More on America's Obesity Problem

[Jaime L]

There also seems to be a weird cultural aspect. I share my workplace with our American partners and even the ones who are slim, fit and active have a bizarre approach to exercise. I cannot understand, for instance, why they uniformly take the lift from the third floor, even when they are carrying their gym equipment on the way to the stairmaster, nor why when we go the pub together all the English walk the mile and all the Americans drive.

Exercise only exists in the context of a gym. Duh.

Studies have proven it's impossible to burn calories unless you're wearing gym shorts and/or spandex.

[Guest Raidne]

It's not exactly a stunning revelation, but I was amazed when visiting the States to encounter the portion sizes. It actually made me somewhat unwell. I hate to see an overloaded plate, because I've always been taught that you eat whatever you're given and be grateful, and that just intimidated me. But seriously, the starters were bigger than I felt I needed for an entire meal. It's just insane.

Just to get back to the income issues...if you go to a nice restaurant (not a steakhouse) where entrees are $30/plate, or something like that, the portion sizes are totally normal. You can get a starter - which will probably be a salad, something like, an entree (probably a modestly-sized protein with some vegetable accoutrements), and a dessert and get out of there not feeling stuffed at all. Or, for that matter, a local reviewer here just reported having dropped nearly $500 on dinner for two and leaving hungry.

And of course, when this has come up on the Board before, people complain about the small portion sizes at these places and how they are a rip off.

That shows you how out of whack it all is.

There also seems to be a weird cultural aspect. I share my workplace with our American partners and even the ones who are slim, fit and active have a bizarre approach to exercise. I cannot understand, for instance, why they uniformly take the lift from the third floor, even when they are carrying their gym equipment on the way to the stairmaster, nor why when we go the pub together all the English walk the mile and all the Americans drive.

So true. Although you'd be a crazy person to want to drive a mile in most major American cities, e.g. New York, Chicago, or even D.C.

But in Houston? 4th largest city? Oh yeah, you're driving from one end of the strip mall to the other, quarter mile tops. I'm perfectly serious. I bet LA is similar. A lot of it is urban planning.

In DC, you can take the metro, which is way more convenient than driving. But then, you know, after awhile you realize you just went one stop and it would have been faster to walk. So you do. But it all starts with public transportation that people actually use. If they have it, people walk. If they don't, they don't.

[Eponine]

In the interest of dick waving, I feel compelled to let you all know that I walked more in a day with Raidne than with anyone else anywhere else.

[Guest Raidne]

And yet, those 15 freaking pounds... ;) I think I easily consumed more calories in liquor at Russia House than I could have burned walking 10 miles.

[Nichole]

What is the female equivalent of dick waving? Cause I'm about to do it.

My personal philosophy is that I'm damn lucky that I am able to walk. So I do. I can't stand people who have to drive around looking for the best parking spot. Or take the elevator up one or two flights. It just amazes me how people think they are unable to walk from one end of a mall to another.

[Guest Raidne]

I'll tell you when I get home from work.

[Werthead]

This week Channel 4 in the UK started airing Jaime Oliver's TV programme about tackling the problem of school meals in the USA. Oliver's argument in his similar UK TV show of a few years ago was that bad eating habits are begun in school, and getting schools to deliver good, healthy food is a key move in improving the overall diet of the population, or at least the diet of the next generation.

The differences between the two TV shows are stark. In the UK, Oliver's argument was given serious attention and led to a major change in how the school meal system is operated, making healthier food mandatory and minimising the presence of junk food. Creative ways were found of making these changes economical, in some cases leading to schools simultaneously offering meals that were healthier and cheaper than the previous regime. Initiatives were also established with local farmers and suppliers, helping local economies. In short, it was a pretty big deal. Britain has its own obesity problem and its own issues with processed food, sure, but at least progress was made.

In the USA, Oliver's initiatives were met with an unrelenting wall of scepticism, sneers, insults and disbelief. In the American school Oliver was working in, junk food filled the entire menu. Whilst some fruit or salad options were offered, these were almost unanimously ignored in favour of processed, high-fat foods. Amusingly, Oliver wasn't even trying to get the kids to eat nothing but vegetables (as he was accused several times), instead simply offering locally-sourced, well-cooked fresh chickens to start off with, which were rejected in favour of yet more pizzas. The American school cook who hotly declared that it was 'impossible' to prepare fresh food for 450 school kids was utterly hilarious, since some of the city-centre secondary schools that were featured in the UK programme had twice or more that population and were fed easily and economically.

The only person Oliver found to support his crusade was the local priest, who was seriously tired and upset of burying members of his congregation in their 50s and 60s who had died years before their time from strokes, heart disease and diabetes. Everyone else seemed to love 'socking it to the uppity Brit who's come over here thinking he can tell us how to eat' instead. That point is well-taken, but also shows the root of the problem: the patient has to acknowledge they are ill before they can be treated, and in the case of many Americans suffering from these problems (and indeed, on a far smaller scale, many in the UK) they simply refuse to acknowledge there is an issue in the first place.

[TerraPrime]

6000 calories is only 4 pints a day, if you cannot handle that i would suggest you have bigger problems than not being much cop in the gym.

Yes, I've found endless numbers of barriers and crippling situations in life due to my inability to consume alcohol in a quantity that is arbitrarily set by some bloke from the internet. I shall now go cry.

[Swordfish]

This week Channel 4 in the UK started airing Jaime Oliver's TV programme about tackling the problem of school meals in the USA. Oliver's argument in his similar UK TV show of a few years ago was that bad eating habits are begun in school, and getting schools to deliver good, healthy food is a key move in improving the overall diet of the population, or at least the diet of the next generation.

The differences between the two TV shows are stark. In the UK, Oliver's argument was given serious attention and led to a major change in how the school meal system is operated, making healthier food mandatory and minimising the presence of junk food. Creative ways were found of making these changes economical, in some cases leading to schools simultaneously offering meals that were healthier and cheaper than the previous regime. Initiatives were also established with local farmers and suppliers, helping local economies. In short, it was a pretty big deal. Britain has its own obesity problem and its own issues with processed food, sure, but at least progress was made.

In the USA, Oliver's initiatives were met with an unrelenting wall of scepticism, sneers, insults and disbelief. In the American school Oliver was working in, junk food filled the entire menu. Whilst some fruit or salad options were offered, these were almost unanimously ignored in favour of processed, high-fat foods. Amusingly, Oliver wasn't even trying to get the kids to eat nothing but vegetables (as he was accused several times), instead simply offering locally-sourced, well-cooked fresh chickens to start off with, which were rejected in favour of yet more pizzas. The American school cook who hotly declared that it was 'impossible' to prepare fresh food for 450 school kids was utterly hilarious, since some of the city-centre secondary schools that were featured in the UK programme had twice or more that population and were fed easily and economically.

The only person Oliver found to support his crusade was the local priest, who was seriously tired and upset of burying members of his congregation in their 50s and 60s who had died years before their time from strokes, heart disease and diabetes. Everyone else seemed to love 'socking it to the uppity Brit who's come over here thinking he can tell us how to eat' instead. That point is well-taken, but also shows the root of the problem: the patient has to acknowledge they are ill before they can be treated, and in the case of many Americans suffering from these problems (and indeed, on a far smaller scale, many in the UK) they simply refuse to acknowledge there is an issue in the first place.

Topical, since I was just reading this article.

I think it's important in all discussion to at least try and realize the limitations of generalization.

Yes, I've found endless numbers of barriers and crippling situations in life due to my inability to consume alcohol in a quantity that is arbitrarily set by some bloke from the internet. I shall now go cry.

If you cry over a beer you can kill two birds with one stone.

[Werthead]

Topical, since I was just reading this article.

I think it's important in all discussion to at least try and realize the limitations of generalization.

True, the programme was set in one local - Huntingdon, West Virginia, statistically the unhealthiest city in America - but the problems it identifies appear to be applicable across much of the country. The irony is, of course, that Oliver's solution is not only not rocket science, but as you point out has been tried before at a local level in the United States and has been tried successfully. That makes the fact that Huntingdon was so resistant to the change more ridiculous.

I presume that you are not trying to argue that education in school and the type of food eaten at a young age do not have an impact on American's unhealthy eating problem?

[ljkeane]

To be fair Jamie Oliver is a massive cock. I always find myself wanting to disagree with him even if he is right.

[Swordfish]

True, the programme was set in one local - Huntingdon, West Virginia, statistically the unhealthiest city in America - but the problems it identifies appear to be applicable across much of the country. The irony is, of course, that Oliver's solution is not only not rocket science, but as you point out has been tried before at a local level in the United States and has been tried successfully. That makes the fact that Huntingdon was so resistant to the change more ridiculous.

I presume that you are not trying to argue that education in school and the type of food eaten at a young age do not have an impact on American's unhealthy eating problem?

I am definitely not trying to argue that. I don't think that point even IS arguable.

It makes a HUGE impact.

[Tormund Ukrainesbane]

Of course, you know there are enormous barriers to parents packing their kids own lunch.

[Swordfish]

Of course, you know there are enormous barriers to parents packing their kids own lunch.

Like hangovers.

[alguien]

Like hangovers.

Maybe if they could man up and handle four pints, they wouldn't be too hung over to pack their kids lunch. ;)

[Edda van Heefmstra Ruston]

Pre-emptive point: education in school and the type of food eaten at a young age have an important impact on developing eating habits. However, they are not the be-all, end-all, and destroying one system only works if the replacement is more effective. Had JO worked within the actual limits of the lunch program, and gotten kids to enjoy the healthier meals, I'd have much more admiration for him for trying this.

I think that editing does play an awfully large role here, too. This was not just Jamie Oliver coming in and rescuing the poor, benighted souls of Huntingdon. It was Jamie Oliver coming in and making meals that did not meet calor

I don't agree with everything in the articles here, but I do think they're right that there's more to it than just "people don't want to change". (Admittedly, that is a not-insignificant portion, too.)

http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2010/03/save-me-from-myself-skinny-jesus-chef.html

http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2010/04/skinny-jesus-chef-less-messiah-more.html

Particularly from the second review there, cited from another article:

Turns out that even with an unlimited budget, Jamie was unable to design a menu that provided a minimum number of calories while not exceeding the fat limits. A nutritional analysis of the first three weeks of meals (15 lunches) at Central City Elementary conducted by the West Virginia Board of Education flunked him on both counts. A whopping 80 percent of his lunches exceeded either the total fat or saturated fat allowance, and most of the time both, and 40 percent of his lunches provided too few calories.

Now, it could be argued that the federal calorie/fat allowances should be changed, and it could definitely be argued that the budget needs to be bigger. (That latter point leads to the question "where does the money come from?" -- part of why Huntingdon uses the guidelines they do is that it's a requirement to get federal funding, and they need the funding to provide the meals.)

[Swordfish]

Maybe if they could man up and handle four pints, they wouldn't be too hung over to pack their kids lunch. ;)

That reminds me of a joke.

Drunk American guy walks into an Irish pub, announces to the whole place 'If any one of you bastards can drink 20 guinnesses (what IS the plural of Guinness?) in an hour, I will give you a thousand dollars!!"

Place is quiet except for one guy who gets up and storms out.

Little while later, same guy who left walks back in and says: 'I'll take the challenge!', then proceeds to belly up to the bar and throw them down with about ten minutes to spare.

American guys is a good loser, congratulates him, pays up, they have a good time for a while, and then he says 'So, I have to ask, why did you get up and storm out when I first proposed the challenge?'

Irish guy replies: 'I had to go to the pub next door and make sure I could do it.'

[Kat]

In the interest of amusing those overseas with bizarre American attitudes toward exercise, let it be known that while I deal with an 11-mile bike commute every day, up hills where I have to stop and restart every block, and in the fog on a heavy bike....when I'm in my office I take the elevator from the 5th floor to the 6th floor and back because the rooms I'm going from/to are both right next to the elevator while I'd have to walk all the way to the end of the hall for the stairwell.

So exhausting. :unsure:

That being said, I agree with a lot of what Swordfish has said in this thread about exercise in small quantities. I totally don't get the all-or-nothing approach to exercise that some people take. If you're not running a marathon, is it not worthwhile? I would say that, calorie-burning aside, the other benefits to light-moderate exercise are tangible: having an improved mood, for instance, since depression is going to make some people less likely to want to improve their health in other ways. Not contributing to air pollution (which makes being outside more pleasant for people who do want to train for a marathon. Etc.

Re: Food in schools, this is very much a regional thing. I live in foodie central and this has been an issue for a while, and local governments and parents are very much in favor of having healthier food in schools. I can see Portland as being very similar, as well as some other metro areas. (On the other hand, for people who are skeptical of a skinny British wonderchef coming to magically fix their life, I can't imagine it would be any better if the trend came from San Francisco/Berkeley instead. Even though I agree with a lot of what they say, even I find Alice Waters and Michael Pollan irritating at times.)

[Eponine]

When I was in college, after cross country practice, we would all pile into someone's car to go to the dining hall that was about a quarter mile away. There was absolutely no way we were going to walk. In our defense, it was usually cold and we'd already cooled down.

[Odie]

So, when does the contradiction of "calories in < calories out, oh wait, no I don't REALLY mean that..." start?

Eating less most certainly be done. Hunger (which has also been full of contradictions on this board) sucks, but I guess if we're supposed to eat less than what our bodies want to eat, it's a part of life.