Everything in the US seems to revolve around food & drink.

You go to a craft fair and there are plenty of booths shilling out fried foods. You go to a painting night there is wine & cookies. I went to my town's local art gallery walk & each location had wine and charcuterie. I get my nails done and they offer champagne. Every kid sport has a halftime snack or end of game snack (or both!). I saw Beetlejuice over the weekend and it seemed like I was the only person in my area not snacking and drinking my way through the show.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I recently came back from my first vacation in Europe in years and while I can maybe chalk up the five pounds of weight loss in a week to all the walking, my decades long companion, heartburn, was curiously absent despite eating many foods that trigger heartburn and gastro pain and having late meals. There absolutely is something different about food in Europe.

I wonder if its the seed oil theory? Canola, soybean oil in so much food here? And in Europe they cook with butter?

I mean, maybe? I was in an olive oil area and I didn’t eat all my foods at high end restaurants, i.e., they might have used cheaper seed oils. Also I cook 5 nights out of 7 from scratch (modern scratch, so I use store bought stock and canned tomatoes)

Anonymous wrote:Could you have some gluten sensitivity? In most European countries, they use soft wheat which has significantly lower gluten. That’s why some people with gluten problems here can eat bread and pasta in Europe.

I kind of wondered about this.

To both of your theories, I don’t know how I’d ever be able to test this out. Just saying that OP is on to something.

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Anonymous wrote:I recently came back from my first vacation in Europe in years and while I can maybe chalk up the five pounds of weight loss in a week to all the walking, my decades long companion, heartburn, was curiously absent despite eating many foods that trigger heartburn and gastro pain and having late meals. There absolutely is something different about food in Europe.

Yup, I did 140,000 steps in 7 days when I was in Paris this year. Ate a lot too and still lost 2 pounds. It's the smoking and walking - Parisians seem to smoke and drink their dinner with a side of crackers or chips.

You missed my point. I said I could maybe chalk the weight loss* up to the walking but I did not have the same heartburn that I’ve had for years here.

*I was actually a little curious about food overseas and so I made a point to drink Coca Cola or some kind of soft drink every day, plus coffee granita plus 1-2 gelatos a day in addition to meals. There is something different in the food.

I like your dedication to scientific research

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Anonymous wrote:I recently came back from my first vacation in Europe in years and while I can maybe chalk up the five pounds of weight loss in a week to all the walking, my decades long companion, heartburn, was curiously absent despite eating many foods that trigger heartburn and gastro pain and having late meals. There absolutely is something different about food in Europe.

Yup, I did 140,000 steps in 7 days when I was in Paris this year. Ate a lot too and still lost 2 pounds. It's the smoking and walking - Parisians seem to smoke and drink their dinner with a side of crackers or chips.

You missed my point. I said I could maybe chalk the weight loss* up to the walking but I did not have the same heartburn that I’ve had for years here.

*I was actually a little curious about food overseas and so I made a point to drink Coca Cola or some kind of soft drink every day, plus coffee granita plus 1-2 gelatos a day in addition to meals. There is something different in the food.

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Anonymous wrote:This isn’t a thread about simplistic “advice” for weight maintenance. Start your own thread if that’s what you want to discuss. Thanks.

But that is the point. It doesn’t really matter about US vs Europe food. US food doesn’t make anyone fat. Inability to implement basic weight maintenance and heathy choices does

Again, no one asked you. Please stay on topic so I don’t have to annoy Jeff. I’m really tired of people who don’t truly struggle with these things commenting on them.

NP agree. And reducing complex social issues to “eat less and move more, duh!”

Anonymous wrote:I recently came back from my first vacation in Europe in years and while I can maybe chalk up the five pounds of weight loss in a week to all the walking, my decades long companion, heartburn, was curiously absent despite eating many foods that trigger heartburn and gastro pain and having late meals. There absolutely is something different about food in Europe.

Yup, I did 140,000 steps in 7 days when I was in Paris this year. Ate a lot too and still lost 2 pounds. It's the smoking and walking - Parisians seem to smoke and drink their dinner with a side of crackers or chips.

Over half of Europeans are obese. Some stores have stopped selling sizes XS an S because everyone is getting so fat.

Anonymous wrote:I work at the World Bank/IMF, which together employ more than 1,000 people in the DMV. There are very, very, very few visibly fat people working here. Some senior people have lived in the United States for a decade or more, continuously. I know a couple of people coming up on their 30th anniversary.

Point being, it's not just "the US food supply" that magically makes humans living in the USA fat. The Danish, Japanese, Moroccan and Swiss friends who have lived in DC since ~2000 (without a significant break to their home countries) are STILL normal weight .

I am fascinated by this, honestly. ie, if the problem _really_ was "the US food 'supply'" then presumably a lot of Bank/IMF long haulers would be plump by now. Because while you can choose to 100% avoid Coke and Lunchables, it would be difficult if not impossible to avoid any flour, eggs, milk, MEAT, etc. for years on end.

Right?

I also work at the WB and i am French, I agree with your observation BUT I also suspect there is something about the food on top of behavior issues and i think they compound. ie: on average WB/IMF staff just like europeans and other nationalities tend to eat less processed food than americans, cook more from scrach, and snack less in favor of structured meals, which is indeed a cultural habit and has nothing to do with food supply.

BUT it means we eat less of the food that has been doctored up and we are less affected by it. As a french person i love bread and i barely touch bread here because i dont recognize it. US bread is sweet, doesnt go bad, i dont understand what goes in there but i dont trust it. I only buy fancy expensive handmade loaves once i a while. Like another poster i go out of my way to buy european pasta and french biscuits for my "processed' food.

WHen i go home i dont lose weight, but i simply dont touch processed food here.

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Anonymous wrote:I think it’s the walking and not the food.

I think it’s the walking and the smoking.

It's not the walking. I walk 10 miles a day at my work in US. All the carbs and sugar hidden everywhere in food ruing all my progress.
I agree with smoking, but I also know skinny people who don't smoke and who got fat in US living here as Au Pairs. It's the sugar.
I got back from Europe and while I wanted to try all their sweets (visiting only for 10 days), the sugar was not calling my name the way it is here.

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s the walking and not the food.

I think it’s the walking and the smoking.

Could you have some gluten sensitivity? In most European countries, they use soft wheat which has significantly lower gluten. That’s why some people with gluten problems here can eat bread and pasta in Europe.

Anonymous wrote:I recently came back from my first vacation in Europe in years and while I can maybe chalk up the five pounds of weight loss in a week to all the walking, my decades long companion, heartburn, was curiously absent despite eating many foods that trigger heartburn and gastro pain and having late meals. There absolutely is something different about food in Europe.

I wonder if its the seed oil theory? Canola, soybean oil in so much food here? And in Europe they cook with butter?

I recently came back from my first vacation in Europe in years and while I can maybe chalk up the five pounds of weight loss in a week to all the walking, my decades long companion, heartburn, was curiously absent despite eating many foods that trigger heartburn and gastro pain and having late meals. There absolutely is something different about food in Europe.

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Anonymous wrote:I’m French. When we visit our families in Paris, we walk a lot more and don’t snack at all hours. The food is also less processed. So we eat less, and better.

Here, we’re running about, grabbing snacks anytime, and it’s harder to avoid crap food.

European here - agree with this. Also, American food (even the "heathy stuff") is so full of salt and sugar it messes with how we eat.

This is dorky but as an American who loves French culture, I read "Bringing Up Bebe" and implemented a lot of the tactics around food in the early years raising my DD -- avoiding idle snacking, serving vegetables first and early in baby's life, etc. It works! She is not a snacker while her friends are constantly whining for snacks.

I did similar with my too and ended up with one healthy eater and one very picky eater. Sometimes it isn’t what we do.

Same except I have one kid with a weight problem and two skinny kids. Drives me nuts when people credit these kinds of “tricks” with the outcomes.

Some of us only have one so I guess we are not allowed to draw conclusions that X caused Y?

Seems kind of oversensitive.

I mean, literally, yes, you cannot, and should not, draw the conclusion that X caused Y based on an N of one.

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Anonymous wrote:Eating clean requires a lot of vigilance. Most people aren't mindful about what goes into their bodies.

There's no such thing as clean food and dirty food. This is just distorted pro-ana talk.

Eating clean as opposed to ultra processed food. What the heck is dirty food? You're weird for even thinking about pro'-ana talk.

Sorry, PP is right.

You're referring to whole foods.

Dont see what's wrong with saying you eat clean or have a clean diet. Tomato, tomahto

Obviously the inverse is that you have a "dirty" diet, which is ridiculous. The only people I know who use the term "clean eating" are disordered eaters.

But clean could mean pure or minimally processed and not refined.

So use the term "minimally processed," which actually has some meaning.

I eat a minimally processed diet 😀