The American "Obesity Epidemic?"

[calmB4storm]

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Getting berated for eating healthy food is sooo annoying

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QFMFT

[calmB4storm]

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It also sucks that good food cost so much. Poor people cant afford to eat as well.

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Is this really true though? Oatmeal is 85 cents a pound. A dozen eggs costs a dollar. A head of lettuce costs a dollar. I've seen boneless, skinless chicken breasts as cheap as $1.99/pound. Etc. Etc. Maybe you have to limit your choices a little bit, but IMO it's fairly easy to eat healthy on a low budget if you're willing to put in the effort.

[secretprankster]

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It also sucks that good food cost so much. Poor people cant afford to eat as well.

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Is this really true though? Oatmeal is 85 cents a pound. A dozen eggs costs a dollar. A head of lettuce costs a dollar. I've seen boneless, skinless chicken breasts as cheap as $1.99/pound. Etc. Etc. Maybe you have to limit your choices a little bit, but IMO it's fairly easy to eat healthy on a low budget if you're willing to put in the effort.

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Ya I wouldn't necessarily say that, although if you're shopping at Whole Foods like I've had to this summer, you're often going to be paying a premium. But at least for me it DOES take a certain level of dedication, and I eat very, very clean. I feel like I'm always making food as soon as I get home from work each day, for dinner, for tomorrow's breakfast, lunch, pre-bed meal, etc. My approach is probably overly-meticulous considering I'm not trying to lose fat, but it's partly my nature.

But think about what other people do. They wake up late, no breakfast, rush to work. Starving, pass a Dunkin Donuts on the way, bingo. Let's say this is at 9 A.M. Then they have a soda at like 11, pack of M&Ms or some horrible lunch at noon. Then they basically don't eat until 5 and completely pwn their metabolism, order take-out when they get home etc. No energy by then so they can't work out and the cycle repeats. Or then they hit the gym on Monday (Bosu ball situps ftw) to "work off" the weekend caloric surplus. Most people do so little right (or even close to "right") it's ridiculous.

But it's also easy to see why.

[kyleb]

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My approach is probably overly-meticulous considering I'm not trying to lose fat, but it's partly my nature.

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This is what has to change in people - their nature. It's hard, really hard. The usually good advice of "don't be a pu**y" makes sense on a visceral level, but just manning up and hitting the gym and cutting calories isn't enough. You need to know that you are changing your lifestyle over to something different, that this isn't going to be a quick fix.

[mattnxtc]

What people need to realize is that you are paying a bit more money to extend and make your overall quality of life better. If people realized that paying just a bit more will raise the odds of not living your later years in pain going in and out of surgeries from obese related illnesses then maybe they wouldnt mind as much.

[kyleb]

The same reason they don't realize that is the same reason so many of the citizens carry ridiculous loads of debt and no savings.

[zenfurni]

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Getting berated for eating healthy food is sooo annoying

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I definitely know what you mean, having gotten into an argument with my girlfriend who is into the organic, high-quality food. All other things equal, I'd rather have organic veggies than regular, etc. However, she berated me for eating all this "junk" (like tuna from a can, protein shakes, etc.) but I just couldn't explain that eating a planned-out, balanced, healthy diet is WAY better than eating any amount of tasty, farm-grown, organic butter, potato chips, and cake. It's frustrating, and it's another example of ways that people tend to have misconceptions about proper diet/nutrition.

[secretprankster]

Yeah people are dumb. You bring in mixed vegetables and a chicken breast in one day and they're like "Ooo Mr. Health Nut!" Then the next day you're eating like 95% lean ground beef and they say "omg wow so unhealthy."

And I can't even count the number of times I've heard stuff about all the eggs I eat. lol cholesterol.

[eastcoaster]

Human beings, in general, are conditioned to follow the path of least resistance.

It has never been easier than it is in this day and age for humans to be sedentary, and follow that path.

I have read where humans are the only species that experience heart disease.

The problem is not obesity. Obesity is the effect. The cause is simply the ability for humans to remain in denial about the real problem; ignorance.

[Leaky Eye]

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The same reason they don't realize that is the same reason so many of the citizens carry ridiculous loads of debt and no savings.

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This is way off topic for this forum, but people should not have savings. Savings are a loss. Both of utility, and usually in interest paid not beating inflation.