Americans are Fat

[Toro]

Get off the couch, Americans! And put down that doughnut!

29.5% — Percentage of population 20 and over who are obese

America’s spare tire keeps growing. This year, 29.5% of the U.S. population over 20 was obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, up from 21.8% in 2000. That’s creating not just a big health problem for the country, but a big economics one.

Economists John Cawley at Cornell University and Chad Meyerhoefer at the Lehigh University have estimated that annual cost of treating obesity in the U.S. accounts for as 16.5% of national spending on health care.

Higher health costs are just the start. Research at Shell Oil Co., for example, found that obese employees missed 3.7 days of work compared to normal-weight coworkers. Shanjun Li of Cornell, Yanyan Liu of the World Bank and Junjie Zhang the University of California San Diego found that higher obesity rates increase people’s predilection for bigger, less fuel efficient cars, increasing the country’s energy tab.

If current trends continue, nearly half of the U.S. adults will be obese by 2020, calculate Harvard University economists David Cutler and Susan Stewart with University of Michigan medical researcher Allison Rosen. That would overrun the positive health effects of the continued decline in smoking.

But even though obesity is a growing problem, it doesn’t seem to be registering with many Americans. In a Gallup poll conducted in November, 29% of respondents said they weighed more than 200 pounds. That compared to 15% in a similar poll from 1990. But the share of people who considered themselves very overweight or somewhat overweight fell from 48% in 1990 to 39% this year.

Number of the Week: The Economics of Obesity - Real Time Economics - WSJ

 

[Gagafritz]

Obesity is an easy problem to solve. All we have to do is redefine what obesity is in terms of a "normal" BMI and a new normal and PRESTO!! No more obesity!! lol

 

[Gagafritz]

Wow Toro ! 19K posts! I bow to you for your magnificence!

 

[Toro]

Wow Toro ! 19K posts! I bow to you for your magnificence!

Post count is inversely related to one's awesomeness.

Rep count, well, now that's a different story!

 

[PoliticalChic]

Get off the couch, Americans! And put down that doughnut!

29.5% — Percentage of population 20 and over who are obese

America’s spare tire keeps growing. This year, 29.5% of the U.S. population over 20 was obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, up from 21.8% in 2000. That’s creating not just a big health problem for the country, but a big economics one.

Economists John Cawley at Cornell University and Chad Meyerhoefer at the Lehigh University have estimated that annual cost of treating obesity in the U.S. accounts for as 16.5% of national spending on health care.

Higher health costs are just the start. Research at Shell Oil Co., for example, found that obese employees missed 3.7 days of work compared to normal-weight coworkers. Shanjun Li of Cornell, Yanyan Liu of the World Bank and Junjie Zhang the University of California San Diego found that higher obesity rates increase people’s predilection for bigger, less fuel efficient cars, increasing the country’s energy tab.

If current trends continue, nearly half of the U.S. adults will be obese by 2020, calculate Harvard University economists David Cutler and Susan Stewart with University of Michigan medical researcher Allison Rosen. That would overrun the positive health effects of the continued decline in smoking.

But even though obesity is a growing problem, it doesn’t seem to be registering with many Americans. In a Gallup poll conducted in November, 29% of respondents said they weighed more than 200 pounds. That compared to 15% in a similar poll from 1990. But the share of people who considered themselves very overweight or somewhat overweight fell from 48% in 1990 to 39% this year.

Number of the Week: The Economics of Obesity - Real Time Economics - WSJ

Toro's just worried we'll stretch over into Canada.

Wadda ya' want us to do...buy two seats????

 

[NYcarbineer]

Wow Toro ! 19K posts! I bow to you for your magnificence!

Post count is inversely related to one's awesomeness.

Rep count, well, now that's a different story!

Rep count is an unreliable indicator. I've never given a single positive rep since I've been here, so my rep count is of a much higher quality lol.

 

[NYcarbineer]

I suppose we'll all feel thinner when Chris Christie is elected president in 2016.

Not to mention classier.

 

[Two Thumbs]

Get off the couch, Americans! And put down that doughnut!

29.5% — Percentage of population 20 and over who are obese

America’s spare tire keeps growing. This year, 29.5% of the U.S. population over 20 was obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, up from 21.8% in 2000. That’s creating not just a big health problem for the country, but a big economics one.

Economists John Cawley at Cornell University and Chad Meyerhoefer at the Lehigh University have estimated that annual cost of treating obesity in the U.S. accounts for as 16.5% of national spending on health care.

Higher health costs are just the start. Research at Shell Oil Co., for example, found that obese employees missed 3.7 days of work compared to normal-weight coworkers. Shanjun Li of Cornell, Yanyan Liu of the World Bank and Junjie Zhang the University of California San Diego found that higher obesity rates increase people’s predilection for bigger, less fuel efficient cars, increasing the country’s energy tab.

If current trends continue, nearly half of the U.S. adults will be obese by 2020, calculate Harvard University economists David Cutler and Susan Stewart with University of Michigan medical researcher Allison Rosen. That would overrun the positive health effects of the continued decline in smoking.

But even though obesity is a growing problem, it doesn’t seem to be registering with many Americans. In a Gallup poll conducted in November, 29% of respondents said they weighed more than 200 pounds. That compared to 15% in a similar poll from 1990. But the share of people who considered themselves very overweight or somewhat overweight fell from 48% in 1990 to 39% this year.

Number of the Week: The Economics of Obesity - Real Time Economics - WSJ

"Get off the couch, Americans! And put down that doughnut!"

Come and take it from me if you got the stones for the job.

I got 350#'s of ass and I know how to use it.

 

[Katzndogz]

Obesity is an easy problem to solve. All we have to do is redefine what obesity is in terms of a "normal" BMI and a new normal and PRESTO!! No more obesity!! lol

That's how we got to the obesity rates to begin with. It should work to reduce them as well.

 

[Mad Scientist]

I used to think Americans were fat because they were lazy. I now believe that they're being lied to and manipulated through the FDA food pyramid.

You can follow that plan religiously and still not lose enough weight to be considered medically fit.

http://www.usmessageboard.com/healt...ho-lost-40-pounds-eating-primal-anything.html

 

[MeBelle]

I used to think Americans were fat because they were lazy. I now believe that they're being lied to and manipulated through the FDA food pyramid.

You can follow that plan religiously and still not lose enough weight to be considered medically fit.

http://www.usmessageboard.com/healt...ho-lost-40-pounds-eating-primal-anything.html

Peas aren't a 'vegetable' either. They are a carb, just like corn.

 

[Colin]

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

I used to think Americans were fat because they were lazy. I now believe that they're being lied to and manipulated through the FDA food pyramid.

You can follow that plan religiously and still not lose enough weight to be considered medically fit.

http://www.usmessageboard.com/healt...ho-lost-40-pounds-eating-primal-anything.html

Yeah, exactly. The food pyramid is bullshit. The easiest way to lose weight and/or stay in shape is to avoid sugar.

 

[masquerade]

I used to think Americans were fat because they were lazy. I now believe that they're being lied to and manipulated through the FDA food pyramid.

You can follow that plan religiously and still not lose enough weight to be considered medically fit.

http://www.usmessageboard.com/healt...ho-lost-40-pounds-eating-primal-anything.html

Yeah, exactly. The food pyramid is bullshit. The easiest way to lose weight and/or stay in shape is to avoid sugar.

Avoid grains as well. And all processed foods.
Buy fresh, cook fresh, eat fresh.
And screw the food pyramid bullshit indeed.

 

[Mad Scientist]

I used to think Americans were fat because they were lazy. I now believe that they're being lied to and manipulated through the FDA food pyramid.

You can follow that plan religiously and still not lose enough weight to be considered medically fit.

http://www.usmessageboard.com/healt...ho-lost-40-pounds-eating-primal-anything.html

Yeah, exactly. The food pyramid is bullshit. The easiest way to lose weight and/or stay in shape is to avoid sugar.

Avoid grains as well. And all processed foods.
Buy fresh, cook fresh, eat fresh.
And screw the food pyramid bullshit indeed.

The weird thing is that when you come off of the caffeine and sugar you start to actually think differently, you perceive the world differently. As it is and not through a sugar or food induced "fog". Then that cascades into everything else in your life.

I know it sounds strange but my psyche has changed in really subtle ways that are hard to describe. The obvious one is that my wife has pointed out that I'm not nearly as grumpy as I used to be.

I really believe we can be manipulated through our diet.

Look, the FDA approves and pushes the food pyramid that induces problems that can only be controlled by drugs approved by that same FDA!

Coincidence?

 

[del]

we're just big boned

 

[Si modo]

I'll give you my ice cream when you can take it from my cold, dead hands!

 

[Sarah G]

we're just big boned

Thyroid problems?

 

[Tank]

Obesity in mainly a black and Hispanic problem

 

[Mad Scientist]

Obesity in mainly a black and Hispanic problem

Have you been to the South lately Tank?