? Then again, if McDonalds used actual meat in their burgers instead of processed boots, that would help too
Originally posted by hyperb0le
Yeah, there's plenty of cushion for the pushin' down here in Atlanta. Thankfully, I'm not one of lard-butts.
Even worse though, tourist locations have the fattest people on Earth. I was in California last week (I was in a Disneyland parade), and I'll tell ya', if I see another completely fat family, I'm gonna steal their churros. In about 1/4 of the groups I saw, the mom was fat, the dad was fat, the children were fat. Hell, even the BABY was fat (even fatter than most babies). Probably 3/4 of the groups had at least 1 fat person.
Maybe if America lost some of its fast food restaurants, people would slim down. I mean, how many places do I need to get a burger in under a minute? Then again, if McDonalds used actual meat in their burgers instead of processed boots, that would help too
Their probably all from someplace like Alabama
In northern Ca you have health nuts and organic food
Originally posted by Ganondorf
From the American Public Health Administration:
There is no mention specifically of income disparities being the cause of these distortions, so I think to toss the entire distortion on income disparities is a bit naive.
An interesting possible series of propositions I just formulated in my head is that poor people, in general, are obese because they are lazy. Inactivity is a major cause of obesity. Which also explains why they are poor. In that case, I could deduce that minorities in America are lazy.
Just a thought.
Okey Dokey. Since broadly racist formulations are apparently now OK in AO (as opposed to any talk of Texan truck drivers), I guess I'll speak to your "point".
Take a look here From the CDC, a chart of obesity trends in the US.
Of note: Black obesity rose by 61% in the decade 91-01. White obesity rose by 73%. I guess white people are getting lazier.
Also please note that while the percentage of blacks who are obese is larger than the percentage of whites, blacks comprise just 13% percent of the US population, meaning there are far, far more fat white people. I'm sorry, "lazy"people.
Notice also that obesity drops sharply for all populations as education increases-- from 27.4% for less than a high school diploma to 15.7% for a college graduate. So access to education, not one of the strengths of the poor, is a strong indicator of obesity.
Finally, and this is not on the chart, consider that in most places, fresh fruit and vegatables, resaurants with healthy menus, and access to an appealing variety of prepackaged foods are concentrated in the more affluent areas.
For instance, in Oakland, it's food paradise once you go north to Berkeley, but as you move south into Oakland's poor black neighborhoods, not only are there no grocery stores overflowing with organic produce and vegitarian frozen entrees, there are no grocery stores period.
People who live in these neighborhoods have three choices: they can shop at much more expensive corner stores, which sell mostly sugary drinks, cereal, canned meat products, pasteries, booze and cigarettes, they can eat at the fast food outlets (which do have a strong prescence in the areas), or they can travel 5-10 miles, often on public transit, to go to a "real" grocery store.
So while you might look at some figures and deduce that they show minorities in America are lazy, I would characterize that as very simply racist.
Originally posted by Fellowship
I have lost 15 pounds since January by eating what I would say resembles a "French" diet. The food is better, I have more energy and I do not miss the old ways.
BTW, congrats BR I am proud of you and I know what you mean about watching others stuff themselves. It is just insane.
Fellows
Thanks. Good job yourself.
As far as poor people...our poor people are fat. I don't think we can complain much about poverty in this country when our poor people are fat. Call me when their stomachs are large from being distended due to malnutrition. Then I might care.
I think a lot of it is attitude. We love to assign blame but never to ourselves. Just look at the idiot smokers suing tobacco companies and that retarded McDonald's lawsuit. We also hate hard work. Well, too fvcking bad. You want to get skinny? It takes a bit of work. It's not always pleasant. It's not a fvcking walk in the park (although that helps). Before my body got used to eating 1000 - 1200 calories a day, some days were absolute hell and I was so close to just stuffing my face and losing a week's worth of work. It just took a powerful will and a dedication to the cause to get through it. Now I'm stuffed after a chicken sandwich. Screw stomach stapling. You can shrink your own stomach if you just eat less over a period of time.
Originally posted by addabox
Okey Dokey. Since broadly racist formulations are apparently now OK in AO (as opposed to any talk of Texan truck drivers), I guess I'll speak to your "point".
Take a look here From the CDC, a chart of obesity trends in the US.
Of note: Black obesity rose by 61% in the decade 91-01. White obesity rose by 73%. I guess white people are getting lazier.
Also please note that while the percentage of blacks who are obese is larger than the percentage of whites, blacks comprise just 13% percent of the US population, meaning there are far, far more fat white people. I'm sorry, "lazy"people.
Notice also that obesity drops sharply for all populations as education increases-- from 27.4% for less than a high school diploma to 15.7% for a college graduate. So access to education, not one of the strengths of the poor, is a strong indicator of obesity.
Finally, and this is not on the chart, consider that in most places, fresh fruit and vegatables, resaurants with healthy menus, and access to an appealing variety of prepackaged foods are concentrated in the more affluent areas.
For instance, in Oakland, it's food paradise once you go north to Berkeley, but as you move south into Oakland's poor black neighborhoods, not only are there no grocery stores overflowing with organic produce and vegitarian frozen entrees, there are no grocery stores period.
People who live in these neighborhoods have three choices: they can shop at much more expensive corner stores, which sell mostly sugary drinks, cereal, canned meat products, pasteries, booze and cigarettes, they can eat at the fast food outlets (which do have a strong prescence in the areas), or they can travel 5-10 miles, often on public transit, to go to a "real" grocery store.
So while you might look at some figures and deduce that they show minorities in America are lazy, I would characterize that as very simply racist.
Minorities aren't lazy. Poor people are lazy.
By the way, how do you define racism?
Originally posted by Ganondorf
I was merely presenting that as a possible series of deductions to demonstrate the type of logic which was being used earlier in the thread.
By the way, how do you define racism?
Saying something about any race with which he disagrees.
Originally posted by Ganondorf
I was merely presenting that as a possible series of deductions to demonstrate the type of logic which was being used earlier in the thread.
By the way, how do you define racism?
Ascribing negative traits to a group of people based on race. Denying a group of people certain freedoms and access based on race. The two are inimately connected since one leads to another, i.e; "black people are lazy", if taken seriously, has broad repercussions regarding social policy. For that matter, as per BRs post, "poor people are lazy" does the same thing, it just hides the fact of disproportionate minority poverty in a more general formulation. Clearly, "laziness" is a very different matter than "structural poverty" or "inequality of economic access" or, well, you know, racism.
Originally posted by BR
Saying something about any race with which he disagrees.
BR, that's utter horseshit and you know it. I was responding to Ganandorf's completely unsupportable assertion that obesity=minorites=lazy.
I realize you're the king of personal responsiblity, I also realize that you are self satisfied child whose opinions about who and what "poor people" are uninflected by experience, insight or compassion.
This is a real situation that undermines the poor with regards to obesity in our country
and, if you haven't noticed, health is a class moniker: looking like you work out at Gold's is a status look . . . it takes time and effort at one's own free time to get in shape . . .people wear it like a badge or like their BMWs . .
The thing about obesity and the poor is that many poor people have few alternatives due to place of work, hours and place of residence etc. . .
and, since it is a class moniker, as is apparent hygiene (being able to dress well and get good haircuts and nice teeth) people who can't afford all of the above find it difficult to manoever into different class/work environments . . . blame it all on them if you feel superior, but these are just a few of the real issues that beset the poor . .
There are some other wierd side effects of being poor and diet: the notion of Status-Foods: when I lived in a poor naighborhood in a major city, many people I knew indirectly, would buy fat-rich meats with their income as it was a sign of disposable income . . . even if they didn't seem to have a 'disposable' income . . . (I even heard people talk about it "I am not going to buy vegetables with this money Im going to get ribs!")
Originally posted by crazychester
Bingo! And bingo again Eugene. You know that stuff doctors say about 20 - 30 minutes of exercise a day? Total and utter CRAP.
The funny thing is how I don't consciously exercise...at all, and I eat like a pig. To me, it really doesn't seem like it takes that much work. When I stand up, I pace a lot. I walk the dogs twice a day, 30 minutes at a time, but at a leisurely pace.
I think I burn more calories on average because I don't sleep very much...
I've played DDR twice...which was enough to know I should never play it again.
Originally posted by Eugene
The funny thing is how I don't consciously exercise...at all, and I eat like a pig. To me, it really doesn't seem like it takes that much work. When I stand up, I pace a lot. I walk the dogs twice a day, 30 minutes at a time, but at a leisurely pace.
I think I burn more calories on average because I don't sleep very much...
I've played DDR twice...which was enough to know I should never play it again.
You probably have a hingh metabolism . . and are still young
Originally posted by pfflam
You probably have a hingh metabolism . . and are still young
I'd kick ass in an Ice Age.
As for exercise, it doesn't help as much as people think, or rather, in the way they think. It's really important, but a moderate workout will burn, what 300-500 calories, and assuming you do it every day, that's 1 pound a week. Whoop dee doo. so you cancel out the excess calories and at you ate right after you left the gym.
We talk about sitting on the couch and watching TV as being part of the problem, but I think a bigger problem is that Americans are workaholics, many of whom (in the middle class anyway
I know a guy who is 40, and it seems no matter how much he eats, he's a stick. The big difference with him is that he eats when he actually likes something, and doesn't just finish what's in front of him compulsively, and most importantly, he loves to cook for himself. Cooking at home is so much healthier than eating out. and I don't think a lot of people do either much cooking for themselves or take much care in it to get a balanced meal.
Another thing that occurred to me when living in Italy is that American meals put all the parts of a day's balanced meal on the plate at the same time. Traditional Italian cooking doesn't mix starches with meats in substantial quantities at the same time, and lunch is often just a starch but not much meat. America is the land of meat and potatoes, sandwiches and bread before appetizers. It's like we're getting the four food groups (remember that?) and a day's serving of certain things at each meal rather than taking it in over the course of the day.
It's also not good to avoid sugars at all costs, or avoid carbs, or avoid fat, etc. Fats and sugars especially make a meal satisfying, and what's the point of eating when you have the opportunity to enjoy it, not just require it? Besides, low-fat foods substitute sugars, low-carb foods just hide the carbs in other forms, low-sugar or sugar-free foods just substitute carcinogens, and if you avoid both sugars and fats, any food that has flavor is probably sky-high in sodium.
As for exercise, it doesn't help as much as people think, or rather, in the way they think. It's really important, but a moderate workout will burn, what 300-500 calories, and assuming you do it every day, that's 1 pound a week. Whoop dee doo. so you cancel out the excess calories and at you ate right after you left the gym. What's more important about exercise is long-term changes in metabolism, and just feeling better anyway. At the end of the day, you need to eat well too, and limiting calories without starving yourself of nutrition will have a bigger effect on your weight in the near term. Remember too that just walking, even casually, is exercise. Hell, standing up burns more calories than sitting down.
Exactly. Since I started working out 4 months ago I now have less appetite and more energy on less sleep. Oh, and if insist on sitting at least you can sit on a swiss ball. That keeps your back and stomach working as you are sitting to maintain balance.
Originally posted by BR
Exactly. Since I started working out 4 months ago I now have less appetite and more energy on less sleep. Oh, and if insist on sitting at least you can sit on a swiss ball. That keeps your back and stomach working as you are sitting to maintain balance.
Are you on a swiss ball right now?
THAT is a real problem for a LOT of Americans, regardless of the French style of living/eating.
The one thing I want to do when I finally get to Paris is to sit on a park bench and make out with my girlfriend/wife for a couple of hours. That would certainly burn some calories. Please tell me that's still allowed in Paris.
Please.
So as many of you have already stated, genetic history does seem to play a part in how we process the foods...but exercise is permanently wedded to the equation.
Originally posted by drewprops
Speaking to racial typologies and typical consumer fare in America, there was a program that ran on PBS several years ago (either NOVA, Frontline or Scientific American) that followed some Native Americans in the Southwest whose bodies reacted incredibly badly to the fats in our "normal" foodstuffs. The results? Diabetes and chronic illnesses....they were all HUGE.
So as many of you have already stated, genetic history does seem to play a part in how we process the foods...but exercise is permanently wedded to the equation.
It's not just the Native Americans. When I was in the States 20 years ago, my body seemed to literally reject the food. There's a lot of places I might travel where I'd expect to be wary of the food but the US wasn't one of them. Without going into gory details, let's just say Metamucil and I became much better acquainted than I would have preferred. And it was because everything was cooked in fat.
Question for the Americans re: the meat and potatoes thing. Have the eating habits of migrants not been adopted in US home cooking? A large proportion (perhaps not majority) of Australians have adopted food and cooking styles of people who have immigrated here. In particular, Asian and Italian cuisine. Also Middle Eastern and Indian. The Japanese really seem to have their shit together when it comes to healthy eating.
And just by the by, Ethiopian food is freakin' fantastic.
Interestingly there was a story I ran across on the Scotsman that put out a curry alert for you folks in the UK. Stop putting those crazy dyes in your curries Lister, you silly smeghead!*
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2684584
* Mods, this is a reference to the ever-popular television series Red Dwarf. Please do not smack, shackle, ban or spank me in any fashion due to the use of this terminology. Read a book! Get out of the house!