Americans are Unhealthy because...

[ihopehefails]

After looking at all the numbers about how unhealthy Americans are and the call to action because we are so fat in this country I came to the conclusion that it really has nothing to do with one's own personal health but an effort to shape society to some desired outcome.

I am sure many of us know people who's health is rated #1 when compared to the average citizen in other countries while we also know many who will be rated at #1000. That difference between #1 and #1000 is not the product of the collective will but a product of the individual choices that any one person can make over their own lives. The fault about why the average American is unhealthier than others in other countries is not the byproduct of a government program but is the dynamic outcome of people's individual choice over their own lives.

We could eliminate free choice in favor of government control because "free choice" failed to produce the optimable results but to do so would remove one more element of control over our own lives. This is why the argument about free-enterprise or free-choice over ones own health should never be about results because do so always puts us in a race between ourselves and government and when we lose (such as is the case with an economic collapse or our butts get fatter) the government wins the debate and we lose another freedom.

The truth is is that bad choices are inevitable whether they come from the government or from the individual but the right to make those choices are the cost of living in a free society. So, I would like to say that the reason why Americans are unhealthy is because we are executing the right over own lives and no matter what the outcome is that right can't be removed from us.

 

[rightwinger]

I can't believe I wasted my time actually reading this

 

[Neser Boha]

After looking at all the numbers about how unhealthy Americans are and the call to action because we are so fat in this country I came to the conclusion that it really has nothing to do with one's own personal health but an effort to shape society to some desired outcome.

I am sure many of us know people who's health is rated #1 when compared to the average citizen in other countries while we also know many who will be rated at #1000. That difference between #1 and #1000 is not the product of the collective will but a product of the individual choices that any one person can make over their own lives. The fault about why the average American is unhealthier than others in other countries is not the byproduct of a government program but is the dynamic outcome of people's individual choice over their own lives.

We could eliminate free choice in favor of government control because "free choice" failed to produce the optimable results but to do so would remove one more element of control over our own lives. This is why the argument about free-enterprise or free-choice over ones own health should never be about results because do so always puts us in a race between ourselves and government and when we lose (such as is the case with an economic collapse or our butts get fatter) the government wins the debate and we lose another freedom.

The truth is is that bad choices are inevitable whether they come from the government or from the individual but the right to make those choices are the cost of living in a free society. So, I would like to say that the reason why Americans are unhealthy is because we are executing the right over own lives and no matter what the outcome is that right can't be removed from us.

Huh? Does this cranial diarrhea have a point?

 

[Misty]

I get it. All perfect society. Abort the crippled, be thin, don't smoke, don't be rich, get the government to parent you.

 

[AllieBaba]

I have no idea what the OP is trying to say.

 

[AllieBaba]

PS...we're fat because we eat too much. Food is cheap and plentiful, easily accessible, and continually advertised so when we see something that takes our fancy we can hop in our cars and drive around the corner and pick it up.

I blame television. And cars.

 

[Neser Boha]

I get it. All perfect society. Abort the crippled, be thin, don't smoke, don't be rich, get the government to parent you.

I wonder when is being fat and unhealthy going to be an act of sedition... What a thought! Maybe you should start it, Misty ... provided you're fat and unhealthy enough. You might want to start with a box of Krispy Kreme's ... then you can move on to organizing the KFC sit-in ... Among the sponsors could definitely be Crisco, Cracker Barrel, etc ... Unlimited opportunities. You better act fast though ... heart attack can be a bitch.

About that little anti-abortion reference above ... I'm sure it would be much more preferable to the likes of you to force a woman to carry a severely damaged fetus to term. And then tell her 'tough shit' when she can't afford paying for the extensive medical bills her child's sickness incurs.

Try logic for a change ... you might find out not everything is so black and white after all ...

 

[AllieBaba]

That's right. And we should off all the severely damaged poor people next.
Then the ugly ones, then the ones who don't vote right, then, then, then...

 

[ddye]

When I was a kid, dinner consisted of a moderate portion of meat, with a vegetable, a serving of potato (or pasta), bread and a beverage. Now dinner is often three times as much meat, no vegetable and MAYBE some kind of deep fried potatoes.

When I was a kid our meat wasn't raised full of steroids and antibiotics because it spent its life unable to move, standing in six inches of its own feces.

I think the problem is more related to what I posted than what the OP posted.

Doug

 

[Mr. H.]

Not much meat on the table when I was a kid. And when they was no meat we ate fowl. And when they was no fowl we ate crawdad. And when they was no crawdad to be found, we ate sand.

 

[Neser Boha]

When I was growing up during the last years of Communism and the first few years of post-communistic cleptocracy, we couldn't afford much meat ... usually ate it only on weekends. The rest of the week - soups, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, etc. No car. Walking, biking everywhere. I used to be malnourished, anemic, and my doctor told me I never grew to my real size ... supposedly I should've been taller - not sure how he figured that out. People in US generally don't appreciate their food - they don't appreciate good, healthy food. They are willing to fill their bodies with the fast-food hormone and antibiotics-laden crap even when they can afford much better food. However, they're more than willing to spend money on over-priced clothes and shoes. I will never ever understand that. How is the food you eat less important than the clothes/shoes you wear?

Some things are a mystery to me...

 

[VaYank5150]

I can't believe I wasted my time actually reading this

I did the same damn thing...

 

[VaYank5150]

PS...we're fat because we eat too much. Food is cheap and plentiful, easily accessible, and continually advertised so when we see something that takes our fancy we can hop in our cars and drive around the corner and pick it up.

I blame television. And cars.

And beer!

 

[KittenKoder]

PS...we're fat because we eat too much. Food is cheap and plentiful, easily accessible, and continually advertised so when we see something that takes our fancy we can hop in our cars and drive around the corner and pick it up.

I blame television. And cars.

No, we're fat for two reasons:

1. Genetics ... humans just get fat sometimes.

2. Bad eating ... we eat too much preservatives and non-digestible chemicals.

 

[AllieBaba]

It's a sign of the times. When food is plentiful, cheap and available, people indulge and over indulge.

We had meat at almost every meal...except breakfast during school days. Sometimes it was bologna, sometimes even spam, but it was there. Chicken, venison, beef, pork, and lots and lots of beans and rice (complete protein, taken together).

Potatoes every single night..either fried, mashed, or boiled.

Weekend breakfasts were a sight to behold. As kids, when it was just us, we usually got to choose what we wanted...biscuits and gravy (with a side of meat), pancakes (and eggs and bacon or sausage), french toast (also with eggs and/or breakfast meat) hot cereal, whatever.

Dinner was whatever mom cooked. And you fucking liked it or there was no run to McDonald's for a McChicken sammich. We always set the table with whatever meat or stew or whatever, and a stack of bread with butter and jam on the table (or biscuits, or cornbread). Veggies, usually cooked with bacon. Dessert wasn't a given. Mom liked to bake, we usually had goodies on hand somewhere, but not always. We always had fruit.

Mom didn't fill our plates, we filled our own, and we were taught you eat what you take. If you don't like something, you keep your mouth shut and don't put any on your plate. If you like something and overfill your plate, you eat it. If you think you're going to like something and take a big load of it, and don't like it, guess what? You eat it anyway.

When we were little we were obligated to take one bite of everything, even if we didn't like it. We didn't have to take any more, and it could be a tiny bite. Except liver...I loved liver, my brother hated it. Mom would require he taste a tiny bit once a year or so but she wouldn't make him gag down a whole mouthful.

I learned early on if I didn't like what was being served (and I despised stew, beans, potatoes most of the time and actually roast as well as a kid) I ate a lot of bread and butter. And milk.

It's fucking killing the shit out of me now, lol. Not because I'm unhealthy, I'm not and my cholesterol is great. But I love bread and milk still. And let's be honest, at 45 I just don't need to overindulge in that stuff.

 

[KittenKoder]

It's a sign of the times. When food is plentiful, cheap and available, people indulge and over indulge.

We had meat at almost every meal...except breakfast during school days. Sometimes it was bologna, sometimes even spam, but it was there. Chicken, venison, beef, pork, and lots and lots of beans and rice (complete protein, taken together).

Potatoes every single night..either fried, mashed, or boiled.

Weekend breakfasts were a sight to behold. As kids, when it was just us, we usually got to choose what we wanted...biscuits and gravy (with a side of meat), pancakes (and eggs and bacon or sausage), french toast (also with eggs and/or breakfast meat) hot cereal, whatever.

Dinner was whatever mom cooked. And you fucking liked it or there was no run to McDonald's for a McChicken sammich. We always set the table with whatever meat or stew or whatever, and a stack of bread with butter and jam on the table (or biscuits, or cornbread). Veggies, usually cooked with bacon. Dessert wasn't a given. Mom liked to bake, we usually had goodies on hand somewhere, but not always. We always had fruit.

Mom didn't fill our plates, we filled our own, and we were taught you eat what you take. If you don't like something, you keep your mouth shut and don't put any on your plate. If you like something and overfill your plate, you eat it. If you think you're going to like something and take a big load of it, and don't like it, guess what? You eat it anyway.

When we were little we were obligated to take one bite of everything, even if we didn't like it. We didn't have to take any more, and it could be a tiny bite. Except liver...I loved liver, my brother hated it. Mom would require he taste a tiny bit once a year or so but she wouldn't make him gag down a whole mouthful.

I learned early on if I didn't like what was being served (and I despised stew, beans, potatoes most of the time and actually roast as well as a kid) I ate a lot of bread and butter. And milk.

It's fucking killing the shit out of me now, lol. Not because I'm unhealthy, I'm not and my cholesterol is great. But I love bread and milk still. And let's be honest, at 45 I just don't need to overindulge in that stuff.

Then why is it that many people during the Victorian era were large?

 

[AllieBaba]

PS...we're fat because we eat too much. Food is cheap and plentiful, easily accessible, and continually advertised so when we see something that takes our fancy we can hop in our cars and drive around the corner and pick it up.

I blame television. And cars.

No, we're fat for two reasons:

1. Genetics ... humans just get fat sometimes.

2. Bad eating ... we eat too much preservatives and non-digestible chemicals.

Frozen dinners and processed foods. They're awful..I actually feel sick if I eat too much of that crap. And not to my stomach..I get achy and my ankles swell. It's not the salt, I salt the shit out of my food. It's the shit they add to it and use to process and preserve it.

 

[AllieBaba]

It's a sign of the times. When food is plentiful, cheap and available, people indulge and over indulge.

We had meat at almost every meal...except breakfast during school days. Sometimes it was bologna, sometimes even spam, but it was there. Chicken, venison, beef, pork, and lots and lots of beans and rice (complete protein, taken together).

Potatoes every single night..either fried, mashed, or boiled.

Weekend breakfasts were a sight to behold. As kids, when it was just us, we usually got to choose what we wanted...biscuits and gravy (with a side of meat), pancakes (and eggs and bacon or sausage), french toast (also with eggs and/or breakfast meat) hot cereal, whatever.

Dinner was whatever mom cooked. And you fucking liked it or there was no run to McDonald's for a McChicken sammich. We always set the table with whatever meat or stew or whatever, and a stack of bread with butter and jam on the table (or biscuits, or cornbread). Veggies, usually cooked with bacon. Dessert wasn't a given. Mom liked to bake, we usually had goodies on hand somewhere, but not always. We always had fruit.

Mom didn't fill our plates, we filled our own, and we were taught you eat what you take. If you don't like something, you keep your mouth shut and don't put any on your plate. If you like something and overfill your plate, you eat it. If you think you're going to like something and take a big load of it, and don't like it, guess what? You eat it anyway.

When we were little we were obligated to take one bite of everything, even if we didn't like it. We didn't have to take any more, and it could be a tiny bite. Except liver...I loved liver, my brother hated it. Mom would require he taste a tiny bit once a year or so but she wouldn't make him gag down a whole mouthful.

I learned early on if I didn't like what was being served (and I despised stew, beans, potatoes most of the time and actually roast as well as a kid) I ate a lot of bread and butter. And milk.

It's fucking killing the shit out of me now, lol. Not because I'm unhealthy, I'm not and my cholesterol is great. But I love bread and milk still. And let's be honest, at 45 I just don't need to overindulge in that stuff.

Then why is it that many people during the Victorian era were large?

There have always been large people, KK.

But it's only been recently that they've come to be such a huge percentage of the population...and include so many kids as well.

 

[dilloduck]

PS...we're fat because we eat too much. Food is cheap and plentiful, easily accessible, and continually advertised so when we see something that takes our fancy we can hop in our cars and drive around the corner and pick it up.

I blame television. And cars.

No, we're fat for two reasons:

1. Genetics ... humans just get fat sometimes.

2. Bad eating ... we eat too much preservatives and non-digestible chemicals.

Frozen dinners and processed foods. They're awful..I actually feel sick if I eat too much of that crap. And not to my stomach..I get achy and my ankles swell. It's not the salt, I salt the shit out of my food. It's the shit they add to it and use to process and preserve it.

Sounds more like colic to me----

 

[KittenKoder]

PS...we're fat because we eat too much. Food is cheap and plentiful, easily accessible, and continually advertised so when we see something that takes our fancy we can hop in our cars and drive around the corner and pick it up.

I blame television. And cars.

No, we're fat for two reasons:

1. Genetics ... humans just get fat sometimes.

2. Bad eating ... we eat too much preservatives and non-digestible chemicals.

Frozen dinners and processed foods. They're awful..I actually feel sick if I eat too much of that crap. And not to my stomach..I get achy and my ankles swell. It's not the salt, I salt the shit out of my food. It's the shit they add to it and use to process and preserve it.

People don't realize that many preservatives are actually poisonous in large amounts, salt itself is not that bad, actually our bodies use a lot of it, but the additive to salt is the problem (table salt). Our bodies build up these chemicals then the digestion is slowed, and we get a little fatter. The problem isn't weight, weight is just a trait, the problem is not even how much we eat, so long as we keep up "normal" activity levels, it's what we eat. In the US the FDA actually forces a lot of the preservatives to be added ... even into foods that they are not needed.