This is not a SFW instance. NSFW communities will be tagged, and efforts will be made to keep SFW communities clean, but proceed at your own comfort level.
I think for me I would point to the fact that cheap sugary shit tends to be well, cheap.
For example I had a pack of gummy lifesavers (hard as a rock, rip me) and it was the cheapest thing in my lunch today despite being like, 8 servings of candy? it was cheaper than the water I got??? What the heck is up with that???
Honestly portion size isnt what I would point to, I feel like its custom here to take home leftovers and stuff, even when you visit someone’s house for dinner and they make way too much. I’m sure there’s some psychological stuff here with portion size, just in my experience I’ve never felt the need to eat everything and Ive been reasonably healthy all my life.
And yeah shout out to (in no particular order) Mexico, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Canada, Spain, China, South Korea, Ethiopia, Eritrea, India, Vietnam, Thailand, The Dutch, Singapore, Poland, and anyone I forgot y’all are real ones I love your food.
I dunno I’ve visited a lot of places and seen a lot of people and it’s not like Americans are unique in how much food we eat?
I’d point to the fact that sugary/bad for you stuff tends to be cheap first and foremost. It’s really easy to fill up on empty calories if you’re stuffing your face with candy and fast food.
Secondarily I would point how hard it is to avoid ultra-processed garbage. It’s really everywhere and everything here, even things that are “healthy” are pretty terrible usually. Unless you’re eating/making everything fresh it’s not easy to avoid some of this garbage and it’s basically all empty calories.
I also think, far more important than gluttony, there’s very little actual food education in the US. Unless you’re kinda into fitness and watching what you eat, you don’t really know what macros and stuff do and why things are important.
There’s also food deserts, the fact that American cities are meant to be driven and basically cannot be walked/biked, and just generally sedentary lifestyles across all of America.
Genuinely I don’t think that the fat countries around the world are “extra gluttons” compared to the rest of the world. It’s anecdotal of course, but I often hear of Europeans visiting and gaining weight. I doubt they’re suddenly becoming gluttons the moment they land in America. I think that’s like maybe the 10th most important reason at best. We’re all humans and while culture is different and could lead to different eating habits, I don’t think that matters that much. I think Canada for example, is quite culturally similar to the US but they have an obesity rate of only 27.1% compared to America’s 41.8%
I think one place where portion size might actually be a factor in retrospect is with soda. Our larges are huge and people will down those things like crazy.
So, no credit at all to human behaviour? I agree with most of what you are saying but you at least have to allow that some of it is gluttony. Even one out of one hundred?
Oh yeah I’m sure there’s some % of people that are gluttons that would be fat wherever they are assuming they could afford to be, but thats not unique to Americans was my main point.
ehh its a lot more complicated than it seems.
I think for me I would point to the fact that cheap sugary shit tends to be well, cheap.
For example I had a pack of gummy lifesavers (hard as a rock, rip me) and it was the cheapest thing in my lunch today despite being like, 8 servings of candy? it was cheaper than the water I got??? What the heck is up with that???
Honestly portion size isnt what I would point to, I feel like its custom here to take home leftovers and stuff, even when you visit someone’s house for dinner and they make way too much. I’m sure there’s some psychological stuff here with portion size, just in my experience I’ve never felt the need to eat everything and Ive been reasonably healthy all my life.
And yeah shout out to (in no particular order) Mexico, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Canada, Spain, China, South Korea, Ethiopia, Eritrea, India, Vietnam, Thailand, The Dutch, Singapore, Poland, and anyone I forgot y’all are real ones I love your food.
You’ve got to give some credit that gluttony is somewhere in the causal mix.
I dunno I’ve visited a lot of places and seen a lot of people and it’s not like Americans are unique in how much food we eat?
I’d point to the fact that sugary/bad for you stuff tends to be cheap first and foremost. It’s really easy to fill up on empty calories if you’re stuffing your face with candy and fast food.
Secondarily I would point how hard it is to avoid ultra-processed garbage. It’s really everywhere and everything here, even things that are “healthy” are pretty terrible usually. Unless you’re eating/making everything fresh it’s not easy to avoid some of this garbage and it’s basically all empty calories.
I also think, far more important than gluttony, there’s very little actual food education in the US. Unless you’re kinda into fitness and watching what you eat, you don’t really know what macros and stuff do and why things are important.
There’s also food deserts, the fact that American cities are meant to be driven and basically cannot be walked/biked, and just generally sedentary lifestyles across all of America.
Genuinely I don’t think that the fat countries around the world are “extra gluttons” compared to the rest of the world. It’s anecdotal of course, but I often hear of Europeans visiting and gaining weight. I doubt they’re suddenly becoming gluttons the moment they land in America. I think that’s like maybe the 10th most important reason at best. We’re all humans and while culture is different and could lead to different eating habits, I don’t think that matters that much. I think Canada for example, is quite culturally similar to the US but they have an obesity rate of only 27.1% compared to America’s 41.8%
I think one place where portion size might actually be a factor in retrospect is with soda. Our larges are huge and people will down those things like crazy.
So, no credit at all to human behaviour? I agree with most of what you are saying but you at least have to allow that some of it is gluttony. Even one out of one hundred?
Oh yeah I’m sure there’s some % of people that are gluttons that would be fat wherever they are assuming they could afford to be, but thats not unique to Americans was my main point.