Why are Americans so overweight compared to others?

If I can remember, Hawaii had something where it was acceptable to be heavy as it was considered that you were happy or something.

Fast food is a small portion, it's what we do. Some people choose to do nothing and so they gain weight. Or their jobs are not as demanding physically.

What can we do to stop it? For starters, drink water instead of pop, walk every day in the park or around your neighborhood. You can even do something like get up every hour at the computer and stretch or something. Every little movement helps.

 

well ,most americans don't practice sports. they're used to good life, sitting around not doing much, eating junk food and so on and so on... In my opinion we should encourage them to practice a sport, not only for their health, but to their kids' health. Fat parents lead to fat kids.

 

America is the country with most internet user, IMHO that contribute to a less time doing sports or any other physical activity.

 

In other countries, the national sport is played by all. In our country our three main sports (football, basketball, and baseball) are just watched.

 

It's not only that... its this side of the globe, here where i am ( Chile ) people is overweight as well, but asiasn tend to be always ... skinny, maybe because of their food traditions.

 

protein and carbs will also make you fat

 

And the answer is..CORN.

"Binge Eating of Refined Carbohydrates: Alcohol and Corn
According to Pollan’s research (2002), there have been two periods of epidemic binging in America’s history. The first occurred at the turn of the nineteenth century, as a wave of cheap liquor washed over the country and alcohol abuse proliferated, along with its attendant social and health problems. The second era of binging, one that is far more serious, is now upon us, as we eat ourselves literally sick unto death on energy-dense foods lacking in the vital nutrients necessary for health.

What these two eras have in common is an overabundance of corn. Currently comprising about a quarter of our farmland and producing nine billion bushels a year, corn is our single largest crop (Wilson, 2005). This overabundance brings down prices, creating plentiful food at dirt cheap prices. In the early 1800s there were two things you could do with too much corn: feed it to the hogs or distill it into hard liquor (Pollan, 2003). Today we rely on the genius of food technologists to devise “a-maize-ing” ways to fashion our current surplus into various kinds of profitable foodstuffs in ever-larger serving sizes, on which we consumers grow fat."

 

i think you must also add these two factors :
1.sex
2.cigarette


how ever the first one works on me

 

Such a vast country, habits take much longer to change, in the UK everyone has quickly become obsessed with nutrition and fitness. So many tv porgs about diets and stuff

 

McDonalds just hit my head

 

Nahh..I'm a card-carrying meat eater and thin as a rail because I stay away from the cheap sides everybody gorges on: french fries, rice, bread, etc..
It's the carbs that get you.

 

More cheese more maionese

 

Lots of junk food, lack of activity, too much TV/Computer and I like "kidsko's" response, we don't prioritize the food that we eat and buy the expensive kinds, we overindulge, we eat too much pizza, Mcdonalds, processed foods, and basically, this whole thread has every reason that we are overweight. We are greedy too.

 

Protein will make you fat hey? First I heard that one.

 

Its really sad actually. I remember when I saw Wall-E and realized halfway through the movie that the whole thing was a smart satire making fun of America's weight. Ugh

 

Because eat a lot of pizzas!.

 

i find the food serving size is a lot larger in US

 

another cause is the meat that they eat....

animals in many countries are fed hormones to increase the amount of meat that they produce.

when these hormones enter the human body, they produce the same effect....increasing the mass of the body.

 

Lifestyle easy, rich, lazy and dependency on gadget (car, motor and whatever gadget can speed up the job)

 

I guess it is because there are so many fast food Restaurants here, and the .99 Menu looks Appetizing everytime I look in my wallet.

-Chris