Why do you think obesity is increasing in America?

[lilithu]

That's the major contributing factor to obesity in the United States. We (the US) produce so much corn that the government has to pay farmers NOT to grow it. There is so much corn that producing corn syrup is much cheaper then using suger as a sweetener. Being that it is produced from corn, the syrup has a much higher caloric value then the equivalent amount of sugar that would be need to produce the same sweetness.

The other thing is that you can make things a lot sweeter with HFCS than with sugar. How much sweetener you can add is limited by its saturation point. Sucrose has a lower saturation point. So our palates have gotten used to things being a lot sweeter than they once were. We eat a lot more calories in the same volume of food than we used to. (Not to mention that we eat more and move less. I'm not blaming everything on HFCS, but it's certainly no good for us.)

Americans are cattle that are getting fat on the corn.

That should be a tagline somewhere. Moooo!

 

[Djamila]

I'll share this here, I'm sure most of you have seen it before. Apparently, the Europeans think it's the cuisine judging by the logos placed in this joke photo.

 

[Ðanisty]

I'll share this here, I'm sure most of you have seen it before. Apparently, the Europeans think it's the cuisine judging by the logos placed in this joke photo.

I think both pictures are gross.

 

[Smoke]

High fructose corn syrup.

HFCS, or "the white man's poison," as Huey Freeman calls it, is definitely one culprit. High-calorie, low-volume foods are another. One McDonald's cheeseburger or one Krispy Kreme doughnut isn't going to fill up the average adult.

At our house, we don't do HFCS; the main reasons we keep getting fatter and fatter are refined sugar and garlic bread.

 

[spacemonkey]

That should be a tagline somewhere. Moooo!

I thought you'ld like that.

 

[lilithu]

HFCS, or "the white man's poison," as Huey Freeman calls it, is definitely one culprit. High-calorie, low-volume foods are another. One McDonald's cheeseburger or one Krispy Kreme doughnut isn't going to fill up the average adult.

Huey is my hero!

At our house, we don't do HFCS; the main reasons we keep getting fatter and fatter are refined sugar and garlic bread.

Yeah, I could get fatter and fatter off garlic bread.

 

[ayani]

people don't take care of themselves. they eat horrible food, don't exercise enough, and don't take care of their mental health. it's especially bad here in Indiana.

it :is: possible to change one's eating and activity habits. it is. problem is families get into the habit of eating together, eating junky stuff, and sitting around the stoop not doing alot. it's depressing, and i do think that depression has alot to do with serious weight gain. it's much harder to make the effort to take care of yourself if you're heavily depressed, unemployed, and unhappy.

 

[1nharmony]

I have a very simple solution to the problem of obesity, but it is probably impossible to implement.

We simply need to price foods according to calorie content. This thought came to me as I enjoyed a Subway sandwich one day and read the comparisons they print on thier napkins. Basically it would boil down to something like this:
A Subway Veggie sandwich would cost about $3 bucks while a Big Mac would be $6.00 Add a side of carrot sticks for .50cents or a side of fries for $3.00.
Starbucks is already appropriately priced, I'm afraid.

BAsically what this would accomplish is a healthier diet based on economic factors which is the only impulse people will respond to over the long run. It would put things like pizza into the "special occassion" category where it belongs rather being the "weekly staple" it is for so many families today. Dessert will become a treat instead of a regular course at every meal.

As for prep time, people will spend time doing whatever they need to do. If they don't have the money for a fast-food meal that pulls 30 or 40 bucks from the budget instead of 10 or 15, then they will start finding the time to prepare something they can afford.

Piece of cake, eh? :drool: (pardon my pun)