Young people in other countries are remarkably thinner than Americans

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We don't shame fat people anymore, its the fat acceptance movement. Sad.

Isn’t there like a happy medium? Where we don’t shame people for their bodies but don’t say obesity is ok?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

However, at 46 with a BMI of 18.8, I don’t know if I’d be bragging you are the picture of good health. 18.5 is clinically underweight. No one is THAT close to being clinically underweight in their 40s unless they are ill or purposely eating (or not eating) to be extra thin

DP (bmi 18.72), you're wrong. A low bmi most often is the result of consistent, reasonable, healthy food intake, through out the years (decades rather). It's cumulative, just as much as gaining 200 lbs is cumulative, it didn't just happen overnight.
I've had people telling me to "eat a burger" my whole life and never once I've heard any doctor telling me to gain weight or change my diet.
Normal BMI that's low is still normal, that's what medicine says. Believe it.

So you don’t restrict to be that weight?

I really don't, neither do my slender European friends. Three meals a day; eating everything in moderation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We don't shame fat people anymore, its the fat acceptance movement. Sad.

Why would be shame anyone? Why do you care what other people weigh? That’s what I don’t get about this thread. This obsession with how much other people weigh. Are you mad because you’re thin and you think you should win some prize for it? Our society is accepting a wider range of weight. That is a good thing.

[Anonymous]

I've lived in Asia and can tell you that American supermarkets are a heavenly cornucopia of a snackhole.
Asian markets don't sell nearly 1/4th the ready eat stuff that American markets have. Most things in Asian markets are meant to be cooked or prepared somehow. Not just rip open a bag and heat it in a microwave. There's a lot of veggies, fruits, tofu, raw meat (sometimes cured but definitely few ready to eat).
So there's that immediate gratification thing that America has with food reflected its its plethora of readymade meals.
Asians tend to have a hangup with freshness of foods - freshly steamed, cooked, chopped, nothing a day or two old. Packaged foods are considered, how do I put it, food not made with love. Sad food.
This food culture has its drawbacks - a lot of time is spent in kitchen prep.

Asia also has a lot of very active night markets for those who don't want to cook. That's the closest to ready eat foods. Night markets are usually a social activity - walk, eat, talk, eat, shop, eat with friends or family. And the food is cooked right there before you so its fresh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've lived overseas quite a lot. I think what happens in some of these countries, I am thinking Eastern Europe/post Soviet space, is that women really do starve themselves (coffee and a piece of fruit for lunch/coffee and cigarettes to tide over, drinking/smoking vs. eating)and then boom, they hit 40 and it's like a switch goes off and all the damage they've done to their bodies means they rapidly gain weight. That's not everyone, of course, but very very many women.

I also lived in Eastern Europe for several years and this is spot on. (It’s been awhile so things may have changed.) But in my experience…Most young women did not have a healthy relationship with food. They smoked a lot to curb their appetite. They starved most of the time. They didn’t do anything athletic or exercise; there was a ton of fat shaming. The trend was to be very thin— not healthy.

This is the crux. Americans think of us as having disordered eating because we watch the quality and quantity of the food we eat. We think of Americans as having a very unhealthy relationship with food because you use food as a band-aid for emotional problems. Americans eat when they are sad, tired, stressed, bored. They always celebrate with food. They eat all the time, sometimes hourly. Food is the legal drug addiction in the US and it shows. I don't think we're very thin. For example, most of my life I've been 120 lbs at 5'7, which is not even at the limit of the NORMAL HEALTHY BMI. If you put me next to the average American woman, who is is 3 inches shorter and 50 lbs heavier, I probably look skeletal. But I'm the normal, healthy one. I'm 46 y/o and I can run 5 miles effortlessly, hike 15 miles easily, and I've never had problems sleeping and my blood work and blood pressure are picture perfect. I got pregnant easily, even at 41 y/o and I carried two perfectly healthy boys to term. I've never had menstrual problems, fibroids etc. I've never smoked and women smokers are still the minority in EE. But even with the higher smoking rates, we still live longer and healthier lives. For example, Greece has a pretty high smoking rate even for Europe and a life expectancy that is 10 years longer than yours. So your addiction to food is worse than smoking.

Did you reply to the wrong thread? Or did you just decide that food restriction is healthy when Europeans do it?

[Anonymous]

Are you mad because you’re thin and you think you should win some prize for it?

DP. It's well established that the only people who expect a prize (or a praise) are by default the overweight people who just started eating healthier and losing weight.
Contrary to the wisdom of the crowd, slender people don't think much or anything really about their weight and food intake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Are you mad because you’re thin and you think you should win some prize for it?

DP. It's well established that the only people who expect a prize (or a praise) are by default the overweight people who just started eating healthier and losing weight.
Contrary to the wisdom of the crowd, slender people don't think much or anything really about their weight and food intake.

What? No this isn’t true. I am thin and have been most of my life. I absolutely pay attention to what I’m eating and weigh myself every now and then to make sure I’m on the right track. Easier to lose 5 pounds than 10 and easier to lose 10 than 20….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Are you mad because you’re thin and you think you should win some prize for it?

DP. It's well established that the only people who expect a prize (or a praise) are by default the overweight people who just started eating healthier and losing weight.
Contrary to the wisdom of the crowd, slender people don't think much or anything really about their weight and food intake.

What? No this isn’t true. I am thin and have been most of my life. I absolutely pay attention to what I’m eating and weigh myself every now and then to make sure I’m on the right track. Easier to lose 5 pounds than 10 and easier to lose 10 than 20….

ok great, so you think you should win some prize for it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Are you mad because you’re thin and you think you should win some prize for it?

DP. It's well established that the only people who expect a prize (or a praise) are by default the overweight people who just started eating healthier and losing weight.
Contrary to the wisdom of the crowd, slender people don't think much or anything really about their weight and food intake.

What? No this isn’t true. I am thin and have been most of my life. I absolutely pay attention to what I’m eating and weigh myself every now and then to make sure I’m on the right track. Easier to lose 5 pounds than 10 and easier to lose 10 than 20….

ok great, so you think you should win some prize for it?

No, I'm saying you're wrong. Slender people are usually slender due in part to paying attention to what they do in terms of food and exercise. Very few thin people past their early 20s can "eat anything they want" and not exercise still be thin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Are you mad because you’re thin and you think you should win some prize for it?

DP. It's well established that the only people who expect a prize (or a praise) are by default the overweight people who just started eating healthier and losing weight.
Contrary to the wisdom of the crowd, slender people don't think much or anything really about their weight and food intake.

What? No this isn’t true. I am thin and have been most of my life. I absolutely pay attention to what I’m eating and weigh myself every now and then to make sure I’m on the right track. Easier to lose 5 pounds than 10 and easier to lose 10 than 20….

ok great, so you think you should win some prize for it?

No, I'm saying you're wrong. Slender people are usually slender due in part to paying attention to what they do in terms of food and exercise. Very few thin people past their early 20s can "eat anything they want" and not exercise still be thin.

But also you sound jealous. Here are a few hints: stop shoveling junk food into your face all day and move around a little and you can be thin too! Easy breezy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've lived in Asia and can tell you that American supermarkets are a heavenly cornucopia of a snackhole.
Asian markets don't sell nearly 1/4th the ready eat stuff that American markets have. Most things in Asian markets are meant to be cooked or prepared somehow. Not just rip open a bag and heat it in a microwave. There's a lot of veggies, fruits, tofu, raw meat (sometimes cured but definitely few ready to eat).
So there's that immediate gratification thing that America has with food reflected its its plethora of readymade meals.
Asians tend to have a hangup with freshness of foods - freshly steamed, cooked, chopped, nothing a day or two old. Packaged foods are considered, how do I put it, food not made with love. Sad food.
This food culture has its drawbacks - a lot of time is spent in kitchen prep.

Asia also has a lot of very active night markets for those who don't want to cook. That's the closest to ready eat foods. Night markets are usually a social activity - walk, eat, talk, eat, shop, eat with friends or family. And the food is cooked right there before you so its fresh.

Yes! Americans are now too accustomed to not cooking bc they don’t have to. The “cornucopia of a snackhole” can not be overridden.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've lived in Asia and can tell you that American supermarkets are a heavenly cornucopia of a snackhole.
Asian markets don't sell nearly 1/4th the ready eat stuff that American markets have. Most things in Asian markets are meant to be cooked or prepared somehow. Not just rip open a bag and heat it in a microwave. There's a lot of veggies, fruits, tofu, raw meat (sometimes cured but definitely few ready to eat).
So there's that immediate gratification thing that America has with food reflected its its plethora of readymade meals.
Asians tend to have a hangup with freshness of foods - freshly steamed, cooked, chopped, nothing a day or two old. Packaged foods are considered, how do I put it, food not made with love. Sad food.
This food culture has its drawbacks - a lot of time is spent in kitchen prep.

Asia also has a lot of very active night markets for those who don't want to cook. That's the closest to ready eat foods. Night markets are usually a social activity - walk, eat, talk, eat, shop, eat with friends or family. And the food is cooked right there before you so its fresh.

LOL

Really? I am Indian and have family in India. Indians have a ridiculously high rate of diabetes and heart disease. Sure, they cook a lot (or have low-paid employees who cook for them, actually) but the amount of sugar and butter used in the cooking is unbelievable.

You’re right, that someone does come door to door with fresh vegetables daily. However, the vegetables are a supplemented with lots of rice and roti and sugary chai. Heck, growing up, the parents used to feed us ‘glucose biscuits’ as healthy.

I wouldn’t make any generalizations about how people in one country eat versus how people eat in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've lived overseas quite a lot. I think what happens in some of these countries, I am thinking Eastern Europe/post Soviet space, is that women really do starve themselves (coffee and a piece of fruit for lunch/coffee and cigarettes to tide over, drinking/smoking vs. eating)and then boom, they hit 40 and it's like a switch goes off and all the damage they've done to their bodies means they rapidly gain weight. That's not everyone, of course, but very very many women.

I also lived in Eastern Europe for several years and this is spot on. (It’s been awhile so things may have changed.) But in my experience…Most young women did not have a healthy relationship with food. They smoked a lot to curb their appetite. They starved most of the time. They didn’t do anything athletic or exercise; there was a ton of fat shaming. The trend was to be very thin— not healthy.

I have seen this also.

There needs to be a balance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These discussions always make me chuckle. The many scientists who study this for a living can’t figure out why we’ve become so fat, but every skinny broad on DCUM thinks they have the answer.

Didn’t you just live through covid? Clearly scientists don’t know all that much.

Ha! So true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've lived in Asia and can tell you that American supermarkets are a heavenly cornucopia of a snackhole.
Asian markets don't sell nearly 1/4th the ready eat stuff that American markets have. Most things in Asian markets are meant to be cooked or prepared somehow. Not just rip open a bag and heat it in a microwave. There's a lot of veggies, fruits, tofu, raw meat (sometimes cured but definitely few ready to eat).
So there's that immediate gratification thing that America has with food reflected its its plethora of readymade meals.
Asians tend to have a hangup with freshness of foods - freshly steamed, cooked, chopped, nothing a day or two old. Packaged foods are considered, how do I put it, food not made with love. Sad food.
This food culture has its drawbacks - a lot of time is spent in kitchen prep.

Asia also has a lot of very active night markets for those who don't want to cook. That's the closest to ready eat foods. Night markets are usually a social activity - walk, eat, talk, eat, shop, eat with friends or family. And the food is cooked right there before you so its fresh.

LOL

Really? I am Indian and have family in India. Indians have a ridiculously high rate of diabetes and heart disease. Sure, they cook a lot (or have low-paid employees who cook for them, actually) but the amount of sugar and butter used in the cooking is unbelievable.

You’re right, that someone does come door to door with fresh vegetables daily. However, the vegetables are a supplemented with lots of rice and roti and sugary chai. Heck, growing up, the parents used to feed us ‘glucose biscuits’ as healthy.

I wouldn’t make any generalizations about how people in one country eat versus how people eat in the US.

All the coconut milk and products clog arteries