America and Obesity

[flip_flop]

I've never been to America, and have no interest in doing so as the far east has always appealed to me much more, but friends that have, mainly in Florida, have told me stories that the Americans take obesity to a whole new level.

I've heard this before from other sources, but never having experienced it, are the stories accurate or are they exagerrated?

[jake-the-peg]

It is true. But equally there are an awful lot of obsessively fit Americans too.

I'm surprised you don't have an interest in going. I've been fortunate enough to visit quite a lot of different areas from Liberal San Francisco to Salt Lake City.

Frankly the diversity is such that trying to pidgeonhole America or Americans is even more ridiculous than trying to talk about the "average Briton".

You should go, - Personally I'm not a fan of Florida although the weather's nice.

[jno]

some Americans are very big, which is fine with me as they make me look small, which I am not. Others are medium. Others are skinny. This is a vast country with four times as many people as Britain, so you get all shapes.

There's plenty to see and do in Florida without going near theme parks: the gulf coast, the keys and Key West (nearer to Havana than Miami), the Everglades, the art deco buildings in South Beach.

[wildwood]

Several south pacific nations have an obesity rate of 60% of the population, nearly double that of the USA.

The USA has certainly experienced an increase in obesity with so many labour saving household appliances, but then so have many European nation. And the UK is not far behind the USA.

[beso]

The obesity rate in the US would be even higher if not for the starving poor.

[andy-hughes]

Florida boasts a large number of 'All You Can Eat For ...' establishments, and they are the places to see seriously obese people - often whole families.

That said, we simnply notice them because we are a 'fattist' society and conditioned from an early age not to accept overweight people in our midst.

[jen78]

I can't say I noticed it much in New York, more people on the skinny side if anything though it was fashion week.

I did notice it when I went to California though from San Francisco down to LA.

I stayed with two families. The family in LA all played a lot of softball and very fit and used to cook a lot.

The family in Clovis were, save for their little boy, all very overweight. They never seemed to eat fresh food, ate takeaway and junk food a lot. It was the typical pancakes with sausages and eggs and syrup for breakfast, takeout for lunch and more takeout for dinner.

They never seemed to walk anywhere either, always drove.

I don't think I've ever seen so many takeaways and such big portions and I really struggled with the portions when I was in New York in August.

I went to the local school in Clovis and rather then the kind of set up over here for lunch there were fast food joints all around the campus.

I thought the system in France was nice when I worked in a school there.

We'd have coffee and freshly baked, still warm, pain au chocolat for a morning break then for lunch everyone went home for about 2 hours (you were the odd one out if you stayed) and I'd always have a lovely healthy home cooked meal after stopping by the bakery on the way back to get some freshly baked bread.

[pastafreak]

The last time I actually 'lived' in the States was almost 20years ago. My then husband and I lived briefly in the suburbs of Long Island-outside of NYC. My husband-being the country-born Brit he was, loved walking. Needless to say...he got stared at a lot when he went out on his rambles. It never ceased to amaze us. When I was last back there-in Aug 2007-most NYers looked to be a reasonable weight....but then THEY all walk as it is often quicker and healthier than the fumes of the subways.

[smudge]

America is a fantastic country, with very friendly hospitable people - but when we were on holiday there, I couldn't believe just how many fat wobbly bellies & bottoms hung over & out of jeans - that was until I saw the amount of food that is put on plates!

Apart from that, we had a wonderful time!

[Octavius]

Wherever you go in the world you�ll get fat and thin people, and some in the middle.

Proportionally per population (adults over 15) the highest levels of obesity are found in Micronesia and the Pacific Ocean, in the mid 90s . The UK at around 64% is only 10% below the US.