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.

I think people have forgotten about whats important in life. They'd rather slave away behind a desk to make someone else rich than take proper care of their mind and body, which is oddly enough the only thing that can't be stolen from them in a minute (barring death of course). Our reward system is ****ed.

This same mentality carries over to a lot of other aspects in life, but I'll limit my thoughts to health.

If people did some sweating cardio for a good 20-30 minutes then that would work. Not just sweating while ur sitting on the couch when it's 80degrees and up. I don't hear enough about people doing cardio. It should be everyday in the morning. Or at least everyday =P

Even buff guys are croaking at 25-35 with heart attacks because of their insane diets and no cardio.

Why are Americans unhealthy? Let's ask Krinkov :lol:

[url=https://www.i-club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=206856]The "thisiswhyIMfat...." Thread"[/url]

[QUOTE=Spoolin415;2662927]I think people have forgotten about whats important in life. They'd rather slave away behind a desk to make someone else rich than take proper care of their mind and body, which is oddly enough the only thing that can't be stolen from them in a minute (barring death of course). Our reward system is ****ed.

This same mentality carries over to a lot of other aspects in life, but I'll limit my thoughts to health.[/QUOTE]

I agree, especially about this pattern being reflected in nearly every other aspect of life and peoples' activities, but I do not believe it's a conscious choice to slave away and waste their lives. This could be even worse than if it were conscious. It's more like the phrase "life is what happens when you are busy making other plans." There are many examples of this in my own life. We get so caught up in the hamster wheel of life that we forget to live it. Some people realize this when they are much older, and that has got to be hard. Like myself - I have many dreams, things I would like to do for work and for fun, but when it comes to actually doing the work or taking the steps to do something (for example, have my own auto repair shop or be an aviation mechanic) it's almost as if I feel like it's too risky, I will fail, and I know how to do this IT stuff so I will just do that. Well, it's been 12 hollow years and it's time to grab the wheel, just haven't found it yet. So it's not like I chose to be a corporate drone rather than gather the experience needed to hold my own as a mechanic, it's that it was cushy and easy and I am probably lazy. I've worked really hard, but never really done hard work, the kind that can make or break you. I've been working for pay in one way or another since I was a small kid doing masking and installing trim for a body shop (child labor haha). I did my own thing doing mechanic work out of my pop's shop when in high school for local people and always had work and money. I did landscaping and had my own business installing cat5 networks in Hawaii schools. Then, I came here to the Bay Area @ age 20, worked in a mechanic shop in Belmont for a few months, got a corporate IT job and have not done anything great, unique or that is even worth mentioning here since. It's like, I came here and have been in a state of atrophe. I look around at how other people live their lives, drive their cars, handle themselves in public situations and yeah, everyone else is too. How many times a day do you see someone doing their own thing, oblivious to others, and simultaneously impacting several people adversely at once, even to a small degree, in just about every single aspect of life? A day full of this, then coping with responsibilities and obligations whilst having this overwhelming lack of control over life (seemingly manufactured) and BAM you have Americans today.

There are companies with departments who's sole purpose is to work out ways to make peoples' life worse for the profit of the company. There are so many things similar to this - it's no wonder to me why people don't get off their asses and do things. I catch myself staring off into space when I should be outside manipulating a vegetable, making beer, going for a walk, building something, cooking something new, seeing a place I haven't seen, learning about something I want to do, fixing something, working on one of the many tasks on my "to-do" list, taking the dog for a walk, ANYFOOKINGTHING but wasting time and life. I feel I am not alone. It's hard work changing this, well for me anyway, but it's worth it.

You take all this and boil it down - as you say "the same mentality carries over..." and I see EXACTLY why people are up in arms about current changes in our land. I ask questions and disagree openly because I want people to get fired up - not in the use of e-thuggery or words that become asterisks, but in whatever makes them tick - whatever might inspire a direction. So many of us are standing in a meadow, looking around, wondering which way to go, but the clock is ticking. Can't sit there forever - gotta make a choice or eventually, one will be made for us. It's just... Sometimes sitting there is so much easier than standing up and possibly getting punched/fired/rodgered/divorced/arrested that people do it all their lives.

"Live it like you want to remember it." Yeah. That about sums it up. I hope all this turns into inspiration at some point. :) I'm out for a bike ride, and later I will make more beer.

[QUOTE=iLoqin;2662989]If people did some sweating cardio for a good 20-30 minutes then that would work. Not just sweating while ur sitting on the couch when it's 80degrees and up. I don't hear enough about people doing cardio. It should be everyday in the morning. Or at least everyday =P

Even buff guys are croaking at 25-35 with heart attacks because of their insane diets and no cardio.[/QUOTE]

this is kind of funny to me because on my TnT team is a girl who has currently done 7 full and 10 half marathons, runs 5-6 days a week, and is still 5'6" 175lbs and has a lot of extra padding. We went out to eat the other morning and she got 4 eggs, toast, pancakes, an english muffin, orange juice, coffee, and a glass of water. she ate all of it in about 5 minutes, plus 2 pieces of bacon.

over-indulgence should have been one of the options as well.

[QUOTE=VRT Gump;2663782]this is kind of funny to me because on my TnT team is a girl who has currently done 7 full and 10 half marathons, runs 5-6 days a week, and is still 5'6" 175lbs and has a lot of extra padding. We went out to eat the other morning and she got 4 eggs, toast, pancakes, an english muffin, orange juice, coffee, and a glass of water. she ate all of it in about 5 minutes, plus 2 pieces of bacon.

over-indulgence should have been one of the options as well.[/QUOTE]

Once again, balance is key :lol: