Obesity in the USA

[dxcxdzv]

I often see some terrifying statistics about obesity in the USA, +35% of the adult population and +16% of the children/teens.
It's kinda scary because I begin to wonder that there is fat (really fat) people everywhere.
However I also often hears people that traveled in the USA saying that "there's not so much fat people". Excuse me but with a such ratio of 1/3 if you don't see that much... where does this kind of persons hide.

So, so so so, as I know that there is a lot of Americans here, I was wondering how do you live a such situation and if there is effectively 1/3 of the population like that.

And what to do in order to reduce this number, which impacts on the society does it have? Have you in your entourage someone victim of obesity?

[Stronk Serb]

Some statistics show every fourth American teen is overweight. The problem is, a larger percent of overweight children doesn't know they are overweight when compared to let's say 15-20 years ago. That's the real problem, in order to solve the problem, you need to identify it.

[lliam]

Obesity isn't restricted solely to the US. I guess you can see this phenomenon in every country with high stage of living conditions around the world.

[Collinsworthington]

Most of these statistics come from the deep South I.e. Mississippi, Georgia, etc. Where most people don't visit, however it's still decently widespread, I have no room to talk as I am overweight myself ������

[Babs]

It's an issue, yes. Many Americans have an unhealthy lifestyle. I think there are much more important issues with the country though.

[jessie3]

Tbh i couldn't tell what in your post was a question vs other stuff but from what i got, America is one of the overweight countries but not the only one. I don't think there is much we could do except encourage everyone to get fit. I think the FDA should put commercials out warning people about being overweight kinda like they are doing with cigarettes and the consequences of smoking.

[phuckphace]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Lambert - fattest guy on Earth ~200 years ago

how much do you wanna bet the USA alone has several thousand cases like this now

I see horribly obese people every single day, and what really burns my ass is how fat their kids are too. the other day I saw this woman who couldn't have weighed less than 500 lbs with three young kids with her who probably equaled her in weight. pretty pathetic if you ask me.

[dxcxdzv]

jessie3 : I think my questions, even if there is no "?" are quite explicit. I hope.
Aristocrats : Yeah there is probably much more important issues but excuse me, 1/3 of the population victim of obesity it's like saying that 1/3 of the population has a cancer.
phuckphace : So (as the only who answered to my first question) you really see fat people everyday.
I really think this kind of statistics are weird, for exemple, in France my native region has like one of the lowest obesity rates of Europe, but there some "scientists and mathematicians" said that 24% of the teens are overweighted and I can guarantee that there is just 4-5 cases like that per thousand of people.

[Stronk Serb]

Reise

Here in Serbia you are considered overweight if your body mass is even 5-10 kilograms more than the average for age and height, while in America, those who are extremely obese, who weigh more than their average weight for age and height exceed the average by 30+ kilograms, then they are called overweight, I am not claiming anything. I just see it that way., I get it that each nation has different views on who is overweight according hiw much they exceed their average mass. I heard in Germany of a case where one guy was so fat that he took 3 seats on an airplane. The funny thing is, he yelled discrimination because he could barely fit through the door and that the plane transport company charged him for two seats, even though he occupied three, he expected to be charged like he took one seat.

[phuckphace]

Native americans and blacks are the two demographics who contribute most to the US obesity rate:
http://i.imgur.com/oT1hyOq.jpg

seeing this what immediately springs to mind is our broken ass food stamp program. people in poverty usually buy junk food with their welfare money (you can buy any edible item with food stamps except alcohol and tobacco). so the overall answer to "why is America so fat?" is because our government would rather give jobs to Asians and robots than its own citizens, and then feeds the resulting huge (and growing) serf class with deep-fried meat and ice cream

[Microcosm]

There are some people here who act like they're proud to be fat. It's weird.

There are actually many health disorders that make people gain weight much more easily. In other cases, the medicine used to treat certain disorders has the same effect. With all of the fast food joints and terrible eating habits that have become part of American culture, it's pretty difficult as you can imagine.

http://www.webmd.com/diet/obesity/medical-reasons-obesity

Disorders like depression are common in America and (as was stated in the article) antidepressants and depressive over-eating can cause obesity.

From 2010:

http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/tt195/sonjadupor/stat.jpg

(Source: https://selfhelpdaily.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/depression-statistics/)

The combination of a high depression rate and excess of access to unhealthy foods makes America a prime target for obesity.

---------------

As for what we can do to stop it? We can't really do anything about the fast food. Corporations like Mcdonald's make their money off people over-eating their products, and we know the corporate machine doesn't care about people's health.

I suppose new medicines could be developed for depression. America would need a cultural overhaul in the area of food to solve the problem.

[Judean Zealot]

Refer back to hedonism. When you're a glutton who does no physical exercise you will be obese. When you don't think about what junk you're eating because it tastes good you are going to ruin your body.

[Stronk Serb]

Well, here the situation is so crappy that people don't have the money to eat at KFC or McDonald's. We have our own barbecue joints which actually put real meat; you get less fats by eating there plus Coca Cola, fries and ice cream are not the healthiest things served.

[simplired]

Honestly, people in America have no idea what kind of crap they are putting in their bodies. Portions here are ridiculously large, and they're filled with all sorts of fatty junk, acids, etc. There's no education on how much you should eat (that I've seen) other than downloading apps that count calories etc. But then you get branded as anorexic or something of the sort.

It's not a food problem; it's a people problem. People are too lazy to cook nowadays or look into nutrition. In order to reduce the number, educate the consumers. But to do that, you need to attack the food industry, which is massive. One idea someone had was to make natural foods cheaper than junk food.

The impacts? Numerous health problems that pass on genetically, more money in the food industry, etc. It goes on and on.

[phuckphace]

I for one have never bought into the "these people have no other choice!" excuse. even the prole-est of proles with a room-temperature IQ has to be aware on some level that cramming his/her face with frozen pizzas and Hungry Man dinners every single day is probably doing a number on their health. they're given hundreds of dollars a month in free cash and could choose to purchase healthy food if they wanted, but 9 out of 10 will zip right past the produce section and head straight to the snack aisle.

at work there's a woman who regularly comes into to shop on the first of every month (food stamp day) whom I've nicknamed "Tammy the Hutt". she only stands about 5'4" (163cm) but can't possibly weigh less than 450 lbs. every single food stamp day without fail, she shows up dragging her equally fat kids (screaming at them while chatting away on her iPhone) and then leaves with $400 worth of cakes, cookies, TV dinners, frozen pizzas, and 24 packs of Pepsi and Mountain Dew. :lol3:

our government literally needs to die already

[dxcxdzv]

I didn't really know what was exactly "junk food", the only probant exemple was fast foods. But I never saw a entire aisle of stuff like that (unless a bit in England).
Stronk Serb : Home barbecue is life. And I think too that the weight where you are considered "overweighted" depends of the country ; in France it depends of your BMI (more than 25 you are overweighted and more than 30 you are obese).
simplired : Yeah that's true, when you hear "food in America", well, you hear almost poison. I saw "portions for 1 person", it was really scary, or documentaries where a guy was drinking 8 liters of soda everyday. In America there is a really easy access to unhealthy food. Like in England I was surprised, the meat is really cheap and they put bacon every where.
phuckphace : "Tammy The Hutt", that's rude... for Jabba. I'd like to see that from my own eyes, I wonder how a mother cannot be aware of what she eats and most important of all, what her children eat.
The first time I saw that this kind of life was dangerous is when I walked near from the Trocadéro pool and I saw that it was full (of tourists of course and) of trashes, directly in the pool, with children playing in it (the access to the pool is restricted, principally because there is motherfuckin' cannons in front of it) and also fat american tourists throwing their McDonald's trashes on the grass. I hope the Mall doesn't have to handle this.

[simplired]

Reise I heard portion sizes in Europe were much smaller, and when exchange students came over they were shocked at the food and couldn't drink root beer because it was loaded with junk. It honestly is everywhere and even if you want to eat healthy, food that's organic or such is way more expensive.

What about in Europe? Is junk food available everywhere, and is healthy food harder to get a hold of?

[Sir Suomi]

Actually America is ranked 18th in most obese countries in the world.

But no fuck Americans they're all fatasses who eat McDonalds every day.

However it is a problem, as Phuck pointed out generally among the Southern population. I blame technology honestly, as cliche as it may sound. While this may sound hypocritical coming from a guy who spends a lot of time (probably too much) on technology, this younger generation has me beat completely. I'm seeing less and less kids going out for sports every year around where I live.

To put things in perspective, my class which is average sized for my school had roughly 30 kids going out for football. The class under me, which has slightly more numbers, had a staggering 10. And you wanna know what's worse than that? 6 players from the class below them. Kids are becoming less and less interested in going outside and more interested in either surfing the web, watching TV, or playing video games.

It's a trend that will continue to get worse and worse as we become more and more reliant on technology until we get to the point where we resemble characters from WALL-E.

[dxcxdzv]

simplired : For all the Europe I don't know but in France and Italy (the countries where I've been the most, one is my motherland lol) there is no such things. In France GMO are technically illegals and organic food is every where, the "healthy and natural way of eat" is really "fashion". In Italy, some fast-foods like KFC aren't even implanted.
And in general order, in all the other countries, Spain, UK, Belgium etc. food quality is quite similar.
I don't know for Germany.
patton : America is the 3rd most populated country too. There is many chances that it is the one with the most of obeses.
For the class story, I think it's moreover a education problem. Nowadays you've got parents that just know a few of what new technologies are and kids who know too much.
The parents don't understand all the dangers because they don't know what it is, and kids are simply too young. But I think that it will change (a bit) because new parents are now more aware of all that stuff.

[simplired]

George S. Patton that's so true, too. I hadn't thought about it like that. America did seem to have an obesity problem before then (I could be wrong), but I think you're right. Technology and it's impacts are having a huge affect on obesity as well.
Reise that honestly sounds too good to be true, which in itself is really sad. I wish GMOs and junk food could be banned here, but too many people have gotten used to it and the food industry isn't going to give up so easily. Although, McDonald's is introducing a new menu. I haven't checked it out, but I'm 99.9999999% sure its healthy looking crap. Basically, it looks like America is in it pretty deep.

[dxcxdzv]

simplired : Most of the products French people eat are made in France under the European and country rules. You will (almost) not see eggs from chickens raised in battery etc. So where there is GMOs it's in fast food menus when you see "modified corn" and other shit like this.
"Junk food" is not in the European mores. In France you prefer cook from A to Z, for example I never saw such things like the "TV dinner".
Microcosm : You think meds and illness can have a such impact on the population?

[simplired]

Reise frozen meals in boxes, meals delivered to your door, you think of it, we got it. And it's not healthy either. I'm pretty sure here, GMOs have very little restriction. There's everywhere. On TV, you hear about second breakfasts, late night snacks, snacks to make it to lunch, etc. In grocery stores, there are mobile carts which were used to be for the elderly. Now, it's mostly overweight people who can't even walk anymore. And there are now shows on reality TV like my 700 pound life (?) and Biggest Loser. It's honestly everywhere, and everyone's so addicted it'll be nearly impossible to tear them away from their slushies and double cheeseburgers.
France and Europe sound amazing food-wise. Excuse me while I ship myself over there. Considered the GMO restriction and smaller portions, I'm assuming there aren't as many obese people?

[Microcosm]

You think meds and illness can have a such impact on the population?

Honestly, when you put it all together, I think it can.

Think about it. You've got people who are depressed due to various things that characterize our country(everything is spread out and there's not a lot of cultural sites unless you live in like an urban area or something. I live in Alabama so :P. Also, there's fast food everywhere. Then there's the influence of money. Since religion no longer truly characterizes our country, our youth have literally lost their sense of purpose and have turned to drugs and sex to find happiness, etc.). These things, when you put them together, really do tear our society apart and depress people.

I don't think it's mostly because of meds and illness, but I think there are many cases where it's true. I know firsthand because someone I know is exactly like that.

I know it sounds like an excuse. I know because I thought it was too, but then I eventually came to realize that it is just because of the illness and meds. They actually have the side-effect of making you gain lots of weight.

[dxcxdzv]

simplired : Well there is obviously some people overweighted but not as it is (or seems to be) in the USA. I remember a lot of my English teachers talking about the portions size in the US which were absolutely gigantic. I remember, one of them said to the class one time "in the US when you ask for a pizza for a single person you've got one for four" or "when you buy coffee, they serve you huge cups of a liter". In fact, the fatest thing you can find in France/Europe is the Nutella, or the foie gras.
Microcosm : I think it's all the distribution system of the US which is a problem. You can have anything you want, when you want, as much as you want, as long that you've got the dollars. I heard things like in the USA you can freely buy antidepressants by dozens.

[Microcosm]

Reise

It depends on the kind of meds. Many of them actually require a prescription from a professional like a doctor or psychiatrist.

[simplired]

Reise I wish I could say it wasn't true; but it is. My family and I tend to eat healthier, but I used to be able to eat a 12 inch pizza by myself. I'm sure many other people eat/drink more. And yeah, drink sizes are huge, mostly again because larger sizes are cheaper than two smaller cups. "For fifty more cents you can upgrade to a size medium." Stuff like that. Again, I can't speak for every person in America, but I'm sure most people eat huge portions.

Oh, and here even salads have more fat than you're suppoused to eat in a day.

[Miserabilia]

Obesity is like a flaw in a person; it may be caused by a poorly raised childhood, a traumatic event, a complete inability to exercise because you are literaly braindead, or just being stupid.

Metabolism, thyroid, I've heard all the excuses. Yet all the fat people I've ever known simply eat more or exercise less.
It's not difficult.
I'm just hoping for the day obesity wil actualy be a social stigma, not just "oh look an obese person" , but " oh my god look at that person! How could you do that to yourself?"
Because honestly it's the worst problem in any rich country today, causes so many death, so much tax money, and it's just nasty.

[Microcosm]

Johny Foreigner

You're assuming that they're bad excuses, yet you don't think about the evidence that it is possible that it is a good excuse. Aren't metabolism and thyroid pretty good excuses? They actually have medical side effects that cause people to gain weight.

http://www.endocrineweb.com/conditions/thyroid/hypothyroidism-too-little-thyroid-hormone

Symptoms of Hypothyroidism

Fatigue
Weakness
Weight gain or increased difficulty losing weight

It isn't always entirely their fault. The best thing we can do is help them try harder to lose weight rather than making an example out of them(or "social stigma" as you put it) so that people will eat better.

You can promote healthy eating without making an example out of obese people.

[Miserabilia]

Johny Foreigner

You're assuming that they're bad excuses, yet you don't think about the evidence that it is possible that it is a good excuse. Aren't metabolism and thyroid pretty good excuses? They actually have medical side effects that cause people to gain weight.

http://www.endocrineweb.com/conditions/thyroid/hypothyroidism-too-little-thyroid-hormone



It isn't always entirely their fault. The best thing we can do is help them try harder to lose weight rather than making an example out of them(or "social stigma" as you put it) so that people will eat better.

You can promote healthy eating without making an example out of obese people.

Thyroid disorders are common in less than 1% of the population while more than 30% of the population is obese.
Excuses, excuses excuses.
Weight gain can't be magicaly made, it takes energy to create fat. Most people with thyroid disorders manage with diets and can easily mantain a healthy weight.

I can't force anyone to diet. Most overweight people end up dieting and dieting and dieting and never loose the weight, and that's not the diets fault. The only way to stop the "epidemic" is to enforce a social stigma that would prevent anyone from becoming overweight.

[Microcosm]

Thyroid disorders are common in less than 1% of the population while more than 30% of the population is obese.
Excuses, excuses excuses.
Weight gain can't be magicaly made, it takes energy to create fat. Most people with thyroid disorders manage with diets and can easily mantain a healthy weight.

I can't force anyone to diet. Most overweight people end up dieting and dieting and dieting and never loose the weight, and that's not the diets fault. The only way to stop the "epidemic" is to enforce a social stigma that would prevent anyone from becoming overweight.

http://www.thyroid.org/media-main/about-hypothyroidism/

Looks like your 1% number is wrong, at least in America, which is the county this thread is targeted at discussing.

Also, depression is a serious contributor. It removes the will to diet, as does hypothyroidism because it makes it feel like you're making no progress because it makes it hard to lose weight.

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/prevalence/major-depression-among-adults.shtml


Do these still feel like excuses?

[Stronk Serb]

George S. Patton that's so true, too. I hadn't thought about it like that. America did seem to have an obesity problem before then (I could be wrong), but I think you're right. Technology and it's impacts are having a huge affect on obesity as well.
Reise that honestly sounds too good to be true, which in itself is really sad. I wish GMOs and junk food could be banned here, but too many people have gotten used to it and the food industry isn't going to give up so easily. Although, McDonald's is introducing a new menu. I haven't checked it out, but I'm 99.9999999% sure its healthy looking crap. Basically, it looks like America is in it pretty deep.

Diet Cola, or Coca Cola Zero (same shit, different name for different markets) is actually unhealthier than regular Coca Cola. Sure it doesn't contain sugar, but it contains unhealthier sweeteners. The healthiest stuff in McDonald's is Coca Cola, fries and ice cream, not to mention that here the portions are miniature and fucking expensive. For 1000 dinars in McDonald's you just satge your hunger. For the same money in the local barbecue joint you can have lunch, dinner, and get takeaway for breakfast.

[simplired]

http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/getnutrition/nutritionfacts.pdf This is McDonald's posted nutrition info in case anyone is interested. Everyone's recommended carb/fat intake is different. Personally, I'm supposed get no less than about 20g of fat a day. Compare this to some of the many sandwiches and burgers available.

[Miserabilia]

http://www.thyroid.org/media-main/about-hypothyroidism/

Looks like your 1% number is wrong, at least in America, which is the county this thread is targeted at discussing.

Also, depression is a serious contributor. It removes the will to diet, as does hypothyroidism because it makes it feel like you're making no progress because it makes it hard to lose weight.

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/prevalence/major-depression-among-adults.shtml


Do these still feel like excuses?

According to that site 6.2% of people in the USA have hyperthyroid, though that is more than I expected it's still only a fraction of the amount of overweight people.
Not to mention a diagnosis for hypothyroid is made on symptons that are common with overweight people wether they have hypohyroid or not. But wait there's more!

Weight loss induces a significant decrease in serum fT3 and TSH levels (16,17,18) (​(FigureFigure 2). The decrease in thyroid hormones, which consequently also leads to a decrease in energy expenditure, would explain the difficulty to maintain the weight loss (40). Apart from weight reduction, it seems that even simple changes of lifestyle, characterized by increased physical activity and improvement in body composition without concomitant changes of BMI, also lead to a decrease of TSH and fT3 (41). An explanation for these findings might be that weight loss or a modification in body composition reduces the state of inflammation which is present in these patients, leading to a decrease in the secretion of cytokines and therefore to a decreased inhibition on NIS and explaining therefore the improved function of the thyroid tissue (42).

The correlation between obesity and hypothyroidism has been shown before; though only in a small part of obese people. What they often leave away intentionaly though, is that loosing weight will actualy affect and often even cure the condition; you could easily say that obesity is actualy the *cause* of hypothyrodism.

And then the most important part; you can't magicaly make fat. No matter what part of your body isn't working right, you can't make matter without more matter and energy. In a normal person food's energy is used to keep the body alive, heat the body, and use muscles and the brain for example.
In overweight people, there is something going wrong either in the amount of food or the lack of exercise which makes the body think it has an execcise amount of energy, which it then uses to create new faty tissues. Those fatty tissues then get rid of the excess energy either by sending out heat, or saving energy to be burned later when there is an excess of exercise or lack of food.
If there is something wrong with a system in your body that causes fat to be made when there isn't a strong excess of food or lack of exercise, it's easier to gain weight.
But there has to be something seriously wrong with your logic if you actualy think that is a valid excuse for being overweight.

Time and time again people with thyroid conditions have shown that they can easily mantain a healhy weight simply by restricting.
Energy in, energy out. You can't make fat without the matter and energy needed to create it.
I find it hilarious that thyroid conditions are used as this magical cause of obesity while this only seems to apply to the USA and not any other part of the world. I'm pretty sure if you go to some starving part of africa, you won't see 6 percent of people overweight even though they don't have much food.


And yes it still feels like excuses. Depression may be crippling to the point where loosing weight is the last thing on your mind. What usualy isn't mentioned though is that obesity is one of the leading causes of depression.
Comprehensive lifestyle modification was found to be superior for reducing symptoms of depression than control and non-dieting interventions.

Lifestyle modification was also marginally better in improving mood than dietary counseling or exercise-alone programs.
- See more at: http://www.drsharma.ca/obesity-will-losing-weight-make-you-less-depressed#sthash.VfHNRIPK.dpuf
Loosing weight and making a decent lifestyle change actualy has a better chance of curing depression than most medication.


Diet Cola, or Coca Cola Zero (same shit, different name for different markets) is actually unhealthier than regular Coca Cola. Sure it doesn't contain sugar, but it contains unhealthier sweeteners.

I'll have to disagree for the most part. Aspartame still hasn't been shown to be dangerous, in fact the majority of studies show it's not dangerous in any normal dosage at all. In any case the amount of people with diabetes and obesity due to sugars like the ones so common in cola is more threatening than the amount of people who supposedly get stomach aches of cancer from a sweetener.

[Magus]

They eat junk. Processed food, canned food and what have you food. Coke, juices, and flavored drinks.

And of course, a sedentary lifestyle on top it all off.

[Zenos]

Some statistics show every fourth American teen is overweight. The problem is, a larger percent of overweight children doesn't know they are overweight when compared to let's say 15-20 years ago. That's the real problem, in order to solve the problem, you need to identify it.

How can they look in the mirror with a shirt off and not see the rolls? I mean come on if you have love handles .... are as I call them jelly rolls starting to show it's quite obvious you need proper diet and exercise!

[Stronk Serb]

How can they look in the mirror with a shirt off and not see the rolls? I mean come on if you have love handles .... are as I call them jelly rolls starting to show it's quite obvious you need proper diet and exercise!

I don't know. Maybe if you grow up getting stuffed all the time, it becomes your regular self

[phuckphace]

I just think it's funny how closely our society now resembles a mashup of Idiocracy and the conditions onboard the Axiom in WALL-E. it really does a number on my mood sometimes just knowing I can walk outside and see something far more grim and silly than any dark comedy. recently I saw a huge fat guy shuffling erratically down the sidewalk toting a whole large pizza in his hand, munching away with his mouth open. more recently I saw a kid who couldn't have been older than 6 or 7 who was so fat his eyes were about to be swallowed (the 'betus in a couple, heart attack by 25). and some of us are actually ridiculous enough to claim WE'RE THE GRADEST CUNTRY IN THE WERLD.

all I know is if we get any fatter, America will soon disappear (behind an event horizon)

[Zenos]

I don't know. Maybe if you grow up getting stuffed all the time, it becomes your regular self

Point taken!

[tonymontana99]

I often see some terrifying statistics about obesity in the USA, +35% of the adult population and +16% of the children/teens.
It's kinda scary because I begin to wonder that there is fat (really fat) people everywhere.
However I also often hears people that traveled in the USA saying that "there's not so much fat people". Excuse me but with a such ratio of 1/3 if you don't see that much... where does this kind of persons hide.

So, so so so, as I know that there is a lot of Americans here, I was wondering how do you live a such situation and if there is effectively 1/3 of the population like that.

And what to do in order to reduce this number, which impacts on the society does it have? Have you in your entourage someone victim of obesity?

Shhhhh, goyim! There is no such thing as obesity! Oy vey, we're all the same. We're all beautiful! It's the inside that matters! Everyone is healthy!

[Porpoise101]

I don't know for sure but I heard that for the first time since the 60s the obesity rates went down. Maybe this has to do with the fact that more people are living in cities where they live healthier generally.

Maybe it's a fluke but maybe we are getting better 🙌

[BeachKid00]

I don't know for sure but I heard that for the first time since the 60s the obesity rates went down. Maybe this has to do with the fact that more people are living in cities where they live healthier generally.

Maybe it's a fluke but maybe we are getting better 🙌

In 1960, approximately 15% of Americans were obese.

In 2010, approximately 35% of Americans were obese.

And, to go against the "city living = healthier" argument, there are 354 McDonald's restaurants in New York City, and 124 in Chicago.

No offense, but I would really like to know what your source is smoking.

[Porpoise101]

In 1960, approximately 15% of Americans were obese.

In 2010, approximately 35% of Americans were obese.

And, to go against the "city living = healthier" argument, there are 354 McDonald's restaurants in New York City, and 124 in Chicago.

No offense, but I would really like to know what your source is smoking.
For the city dwellers:
http://newscenter.sdsu.edu/sdsu_newscenter/news_story.aspx?sid=71384

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=117242

http://m.newser.com/story/43520/single-city-dwellers-are-often-happier-healthier.html

Evidently it's not one crazy source lol

As for the obesity rates here you go:
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/02/26/health/obesity-rate-for-young-children-plummets-43-in-a-decade.html?referrer=&_r=0

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2014/02/obesity-rates

[phuckphace]

I wouldn't call American cities "healthy" unless your definition of healthy is dodging bullets on the way to Whole Foods (Mad Max style dystopias pair well with organic turky burgers!)

[Porpoise101]

I wouldn't call American cities "healthy" unless your definition of healthy is dodging bullets on the way to Whole Foods (Mad Max style dystopias pair well with organic turky burgers!)
Haha at least you are running and getting that cardio in rather than sitting yourself to death in a suburban life.

[Capto]

I wouldn't call American cities "healthy" unless your definition of healthy is dodging bullets on the way to Whole Foods (Mad Max style dystopias pair well with organic turky burgers!)

Learning how to avoid smog day to day makes for a better life in L.A. Much healthful, such paradise.

Not so fat tho.

[dxcxdzv]

Honestly I don't really think that McDonald's etc are the major factor in obesity.
I've been in England, it's known that English are eating pretty fat things. Not really always healthy. With a higher obesity rate than the others European countries.
I don't think that people know how and what to eat. Me included haha.
I think that from the moment people have access to unhealthy stuff, their way to eat begins to be unhealthy.
And in the US, you've got a lot of unhealthy stuff (no Mountain Dew, I'm not talking about you).

[Stronk Serb]

Honestly I don't really think that McDonald's etc are the major factor in obesity.
I've been in England, it's known that English are eating pretty fat things. Not really always healthy. With a higher obesity rate than the others European countries.
I don't think that people know how and what to eat. Me included haha.
I think that from the moment people have access to unhealthy stuff, their way to eat begins to be unhealthy.
And in the US, you've got a lot of unhealthy stuff (no Mountain Dew, I'm not talking about you).

It doesnt matter how much calories you injest, but how much you burn up. In the military they use rations which have mammoth doses of calories but that is just so that the soldiers don't have to pause for meals three times a day when in the field. They get burned off eadily in those conditions. Also, physical excersises are important.

[dxcxdzv]

Stronk Serb : Of course, but there is a difference between special military nutrition and junk food. And if you eat unhealthy stuff, even with exercise, your body might not appreciate.

[Sailor Mars]

nah All ya need to do is stop eatin shit food and walk more - Its really not that hard bruh