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  • Cruxifux@feddit.nlEnglish
    1·
    4 hours ago

    Why do you think that the US has such a problem with obesity? I’ve heard people say it’s because of fast food but every other country has fast food. Is there some kind of different standard for food there? Is the food way cheaper? Is it just a culture thing?

    • kozy138@lemm.eeEnglish
      3·
      3 hours ago

      Honestly, there are many reasons… Poverty is a huge factor. Highly processed foods are usually the cheapest and most convenient option. And sometimes a soda can be cheaper to purchase than water. Also, school budgets are usually funded by property taxes, so areas in poverty have significantly degraded educational programs and facilities.

      The poor education levels mean that people rarely learn about the impacts of high sugar diets on the body. People will feed their child a high sugar diet starting as early as a 2 years old. I’ve seen a document where a woman was feeding their toddler Mt dew out of a baby bottle…

      Advertising techniques play a big role here too. Foods labeled as nutritious are actually just pumped full of sugar. Foods like yogurt, “bread”, granola bars, cereals, or anything with a sauce in it.

      On top of all that, Americans have an extremely sedentary lifestyle. From sitting in cubicles to sitting in cars, then finally to the couch. The most walking people do is from the parking lot to the store/building they are going to.

      • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        2 hours ago

        What’s crazy is that when I was a kid, the poor were generally healthier. Diets for poor people included a lot of beans and rice, and not much else, and rich people’s diets consisted of richer foods, with sauces, butter, etc… Poor people often worked labor intensive jobs which kept them fit, while rich people sat at desks and then lazed by the pool after work. Now poor people tend to eat fast food quite a bit more often than people with more money, and the upper class are generally more likely to engage in fitness routines.

      • MutilationWave@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        2 hours ago

        I’d like to add that people think eating fat makes you fat, so there are a ton of products marketed as low fat but are full of sugar instead. In some cases the low fat product is worse for you than the regular one.