Attitudes/lifestyles.

As a Brit in the US (been here 5 years), I still find myself amazed by the unhealthy lifestyles... and it's not as if the Brits are the health gurus of the 2000s!

OK, many US cities are set up so you have to drive to shop etc... but..... we went to a New Year's Party half a mile away and walked. All the other guests lived closer, had driven and were surprised that we had walked. Habit is not always a good thing. It has to be said, we walked because we wanted to drink alcohol, alcohol is much more of a taboo over here, but none of those driving home abstained. I'd much rather they'd been up front about drinking and walked.

Americans "exercise" more than Brits (imo), but they eat more, and a larger percentage of what they eat is highly processed. A standard meal at Applebees would feed a Brit family of four over a weekend. Brits "get more exercise" because they walk a lot.

American society is more "PC", and so being large is more socially acceptable (except in Hollywood;)), so it takes longer before people realise thay have a weight problem, then it's harder to fix. And more allowances are made if you are obese. You can get scooters in the stores and disabled parking advantages, neither of which help you work it off...

The cynic in me says the insurance system here is also partially to blame. There's no profit in healthy thin people......

Oh, and before anyone hammers me, I'm no thinny.

But I frequent bulletin boards for Brits in the US and for Americans in the UK, and there is definitely a trend that Americans lose weight when they emmigrate and Brits gain it, and they're pretty equal when it comes to hating the food of their adopted country ;)

How can you not hate spotted dick and blood pudding?

There is always, however, something to love in American cuisine.

We have cheesesteaks, hoagies, pizza, and foods stolen from every country in the world that we've made our own! (admittedly, we also have SPAM, scrapple, Krispy Kremes, and Hickory Farms Beef Logs. I know it's not all good.)

MMM... sounds like a lunchtime treat.

I don't know what the problem is.
I'm a delicate dessert flower.
A 6'3", 295 lb. flower, but a flower none the less.
At my last physical -
125/80 blood pressure, 70 pulse.
138 cholesterol, 102 blood sugar.
Dr. says to me "For a man of your size, you are in remarkable shape."
"Thanks, doc, but I'm married."

corn syrup and wheat

For the record, spotted dick ROCKS!!

When I was in croatia, I noticed something. The folks we stayed with didn't have a car. This meant we walked to the tram station (10 minute brisk walk), then took the tram to the nearest exit to where we wanted to go (usually Jelacica Trg) and then (since we were sughtseeing) we walked to the cathedral, walked to the cemetary, walked to the churches, walked to lunch (which was 4 links of pork sausage fried up and placed in a bit of pita-type bread served with a huge helping of raw onions and called salad) then it was off walking to the university, then thru the shopping areas, then back to the tram, then the 10 minute walk back to the house. By the time I got "home", I was exhausted.

Within two weeks of this every day routine, I lost literally, 20 pounds.

When I was living in Vegas and my husband (at the time) wouldn't let me take one of the cars to school or to work (don't ask), I had to hoof it 1 mile to the bus stop, walk to school, walk around campus, walk to the bus stop, then transfer, then walk 1/2 mile to my job. Got off work, walked 1 mile to the nearest working night stop, then 1 mile home. Lost a good deal of weight until I started having friends drive me. Gained it right back.

So I agree with the notion that we are a Driving People, and if we lived closer to where we worked, we'd be much better for it.

Corn syrup and over-processed wheat = calories that are cheap but basically nutrition-free.

Yeah, what is wrong with wheat per se?

While training for a half marathon last summer, I lost 0 pounds, but did lose some inches. I was not dieting, as I wanted to have energy to run for heaven's sake. I did eat 'healthy' --no pop, chips etc. one sweet 'treat' a day, but as much bread, cereal, pasta, veggies etc. as I wanted.

Since mid November, I haven't been training, only a doing few miles a week maintenance. Inspired by the fasting/Ramedon threads, I decided to cut all my portions in half, but still allowed myself one 'treat' a day (cookies, real ice cream, snickers bar, Krispy Kreme, regular pop) only if I felt I 'needed' it. Even without all the extra exercising, I have lost ~6 pounds (and a belt hole) in 7 weeks. (135-7 to 129/130). My appetite has decreased significantly, and I feel fuller on less food now. In fact, I went out to lunch with a couple of work pals I haven't seen in awhile, and was amazed at how much they ate. Then I realized, they hadn't changed, I had. I used to eat just as much as they did. Yikes.

My opinion? We just eat too friggin' much. Exercise is great, but if you are still inputting more than you are outputting, you're probably just be a fit fattie.

Ok. I'm doing it. I am, as of this morning, going back on Atkins because I lost TONS of weight on it two years ago and I felt GREAT.

I know you guys all hate it but it worked for me. I didn't feel hungry (a thing I heartily despise) and my energy went zooming up. I also didn't have 9pm cravings for wildly inappropriate foods (like fries with mayo, or chocolate dipped in chocolate or similar.)

I. Am. Doing. It.

UT put his finger on it. The problem is the omnipresent over processed filler material which I was never aware of until my system became less tolerant of it. Empty calories. Oh and streaming diarrhea...

What is this filler material you speak of? Particular ingredients I can find on the label? --If you have web material or something that would be great. I would prefer to try to dodge any potential intestinal distress if possible :thepain3:

Seconded on the corn syrup and add in palm oil.

Ever wonder how one package of ramen, which is little more than noodles, contains 40% of your daily saturated fat intake? They dehydrate the noodles in pure palm oil. A lot of the other products you eat that didn't contain it years ago are now laden with the crap. The stuff is literally worse for you than pure hog fat and it is nearly unavoidable unless you prepare your meals from scratch.

If they made softdrinks with sugar, again, I'd consider drinking them. Man, I miss Coke.

Americans changed how they live their lives, but it is important to know that what we eat has radically changed, too.

If a diet really works, you wouldn't have to go back on it.

Stop doing Atkins! Eat less. Don't eat a lot of junk. Be active. Its simple, its healthy. You'll continue to be fit for much longer than after Atkins.

Exactly. Many people I know aren't willing to eat well because eating healthy takes time. Oddly, many of these people watch two hours of television a day and spend 0 hours preparing meals.