Dinner party in Europe: Americans look older, more tired, are more unhealthy

[Anonymous]

These were friends of friends who live in Europe. They were French, German, Portuguese, and Swedish. Most people were 55+. They were decently well-off but not rich. Many were already retired.

Throughout the whole night, nobody compulsively looked at their phones. The only phone use was to take pictures and play music.
Not a single person was overweight.
Everyone looked 10-20 years younger. And yes one of them smoked, they all drank, they all spent time in the sun.
Everyone was vibrant and happy.
Everyone had so much energy and positivity, much more than 30-40something Americans. Nobody was tired.
Nobody complained of ailments or back problems or excessive medications.

I asked how everyone lived so well and looked so great. They said it was because they had universal healthcare, less stress, great food, and didnt feel beaten down by work throughout their lives.

America is doing it wrong.

[Anonymous]

I lose weight effortlessly whenever I visit family there, and I sleep better. When I visit, I eat far more than I do when in the US, I eat later than when in the US, I drink more, and I exercise less. Yet I lose weight.

I am convinced that RoundUp or one of the other pesticides that we allow in the US that aren’t allowed in Europe is killing off our healthy gut bacteria.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I lose weight effortlessly whenever I visit family there, and I sleep better. When I visit, I eat far more than I do when in the US, I eat later than when in the US, I drink more, and I exercise less. Yet I lose weight.

I am convinced that RoundUp or one of the other pesticides that we allow in the US that aren’t allowed in Europe is killing off our healthy gut bacteria.

Isn’t this also the “vacation effect” (less stress), plus walking more? I’m originally from Europe, live in DC and have been in France on vacation for last three weeks and I’m pretty sure I’ve gained some weight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These were friends of friends who live in Europe. They were French, German, Portuguese, and Swedish. Most people were 55+. They were decently well-off but not rich. Many were already retired.

Throughout the whole night, nobody compulsively looked at their phones. The only phone use was to take pictures and play music.
Not a single person was overweight.
Everyone looked 10-20 years younger. And yes one of them smoked, they all drank, they all spent time in the sun.
Everyone was vibrant and happy.
Everyone had so much energy and positivity, much more than 30-40something Americans. Nobody was tired.
Nobody complained of ailments or back problems or excessive medications.

I asked how everyone lived so well and looked so great. They said it was because they had universal healthcare, less stress, great food, and didnt feel beaten down by work throughout their lives.

America is doing it wrong.

Did these Europeans live in the US at some point? I don’t know any European that would mention universal healthcare as a reason for their wellbeing UNLESS they live or lived in a place where that isn’t the case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I lose weight effortlessly whenever I visit family there, and I sleep better. When I visit, I eat far more than I do when in the US, I eat later than when in the US, I drink more, and I exercise less. Yet I lose weight.

I am convinced that RoundUp or one of the other pesticides that we allow in the US that aren’t allowed in Europe is killing off our healthy gut bacteria.

Isn’t this also the “vacation effect” (less stress), plus walking more? I’m originally from Europe, live in DC and have been in France on vacation for last three weeks and I’m pretty sure I’ve gained some weight.

I exercise more in the US. I measure steps and calories and while I do walk more in Europe, it’s not by much. I bike commute regularly in the US (with hills) and I don’t do that at all when in Europe. So, I eat more, exercise less, yet lose weight.

As for stress, it’s visiting family, which has its own stress haha.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These were friends of friends who live in Europe. They were French, German, Portuguese, and Swedish. Most people were 55+. They were decently well-off but not rich. Many were already retired.

Throughout the whole night, nobody compulsively looked at their phones. The only phone use was to take pictures and play music.
Not a single person was overweight.
Everyone looked 10-20 years younger. And yes one of them smoked, they all drank, they all spent time in the sun.
Everyone was vibrant and happy.
Everyone had so much energy and positivity, much more than 30-40something Americans. Nobody was tired.
Nobody complained of ailments or back problems or excessive medications.

I asked how everyone lived so well and looked so great. They said it was because they had universal healthcare, less stress, great food, and didnt feel beaten down by work throughout their lives.

America is doing it wrong.

Did these Europeans live in the US at some point? I don’t know any European that would mention universal healthcare as a reason for their wellbeing UNLESS they live or lived in a place where that isn’t the case.

Visited, but not lived. The mutual American friends had left the US because of the healthcare system.

Also worth mentioning: they ate sweets, but not excessively. Nobody even mentioned anything about weight or dieting.
Also absent from any dinnertime discussion was work. I couldn’t tell you what everyone did or used to do for a living. Nobody talked about Covid, money, or other people’s expectations.
They also minimally discussed politics, only to make fun of Trump and the idea that Americans could elect him to serve office from jail or something like that, and they mentioned that their own governments weren’t perfect but nobody wanted a U.S.-type system.

There are things with their lifestyle that would appeal to the political left and right. As I said, the emphasis on health and well-being over work was the main reason why everyone was so energetic and healthy and happy. Healthcare, vacation time, and fewer work hours contribute to this. But the other thing was more family-oriented culture and less obsession with identity and gender. Women were happily feminine in their own way and men were happily masculine in their own way. Nobody was complaining about The Patriarchy or sexism, they also weren’t bigoted either, just normal and not in a bind about everything.

It’s a small representative size and yes I have traveled in Europe many times before, mostly before the pandemic. But this was an interesting case where multiple people, older people, from different countries shared their experiences “in the wild” not in a tourism setting. My takeaway is that American-style capitalism, private healthcare, high fructose corn syrup and processed foods, and stress are more detrimental to our health than anything else. This is a sick country and we are doing so much wrong that it’s a complete farce to say we’re the best.
That, and there’s this overall trend in raising age of retirement, especially the actual age where retirement is feasible for most people, and lowering life expectancy, it’s like the nest egg and golden years are all a scam to make you work harder and enjoy life less.

[Anonymous]

So, after one dinner party, you decided ALL Europeans are healthy and ALL Americans are tired out?

[Anonymous]

Americans are much fatter and that fact will cause a health decline as people age.

[Anonymous]

Pretty sure if you have a dinner party of 55+ aged Americans they would be similar. Relaxed, looking forward to retirement, focused on family, talking about travel, etc.

If you speak to, especially French, people in their late 20s-early 30s they are they have the same burdens as Americans. Work, pension age keeps rising (did you see Paris burning this summer?), access to good health care, complaining about politics.

It is more generational than anything else. In fact it is pretty amazing how similar the generations are even though their nationality is completely different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pretty sure if you have a dinner party of 55+ aged Americans they would be similar. Relaxed, looking forward to retirement, focused on family, talking about travel, etc.

If you speak to, especially French, people in their late e20s-early 30s they are they have the same burdens as Americans. Work, pension age keeps rising (did you see Paris burning this summer?), access to good health care, complaining about politics.

It is more generational than anything else. In fact it is pretty amazing how similar the generations are even though their nationality is completely different.

American boomers aren’t relaxed and healthy though. They are obese and pumped up with pharmaceuticals and don’t live as long. Everyone is on some kind of blood pressure medication, statin, insulin, bunch of other stuff, has a bad back or bad knees or bad hips and so much of this is weight and lifestyle related.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These were friends of friends who live in Europe. They were French, German, Portuguese, and Swedish. Most people were 55+. They were decently well-off but not rich. Many were already retired.

Throughout the whole night, nobody compulsively looked at their phones. The only phone use was to take pictures and play music.
Not a single person was overweight.
Everyone looked 10-20 years younger. And yes one of them smoked, they all drank, they all spent time in the sun.
Everyone was vibrant and happy.
Everyone had so much energy and positivity, much more than 30-40something Americans. Nobody was tired.
Nobody complained of ailments or back problems or excessive medications.

I asked how everyone lived so well and looked so great. They said it was because they had universal healthcare, less stress, great food, and didnt feel beaten down by work throughout their lives.

America is doing it wrong.

That explains why the US is the leader of the free world with the most powerful armed forces and the most dominant economy and the source of the most trusted currency in the world.

Sure, let Europe relax while we fight their wars and protect their freedoms.

[Anonymous]

It is a bit of a caricature, but there is definitely some truth to it. Car dependency, and all that entails, is one of the original sins here. The live to work mentality is another. As a European I was shocked by the attitude to vacations when I moved here. I know people that earn a million dollars a year and have never taken a foreign holiday- or even any type of holiday beyond visiting family or going to the beach for five days a year. They live like dogs, billing the 2300 hours a year.

The mortality stats are horrible here. All-cause mortality is so much higher for every category- suicide, overdose, traffic deaths, gun violence. But, it is increasingly richer, so there is that. But clearly wealth is not buying happiness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pretty sure if you have a dinner party of 55+ aged Americans they would be similar. Relaxed, looking forward to retirement, focused on family, talking about travel, etc.

If you speak to, especially French, people in their late 20s-early 30s they are they have the same burdens as Americans. Work, pension age keeps rising (did you see Paris burning this summer?), access to good health care, complaining about politics.

It is more generational than anything else. In fact it is pretty amazing how similar the generations are even though their nationality is completely different.

Uh, emphatically no. At least not 55+ Americans on the East Coast. We’re still working so hard to pay insane college tuition, to fund our pension-less retirement. We’re sandwiched between college-bound kids and managing declining parents who need a high quality assisted living they cant afford and need meds they also cant afford and Medicare doesn’t cover.

Maybe we just got right- sized out of our pension-free job and still need to work but know we won’t get hired at the same salary because of rampant legal age discrimination.

We might be estranged from a sibling or two because of their illness that we euphemistically call a “mental health issue” One of our young adult kids likely suffers from this, too, and that continually gnaws at us. Their treatment has been spotty under our abysmal mental healthcare framework that has no available beds or providers — just pills

Notice that my hypothetical 55 year old isn’t herself sick or facing the consequences of a lifetime of bad lifestyle decisions. She’s buffeted on all sides by features of the American experience and it’s stress-inducing and unhealthy

[Anonymous]

^^^ should point out, the major stressors on the hypothetical 55-yr old Washingtonian are not factors for the Swedish / Dutch / German counterpart

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: So, after one dinner party, you decided ALL Europeans are healthy and ALL Americans are tired out?

p

Obviously, it was a big dinner party.