Why America has a lot of fat people
“While the fat one dries, the thin one dies” — you must have heard this saying too. But in reality it's not like that. Fat people in America, for example, do not think about drying up, but there are more and more risks every year.
We figured out how a national disease is formed, why people get fat so fast and how the American government is fighting it.
In 2016, the largest commercially available clothing in the world was registered in the USA — 12XL. On the one hand, it affects the customer focus of American business, on the other — the number of people who have long gone beyond any weight standards.
The problem of obesity of the nation arose for a long time, but so far no health program has worked in full force. We have understood the causes and consequences of the massive weight gain of Americans and are ready to talk about the real scale of the disaster.
Statistics
Over the past 30 years in the states, the number of people officially diagnosed with Obesity has doubled. If earlier it was about 20% of the population, then in 2018 this figure reaches almost 40%.
If it seems to you that less than half is incompatible and generally still tolerable, then you are wrong. The statistics take into account the percentage of those who somehow passed a medical examination. How many more people with obesity are scattered around the country "unnoticed", it is impossible to say for sure, but another 5-10% is clearly typed.
A significant proportion of even these official 40% of people are children. If their food and motor habits do not change at the age of 10-12 years, the probability of transferring experience and genetic markers to future generations is high. That is, in their future families, the culture of food and activity will be about the same. The percentage of people with high body mass and formed metabolic disorders will only grow with time.
The reasons
Among the reasons for the massive weight gain of an entire nation, scientists highlight several of the most significant.
- Commercialization of food and consumption cult
And this is not just fast food. The wider the culture of consumption, the more temptations a person has to try this or that product. And the industry gives us this opportunity.
From a commercial point of view, it is much more profitable to use fats and heavy carbohydrates in the food industry, since:
- 01.they are much cheaper and easier to handle than perishable foods (vegetables, fruits, fresh meat and fish);
- 02.they cause dependence at the biochemical level, the brain quickly becomes accustomed to their abundance and in time requires more and more of them, boosting consumption.
In addition, in kindergartens and schools, children get used to eating in this way: in addition to their healthy milk, their menu includes sandwiches, burgers, pizza, meat rich in refractory fats (pork, beef) with fatty sauces, pasta, and sweet drinks and ice cream. And not a single government initiative has yet won a lot of money and such is centralized baby food.
- Hypodynamia
In any modern society, it is impossible to burn calories in the same way as our distant ancestors did. But all the mechanisms for processing nutrients are the same as in the Stone Age. Food has become more accessible than stable muscular activity. The body simply does not cope with such amounts of light energy.
The investigation
The US government has conducted and is conducting dozens of programs aimed at re-educating young people and instilling a food culture, but so far there has been no clear effect from any of them.
The latest and most ambitious was Michelle Obama's action: children were taught to cook food, grow vegetables and even had fun playing training sessions with the first lady. While its effectiveness is difficult to track down, but authority has done its job — Michelle Obama’s example of the concept of a healthy life has become a mainstay for many families.
In popular culture, it also left a mark. One of the most significant documentary works about obesity of the nation was the film experiment of the former MTV editor Morgan Sperlok “Supersize Me” (in the Russian hire was called “Double portion”). Thanks to this film alone, American fast foods massively adjusted the size of portions of food.
Bodypositive
The USA is a country with one of the most powerful movements for adopting its own body with all its flaws (body positive). This concerns not only excess weight, but also other “deviations” from the generally accepted standard of model appearance. And this is fine in terms of psychological support, but it does not always help to adhere to individual physiological standards of survival.
- Pros
For a decade of active propaganda of bodipositive, a lot of useful things have been done. For example:
- 01.Pay attention to the needs of people with non-standard parameters;
- 02.Prove that diseases, congenital or acquired abnormalities do not write off a person in the second grade;
- 03.Overcome the complexes of many people and open for them a full life, no matter what.
The number of plus-size models is constantly growing. Collections of clothing and accessories for obese people began to create not only mass-market representatives, but also world-famous brands. Society gradually resigns itself to the fact that beauty can be different and each person is beautiful in its own way.
- Cons
Like any movement, in a radical position it brings enough problems.
Not always the adoption of his own body and compliance with its size leads to a carefree life. The absolute majority of people with excess weight are either predisposed to ailments, or already have a serious bouquet of diseases. Particularly affected cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems, organs of the gastrointestinal tract.
In 2017, in the states, there were 43 hospital calls for girls who tried to put themselves in demand for plus-modeling forms. Due to overeating, slimming into corsets for a more pronounced "hourglass" effect and other figure manipulations, people acquired irreversible consequences — serious skin damage, diseases of the liver, gall bladder, stomach, and even worsening of diabetes. That is, the same self-torture, which we used to hear in the context of anorexia, changed the pole.
Not every person can adequately assess the capabilities and needs of their own body. What is good for some is at risk of suffering and dying at an early age for others. But often the bodypositive does not concentrate on this, blindly giving hope to an easy “entrance to normality” to everyone.
The problem of fat people in the USA certainly exists. And while she still has the opportunity to be resolved. Fortunately, American Butler knows how not to become part of this problem when traveling to America.
We regularly cover the most interesting and useful places of public catering and talk about how to spend time not only fun, but also without harm to health.
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