What’s with the Europe thing?

[Anonymous]

I keep seeing posts about why Europeans aren’t obese like Americans.

Um. 60% of European adults are overweight or obese. 1 in 3 European children are. It’s so bad that the WHO declared obesity rates in Europe an epidemic.

Why do we keep thinking Europeans are all thin? They’re not.

[Anonymous]

My guess is that, like in the US, obesity rates in Europe are lower in cities. US travelers spend time in larger cities, particularly walkable tourist friendly cities and so see thinner people walking around. If you just visited larger US cities you wouldn't see obesity as much either.

[Anonymous]

PP is correct- I move to a different international location every three years and let me assure you, outside of Asia, everyone is just as overweight as Americans, especially once you leave the more cosmopolitan cities. What is interesting is that many stores in international malls haven’t caught on to this fact so they are still trying to sell smaller clothes to a larger population. American stores are much better about being inclusive and catering to the reality of the situation.

[Anonymous]

An American Londoner here, have done many road trips to “off the beaten path” UK/EU. I disagree that people are “just as overweight” than Americans.

It’s true that people outside top tier cities are more overweight, similar to the US. Especially in the U.K. and Germany. But, as the overall lifestyle here is more dense and compact it’s not as common to see grossly overweight people as it is in America.

I also think there stricter EU rules and in general more pride in local regional foods also contributes a keeping populations smaller than Americans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:An American Londoner here, have done many road trips to “off the beaten path” UK/EU. I disagree that people are “just as overweight” than Americans.

It’s true that people outside top tier cities are more overweight, similar to the US. Especially in the U.K. and Germany. But, as the overall lifestyle here is more dense and compact it’s not as common to see grossly overweight people as it is in America.

I also think there stricter EU rules and in general more pride in local regional foods also contributes a keeping populations smaller than Americans.

+1

I'm an American now, but originally from the UK. There all Americans are considered "fat" in fact there's the term often used in conversation, even polite, educated conversation "Fat Americans". It's unfortunate. I know the tables have turned and obesity is on the rise in Europe but it started here and it made a visual impact early on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:An American Londoner here, have done many road trips to “off the beaten path” UK/EU. I disagree that people are “just as overweight” than Americans.

It’s true that people outside top tier cities are more overweight, similar to the US. Especially in the U.K. and Germany. But, as the overall lifestyle here is more dense and compact it’s not as common to see grossly overweight people as it is in America.

I also think there stricter EU rules and in general more pride in local regional foods also contributes a keeping populations smaller than Americans.

You may disagree, but the stats are pretty clear - 28% of people in the UK are obese. That’s more than 1 out of every 4 people. It’s lower than the US (36%), but not that much lower.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An American Londoner here, have done many road trips to “off the beaten path” UK/EU. I disagree that people are “just as overweight” than Americans.

It’s true that people outside top tier cities are more overweight, similar to the US. Especially in the U.K. and Germany. But, as the overall lifestyle here is more dense and compact it’s not as common to see grossly overweight people as it is in America.

I also think there stricter EU rules and in general more pride in local regional foods also contributes a keeping populations smaller than Americans.

You may disagree, but the stats are pretty clear - 28% of people in the UK are obese. That’s more than 1 out of every 4 people. It’s lower than the US (36%), but not that much lower.

Europe is much bigger than the UK.

[Anonymous]

Now we have evolved the discussion by starting a dumb thread questioning the existence of dumb threads.

The answers are simple. Nobody likes those answers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An American Londoner here, have done many road trips to “off the beaten path” UK/EU. I disagree that people are “just as overweight” than Americans.

It’s true that people outside top tier cities are more overweight, similar to the US. Especially in the U.K. and Germany. But, as the overall lifestyle here is more dense and compact it’s not as common to see grossly overweight people as it is in America.

I also think there stricter EU rules and in general more pride in local regional foods also contributes a keeping populations smaller than Americans.

You may disagree, but the stats are pretty clear - 28% of people in the UK are obese. That’s more than 1 out of every 4 people. It’s lower than the US (36%), but not that much lower.

Europe is much bigger than the UK.

60% of Europe is overweight/obese. That’s well over half.

I don’t think we can keep saying Europeans are thin when less than half of them are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An American Londoner here, have done many road trips to “off the beaten path” UK/EU. I disagree that people are “just as overweight” than Americans.

It’s true that people outside top tier cities are more overweight, similar to the US. Especially in the U.K. and Germany. But, as the overall lifestyle here is more dense and compact it’s not as common to see grossly overweight people as it is in America.

I also think there stricter EU rules and in general more pride in local regional foods also contributes a keeping populations smaller than Americans.

You may disagree, but the stats are pretty clear - 28% of people in the UK are obese. That’s more than 1 out of every 4 people. It’s lower than the US (36%), but not that much lower.

119665314 Americans
19241691 UK people

That's 100423623 in the US

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An American Londoner here, have done many road trips to “off the beaten path” UK/EU. I disagree that people are “just as overweight” than Americans.

It’s true that people outside top tier cities are more overweight, similar to the US. Especially in the U.K. and Germany. But, as the overall lifestyle here is more dense and compact it’s not as common to see grossly overweight people as it is in America.

I also think there stricter EU rules and in general more pride in local regional foods also contributes a keeping populations smaller than Americans.

You may disagree, but the stats are pretty clear - 28% of people in the UK are obese. That’s more than 1 out of every 4 people. It’s lower than the US (36%), but not that much lower.

119665314 Americans
19241691 UK people

That's 100423623 MORE in the US

[Anonymous]

I think a lot of it is rooted in hatred for the US, plain and simple. There's a lot of it on DCUM - across many of the forums.

[Anonymous]

Also I think it’s because the term “obese” covers a lot of variation. What I don’t see often in Europe are those absolutely enormous, two plane seats needed people. They may be fat, technically obese (my Scottish FIL is one of them!) but even he looks tiny next to the sort of Americans I’ve seen at Disneyworld who need the mobility scooters because they are so huge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also I think it’s because the term “obese” covers a lot of variation. What I don’t see often in Europe are those absolutely enormous, two plane seats needed people. They may be fat, technically obese (my Scottish FIL is one of them!) but even he looks tiny next to the sort of Americans I’ve seen at Disneyworld who need the mobility scooters because they are so huge.

+1 yes, it's this. Morbidly obese versus just tipping into the category of obese

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think a lot of it is rooted in hatred for the US, plain and simple. There's a lot of it on DCUM - across many of the forums.

This is the reason.