why are americans so unhealthy?
 

In light of a few of my coworkers, and a few others that I know, or have an acquatance with, having Diabetes, or other health issues, I bring up the question.
Why are we as americans so unhealthy?

Your thoughts please

- Processed foods
- Oversized portions
- Lack of exercise
- Stress


It's not really a mystery. Humans aren't designed to sit around all day stressing about bill payments and getting food whenever they please.

I think lack of education also goes in there. I mean, we are all taught what a carbohydrate is, what protein is, what fat is, but not how much to eat, what types to eat, how it processes in the body, the proper times to eat it, and so on.

Processed foods and the fast food mentality has a lot to do with it. But mostly Americans are a bunch of physically lazy workaholics. :D

HFCS is the work of the devil.
ADM is criminal enterprise that needs to be destroyed.

Grow your own food, brew your own beer, enjoy life!

Convenience and cheap processed (fast) foods vs. having to prepare often more expensive healthy foods = high obesity rate.

Time and money - root of 99% of world's ills.

[quote=paul@dbtuned;2661544]hfcs is the work of the devil.
Adm is criminal enterprise that needs to be destroyed.

Grow your own food, brew your own beer, enjoy life![/quote]

adm?

[QUOTE=RussB;2661609]adm?[/QUOTE]

[URL="http://www.adm.com/en-US/Pages/default.aspx"]Archer Daniels Midland[/URL]

[QUOTE=Paul@dbtuned;2661544]
Grow your own food, brew your own beer, enjoy life![/QUOTE]

Absolutely! That and separate yourselves from dependency on large corporations, pay off debt, build something, follow a dream, get lost in a forest and find your way back, go hunting, ride a bike, crash a car. Okay scratch that last one I guess. ;)

I have to say though, in comparison to friends and family that live in England and Sweden, a HUGE portion of many (not all) people's stress and frustration comes from our society and the manner in which people have created a place and a way of life that is not good for people. This is a continual thorn in my side. Everyone (yes everyone) I know over there is happy, healthy and doing fine with whatever they are doing and has zero concerns about their future or wellbeing. Nearly everyone I know here is stressed, unhealthy in many ways, overworked or overworking and now worried every day about what they are going to do when they are old or in some cases even tomorrow. These concerns and the pressure around it is serious. People that are doing okay now will just say these people are not working hard enough and other stupid things, but the people in these situations probably feel they are working as hard as they can, or worse yet, know how. It's a mad world.

I say this because it's been heavy on my mind for a long time now and the roots of this go back to that post I made in the politics forum that only you, Paul, replied to. When I look around, it does not look like "it's better here" and I have not been able to find ONE person who is considered successful in our society who I am able to have respect for. Not one.

There is a small percentage of people who are doing well or OK, people who have what it takes to start their own businesses or make it here, people who got help somehow, that is for sure. But the majority of people that I have met and know are unhealthy, unhappy, have zero drive or ambition, are tired, lazy, uninspired and I have to wonder - is it really that we are surrounded by deadbeats or is there something else wrong? Telling someone who has worn themselves into a zombie as a corporate slave and has nothing to show for it to "just work harder" or "just have a dream, dedication and drive" doesn't really work in our society any more and I have not exactly figured out why yet.

CAUTION this has been a long post.

One thing I've never found an answer to (although it would just take a simple search of raw data) is yes, they say there is an increase in Type II Diabetes but there is also an increase in overall population. So is there actually an increase in the proportion of individuals with Type II, or is it the same proportion but a larger population? I think It's time to whip out the stats book next week if I have time :)

But my thoughts on why we are unhealthy? We are cheap and lazy. We want the cheapest and most convenient meals, which are never healthy. We don't want to exercise. We make New Years Resolutions about working out more and then make a joke out of how we know we aren't going to fulfill the resolution, just so we don't feel so bad when we fail.

We make excuses for everything. Oh, with my work schedule I just can't find time to make meals or exercise. You actually [i]can[/i] work less. You'll earn a little less, but you'll be healthier in the long run. That brings me to my next theory: Americans can't see the big picture. Whether it is politically related, health related, whatever... we can't see the big picture. Thats why there are so many fad crash diets "Loose 20 pounds in one week!" yet they don't tell you that you'll most likely gain it all back in a week too.

We've convinced ourselves to place more worth on money than health. And at what cost? You may make more money, have a bigger home, but your fat ass is going to die sooner, so all that money, that house, those cars are going to be worthless to you.

Also, there are racial dispositions for illnesses. African Americans are at a higher rate for many different diseases (not all culturally influenced), perhaps the genetic drift of these genes is contributing to increased cases of certain diseases?

[QUOTE=wombatsauce;2661937]Absolutely! That and separate yourselves from dependency on large corporations, pay off debt, build something, follow a dream, get lost in a forest and find your way back, go hunting, ride a bike, crash a car. Okay scratch that last one I guess. ;)

I have to say though, in comparison to friends and family that live in England and Sweden, a HUGE portion of many (not all) people's stress and frustration comes from our society and the manner in which people have created a place and a way of life that is not good for people. This is a continual thorn in my side. Everyone (yes everyone) I know over there is happy, healthy and doing fine with whatever they are doing and has zero concerns about their future or wellbeing. Nearly everyone I know here is stressed, unhealthy in many ways, overworked or overworking and now worried every day about what they are going to do when they are old or in some cases even tomorrow. These concerns and the pressure around it is serious. People that are doing okay now will just say these people are not working hard enough and other stupid things, but the people in these situations probably feel they are working as hard as they can, or worse yet, know how. It's a mad world.

I say this because it's been heavy on my mind for a long time now and the roots of this go back to that post I made in the politics forum that only you, Paul, replied to. When I look around, it does not look like "it's better here" and I have not been able to find ONE person who is considered successful in our society who I am able to have respect for. Not one.

There is a small percentage of people who are doing well or OK, people who have what it takes to start their own businesses or make it here, people who got help somehow, that is for sure. But the majority of people that I have met and know are unhealthy, unhappy, have zero drive or ambition, are tired, lazy, uninspired and I have to wonder - is it really that we are surrounded by deadbeats or is there something else wrong? Telling someone who has worn themselves into a zombie as a corporate slave and has nothing to show for it to "just work harder" or "just have a dream, dedication and drive" doesn't really work in our society any more and I have not exactly figured out why yet.

CAUTION this has been a long post.[/QUOTE]

But a good one.

[QUOTE=Paul@dbtuned;2661544]HFCS is the work of the devil.
ADM is criminal enterprise that needs to be destroyed.

Grow your own food, [b]brew your own beer,[/b] enjoy life![/QUOTE]

I'm working on it!

Also, now that I have an oven again, I'm starting to make my own pizzas rather than order round table. Tastes better, costs about the same, and has no preservatives... probably just as much fat though :)

[QUOTE=VRT Gump;2661514]In light of a few of my coworkers, and a few others that I know, or [b]have an acquatance with, having Diabetes,[/b] or other health issues, I bring up the question.
Why are we as americans so unhealthy?

Your thoughts please[/QUOTE]

Me? yeah, my Diabetes is an auto-immune disease, not health related. The only good thing about Type I Diabetes is that I can never get Type II :D (Sorry Paul)

[IMG]http://failblog.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/fail-owned-health-food-fail.jpg?w=500&h=400[/IMG]

This is why.

If there was an option for A, C and D, I'd pick that one. Most people aren't fat because they're too productive at work.