WebMD Community Talk Show

too much proccessed foods and Americans work longer
so depend on fast food too much trying to make it easier
Hugs Judy:) a simple answer to a complex question

• because they are not smart about what they eat.
• because they don't exercise.
• because they blame others for the poor nutritional value in their food choices.
• because they had parents who didn't raise them to know any better

a simple answer to a simple question

Americans are getting fatter because both the man and the woman in the home now have to work long hours. Whereas, fifty years ago, men and woman married at a younger age and the woman would cook meals for the family. Now in days, people depend on the fast food industry to provide meals for the family. This isn't always healthy.

I wonder if it doesn't also have to do with how meals are considered. My friends from the US tend to treat family meals like fuel pitstops - eating because they need to eat but eating FAST. The trouble is it takes about 20 minutes for your stomach to feel the effects of food and if you eat fast you cram so much more in before feeling full. Bring the pleasure back to mealtimes and you might see a difference. Rather than eating in 10 minutes, take half an hour. Chat to others at the table. Sip a glass of water. Put your fork down between bites. Just generally relax at mealtime. You might also find that when you go back to work after lunch (for instance) that you work better in the afternoon and feel better ...

"both the man and the woman in the home now have to work long hours"

Then perhaps we need to work more efficiently so that we can work shorter hours? Think of all the time wasted surfing on the Internet at work ...

On another note, how can people afford to eat fast food every day? It's cheaper to eat at home and a meal can be served pretty quickly. Perhaps all children should have home economics added to their curriculum so that they learn how to prepare fast and nutritious food at school?

Just a few random thoughts off the top of my head ...

Where do i begin...First thing that comes to mind is that American's are very LAZY people and we dont want to take responsibility for any of our actions. We get fat, must be the food industries fault. We have an accident, must be the car makers fault or the other driver and the list goes on. Go into any supercenter/market and you will see tons of people on those electronic carts. Are their some that actually require them, absolutely, sadly they probably arent available because there is an over weight person, who is to lazy to walk and get some form of exercise.

In regards to what it was like 50 years ago, yes the wife stayed at home and cooked and cleaned. Where the meals healthier, perhaps. If you have ever watched anyone from that time period cook, you'd be surprised by the amount of butter or cooking fat that they would use. So some of those home cooked meals might be just as high in fat as a fastfood meal. My question would be, are you suggesting that we go back to that type of lifestyle? Women fought so hard to achieve equality and to get out into the work force, are you suggesting that it was all for naught because the nation got fat?

As for managing our time better, i could not agree with you more. I think that ties in with the Laziness of the country. Oh im at work, I worked 15 minutes, let me go surf the web. For that reason alone, employers should be able to monitor facebook or other social media. If I am paying you to do a job and you spend half your day surfing the web,. your pay should reflect the amount of work you do. So if your pay got cut in half, you'd stop surfing the web.

As for teaching home ec. you can forget about that...Have you seen the education system in this country? They are cutting out gym class, the only form of exercise that some of these kids got was in P/E and now that is being cut. They wont add a class that wont help boost their standardized test scores and im pretty sure the ACT/SAT's dont care if you cook a healthy meal.

Back on task, Yes the world has gotten much more busy recently, but thats not an excuse. When you get home, how hard is it to go out and take a 20 minute walk with your family to unwind? Hell, walk to the nearest fastfood place, atleast your getting some exercise.

Hi all!

As promised, here is the first in our WebMD blogs series to compliment the HBO release. It is an interview with CDC Director, Tom Frieden --

How Did The Nation Get So Fat?

Enjoy.

The next installment should be live soon.

Take care,
Olivia

Before I look at the link, here is my guess.

I think there are many factors. Not just one. Here is a bullet point summary.

1. Consumption of sugar increased per person.
2. Portion sizes grew.
3. Giant soft drink cups.
4. The explosive growth of fast food.
5. We became less active.
6. High Fructose Corn Syrup.
7. High use of plastics with hormone disrupting chemicals.
8. Over prescribing of Pharmaceuticals.

Three reasons:

1. Americans (especially dieters and diabetics) choose foods labeled "NonFat" and "Sugar Free"...

2. Americans think one "Serving Size" is the entire box...

3. Americans believe drugs treat the "cause" of disease...

We eat too much and don't exercise it off. It's not rocket science.

Agree with this.

Well, America likes it when things are easy. Is it easier to satisy your henchoring for cheesecake or french fries, then sit in front of the TV? Or is it easier to follow a nutritional diet plan, exercise, and schedule regular check-ups with your physician to maintain a healthy weight? Though it's a broad generalization, we simply lack motivation.

Additionally, the rapid evolution of technology is causing us to be more lazy. You can buy virtually anything via Internet or phone without stepping foot outside. Hungry? Order food. Wanna rent a movie? Go to OnDemand, Netflix, Hulu, or even pirate something before it comes to DVD. Want to know if it's raining outside? Check your phone, who needs to get up to look out the window? Need to pick up your presciption drugs? Call Walgreens Mail-order pharmacy. Get into a life-threatening accident that requires immediate medical attention? Call 911. It's no wonder so many people choose to rarely leave the comfort of their homes. And when you're stuck at home, it spawns unhealthy behaviors like compulsive eating and lack of exercise. I'm just glad my folks raised me to understand how to keep a healthy body and mind, despite the many attempts I made at cheating, lying, and stealing, all to make things easier for me one way or another, they never faltered in teaching me the importance of motivation and hard work.

There are many reasons why this issue is occurring lets not put people down and make assumptions that they are lazy and not smart. You look like an idiot when you do.

Will insulting someone really deter them from insulting others? That's just throwing more wood on the fire, this isn't a debate on idiocracy in America. However, ignorance does play a large factor in poor weight management though so maybe you accidently contributed.