What is America going to do to deal with its huge obesity problem?

Eat more.

Comfort eat.

Exacerbate it probably.

We coddle unhealthy lifestyles and promote grossly unhealthy foods. Until this changes, we’ll continue to have this epidemic.

I live 30 minutes from the United States most obese city, Huntington, WV. Most kids in my area seem to be. It’s up to the parents to start the kids out eating right and healthy.
I’m not fat. I wonder if it has to do with my food not being allowed to touch?

I’d be curious to see what adjusting the corn subsidy would do, say cut it by a third and put the savings into leafy greens.

@wonderingwhy GA, I wonder why corn (even oil, separate topic) need to be subsidized at all?

50 years ago, hunger was a national problem, especially for rural poor. Since then our system of food production and distribution has developed to allow anyone to obtain a day’s worth of calories for an hour of labor at minimum wage. Obviously, there are evils inherent in the system as well, vis a vis the massive corn subsidies and corn derivatives, but hunger is (hopefully) less of an issue.

There seems to be momentum of late to change school menus and vending machines. Coke and/or Pepsi are pulling “full calorie” beverages from schools, so that’s something although surely the kids will learn to appreciate the hidden benefits of aspartame (or whatever it is they’re calling it now).

Nothing. Big Agriculture owns the Congress, and they profit from the sale of fats, sugar and salt.

It isn’t just America – although America is leading the field. Almost all countries except France and some smaller Northern European countries have a higher incidence of obesity and excessive weight. It is western lifestyle – fast food franchises. As they moved from America and began to develop an international presence the “epidemic” moved them.

It is not solely fast food, or people eating more, it is the food itself. It is toxic. And a lot of people involved in the government are tied to the huge companies controlling all of our toxic food.

And the food the fast food companies are from the biggest producers of beef/potatoes/chicken/pork whatever, so it is the same stuff people buy at the supermarket.

People are completely warped in what “normal weight is.” I think maybe we need to bring the shame back. I’m tired of people fighting to get “normal” sized women in magazines, when their definition of normal is size 14, that is an unhealthy weight. We should be talking about weight in school like we used to talk about cigarette smoking and drugs.

Although, I have to say I do not blame the schools entirely. Even if you get healthy meals into schools, the kids will still go home to frozen pizza, cookies, and no exercise. I wonder how many children eat home cooked meals from scratch for dinner every night? I ate tator tots, tacos, pizza, and hamburgers in school also 30 years ago, but the portions were small and my mom cooked dinner.

@tragiclikebowie the food itself. It is toxic

Toxic food? That is a bit over the top. Much food is less than ideal, to high in carbs, bad fats and salts, but it isn’t toxic. Do you know what toxic actually means? It must contain toxins/poisons.

I think work needs to implement PE like in school.

It’s probably going to be necessary to expand the planet and reinforce it so it is able to handle everyone’s extra large fat ass !

@JLeslie Bring back the shame? How horrible.

Shut down supermarkets and start buying locally! Shut down all the corporations running the food industry. Support organic farmers, not corporations.

Don’t look to the government on this one. We can easily handle it by growing or buying the food we want to eat.

Ideally: Make it so that healthy food isn’t more expensive than unhealthy food and disconnecting body mass from status.

Food Inc. is worth a gander.

@tinyfaery Bring back the shame? How horrible.

Why? How is pretending that huge rolls of fat are not unattractive helping anyone? When I was a kid in school, if someone said “The fat kid”, the rest of the kids knew immediatley who you were talking about. Fat kids were rare – they were unusual. Why is pretending that there is nothing wrong with being fat a good thing? It is enabling obesity, not helping it.

Well fed livestock.

@delirium Make it so that healthy food isn’t more expensive than unhealthy food.

Healthy food is less expensive than unhealthy food. If you prepare it yourself. I can prepare a healthy meal for a family for less than fast food prices.

I cite personal experience and Food Inc.

Educate people!

@delirium I cite personal experience and Food Inc.

Regardless of who you cite, if you are prepared to do your own purchasing and cooking, healthy food is not dearer than junk food. If a person insists on the convenience of prepared food, then yes, it costs more for a healthy meal. Here a “Family” meal from KFC for instance costs au$25–30. For that – catering for the same number of people – I can provide a small dip or soup entree, fresh seafood or chicken breast, several fresh vegetables, seasoning, a low carb, moderate calorie dessert and a healthy beverage. Or I could make a beef and burgundy casserole with char grilled vegetables. There is an endless variety. It is not hard to eat in a healthy manner without spending more.

This is a multi-faceted issue and there isn’t one hard and fast answer.

Food subsidies for corn products make it cheaper for businesses to put corn in their ‘chicken’ patties than chicken and so- as most business when left to decide it’s own regulation- they went with the cheaper and less healthy option. If you have a corn allergy you know how difficult to avoid corn it actually is in this country. It’s in bread, meat, macaroni and cheese, milkshakes- it’s everywhere. The corn we are eating is not even the same types of corn our ancestors were eating. It’s been modified to be starchier and sweeter- thus feeding into the sweet craving that the American (and most of the world) population is famous for having. This is also up for heated debate- and rightly so. (1)

Our population has been ingesting livestock growth hormones for over two generations. There is still debate on the effects this has had on our population.

Science is finding genes responsible for fat production, so perhaps we can start to isolate the inner-workings of what makes people who eat the same diet as others become type II diabetic. (2) There is a large new area of research looking at this problem. It’s becoming clear it’s not from people being ‘lazy’ and ‘stuffing their face’ like so many people like to claim.

There’s something happening and scientists are working on it. I just hope they figure it out soon before more people go blind, deteriorate and lose limbs.

I think the future will hold new FDA regulations, newer drugs to combat the gene-based mis-absorption of food and hopefully soon- a different view of those who are overweight. Shame will do nothing that hasn’t been done already- it hasn’t cured obesity yet, has it? (feelings of needing superiority notwithstanding)

I hope we can convince growers to take a step back as well; to grow non-GMO food and see that consumers will pay more for value. The only problem with organic is that it leaves our poor out of the equation and that’s not right. Poor people shouldn’t have to bear the brunt of a bunch of decisions made by rich people up on a hill.

@tinyfaery I say it a little tongue and cheek, but it is simply unhealthy to be fat just like smoking cigerettes is. I don’t want anyone to get teased, or get mean stares, but I don’t want anyone saying “big is beautiful” and reinforcing unhealthy living. I saw part of Dr. Phil the other day, and this woman who was very very large, who says she works with dieticians and wants to be thinner…anyway, the female trainer from the biggest loser offered to help her, and the woman was happy to accept the help, but her comment was, “I guess no more twinkies.” To me that means she was not really eating healthy. Very few people are fat and eat healthy portions and healthy food, they are overeating, yet they constantly say they don’t eat a lot. I’m tired of it. I am 10 pounds over weight right now, and it is because I have been eating too much and have been very sedentary, there is no mystery.

My father has been overweight my whole life, I have friends who are overweight, I really don’t care if people are overweight, I don’t judge or prejudge people based on weight at all, I just don’t want them to say they eat well or they are healthy.

nothing.

@DarkScribe and @delirium – If you consider the cost of buying natural and organic foods – the cost is much higher.

@goose756 Just buying fresh unpackaged foods would be a start. Although, I really think our biggest problem is portions and calorie intake. The amount of calories in most restaurant meals is ridiculous. Steamed green beans in Outback restaurant has a hunk of butter steamed with it, that is deceptive to me.

Make people responsible for their own actions.

When you can blame it on a disorder, or McDonalds you don’t have to face the consequences of your own actions.

Most Americans don’t have anything wrong with them other than the unwillingness to change lifestyles or eating habits. If we can point to a study that says we have a disorder, then we have an excuse not to work on fixing the problem.

What’s America going to do about it? Apparently buy into a government run health care system to take care of all these fatties that keep shoving Twinkies in their mouths.

Apparently America will do what it always does- talk about things in soundbites shoved at them by megalith corporations.

Isn’t obesity a problem mostly of poverty?

@DarkScribe Toxic is exactly what I mean. It has nothing to do with the caloric content and everything to do with how food is now an industry based on keeping costs low and profit high; meaning they don’t care what they do to it. So yes, it is poison because they put poison in it.

Eat the rich!

@goose756 If you consider the cost of buying natural and organic foods

All foods are organic, I yet to find a metallic food.

I don’t go for the “organic” nonsense, most according to a Government survey two years ago, that are labeled organic aren’t, as there magically seems to be far more on supermarket shelves that “organic” certified farmers have produced.

I also go a step further, as both a hobby and for nutritional reasons, I have a PermaCulture garden, I grow my own vegetables. It simple, rewarding and healthy in that as well as eating the produce, working out in the sun every day or two makes for a much healthier lifestyle.

America will do what America does about everything….. look for the easy answer, the quick fix, rather than tackling the actual issues. Which is why the problem will persist.