We're just too fat...

[Saitek]

Well at least the extra weight is hitting the US airline
industry.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3984973.stm


[quote]Larger passengers hit airline profits
Man in New York
The bigger passengers get, the more it costs to get them in the air
The US airline industry is facing a new threat to its profits - heavier passengers, a report has found.

According to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the average US adult put on ten pounds (4.5 kgs) of weight during the 1990s.

Shifting the extra bulk cost airlines an additional $275m (

[ozzy72]

Moral of the story, either take exercise regularly and eat healthily, or get your own aeroplane

[Meyekul]

Or take the bus...  ;D

[Deputy]

[quote]Or take the bus...

[ATI_7500]

Or exercise it off.

Dito. Try walking to McDumb instead of taking your SUV.

[chomp_rock]

What really irks me about this is the fact that the fast food companies are the ones coming under fire for this. It isn't the fast food company's fault if you are overweight, it is yours!

[JBaymore]

Try walking to McDumb instead of taking your SUV.

Or better yet...stop eating at McDumb.

Hint:

[ATI_7500]

You don't have to stop completely, but just cut your number of visits down to once a week or even less.
A little bit of McStupid can't be that wrong.

[FLYING_TRUCKER]

Sorry I can't say I am a fast food lover, never have been and never will be.

As for the weight problem, we can blame the insurance companies on that one.

[Craig.]

I dont for one second believe anyone but the fat person is to blame. In the rare case where a person cant control their weight due to a medical condition then they can complain. Anyone else, its just pure lazyness. I hear people saying their overweight all the time, i am constantly commented towards because i am inshape and its always directed at me in a negative way. I dont even put alot of time into the exercise i do anymore. You dont need a gym, you dont need expensive equiptment, these fat people just need to get off their lazy backsides walk for 20 minutes a day, or do 30 situps or a couple of push-ups a day. Its not hard its not time consuming and you dont need to spend any money. As i discovered as you start seeing results you find yourself wanting to do more and its not so difficult to do a little more. Theres nothing wrong with eating fast food if you like it, but when they ask super size, for once people, just say no.

[Woodlouse2002]

I dont for one second believe anyone but the fat person is to blame. In the rare case where a person cant control their weight due to a medical condition then they can complain. Anyone else, its just pure lazyness. I hear people saying their overweight all the time, i am constantly commented towards because i am inshape and its always directed at me in a negative way. I dont even put alot of time into the exercise i do anymore. You dont need a gym, you dont need expensive equiptment, these fat people just need to get off their lazy backsides walk for 20 minutes a day, or do 30 situps or a couple of push-ups a day. Its not hard its not time consuming and you dont need to spend any money. As i discovered as you start seeing results you find yourself wanting to do more and its not so difficult to do a little more. Theres nothing wrong with eating fast food if you like it, but when they ask super size, for once people, just say no.

You should realise that certian body types allow you to get overweight much easier than others. And the efficiency in which your body digests and uses the food you give it also has a large part to play. This means that someone who is over weight can do just as much excercise as someone who isn't and still stay the same weight. So saying it's laziness isn't really fair inless you know for a fact that they sit around and chain-eat mars bars all day.

[JBaymore]

I do believe the Japanese are leading the world to-day in physical fitness in the work place and maybe it is something we should all look at.

Doug,

Not only do they lead the world in physical fitness.... but their DIET has a lot to do with the fact that there are far fewer overweight Japanese than there are overweight Americans.  I travel to and spend time in Japan off and on.... and I have some observations on this subject.

First of all....... it is FAR easier to eat healthy there than it is here in the USA.  Their core concepts of food starts off that way.  They also do not tend to routinely "overeat".  Portions are smaller.  But the QUALITY of the food there is far, FAR higher.  But then so is the COST of eating.

Also eating is frequently taken to a "high art".  Even obsession.  But that obsession is not about quantity.... but the quality. (You won't hear "Can I supersize that toro sushi for you, sir?   )   Food is to be savored...... and the presentation of the food is as important as the food itself (a potter's paradise  ;) ).

Of particular note is that you can eat really GOOD "fast food" over there that is VERY low fat.  And really tasty stuff.  And it is available pretty much EVERYWHERE...... even in the equivalnet of a Seven Eleven (or actually IN a Seven Eleven...... they have plenty of them  ;) ).

You can get very passable packaged sushi and other o-bento type food even in convenience stores.  They have very strict timing laws (to the hour) on anything containing raw fish,... and it is ALWAYS fresh.  none of the "week old" sandwiches we tend to see in such places here.  They take such isses VERY seriously....and they don't tend to make mistakes on it.

Traditional Japanese "junk food" snacks do not run to processed high fat / high sugar/ high carb products like Twinkies and Doritos.  Their junk food of choice is stuff like dried and salted scallops, fried squid, and so on.  High in sodium....... but way lower in fat and calories.  (But unfortunately.... through availibility, they are learning to like stuff like Twinkies.)

The urban Japanese are probably worse than Americans for being busy and eating on the run.  But what they CHOSE to eat makes all the difference in the world.  A fast bowl of soba (buckwheat noodles) with a couple of pickled veggies and a small piece of fish or tofu or meat makes a great fast lunch.  Noodle stands, yakitori stands (broiled chicken parts), and so on are everywhere.

I can and do eat like a pig when I am over there........ the food is FANTASTIC........ and I tend to lose weight.  It is not a low carb diet...... rice is everywhere. Extermely low fat content (except from the Omegas from fish) is the key.

All this happens is in spite of the national sport..... drinking  ;).  The Japanese seem to LOVE their sake and beer.  It is not a society for a strict teatotler to be very comfortable in.  Heavy drinking is more the norm....not the exception.  But even with all these extra booze carbs........ they tend to stay skinny on the whole.

Recently spending two months living there this past summer...... and looking back to being there in 1996 and again in 2002........ I have noticed a disturbing trend.  It is very noticable that I am seeing more and more obese Japanese as time goes by.  I understand their incidence of heart disease (which was VERY low a decade ago) is now significantly on the rise too.

I am also seeing a geometric increase in the popping up of McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Mr. Donut, Dunkin Donuts, and Starbucks.  Is there a correlation?  I personally think so.  

In general the Japanese are chasing after "all things US".  Personally I think it is threatening them losing a lot of their native culture.  They FLOCK to these "American" food places.  BTW... this is what they think of when they think "American Food".


best,

...................john

PS:  Now I do have to say here that I don't want to have my body's murcury level checked  ;) .

[Craig.]

You should realise that certian body types allow you to get overweight much easier than others. And the efficiency in which your body digests and uses the food you give it also has a large part to play. This means that someone who is over weight can do just as much excercise as someone who isn't and still stay the same weight. So saying it's laziness isn't really fair inless you know for a fact that they sit around and chain-eat mars bars all day.

Like i said, if there is a medical reason for increased weight gain then theres little that can be done. However if its just a case of being big boned then thats even more reason to get out and exercise. I have heard it all before, and as far as i am concerned if your not going to exercise then dont eat fatty foods, and if you do, dont start crying and bitching about being fat.

[Chris_F]

Not only do they lead the world in physical fitness.... but their DIET has a lot to do with the fact that there are far fewer overweight Japanese than there are overweight Americans.

I've never been to Japan (though I want to someday).  But I've been to Canada.  Canadians, on avereage, are thinner than Americans.  And every time I visit Canada I notice far fewer overweight people than I see in the 'States.

One could wonder why, as Canadians, genetically, aren't that different from Americans.  We all come from European post-black-plague stock.  In fact, in New England (where I live) most folks come FROM Canada.

But it all becomes clear when you enter a Canadian chain resteraunt (not the fast-food places).  Order a meal and you get enough food to be comfortably full but not stuffed.  Go in to an American chain restraunt (like Fridays or Chilis) and order a meal and it's a challenge to finish it.  In Canada you can order an apetizer, meal, and desert and be pleasantly full.  In America you can get one of the three and be stuffed.

It's not the restraunt industry that's to blame.  They're just a reflection of their customer's expectations.  The portions they serve are simply what their customers have come to expect: what their customers eat all the time at home.

Americans simply eat MORE.  It's not the what, it's the how much.  Why?  I don't know.  Because we like it and we can afford it?  Maybe.  But it's our choise how much we eat and it's us who deals with the consequences.

I too can't stand the "I'm fat and it's McDonald's fault" mentaltiy.  You're fat because you're fat.  So shut your trap fatty.  My wife is overweight enough that the doctor has started threatening her with bodily harm.  She eats right, but she eats big.  She's dieted before and it never worked.  Turns out she has a medical condition that prevented her from loosing weight with traditional diets, but she never once blamed her weight on anyone else but herself.

She just started a diet tailored to her condition (yeah South Beach!) and now she's loosing weight.  Me?  I gained 10 pounds last winter and still looked scrawney.  But I spent the summer exercising my butt off to loose the weight just 'cause I don't want to get overweight.   (Turns out I gained 10 pounds instead of loosing 10 pounds, but at least the whole 20 pounds was all muscle).

Weight is about attitude (assuming no medical condition, yadda yadda).  If you want not be fat you have to choose to not be fat and do the things necessary to not be fat.  It may be diet, it may be exercise.  Likely it's a little of both.  Portion control is important as is working up a sweat every now and 'again.

But don't blame it on McD's.  That's just silly.

[Romulus111VADT]

When I left the service in 1979, I was 155 lbs of mean, lean muscle. I'd always been active in weight lifting, martial arts, hunting and to numerous to mention other outdoor activities.