why are Americans so fat?

because they love food

@allen_o – I think it’s also a love for a certain type of food ;-)

Well, actually I think it’s because people have very little time and lots to do, for which fastfood is a very easy solution. And of course, not all Americans are that fat, it probably matters where in the US you live, too.

Besides, the heavy-weightedness is emerging in other countries (or at least in the Netherlands) too.

yeah, I got pretty hungry in the Netherlands once, hehe

We don’t walk due to sprawl development.

The U.S. food industry has succeeded in getting us to eat more calories than needed by manipulating our senses with highly processed foods.

Americans believe food should be cheap and convenient, so many foods are grown using the cheapest ingredients available, especially corn and corn derivatives, which are calorie dense compared to other ingredient sources.

Because their always eating, and their portions are enough to feed a horse when I lived in France people only ate when they were hungry, here it seems that every1 u see is always eating
Fact: by the year 2012, 75% of Americans will be overweight…

I’m thinking kevbo is onto the primary issue – we don’t get enough natural day-to-day exercise due to the size and sprawl of the country. Most jobs we have are extremely passive [since we don’t want to take the low-paying manual work jobs]... coupled with convenience being a greater motivator than good health.

But again, not everyone is fat or overweight. That’s an over-generalization.

@squirbel – yes, I think that is also the reason that it won’t get as out-of-hand in the Netherlands as it does in the US: people do a lot of cycling here, and there’s also a recent trend to eat healthy.

On the other hand – I am fasting now, and only then I get to realize how much I eat normally. And I’m not fat at all :)

Two things….unrealistic ideas of what a portion size is and sedentary lifestyles.

a second to sfgirl’s thoughts.. huge portions/sedentary lifestyle/additives that make usually healthy foods unhealthy and bad ones even worse./and lack of REAL government oversight of the food industry.. in many ways they’re more dangerous than the tobacco industry. At least tobacco is required to admit they’re making something that will kill you. Imagine if manufacturers had to “warning label” everything that contains high-fructose corn syrup because of it’s link to rampant weight gain/diabetes/cancer. Yet it’s in most everything from ketchup to toothpaste, to postage stamp glue (not kidding).
The only additive the government has tackled head on is MSG, but there are dozens more that are as bad , or worse.

We are XTREME!!!

Never back down!, Never give in, Never say Uncle!

Stomach full??? Eff! Your stomach! Were Xtreme!!!

squirbel, I don’t think its an over generalisation when its over half the population

Data, I like data. 84.21% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

I think u should be asking why are some Americans so fat

americans have a lot less parasitic worms and stuff living in there guts as opposed to people that live in dirty places with sewage in the streets and goats in there shacks

corn

Why not?

http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/76987/?page=entire (Found on Digg)

This article is an interview with an author that has written two books on food. The author, Michael Pollan, talks to the reporter about a variety of issues, with one topic on why Americans are getting fatter.

It’s a good read if you have the time. It ranges from obesity, cloned animals, food and climate change, diseases associated with different foods, diet, commodities, a bit of agricultural politics, just to name a few.

watch Super Size Me, a documentary (not boring I promise) by Morgan Spurlock

here is the opening scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V168xofxgu0

@busterhymen – ehm, wait… I think your view of the rest of the world doesn’t really match reality. Most of the Netherlands is perfectly hygienic, and so are other countries I’ve been to (France, Belgium, UK, Ireland).

good point