how can the US be obsessed with dieting/being skinny and also be criticized for being the fattest country in the world?

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MORE ABOUT FOOD AND DIETING. DISCUSS.

― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:05 (twenty-one years ago)

most fat people wish they were thin

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:08 (twenty-one years ago)

disordered eating goes in all directions

― crly, Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:09 (twenty-one years ago)

'Cause we cover all the bases.

― Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Rather than eating decent food all the time, we'd rather eat total shit in huge quantities half the time and bland diet foods the other half.

― mike h. (mike h.), Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:16 (twenty-one years ago)

because we are full of eating disorders. on one hand people are made to feel they should look a certain way by images in the media, and on the other they are delicious food items around every corner, and the only way to have fun is over a milkshake with two straws. plus, we don't move. ever.

― gunther heartymeal, Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:16 (twenty-one years ago)

well the news media should decide which is the lesser evil.

because one week we have a story about how fat we are, the next week we have a story about high school girls with eating disorders.

― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:16 (twenty-one years ago)

*there are delicious food items.

― gunther heartymeal, Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:17 (twenty-one years ago)

are SUPERMODELS and ACTRESSES the cause of eating disorders, or the NEWS telling us we are so fat?

― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm not sure that the news media have a vested interest in being consistent.

― Archel (Archel), Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Good question! And with supermodels and actresses, people either say they look TOO SKINNY and unhealthy OR are hard on them for looking "overweight" when they totally don't. It's messed up.

― gunther heartymeal, Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:19 (twenty-one years ago)

We can't win, unfortunately. The 'ideal' is DESIGNED to be impossible for a real woman to achieve, partly because if we were actually happy with our bodies the economy would collapse.

― Archel (Archel), Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:22 (twenty-one years ago)

check this out, it's like big tobacco part two:

http://www.corn.org/web/CRAObesityPosition.html

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:25 (twenty-one years ago)

people cry on tv talk shows about their eating disorder/cut to commercial pushing junk food.

and there is the Ban junk food ads from kids' TV? issue, they should do it like they did ban cigarette advertising.

― Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:27 (twenty-one years ago)

over-processed (but cheap and nice-tasting and quick) foods => incorrect blood sugar levels => cravings for foodstuffs which don't satisfy (or only briefly) => even more unbalanced blood sugar levels => further cravings = a bad feedback loop

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Prohibiting food choices, even through the sale of vending machines, could have the adverse effect of making such food items even more attractive to children. If children do not face "real world" choices within the school environment, they are less likely to develop the ability to make intelligent choices outside of school, and into adulthood.

This is such fucking bollocks. They are KIDS. Would it also be educationally valid to have cigarettes and alcohol and drugs available through vending machines? Those are real world choices too.

― Archel (Archel), Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Not that cigarettes and alcohol and caffeine and refined sugar AREN'T drugs, obv.

― Archel (Archel), Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:32 (twenty-one years ago)

We really are fatties, aren't we. Me included.

― jill schoelen is the queen of my dreams! (Homosexual II), Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:32 (twenty-one years ago)

The answer is pizza.

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Government subsidized corn syrup in everything sweet.

Would it also be educationally valid to have cigarettes and alcohol and drugs available through vending machines?

It would weed out all the freaks.

― Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:34 (twenty-one years ago)

also i think many poorly designed and overpromoted diets end up having the opposite effect: they start off well but are unsustainable (bcz eg you feel hungry the whole time, or the expesive or fiddly), and you end up slidin out of em into bingeworld, and startin over

meanwhile other ppl watch this entire cycle, think fuck that, and reach for the pork scratchings

(eg obsession w.dieting + v.unsensible or unrealistic commodified diet plans = recipe for calamity)

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:36 (twenty-one years ago)

which is more reprehensible, looking in the mirror and weighing yourself constantly (regardless of weight) or being a fat slob and not caring?

― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Walt Whitman to thread.

― Huk-L, Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:38 (twenty-one years ago)

haha mark are you still on the south beach diet? i've thought about that one cuz superfly bill clinton used it

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:40 (twenty-one years ago)

because the American Dream is "having it all." and in the current climate even eating becomes politicized. Red states are full of carefree carnivores, while blue state occupants are nutrition-conscious effete vegetarians. dirty secret: it's the poor people in urban areas who subsist on fast food and suffer the consequences.

― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:41 (twenty-one years ago)

isn't the answer obvious? Fat people are the ideal target for diet/weight obsessed media and marketing. If everyone was skinny and ate well, there would be no market for the "diet industry". Ergo, must maintain fat populace so as to continue milking their fat wallets.

This reminds me of one of my favorite P. Bagge/Hate moments, when Stinky tells Buddy that they can't trust fat people cuz the way they got fat was by ripping off skinny people. Classic.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:43 (twenty-one years ago)

while blue state occupants are nutrition-conscious effete vegetarians

Um, what about Wisconsin and Minnesota?

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:44 (twenty-one years ago)

yes blount i am!! it is of course an over-promoted and highly commodified diet named for a FLORIDA BEACH-BUNNY HANG-OUT!!

but it means i can pig out on raw cashews plus also it basically works (for me)

also i like fish which it leans towards (you can eat any amount of seafood)

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Either something about our lifestyle is fat-inducing (not moving a whole lot), or there are so many food additives that make us lardy. For instance, my fucking Special K has fucking high fructose corn syrup in it. WHY!?!?

I have lived in the UK before (albeit briefly) and I did notice people were thinner over there. Rather than 'thin' people, it just seemed like more people were within normal weight range. I didn't see a lot of overweight people, but then again I didn't see quite as many thin-as-a-rail types that I see over here. It seems like people in the US are at one extreme or the other.

― jill schoelen is the queen of my dreams! (Homosexual II), Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:45 (twenty-one years ago)

it's not always additives so much as "subtractives" (eg brown rice a better idea than white processed rice, as latter — which has loads of "fibre" taken out — is way too quickly digested and yr hungry again too quickly)

(i totally hate brown rice)

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:50 (twenty-one years ago)

anyone heard the argument the us gov is sponsoring food preservatives, for their army but also to help establish a food monopoly (ez to export and shelf up to 5 years in harsh conditions).

― Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:50 (twenty-one years ago)

when i was in the bootcamp the old 'dude there's saltpeter in the powdered eggs' legend definitely got an airing out

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 24 February 2005 17:52 (twenty-one years ago)

brown rice stinks.

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 24 February 2005 18:11 (twenty-one years ago)

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/db/2005/db050216.gif

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Thursday, 24 February 2005 18:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Also, we're ultra-religious hedonists.

― dave225 (Dave225), Thursday, 24 February 2005 18:23 (twenty-one years ago)

I like to eat a whole tub of cake frosting with a spoon.

― jill schoelen is the queen of my dreams! (Homosexual II), Thursday, 24 February 2005 18:24 (twenty-one years ago)

the twin evils of healthy diets- high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated veg oil are seemingly in every box of food.

ADM so much to answer for

― laurence kansas (lawrence kansas), Thursday, 24 February 2005 18:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Everyone I know who's been to the US has said that even ordinary food products are greasier there, plus it's harder to find healthier foodstuff, like whole grain bread or fresh vegetables, in the supermarkets there. Can someone confirm/debunk this claim?

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 24 February 2005 19:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Not entirely true. Giant grocery stores have healthy food, but you have to walk past a lot of twinkies to get to it. And there are healthfood stores, but you have to look harder for 'em because the signs are made out of sage.

― dave225 (Dave225), Thursday, 24 February 2005 19:25 (twenty-one years ago)

I wouldn't say it's difficult to find fresh vegetables, they're in every supermarket.

― Leon the Fatboy (Ex Leon), Thursday, 24 February 2005 19:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Speaking of milk, our milk tastes really funny compared to Europe's. I think it's pretty easy to find whole grain bread here, esp. with the rise of bakeries and coffee shops that sell sandwiches on specialty breads.
I wish they would actually have edible food on programs like WIC, instead of Wonder Bread and Kraft Slices, but then the government would have to spend more money on subsidies.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Thursday, 24 February 2005 19:28 (twenty-one years ago)

my fucking Special K has fucking high fructose corn syrup in it. WHY!?!?

1) The purchasing public preferred this to other formulas.
2) The cane/beet sugar industry is restricted by the U.S. government, which keeps prices artifically high; therefore high-fructose corn syrup is cheaper.

Tuomas: As an extremely general principal, yes. However, larger stores in more affluent neighborhoods in recent years have been installing special "organic/whole food" sections. These products almost always cost more than their conventional mass-market counterparts.

― j.lu (j.lu), Thursday, 24 February 2005 19:29 (twenty-one years ago)

That's certainly not true of San Francisco, Tuomas. Processed food and our reliance on it has to be a factor. I eat meat, lots of cheese, and still cook with butter sometimes, but I try to avoid too much bread, white rice, and eat almost no processed food.

xxxpost

― Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 24 February 2005 19:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Speaking of milk, our milk tastes really funny compared to Europe's

I actually prefer most American milk.

― Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 24 February 2005 19:32 (twenty-one years ago)

dood my neighborhood Safeway (16th and Potrero) has an organic food section that's two aisles wide. Granted its probably just so they can compete with the giant employee-owned organic food co-op just around the corner, but still, that's indicative of *something* (maybe just the community I live in - San Francisco). And 9 months out of 12 I get a weekly buttload of organic veggies from a tiny local farming collective that totally R0XX0R. So it's not impossible in the US, tho I imagine if I lived somewhere else (say, Milwaukee) I might have a harder time finding "healthier" foods. As it is I feel like I do allright - I had no trouble cutting trans-fat out of my diet entirely.

x-post

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 24 February 2005 19:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I am seeing Neil Labute's "Fat Pig" tonight!

― bnw (bnw), Thursday, 24 February 2005 19:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Like Shakey, I get organic veggies delivered and when needed, I go to a grocers (Golden Harvest on Church) that has organic and non-organic produce of much better quality than Safeway. When needed, Chinatown, Clement, and the Mission have Asian and Latin-American produce that's cheap and good. California is very lucky this way.

― Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 24 February 2005 19:38 (twenty-one years ago)

but still, that's indicative of *something* (maybe just the community I live in - San Francisco)

OTM. The DC Safeway (the Georgetown or "Social" Safeway) that I'm thinking of is just down the street from a Whole Foods. Its immediate neighborhood was at least yuppiesque even before DC's big upscale real estate boom of the last decade.

Shakey: How would you describe your experience with weekly deliveries from the farming collective? I've thought of signing up for something like that.

― j.lu (j.lu), Thursday, 24 February 2005 19:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Hmm, the cost might be what makes the difference; obesity is a bigger problem within the working class than the upper class.

Processed food and our reliance on it has to be a factor. I eat meat, lots of cheese, and still cook with butter sometimes, but I try to avoid too much bread, white rice, and eat almost no processed food.

Another explanation, probably. Processed food has been making an invasion here too, but it still has sort of a bad reputation. There's even a mock word for young people who rely on microwave dinners and don't know how to cook anymore: "the neo-helpless". (I have no idea who the original "helpless" were...)

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 24 February 2005 19:43 (twenty-one years ago)

these guys: http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M560 are fucking awesome. Food is great and ridiculously cheap (I think it breaks down to something like $13/week), the farm is run by two people who are really sweet and friendly, and once a year they have a big picnic on the farm where everybody brings food and sits around basking in rural Half Moon Bay majesty and getting drunk. They don't deliver per se - you gotta pick up yr box from a drop-off spot - and there's no "menu" to choose from, you just get whatever they harvested that week.

x-post

I really feel like my diet suffers in the off-season though (ie, right now). I can rely on Mission produce markets for good local veggies, but I'm lazier about my grocery shopping in general. I find myself eating out a lot more.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 24 February 2005 19:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I can't remember which one we use, but not having to go pick it up has helped alot. Before we had lots of work/social life conflicts on pick-up days. Now they have a key to our front gate and they leave the boxes in the entry. It's good to eat seasonally too, 'cause the produce is fresher and not bred for long distance travel. I have become quite fond of chard this winter having spent many, many years hating it.

― Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 24 February 2005 19:52 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, a big plus is the seasonal aspect and the variety of veggies. I've definitely taken a liking to stuff I never would've picked up and tried on my own. Chard quesadillas = yummalicious

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 24 February 2005 19:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Almost, but not quite as good as sauteed pea sprouts.

― Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 24 February 2005 19:56 (twenty-one years ago)

here in nashville we can do good in a variety of ways. raleigh was as well. the farmer's markets are good. there's whole foods or wild oats and others. (sunshine grocery rip... bastard wild oats.) publix, harris teeter, and kroger at least both carry organic stuff if that's also needed. not sure about food lion and winn dixie. and then there's all the asian, mexican, etc groceries in certain parts o' town.

being in an ag-heavy states are good like that. as california is.

i miss the insane fruits of florida tho. monster supersweet grapefruits, etc. the orange selection was way better too. and the OJ. mmm.

still, we're very metro here to some degree. i bet the piggly wiggly 45 miles out is a little different.
m.

― msp (msp), Thursday, 24 February 2005 20:58 (twenty-one years ago)

food thats awful for you: abundant, cheap
food thats good for you: expensive, less easy to find, you have to make yourself

― Dude, are you a 15 year old asian chick? (jingleberries), Thursday, 24 February 2005 21:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Msp, you just dissed the company I work for. I think you are completely wrong. This company is dedicated to healthy living and has the highest standards in the industry, and although it may be new in your area, this company has been around for years in Colorado, and has only recently begun expansion.

― jill schoelen is the queen of my dreams! (Homosexual II), Thursday, 24 February 2005 21:22 (twenty-one years ago)

CUTTY THIS IS A POOR ARGUMENT
WRITE ONE MEMO

― Who did release magic family out from the base of $499 (deangulberry), Thursday, 24 February 2005 21:36 (twenty-one years ago)

WHY DID YOU READ THREAD THEN

― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 24 February 2005 21:54 (twenty-one years ago)

sorry I was just finishing off some ice cream

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 24 February 2005 22:09 (twenty-one years ago)

mandee do you work for piggly wiggly?? is the boss making you type that? mandee we can get you out of there! type "classic" if you're okay, "dud" if you're under duress

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 24 February 2005 22:11 (twenty-one years ago)

A country of 300 million being capable of having two conflicting qualities shockah

― ()ops (()()ps), Thursday, 24 February 2005 22:11 (twenty-one years ago)

A Japanese woman I knew, reckoned that brown rice "is pig food" and she was right. You can eat white rice every day for 107 years and still be healthy.

― isadora (isadora), Thursday, 24 February 2005 22:12 (twenty-one years ago)

brown rice needs to be short-grain and then it's f'in delicious

raw rye is also good for cookin, as is barley, i had no idea till recently that you can just cook those thing like rice

i eat nothing but quinoa these days though, it's as easy to make as cous cous but with the additional attraction of being totally cool looking

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 24 February 2005 22:13 (twenty-one years ago)

DUD!!!! Tracer help!!

― jill schoelen is the queen of my dreams! (Homosexual II), Thursday, 24 February 2005 22:15 (twenty-one years ago)

You know what I eat a lot of? Like, by the tubful? (Again, in tubs) - Poppycock.

― jill schoelen is the queen of my dreams! (Homosexual II), Thursday, 24 February 2005 22:16 (twenty-one years ago)

look don't go trying to foist your employer's clearance items on us, mandee

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 24 February 2005 22:20 (twenty-one years ago)

You know what else I like, in bulk? Mister Good Bars. Buckets of them. They are sale right now at the Piggly Wiggly - buy two gallon tubs get the third 25% off.

― jill schoelen is the queen of my dreams! (Homosexual II), Thursday, 24 February 2005 22:28 (twenty-one years ago)

mandee you are clearly being coerced, we're going to get you out of there, just stay calm

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 24 February 2005 22:37 (twenty-one years ago)

TUBBB!!!

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 24 February 2005 22:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I kind of hope I'll be polished off by U.S. ultraviolence before I have to face the consequence of U.S. poor diet.

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 24 February 2005 22:41 (twenty-one years ago)

ts: mr good bar vs mr goodbody

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 24 February 2005 22:42 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm sorry... i wasn't trying to dis piggly wiggly... small markets in nowheresville are cool. but is there as much organic selection? (of course, in grandma's garden. or the flea market, etc.)

i will dis wild oats tho. (if that was your work place.)

i like it, but it bought out sunshine grocery's real estate spot... a locally owned co-op... and within a few years, left for a bigger location. now that spot is vacant... where people used to be able to walk to a good grocery store.

(there are others not far... i'm just annoyed for that neighborhood... where i don't even live anymore.)

― msp (msp), Thursday, 24 February 2005 22:51 (twenty-one years ago)

SHOP THE PIG

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 24 February 2005 22:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh no they've got Jordan too.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 24 February 2005 23:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Is it worth noting that the Piggly Wiggers totally treats their employees like rare golden coins?

― jill schoelen is the queen of my dreams! (Homosexual II), Thursday, 24 February 2005 23:19 (twenty-one years ago)

is piggly wiggly gloating over winn-dixie declaring bankruptcy this week?

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 24 February 2005 23:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Winn-Dixie declared bankruptcy the week after a major motion picture with its name in the title opened?

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 24 February 2005 23:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I was wondering about that. Still, it should help them recover.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 24 February 2005 23:33 (twenty-one years ago)

what i don't get is how a dog ends up getting named winn-dixie. "i guess i'll have to see the movie to find out".

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 24 February 2005 23:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Save yourself 82 minutes: It's in the trailer.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 24 February 2005 23:42 (twenty-one years ago)

how weird is this - i was tempted to go see this movie cuz the little girl's in the charlie and the chocolate factory movie and i wanted to see if 'she's any good'.

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 24 February 2005 23:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Only weird if you want to see if she's in the early stages of babehood?

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 24 February 2005 23:51 (twenty-one years ago)

I mean "."

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 24 February 2005 23:52 (twenty-one years ago)

this girl's like 6 years old

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 24 February 2005 23:54 (twenty-one years ago)

so there's nothing 'early' about it

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 24 February 2005 23:54 (twenty-one years ago)

um, haha

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 24 February 2005 23:54 (twenty-one years ago)

ten months pass...

There cannot be enough threads on the new answers page re:obesity today to satisfy my voracious appetite for threads about obesity. Also fried chicken. And ham. And more chicken.

Thus, bump.

― John Justen (johnjusten), Thursday, 12 January 2006 07:18 (twenty years ago)

Fewer Calories, More Life http://www.calorierestriction.org/
it'S about an interesting diet , that increase the longevity of some animals :

Since the 1930's extensive scientific research has shown that calorie restricted (CR) diets improve health and extend lifespans of every species tested, including worms, spiders, rodents, dogs, cows and monkeys. We firmly believe that people who carefully adopt a CR diet will see similar results.

― ☼(☼(☼, Thursday, 12 January 2006 07:29 (twenty years ago)

1 in 10 6 year olds are obese

80% of Americans over 25 are overweight

Do you feel sorry for FAT people?

FATTIST

Food and class.

What is considered a "fat girl" these days? I really want to know.

Supersize Me C/D

Why do white people have a problem with fat girls?

This is the ILX diet support thread

Diet support thread 2004

Diet Support thread 2005