why we are fatties in the US

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Apex

Diamond Member
Oct 11, 1999
6,511
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www.gotapex.com
Originally posted by: vi_edit
Eating healthy isn't for the rich. It's for the motivated. It takes actual effort to plan out a balanced diet and actually stick to it.

But living the life of convienience and giving in to your bodies internal craving for fat and sugar is so much easier.

Look at the statisitics, even the rich are closing in on the poor in the obesitiy trend. Think that they can't afford to eat better?

It's a choice and nothing more.

QFT.

 

vi edit

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 28, 1999
62,484
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Originally posted by: rocadelpunk
pasta still has a lot of calories in it.

Calories aren't evil so long as you balance them out. A typical person should be getting about 60% of their calories from carbs, 20% from fat, and the remaining 20% from protien.

Fats have 9 calories per gram. Carbs and Protein are around 4 calories per gram. Not all carbs are equal. Not all protein has to be riddled with fat. Not all fat is bad.

Whole wheats, lean meats & legumes, and dairy products are great to eat. You just have to be smart about them. Veggies are there for fiber(filler), antioxidents, and guilt free sources of vitamins and minerals. Apples are good...apple pie is bad. An orange is good...a huge glass of orange juice is sugar laden.

It's not a mystery or impossible to eat healthy. It just takes a little bit of planning and devotion.

 

Geekbabe

Moderator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Oct 16, 1999
32,229
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www.theshoppinqueen.com
Originally posted by: vi_edit
I just hate making comparisons because people pick extremes and use them as absolutes.

Yes I, I know you can get a snickers bar for $.50. Yes I know a bag of Doritos is only $.99 for the big grab. Add in whatever concentrated lump of bleached white flour, saturated fat, and HFCS you want....

The problem is that THESE AREN'T MEALS. They never were meant to be. But people try to say that they are. These are snack items and are add ons to ones daily caloric intake.

So many people want to make the argument that it's cheaper to buy that crap. So what ifi it is. These aren't things for meals and never were intended to be. But they try and pass them off as such.

Veggies aren't meals either. They are supplements and "fillers" and should never be compared calorie for calorie to something like a cheeseburger.

Eating healthy isn't for the rich. It's for the motivated. It takes actual effort to plan out a balanced diet and actually stick to it.

But living the life of convienience and giving in to your bodies internal craving for fat and sugar is so much easier.

Look at the statisitics, even the rich are closing in on the poor in the obesitiy trend. Think that they can't afford to eat better?

It's a choice and nothing more.

beg to differ with you here but I have veggies only lunches several times a week and regard them as more than mere "fillers"
 

Xyclone

Lifer
Aug 24, 2004
10,312
0
76
Ready to eat fresh green beans? Wtf? How about buying some rice, chicken, tuna, bananas, drinking water for so much cheaper and healthier. Green beans are ok, but they don't really have any nutrition in them. Whole wheat rice, lean chicken and tuna, foods like that are where it's at. Ready made food is why we are fatties. People have to stop being retarded and actually learn how to use a stove, or microwave to cook healthy food, not overpriced junk sh1t.
 

vi edit

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 28, 1999
62,484
8,345
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beg to differ with you here but I have veggies only lunches several times a week and regard them as more than mere "fillers"

Your typical veggies - greens, tomatoes, onions, carrots, peppers, broccoli, ect are fillers. Nothing more. They "fill in the gaps" in nutrition and provide satiation. They on their own provide little caloric content or are energy sources. The fiber and volume they provide fill you up and help with digestion. They aren't replacements for carbs, fat or protiens.

 

akshatp

Diamond Member
Oct 15, 1999
8,349
0
76
Originally posted by: rsd
Originally posted by: Danman
Aren't each of those 99 cents each? How did you get $3.96?

Anyway, yes, it is ridiculous what the cost of healthy good food is compared to junk like that.

The math isn't strong in this one.

.99 x 4 = $3.96

LOL I was thinking the same thing... I went back to the OP and made sure he only listed four items....

Danman you should invest in a calculator. When you purchase it, you can make immediate use of it to make sure the clerk has given you the correct change :)
 

Rogodin2

Banned
Jul 2, 2003
3,219
0
0
Use costco to buy food for one month. You can purchase enough healhy food for FOUR to last one month for less than $450.

Rogo
 

SP33Demon

Lifer
Jun 22, 2001
27,928
142
106
Originally posted by: vi_edit
beg to differ with you here but I have veggies only lunches several times a week and regard them as more than mere "fillers"

Your typical veggies - greens, tomatoes, onions, carrots, peppers, broccoli, ect are fillers. Nothing more. They "fill in the gaps" in nutrition and provide satiation. They on their own provide little caloric content or are energy sources. The fiber and volume they provide fill you up and help with digestion. They aren't replacements for carbs, fat or protiens.
Um, veggies are actually carbs lol. Carbs that burn slow with a low GI Index which is why they are so important to eat everyday in the battle against obesity.

 

SP33Demon

Lifer
Jun 22, 2001
27,928
142
106
Originally posted by: Apex
Originally posted by: Vic
Originally posted by: SP33Demon
Originally posted by: Vic
The REAL reason.

Not too long ago, it was widely believed that population increases would lead to widespread starvation. Government agencies around the world worked with farmers, agricultural companies, food processors, etc. in order to increase yields and maximize nutritional content. Unfortunately, the fears proved to be overstated and now we have an overabudance. The "organic" foods movement is the backlash to this BTW.
So overabundance and non organic food is why we're fat today? Highly doubtful, I could eat a salad and a tuna/chicken sandwich everyday and not be overweight. I will agree that some common synthesized chemicals like HFCSyrup contribute significantly, but overall you can still choose non organic foods that are healthy today (fish, chicken, salads, milk, yogurt, eggs, etc) . Just because there are more refined chemicals on the market and fast/fatty foods are cheap doesn't mean we absolutely have to ingest them.

I think the computer/video game revolution, more movies to choose from, more channels on TV resulting in a lack of exercise/being active contribute more to obesity than GMO foods and chemicals. I can ingest fatty foods but will remain skinny as long as I'm excercising like a champ (albeit it's tougher to keep the weight off with fatty vs healthy food).
Exercise is only half the equation.

Probably right. With the other 50% made up of genetics and diet.

It ultimately comes down to personal responsibility though. It's the 2-edged sword of a free society. :)
It's definitely a 2-edged sword, however someone who ate crappy (say, over half their meals are pizza) can still look good with excessive exercise, so I would say exercise is more than 50%, maybe even 75%.

My ex did this exact thing, she would only eat pizza, bacon sandwiches, snickers and candy, spaghetti, cereal loaded with sugars, but she had a sexy body. Here's the key though: she would run for an hour EVERYDAY. 5 days a week. To add to this she lived in Philly, and had to walk around 10-15 blocks to her school (teacher). She definitely was not getting the proper nutrition and I would always bug her about it, b/c when she sometimes didn't have the time to exercise she would put on noticeable weight (then exercise more and starve herself to drop it). So that's why I think exercise > diet.
 

DaShen

Lifer
Dec 1, 2000
10,710
1
0
Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
Bag of fresh ready to eat green beans = $3.79 200 calories


Wendy's Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger, 5 piece crispy chicken nuggets, small french fries and a small soda = $3.96 1310 calories (includes condiments)

It is because we eat too much.
You could just buy the cheeseburger by itself, and eat it slowly, get a side salad & drink water and it would be cheaper and probably close to the same calorie count while still being cheaper. It does cost more to eat healthier, but staying skinny just means eating less.

Now if the thread title was about why americans are so unhealthy, then I would agree with you (all those trans-fats <i.e. hydrogrenated oils, they just renamed it so that it would sound better to the unedu-ma-cated public> ).
 

vi edit

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 28, 1999
62,484
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Originally posted by: SP33Demon
Originally posted by: vi_edit
beg to differ with you here but I have veggies only lunches several times a week and regard them as more than mere "fillers"

Your typical veggies - greens, tomatoes, onions, carrots, peppers, broccoli, ect are fillers. Nothing more. They "fill in the gaps" in nutrition and provide satiation. They on their own provide little caloric content or are energy sources. The fiber and volume they provide fill you up and help with digestion. They aren't replacements for carbs, fat or protiens.
Um, veggies are actually carbs lol. Carbs that burn slow with a low GI Index which is why they are so important to eat everyday in the battle against obesity.

Starchy veggies like potatoes and corn yes, but the ones I mentioned provide no siginificant source of calories. Your body is not able to digest much of the roughage that veggies provide. It helps fill you up without adding to your daily caloric count.

If your body can't break it down, it can't gain any energy from it.
 

OFiddleDD

Junior Member
Oct 26, 2006
13
0
0
According to the news last night, the more you weigh the more gas you use per year.
Released yesterday:
A new study from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign says that 938 million more gallons of gasoline go into vehicles annually because drivers and passengers are considerably heavier today than in 1960
 

vi edit

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 28, 1999
62,484
8,345
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And for many people, exercise isn't the great equalizer as much as we want to think it is.

You simply can consume calories far more easier than you can burn them off. A snickers bar and a can of non diet soda require about 3 miles of running to burn off.

And that doesn't even factor in any other excess calories consumed through normal meals that could be above and beyond what a persons BMR needs.

Yes, heavily training athletes can overcome calories through exercise, but that's not a siginificant percentage of our population.

For the people that run or walk a couple miles a day and lift a few times a week, they still have to eat responsibly. It is *much* easier to over eat than it is to over exercise. Especially as our bodies get older and that metabolism isn't making our bodies the calorie burning furnace that it was when we were under the age of 25.
 

ColdFusion718

Diamond Member
Mar 4, 2000
3,496
9
81
When I was in France, I often saw people walking to town instead of driving their cars. So instead of driving for 2-3 minutes, they took a brisk walk for half an hour.

I think that's how all those milfs stayed so thin. I was in the southern part of France, btw. :)
 

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,562
9
81
A year or two ago, I had myself a pretty good sized spare tire going. I decided to change my eating habits and lost about 40 lbs by reading the labels on the stuff I buy at the grocery store. My exercise habits changed briefly, but I'm basically a lazy person and have gone back to very little exercise. I'm still down at my desired weight, so I attribute it mostly to diet. There are so many foods chock full of HFCS it's sickening. Read the labels, find the brand that doesn't have that crap. Our food bill hasn't gone up much at all since I started paying attention, so eating more healthy foods doesn't have to be expensive.
 

Wheezer

Diamond Member
Nov 2, 1999
6,731
1
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Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
Originally posted by: BlancoNino
You can also buy big bags of rice, beans, and noodles and cook up some healthy food for cheaper than fast food.

I made a pasta w/ tuna that would feed about 12 people for around 25 dollars. It tasted good too.

25.00 = jr. bacon cheese burger and fries for 12.5 people. with zero prep time.

that is the key right there, people would rather eat unhealthy and do no work rather than eat healthy and do some work.

The path of least resistance is easy to get onto and follow.


 

IceBergSLiM

Lifer
Jul 11, 2000
29,932
3
81
Originally posted by: Wheezer
Originally posted by: IcebergSlim
Originally posted by: BlancoNino
You can also buy big bags of rice, beans, and noodles and cook up some healthy food for cheaper than fast food.

I made a pasta w/ tuna that would feed about 12 people for around 25 dollars. It tasted good too.

25.00 = jr. bacon cheese burger and fries for 12.5 people. with zero prep time.

that is the key right there, people would rather eat unhealthy and do no work rather than eat healthy and do some work.

The path of least resistance is easy to get onto and follow.

For most Americans there are not enough hours in the day as it is. Try convincing an overworked and underpaid American to cut out a couple of more hours of sleep so they can shop and prepare home cooked meals. This doesn't fit into the American lifestyle anymore. We are doing things faster than ever and are busier than ever. Everything is on the go and on demand. Eating healthy should be just as convenient and cheap as eating unhealthy because our culture isn't going to revert back to the easy going days of past decades.
 

Geekbabe

Moderator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Oct 16, 1999
32,229
2,539
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www.theshoppinqueen.com
Originally posted by: vi_edit
beg to differ with you here but I have veggies only lunches several times a week and regard them as more than mere "fillers"

Your typical veggies - greens, tomatoes, onions, carrots, peppers, broccoli, ect are fillers. Nothing more. They "fill in the gaps" in nutrition and provide satiation. They on their own provide little caloric content or are energy sources. The fiber and volume they provide fill you up and help with digestion. They aren't replacements for carbs, fat or protiens.



I have come to really enjoy the taste of steamed or lightly sauteed veggies and consider them very important in my diet for a lot of reasons. the antitoxidents they provide, the proterction against colon cancer.

I don't exercise as much as I should but my diet helps me keep really good skin for my age and I believe firmly that my relatively high intake of nutrient rich veggies is in part responsible.
 

forfor

Senior member
Jul 7, 2006
390
0
0
Originally posted by: BlancoNino
Originally posted by: MrPickins
Maybe in gross dollars spent, but as a ratio of education spending/GNP, I'd be willing to bet that we are far from the top.

That's not even relevant lol. The bottom line is we spend more money per child than anywhere in the world.

Do some research on Kansas City's public schools and what happened to them after spending billions of dollars to "make them better".

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA

HAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAHA

It's not even relevant?

Wait a second, I need to laugh more...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHAH

frickin retard.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

Norway spends almost 50% more per capita than the U.S. does. Do some research.

Finishing of my laugh attack...

HAHAHAHAHHAHA!
 

vi edit

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 28, 1999
62,484
8,345
126
Originally posted by: Geekbabe
Originally posted by: vi_edit
beg to differ with you here but I have veggies only lunches several times a week and regard them as more than mere "fillers"

Your typical veggies - greens, tomatoes, onions, carrots, peppers, broccoli, ect are fillers. Nothing more. They "fill in the gaps" in nutrition and provide satiation. They on their own provide little caloric content or are energy sources. The fiber and volume they provide fill you up and help with digestion. They aren't replacements for carbs, fat or protiens.

I have come to really enjoy the taste of steamed or lightly sauteed veggies and consider them very important in my diet for a lot of reasons. the antitoxidents they provide, the proterction against colon cancer.

I don't exercise as much as I should but my diet helps me keep really good skin for my age and I believe firmly that my relatively high intake of nutrient rich veggies is in part responsible.

I absolutely agree that they are essential to a healthy body. I'm just simply saying I don't agree with the concept of them being used as replacements for other things your body needs. (IE: good carbs & protien).
 

SP33Demon

Lifer
Jun 22, 2001
27,928
142
106
Originally posted by: vi_edit
Originally posted by: Geekbabe
Originally posted by: vi_edit
beg to differ with you here but I have veggies only lunches several times a week and regard them as more than mere "fillers"

Your typical veggies - greens, tomatoes, onions, carrots, peppers, broccoli, ect are fillers. Nothing more. They "fill in the gaps" in nutrition and provide satiation. They on their own provide little caloric content or are energy sources. The fiber and volume they provide fill you up and help with digestion. They aren't replacements for carbs, fat or protiens.

I have come to really enjoy the taste of steamed or lightly sauteed veggies and consider them very important in my diet for a lot of reasons. the antitoxidents they provide, the proterction against colon cancer.

I don't exercise as much as I should but my diet helps me keep really good skin for my age and I believe firmly that my relatively high intake of nutrient rich veggies is in part responsible.

I absolutely agree that they are essential to a healthy body. I'm just simply saying I don't agree with the concept of them being used as replacements for other things your body needs. (IE: good carbs & protien).
Well, the majority of calories from my daily "super salad" comes from veggies, eggs, dressing, and pasta. I consider it the perfect meal. Here's what it has in it: lettuce, baby spinach, mushrooms, beets, cucumbers, carrots (shredded), egg whites (and probably 1/4 yolk total), baby tomatoes, red grapes and raisins (awesome antiox), sunflower seeds, pasta in vinegar w/ some chunks of cheese, and red wine vinegar (breaks up pasta starch in the stomach before it can be stored as fat) + regular ranch dressing (studies in the latest Men's Health show that regular dressing with more fat will allow the body to absorb 15X more fat soluable vit/min like beta carotene so skip the light dressings). I spend about $6 a day at the supermarket for this lunch salad, it's probably about 1500 calories and I never gain weight. I usually eat a regular chicken sandwich (canned 98% fat free) on whole wheat bread, and a customized slow burning protein (from proteinfactory.com) milkshake for breakfast.