Young people in other countries are remarkably thinner than Americans

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It’s really not. You’re just used to people eating nonstop.

I eat something every couple of hours - as long as I'm eating real food and not processed crap, I don't gain weight. I'm not skinny but hardly fat at 115 pounds and average height. My appetite wouldn't be different if I lived in Europe. Maybe I would look fat next to the Europeans but whatever.

My kids appreciated snacks in school because they were not hungry for more than a few bites of breakfast early in the morning. - that's not the time of day they were hungry. Was I supposed to force feed them a huge breakfast?

I actually think this is part of the problem. We beat intuitive eating out of our kids with rules about finishing their plate, taking no thank you bites, and not allowing them to eat when they’re hungry and stop when they’re full. Gorging yourself on breakfast because you know you won’t eat again until 1:30, isn’t exactly promoting healthy eating habits.

Intuitive anything comes only after building discipline. Training your kids that to eat only 3 times a day will make them intuitive with their future eating habits. Everything else is teaching them to eat (whenever!) they're hungry. Which means non-stop, especially when food is everywhere, it's cheap and everyone around you eats the minute they get hungry, because their intuition told them so.

Agree with this. Intuitive eating just doesn’t work for most people in the US bc junk food is plentiful and in your face always. Most people need to learn and exercise discipline around food and eating, including teens and young adults

[Anonymous]

As a kid in the 60's and 70's it was the norm to eat three meals a day and maybe a snack when we got off of the bus after school which would be aournd 4:00 pm. The snack would be something like a sliced apple or cherries if in season or carrot sticks. This was pretty normal for the times. I don't know any Mom's who cooked separate or special meals for their kids. All kids ate what the family ate.

We did get dessert with dinner which was usually pretty good.

I remember only one girl overweight in school and she was maybe 20 pounds overweight. When we went to her house there was a lot of endless eating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It’s really not. You’re just used to people eating nonstop.

I eat something every couple of hours - as long as I'm eating real food and not processed crap, I don't gain weight. I'm not skinny but hardly fat at 115 pounds and average height. My appetite wouldn't be different if I lived in Europe. Maybe I would look fat next to the Europeans but whatever.

My kids appreciated snacks in school because they were not hungry for more than a few bites of breakfast early in the morning. - that's not the time of day they were hungry. Was I supposed to force feed them a huge breakfast?

I actually think this is part of the problem. We beat intuitive eating out of our kids with rules about finishing their plate, taking no thank you bites, and not allowing them to eat when they’re hungry and stop when they’re full. Gorging yourself on breakfast because you know you won’t eat again until 1:30, isn’t exactly promoting healthy eating habits.

Intuitive anything comes only after building discipline. Training your kids that to eat only 3 times a day will make them intuitive with their future eating habits. Everything else is teaching them to eat (whenever!) they're hungry. Which means non-stop, especially when food is everywhere, it's cheap and everyone around you eats the minute they get hungry, because their intuition told them so.

This is the answer. The human body was never intended to never be hungry. Eating with intention isn’t disordered as everybody around here seems to demand. Food is fuel and it can be enjoyed. But at the end of the day it’s fuel for all of the other things life has to offer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know OP. Generally speaking, Americans are much fatter than other countries.

Oh European are fat also.

We're getting fatter, but nothing, I mean nothing like Americans. US obesity rate is 36.2. The fattest country in Europe is UK at 27.8. Big difference.

Is it that big of a difference, honestly? When you take into account America's car dependence, greater racial diversity (at least in terms of the races that tend to be bigger), and fast food culture, I would personally expect the difference to be greater. People get on this board and act like Europe has no fat people - the numbers tell a different story.

Perhaps…

But Europeans are less likely to think being fat is acceptable. They will call our their kids if they are overeating/putting on too much weight. As where in US, parents are afraid of giving their kids eating disorders so they don’t say say anything. Or they are fat themselves so it is acceptable

Ok, well a quarter of the population is still obese so I'm not sure the shaming works as well as you think it does

[Anonymous]

It is alarming to see so many overweight people in their 20s here. People have just given up, it's awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know OP. Generally speaking, Americans are much fatter than other countries.

Oh European are fat also.

We're getting fatter, but nothing, I mean nothing like Americans. US obesity rate is 36.2. The fattest country in Europe is UK at 27.8. Big difference.

Is it that big of a difference, honestly? When you take into account America's car dependence, greater racial diversity (at least in terms of the races that tend to be bigger), and fast food culture, I would personally expect the difference to be greater. People get on this board and act like Europe has no fat people - the numbers tell a different story.

Perhaps…

But Europeans are less likely to think being fat is acceptable. They will call our their kids if they are overeating/putting on too much weight. As where in US, parents are afraid of giving their kids eating disorders so they don’t say say anything. Or they are fat themselves so it is acceptable

Ok, well a quarter of the population is still obese so I'm not sure the shaming works as well as you think it does

I'm not sure Europeans use the word "shaming".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, the snacking in this country is ridiculous. I teach in an ES and we have lunch at 11 am. School ends at 2:25. Parents couldn't believe we didn't have snack time in the afternoon. Um, no. Your kid can go 3-4 hrs without eating. Even my student with diabetes doesn't need to eat again before she leaves for the day.

At my kids' school, they encourage a morning snack. I didn't really want to send one along, but I think it probably helps with some of the kids' behavior issues. There aren't too many overweight kids though.

I'm the teacher who posted above. School starts at 8 am and we have breakfast in the classroom. Three hours later, we are scheduled for lunch. Three hours after lunch is dismissal. Now, the kids who have the last lunch shift bring in a snack but they don't eat until 1 pm. That makes sense to me.

[Anonymous]

I am Italian and I have seen an increase is overweight kids quite a bit in my country too. Like in the US, there is a correlation with wealth and social status. In my high school class (20 years ago) I can only think of one girl who was slightly chubby (maybe 10ths over weight). Every body else was think by today’s standard.
When I go back home now I see many more overweight kids.
Even at the beach… It’s sad… what I don’t see are the morbidly obese people in Italy… those are rare, but plenty of overweight and perhaps obese kids around.
One explanation I have is of course fast food, but also the fact that when I grew up in my upper class neighborhood, most moms stayed at home and cooked for their kids. Nowadays, more women work and kids are left alone.
There are many more fat kids at the beach where we spend time in the summer, then at my kids’ NW DC private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know OP. Generally speaking, Americans are much fatter than other countries.

Oh European are fat also.

We're getting fatter, but nothing, I mean nothing like Americans. US obesity rate is 36.2. The fattest country in Europe is UK at 27.8. Big difference.

Is it that big of a difference, honestly? When you take into account America's car dependence, greater racial diversity (at least in terms of the races that tend to be bigger), and fast food culture, I would personally expect the difference to be greater. People get on this board and act like Europe has no fat people - the numbers tell a different story.

Perhaps…

But Europeans are less likely to think being fat is acceptable. They will call our their kids if they are overeating/putting on too much weight. As where in US, parents are afraid of giving their kids eating disorders so they don’t say say anything. Or they are fat themselves so it is acceptable

Ok, well a quarter of the population is still obese so I'm not sure the shaming works as well as you think it does

I'm not sure Europeans use the word "shaming".

Ok, whatever term you want to use to describe "call[ing] out their kids if they are overeating/putting on too much weight" because they think being fat is not "acceptable."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know OP. Generally speaking, Americans are much fatter than other countries.

Oh European are fat also.

We're getting fatter, but nothing, I mean nothing like Americans. US obesity rate is 36.2. The fattest country in Europe is UK at 27.8. Big difference.

Is it that big of a difference, honestly? When you take into account America's car dependence, greater racial diversity (at least in terms of the races that tend to be bigger), and fast food culture, I would personally expect the difference to be greater. People get on this board and act like Europe has no fat people - the numbers tell a different story.

Perhaps…

But Europeans are less likely to think being fat is acceptable. They will call our their kids if they are overeating/putting on too much weight. As where in US, parents are afraid of giving their kids eating disorders so they don’t say say anything. Or they are fat themselves so it is acceptable

Ok, well a quarter of the population is still obese so I'm not sure the shaming works as well as you think it does

I'm not sure Europeans use the word "shaming".

Ok, whatever term you want to use to describe "call[ing] out their kids if they are overeating/putting on too much weight" because they think being fat is not "acceptable."

Yeah, but "Europeans" don't do that. They feed their kids because they love them. That's why there are so many overweight European kids, just like there are so many overweight American kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know OP. Generally speaking, Americans are much fatter than other countries.

Oh European are fat also.

We're getting fatter, but nothing, I mean nothing like Americans. US obesity rate is 36.2. The fattest country in Europe is UK at 27.8. Big difference.

Is it that big of a difference, honestly? When you take into account America's car dependence, greater racial diversity (at least in terms of the races that tend to be bigger), and fast food culture, I would personally expect the difference to be greater. People get on this board and act like Europe has no fat people - the numbers tell a different story.

Perhaps…

But Europeans are less likely to think being fat is acceptable. They will call our their kids if they are overeating/putting on too much weight. As where in US, parents are afraid of giving their kids eating disorders so they don’t say say anything. Or they are fat themselves so it is acceptable

Ok, well a quarter of the population is still obese so I'm not sure the shaming works as well as you think it does

I'm not sure Europeans use the word "shaming".

Ok, whatever term you want to use to describe "call[ing] out their kids if they are overeating/putting on too much weight" because they think being fat is not "acceptable."

Yeah, but "Europeans" don't do that. They feed their kids because they love them. That's why there are so many overweight European kids, just like there are so many overweight American kids.

Ok. The post above from a European said that they do. So I was responding to that.

[Anonymous]

It’s the food here in the US. I do intermittent fasting, employ portion control, pay attention to macros etc and am losing weight at a snails pace (.5 pound a week at best - I am
overweight). When I went to the Netherlands for a week in March, I lost 3-4 pounds. I didn’t track calories, ate whatever, and wasn’t any more active than I am here in the US.

I absolutely believe it’s some combination of pesticides and growth hormones that we allow to be used in agriculture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s the food here in the US. I do intermittent fasting, employ portion control, pay attention to macros etc and am losing weight at a snails pace (.5 pound a week at best - I am
overweight). When I went to the Netherlands for a week in March, I lost 3-4 pounds. I didn’t track calories, ate whatever, and wasn’t any more active than I am here in the US.

I absolutely believe it’s some combination of pesticides and growth hormones that we allow to be used in agriculture.

I don’t know. I think the majority of the problem is letting yourself get overweight in the first place. If you didn’t wait until you were already overweight to portion control, make smart food choices, exercise, etc. Most people in the US spend the first few decades of their life not practicing portion control, making healthy food choices, and making effort to staying active- then they end up overweight and are surprised it can’t be easily undone

[Anonymous]

I am in Canada, now for a year, abd was here before in 2000s. I have to report that kids are very chunky here, something that I did not notice at all some 14 years ago. It is very noticeable that kids are overweight and some obese.

[Anonymous]

European foods are a higher quality. Just Google all of the chemicals and additives that are in our packaged foods that are not allowed in Europe.

My SIL & BIL moved to Germany for his work in 2021. Since then, both my SIL's and nephew's stomach issues have been cleared up. They don't eat differently than they did in the US. They do, however, now eat the same products without a bunch of the additives and chemicals that are present in the US versions.

Here's a good article w/ products and their nutrition label comps to UK products. Very interesting.

https://foodbabe.com/food-in-america-compared-to-the-u-k-why-is-it-so-different/