"Why Americans are Fat"

[bush_cheney2004]

Yeah, because your anecdata fits so seamlessly into the statistical data that has been presented by myself and Waldo.

I qualified my post as a personal experience and observation, so no need for that. I can't help it that my neighbour is a big fat Canadian who cannot shovel her own driveway....a small bit of irony there, eh? Member waldo espouses that all such personal "anecdata" is perfectly swell, especially when criticizing Americans. Many members here use American data sources in lieu of Canadian sources, either because such sources do not exist, or they are too lazy to find them.

[bush_cheney2004]

...And just a little fun fact - the most obese country in the world is Australia. Fatter than Americans! Sorry to have ruined it for y'all, but .... that's the way it is.

Awww shucks...now you had to go and ruin all the American bashing fun. Just when I was going to start a thread/poll for "Why are Canadians so cheap!"

[Guest American Woman]

Awww shucks...now you had to go and ruin all the American bashing fun. Just when I was going to start a thread/poll for "Why are Canadians so cheap!"

No need for those Maple Leafs on their backpacks - their tips will let everyone know they aren't Americans.

[bush_cheney2004]

No need for those Maple Leafs on their backpacks - their tips will let everyone know they aren't Americans.

You got that right.....it's all "a-boat" the tips....dead giveaway.

[waldo]

And just a little fun fact - the most obese country in the world is Australia. Fatter than Americans! Sorry to have ruined it for y'all, but .... that's the way it is.

let's recap: in a separate thread, for some strange reason, you took personal exception to expressed personal viewpoints... viewpoints that had explicit caveats that didn't extrapolate the stated views to the greater American population at large. You carried your quite bizarre self-personalization over to this thread, showcasing a silly pretense that your supposed "personal experience" with Canadian immigrants/new citizens usurped referenced studies that clearly showed a difference between U.S. and Canadian obesity rates. I even put up an OECD graph that quite clearly shows, relatively speaking, how poorly both countries are doing in relation to other OECD countries... I emphasized how telling the graph was. And yet... and yet... you continue to take the issue personally, as a personal affront, now even taken to the point to suggest you're no longer "no. 1"!!!

now, if you've actually seen a legitimate reference to Australia's obesity rate, why not put it up instead of carrying your silliness further?

but just remember, there's always some wag out there ready to do googly battle! From a CDC 2011 National Center for Health Statistics report: you're welcome - feel free to leverage your personal experience in any manner you fell appropriate

[Guest American Woman]

if you've actually seen a legitimate reference to Australia's obesity rate, why not put it up instead of carrying your silliness further?

Silliness? Personal experience and observations are now ... silly? But ... but ... they were so meaningful and relevant when pertaining to Americans! And fyi, it was the personal experience of reading the text that goes with the map that you posted a link to that informed me of Australia's obesity. Australia now world's fattest nation

Edited January 3, 2012 by American Woman

[eyeball]

You got that right.....it's all "a-boat" the tips....dead giveaway.

Look, if you're going to comment on Canadiana at least get it right, it's a-boot not a-boat.

[Guest American Woman]

Look, if you're going to comment on Canadiana at least get it right, it's a-boot not a-boat.

Methinks he did get it right.

Canadian English features something called Canadian Raising, which basically means that the diphthong in “now” is raised before t, s or other voiceless consonants (i.e. before words like about and house).

What does this mean? In most Canadian accents, about sounds a bit like American a-boat....

link

[msj]

Australia now world's fattest nation

Must be their immigration policy!

Edited January 3, 2012 by msj

[eyeball]

Methinks he did get it right.

That's two fer two today.

Yer a-beut.

[Guest American Woman]

Must be their immigration policy!

Poor, poor msj.

Canada has the highest per capita immigration rate in the world.

Immigrants are less likely than people born in Canada to be obese.*

Do the math.

As I said, just keep those immigrants coming .... they help offset the Canadian-born obese.

*Immigrants generally arrive in Canada with better health than the Canadian-born. However, as time passes, this “healthy immigrant effect” tends to diminish, as their health status converges with that of the host population. link

[msj]

Poor, poor msj.

Canada has the highest per capita immigration rate in the world.

Immigrants are less likely than people born in Canada to be obese.*

Do the math.

As I said, just keep those immigrants coming .... they help offset the Canadian-born obese.

*Immigrants generally arrive in Canada with better health than the Canadian-born. However, as time passes, this “healthy immigrant effect” tends to diminish, as their health status converges with that of the host population. link

Wow, that one went right over your head.

As for immigration rates - and what of their affect on US obesity rates?

I swear you and BC_2004 have gone off before about all those skinny immigrants just loving to come to the US so much.

Oh, maybe we're talking about "illegals."

You know, the unreported.

They probably don't make it into representative popluation samples.

[bush_cheney2004]

...I swear you and BC_2004 have gone off before about all those skinny immigrants just loving to come to the US so much.

I sure do....we take the fattest Canadians or the skinniest Somalis every day.

312,000,000 > 34,000,000

[Guest American Woman]

Wow, that one went right over your head.

Ummm, no. It didn't.

As for immigration rates - and what of their affect on US obesity rates?

Did you miss the part where Canada has the highest immigration rate per capita??

I swear you and BC_2004 have gone off before about all those skinny immigrants just loving to come to the US so much.

They do love to; we just don't let them in in the same numbers per capita as Canada does. Capice?

Oh, maybe we're talking about "illegals."

Nope, we're not.

[msj]

Did you miss the part where Canada has the highest immigration rate per capita??

What's missing is how this affects the stats for Canada and the US.

When you care to show us the statistical significance of this then I will care.

[msj]

Oh, and while you're at it, AW, perhaps you can explain how Australia, which actually has a higher immigration population (as a percentage) than Canada, shows itself to have a higher rate of obesity than both Canada and the US?

Or maybe immigration isn't as influential as some would have us believe?

[msj]

When I started this thread it was not my intention to get into this rather stupid "peeing" match over who is fatter: Americans, Canadians, and now, apparently, Australians.

Nor was it to get into pronunciations of certain words.

I though the infographic in the OP was interesting and the direction I would rather lead into is the following:

1) What can we (as in society) do about increasing obesity?

2) Should we be doing anything about it? Maybe its much ado 'bout nothin'?

3) What are you doing about this for yourself or your family?

My answers are:

I think we should try and do something about this as I think obesity is a terrible "disease" because it makes people look really really ugly.

No, kidding.

I do think we should do something about it for health reasons and for environment reasons.

Let's face it - if we are stuffing less calories into our mouths then that means less energy is needed to produce that food, transport that food etc....

If we are walking a bit more than we are driving less which also has environmental benefits (and the ME is getting less of our money for their oil - perhaps not literally, I'm talking from an oil is fungible point of view).

So the solutions I would like to see include some kind of fast food/junk food tax and, well, that's about it for now. Maybe some of you have some practical good ideas?

As for what I do in my own life:

Well, as a scrawny kid who could "eat anything" I have turned into an under 40 year old who knows better.

Eating anything I want doesn't help the cholesterol and my metabolism is not what it used to be.

So I run for fun, to listen to audio books, and to stay in shape.

I do yoga with my wife (I'm only doing about 5 or 6 hours per week, she does 9 to 12 hours) which, for some strange reason (perhaps it's the twists we do) has curbed my appetite for fast food.

It also seems to have had an impact on my appetite - I'm eating smaller portions now and I'm sure it was not a conscious decision.

I order in special "cold pressed dark" chocolate from some German company that claims it's healthy.

I'm supposed to eat 3 pieces a day and for some reason I likely average 2 at best. My cravings for sweets has diminished considerably (as in I only eat one or two pieces of this chocolate a day rather than an entire chocolate bar) and could be related to this as many friends who have tried this chocolate have seen similar results (anecdata I know ).

So, that's my story.

What's yours?

[Guest American Woman]

What's missing is how this affects the stats for Canada and the US.

When you care to show us the statistical significance of this then I will care.

I've already showed you the significance. Immigrants to Canada are less obese. Canada takes in the highest number of immigrants per capita. It stands to reason that non-obese immigrants in greater numbers per obese native-born Canadians would affect the stats.

Oh, and while you're at it, AW, perhaps you can explain how Australia, which actually has a higher immigration population (as a percentage) than Canada, shows itself to have a higher rate of obesity than both Canada and the US?

Once again, Canada has the highest immigration rate per capita in the world. I'm not talking "as a percentage" of the overall population - I'm talking currently per capita. As I pointed out, once they've lived in Canada for awhile they pick up your bad health habits, but as for recent immigrants, Canada has the highest per capita.

Or maybe immigration isn't as influential as some would have us believe?

Or maybe it is and you just don't want to see it.

[msj]

AW, per my post above, I would rather move on to other things that are more interesting to me.

I think you still don't get it and that you have not proven anything (statistically) since you have not dug up enough data to prove anything.

But I'm willing to agree to disagree in the interests of moving on....

[Guest American Woman]

AW, per my post above, I would rather move on to other things that are more interesting to me.

So go ahead and move on. In the meantime, I'll concentrate on things that are more interesting to me - such as the points I've made.

I think you still don't get it and that you have not proven anything (statistically) since you have not dug up enough data to prove anything.

And I think you still don't see what you don't want to see.

But I'm willing to agree to disagree in the interests of moving on....

How big of you.

[August1991]

Immigrants to Canada are less obese. Canada takes in the highest number of immigrants per capita. It stands to reason that non-obese immigrants in greater numbers per obese native-born Canadians would affect the stats.

AW, our immigrants (obese or otherwise) move to the US. As an Australian once explained to me, Canada may accept more "gross" immigrants than Australia but Australia accepts more "net" immigrants. In effect, Canada's immigration system is the "primaries" of America's immigration system. People come to Canada, and then some move to the real America.

----

But AW, you raise an interesting point about obesity, and immigrants and countries. IMV, msj has started a very good thread. (I don't like his poll. IMHO, it should concern our BMI.)

I happen to admire the US Constitution, and Americans in general. I have travelled there alone, with family, with Europeans. We all have noted that Americans are often fat.

Our conclusion? America is largely a Protestant country. Many Protestants eat food to compensate their sexual frustration.

Edited January 3, 2012 by August1991

[msj]

But AW, you raise an interesting point about obesity, and immigrants and countries. IMV, msj has started a very good thread. (I don't like his poll. IMHO, it should concern our BMI.)

I have problems with the BMI - mostly the usual ones we hear about for which I won't go into as we have all heard them before etc.

In particular, I show up on the BMI around 23 which is all good and fine because that is where I roughly want to be.

Yet, people still see me as "thin" which annoys me.

Perhaps it's because two-thirds of us (well, of Americans, but I don't think Canadians are that far behind) are overweight or obese, and so I appear "thin" compared to this majority.

Nevertheless, I think I have finally arrived at a healthy weight and one I intend on maintaining for as long as possible.

I happen to admire the US Constitution, and Americans in general. I have travelled there alone, with family, with Europeans. We all have noted that Americans are often fat.

Our conclusion? America is largely a Protestant country. Many Protestants eat food to compensate their sexual frustration.

Ok, that is really really funny.

[Guest American Woman]

AW, our immigrants (obese or otherwise) move to the US. As an Australian once explained to me, Canada may accept more "gross" immigrants than Australia but Australia accepts more "net" immigrants. In effect, Canada's immigration system is the "primaries" of America's immigration system.

----

But AW, you raise an interesting point about obesity, and immigrants and countries. IMV, msj has started a very good thread.

I happen to admire the US Constitution, and Americans in general. I have travelled there alone, with family, with Europeans. We all have noted that Americans are often fat.

Our conclusion? America is largely a Protestant country. Protestants eat food to compensate their sexual frustration.

I almost spit out my wine laughing when I saw where your post was headed. And here I always thought it was Catholics, with their 'birth control/masturbating is a sin' type mentality that had the sexual hang-ups/frustrations.

FYI, I've noted that Canadians are often fat, too. I've noted that in the amount of time I've spent in Canada, in Canadians I've seen traveling and 'snow-birding' here, and in my encounters with Canadians in foreign countries.

People come to Canada, and then some move to the real America.

This goes along with my observation, though; they come into Canada not obese (I cited a source), they live in Canada for a time, pick up on Canada's bad health habits (again, I cited a source), and then move to the U.S. - so we get your fattened up immigrant Canadians.

Edited January 3, 2012 by American Woman

[waldo]

let's recap: in a separate thread, for some strange reason, you took personal exception to expressed personal viewpoints... viewpoints that had explicit caveats that didn't extrapolate the stated views to the greater American population at large. You carried your quite bizarre self-personalization over to this thread, showcasing a silly pretense that your supposed "personal experience" with Canadian immigrants/new citizens usurped referenced studies that clearly showed a difference between U.S. and Canadian obesity rates. I even put up an OECD graph that quite clearly shows, relatively speaking, how poorly both countries are doing in relation to other OECD countries... I emphasized how telling the graph was. And yet... and yet... you continue to take the issue personally, as a personal affront, now even taken to the point to suggest you're no longer "no. 1"!!!

now, if you've actually seen a legitimate reference to Australia's obesity rate, why not put it up instead of carrying your silliness further?

but just remember, there's always some wag out there ready to do googly battle! From a CDC 2011 National Center for Health Statistics report: you're welcome - feel free to leverage your personal experience in any manner you fell appropriate

Silliness? Personal experience and observations are now ... silly? But ... but ... they were so meaningful and relevant when pertaining to Americans! And fyi, it was the personal experience of reading the text that goes with the map that you posted a link to that informed me of Australia's obesity. Australia now world's fattest nation

yes... silliness - just how many actual Canadian immigrants do you lay claim to have met, claim to know, claim to base your, ahem, "personal viewpoint" on? But again, why do you take this (and the other threads expressed viewpoints) so personally? If you care to ask me how many Americans I've met... that I based my personal viewpoint on, quite literally, it is easily over 10,000 - easily! But... so what! It's still only my expressed personal viewpoint; one that holds little/no more significance than any other MLW member... it was an expressed personal viewpoint, with full explicit caveats that held the viewpoint to an assessment based solely on those Americans I've met/encountered. And yet... you took extreme exception to it... you personalized it! Again, why? Really, if you are that sensitive...

as for your stated reference to "text that goes with the map" from my earlier post, I've only now bothered to actually check what you were babbling about... you're drawing reference to public comments submitted against the article... public comments! And you've run with them - verbatim, unchecked! Do you actually know if the CDC comparative data was, 'age substantiated'? Do you... do you even know what it means, or you've just decided to pull it out from the article's general public comments and run with it?

of course, you've also glossed right over my earlier OECD graphic reference and as quoted above, a graphic from the 2011 CDC NCHS report... apparently these are quite inconvenient for you, hey?

in any case, about the other Australia reference you pulled directly from public comments submitted to the referenced article, I did the actual legwork you couldn't be bothered to do. That Australia obesity claim most certainly doesn't come directly from the 2008 study - here. Rather, that claim, at least from the article you've referenced/linked to, is one made by the journalist alone... again, not from the Australian study. That study draws no comparative result to any other country; it's singularly focused on Australia. Aside from that earlier linked OECD graphic, from the 2011 OECD Factbook, I'll offer up this even more current OECD comparative analysis (2009 or latest available data) - here: this comparative country analysis most certainly does not suggest Australia is now the leading nation... the graphic clearly shows which country is the one with the most obese/overweight people.

[Michael Hardner]

I love a good numbers fight !

AW has expressed an interesting theory here. My math goggles tell me that somebody should be able to determine the % of Canadians who are recent immigrants and the % of Americans, to determine if that could be a contributing factor. For example, if it's 3% for Canada and 2% for America then Canada would have a 1% immigration factor on its national BMI... or something...

As I said, I love a good numbers fight, but I must sleep now...