Seaver

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1770

I know a lot of people will say it's because they are simply doing what we do and somehow it's our fault. Personally I smiled when I read this, everytime I travelled out of country people (ESPECIALLY the French) would tell me how all Americans are fat and lazy. I would simply ask them if they considered me fat and/or lazy, when they say no I would try to discuss them that every country has fat people (they never want to listen).

What do yall think? Will this trend change the stereotype or do you think it will even matter?

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"Smite the rocks with the rod of knowledge, and fountains of unstinted wealth will gush forth." - Ashbel Smith as he laid the first cornerstone of the University of Texas

Cynthetiq

I have been watching the Icelanders get bigger and fatter over the past 6 years of me visiting there. The convenience foods have become more prolific and more fattening i.e. hot dogs, were plain, then had bacon wrapped around them, then had cheese, then were deep fried, and now have potato salad in the buns.

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Ustwo

You know I can accept fat as an insult from the French, America still tips the scales there, but lazy? The French should not be calling ANYONE lazy. The only nation that, in trying to fight their unemployment problem made it illegal to work hard.

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Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host

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cyrnel

See? We can still innovate.

Once again the French follow our lead.

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Fast food is the antichrist.
---

__________________
There are a vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent. The propaganda that inundates them is effective when unchallenged, but much of it goes only skin deep. If they can be brought to raise questions and apply their decent instincts and basic intelligence, many people quickly escape the confines of the doctrinal system and are willing to do something to help others who are really suffering and oppressed." -Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, p. 195

kurty[B]

I think the waistlines of Western society are growing in general. America just started the trend. I still think for a years to come we are going to be considered the fatties of the world.

cyrnel

See? We can still innovate.

Once again the French follow our lead.

---
Fast food is the antichrist.
---

__________________
There are a vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent. The propaganda that inundates them is effective when unchallenged, but much of it goes only skin deep. If they can be brought to raise questions and apply their decent instincts and basic intelligence, many people quickly escape the confines of the doctrinal system and are willing to do something to help others who are really suffering and oppressed." -Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, p. 195

politicophile

As with any other nation, France has its share of fat people. There is certainly a perception, even among Americans, that Americans are fatter than most other nationalities. But we aren't out of the ordinary in this regard compared to other, ahem, *developed* nations.

I've heard the traditional Ethiopian diet melts the fat right off...

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Ustwo

Last time I was in Washinton D.C. I had a traditional Ethiopian meal, and I have to say, if I had to eat that all the time it would indeed make one thin. Ugh.

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Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host

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Elphaba

I so love your posts.

newtx

God bless America. Land of the fat and free. Glad to see France waking up and smelling the roses.

politicophile

Very nice of you to say, Pen. I enjoy your posts as well!

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The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error. ~John Stuart Mill, On Liberty

Toaster126

Quoted for truth.

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SaltPork

Don't worry people, the French will surrender that title soon...it's what they do.

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It was like that when I got here....I swear.

politicophile

Perhaps. Although, as we all know, the French are able to win wars... provided both sides are French. Perhaps the surrender-prone thin French will be defeated by the surrender-prone fat French? Only time will reveal the exciting conclusion of France's battle with obesity.

__________________
The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error. ~John Stuart Mill, On Liberty

Ch'i

This trend is not a good one.

Toaster126

Oh, and I really think this will have zero impact on the idea of fat Americans.

__________________
"The question isn't who is going to let me, it's who is going to stop me." (Ayn Rand)
"The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers." (M. Scott Peck)

KungFuGuy

the world is going to get eaten up by fat people.

the french are incredibly lazy. my friend studying over there says that the county is heading into economic trouble because it's such a serious problem.

as for them getting fat. I think its just because they are humans too. Humans always seem to opt for the easier of two choices, and between healthy food and fast food, its pretty obvious which one is easier.

Baraka_Guru

"Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind."
-Albert Einstein

Or, maybe:
"Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the obesity of humankind."

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Sage

That... sounds... AMAZING!

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hiredgun

Maybe expanding waistlines can finally heal the political rift between the US and its European allies. I suggest training an army of obese Westerners who can be rapidly deployed anywhere in the world in order to eat the terrorists (and those who harbor them).

Ustwo

I always thought Euros stayed thin by chain smoking.

Does this mean they are smoking less or are they fat now and still smoking?

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Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host

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Baraka_Guru

The usual line is that Europeans tend to walk more than North Americans. I think with the French specifically, if they can walk somewhere in less than 30 minutes, they tend to leave the car at home.

Another factor is portion size. I believe Americans invented the idea of "super size." It looks like they've exported it with everything else. The hook is simple economics. Consider the following:

Let's say you can large-size your meal of a hamburger, small fries, and small Coke. I don't go to McDonald's often, so I don't know the usual cost, but let's say it costs about half the combined price of a small fries and Coke to make them into large sizes (we'll say $1.50). Simple economics will tell you that this is an incredible deal.

However, you've just paid them $1.50 to add 500 calories to your meal (which is equal to nearly 3 cups of Basmati rice, by the way).

A good deal shouldn't dictate how much you eat.

Here's another interesting comparison:
Hamburger, large fries, large Coke: 1130 calories
Cuban-style black beans and rice for a family of three: 1080 calories

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Seaver

It's 39 cents to supersize... even a better deal.

__________________
"Smite the rocks with the rod of knowledge, and fountains of unstinted wealth will gush forth." - Ashbel Smith as he laid the first cornerstone of the University of Texas

Ustwo

I was making a bit of a joke there

I know why people are fat.

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Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host

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Painted

Most Europeans don't even have cars. Usually they bike, walk, or ride a motorcycle/scooter/moped. At least that's how they did it last time I was in France, maybe now it's suffering from more urban sprawl (yech! housing developments on the Seine?) which brings with it Mac Donalds and minivans.

777

It's not Supersize any more. They stopped that after the documentry of the same name (Supersize Me). You just go large

Personally, I'm sick of all the burgar joint's idea of french frys. I just get my burgar and my water bottle, and I'm good.

Personally, we need healthier fast food, like Yoshinoya A beef and rice bowl with green tea and chicken soup, yumm.

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"I don't know that I ever wanted greatness, on its own. It seems rather like wanting to be an engineer, rather than wanting to design something - or wanting to be a writer, rather than wanting to write. It should be a by-product, not a thing in itself. Otherwise, it's just an ego trip."

Roger Zelazny

The_Dunedan

Well, I can't speak for France, but here in Prague a good way to spot foreigners and short-haulers ( especially Americans and Brits ) is to check out their waistlines, especially for women. You never see Czech women who are more than slightly overweight that aren't at least 40-ish, and the 300lb+ Rotundimus Maximii which to badly overpopulate the US are virtually unknown here. Neither sex here inclines to fatness, despite having US-brand fast food all over the place and a local cuisine that seems to regard salt, gravy, cream, and dumplings as each having their own Food Group.

And I would have to say that walking prolly has a lot to do with it. Praguers walk anywhere they can't take a subway or trolly to; only abut 15-20% of the population owns a car.

little_tippler

It's so funny some of the statements made in this thread. The french are like this the french say the americans are like that...my favourite was that most europeans don't have cars. Next you're going to say that european women don't shave their armpits, right?

I don't think of americans as fat. I know there is an obesity problem supposedly going on, but I'd say it's more a western civilization problem than american. But of course, because fast food is an american concept, of course that's where most of the attention is focused on. I also don't think of the french as lazy. I've known plenty of hardworking french people. But I know the USA and France have an ongoing spat so this thread doesn't surprise me...

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Whether we write or speak or do but look
We are ever unapparent. What we are
Cannot be transfused into word or book.
Our soul from us is infinitely far.
However much we give our thoughts the will
To be our soul and gesture it abroad,
Our hearts are incommunicable still.
In what we show ourselves we are ignored.
The abyss from soul to soul cannot be bridged
By any skill of thought or trick of seeming.
Unto our very selves we are abridged
When we would utter to our thought our being.
We are our dreams of ourselves, souls by gleams,
And each to each other dreams of others' dreams.

Fernando Pessoa, 1918

Charlatan

It isn't just in the west.

There is a proliferation of fast food in Asia. The waistlines of Japan, Korea, Singapore, etc. are all expanding.

And they still have supersize in Singapore... they just call it "upsize".

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ubertuber

Besides, if there was any truth to the thing about walking and not having cars, NY might be the skinniest city in the US and LA the fattest. And I would have lost weight since I moved here.

Instead we're number 8 out of 25 and I'm a big dude.

__________________
Cogito ergo spud -- I think, therefore I yam

hiredgun

Charlatan has a good point. Obesity (and particularly diabetes) are fast-growing problems in India as well.

Ustwo

Its not walking, its too much food in the pie hole. Walking doesn't burn that much energy.

I don't walk anywhere, I get little exercise currently, but I'm not fat, I just don't eat as much as I used to.

Once I get my ass back to the gym I will increase what I'm eating again to match.

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Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host

Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps.

roachboy

it's the kind of food you eat as much or more than quantity.

this from my experience at least: i used to weight about 250 pounds more than i do now---to loose much of the weight, i just stopped eating processed food altogether and changed my relation to alcohol. i didnt immediately start biking--that came later. so if my experience is any guide, you can loose quite alot of weight simply by changing the kind of food you eat, and eliminating processed food seems to be a big part of that.

i made little adjustment in quantity, and retained my affection for ice cream.

i eat almost exclusively locally grown, largely oraganic food now---strangely, the emphasis on small production systems, diversified crops and no particular emphasis on chemical fertilizers has been a significant aspect of french agricultural organization. there is a supermarket-oriented mass production sector, but unlike in the states, it operates alongside the more locally oriented types of production--it has not replaced them. you could look at the movement in the states organized around csa's etc. as a return to what amounts to the french model.

feel free to call that model something else if your reaction to the word france tracks that of ustwo or seaver above, based on nothing beyond post 9/11/2001 propaganda from the bush people, during that glorious phase when the administration tried to argue that the problem with its case for war with iraq was france and not the case itself. by now, no sane person still believes that line of horseshit, but somehow the anti-france attitudes persist. maybe they are fun for some folk on the extreme right on their own. i cant figure out who would either know or care about such things.

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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear

it make you sick.

-kamau brathwaite

Ustwo

FOR CHRISTS SAKE GIVE IT A REST.

Some day your glorious communist revolution will come again and your kind can see another 100 million killed off, until then could you please leave your crap like this to the politics board?

If you keep this up I'm going to think you want a date with me.

__________________
Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host

Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps.

roachboy

that is the first time you actually made me laugh.




don't worry ustwo: you're not my type.
sorry.
dont take it personally.
it's not you, it's me.

__________________
a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear

it make you sick.

-kamau brathwaite

ubertuber

Speaking of keeping things on the politics board, let's keep the over-reacting there as well.

__________________
Cogito ergo spud -- I think, therefore I yam

Elphaba

I would suggest that it doesn't belong there either.

Baraka_Guru

Actually both are factors. By conservative estimates, I burn over 350 calories a day by walking. That's equal to a 45-minute session of high-impact aerobics.

For a reference point: one cup of Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby is worth 350 calories.

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Ustwo

350 calories is not a lot, which is my point about walking. Thats not even a hamburgers worth. I think its slightly less than one can of pepsi.

This is why you will go to the gym, and see the same fat person on the treadmill day after day, just as fat each and every time you see them.

If I had to rank whats important it would be food intake, then muscle mass, than aerobics exercise. Aerobics are great for health but not so great for losing weight.

My wife was one of those women who couldn't lose weight after a baby, etc etc. She did the gym, no luck, she counted calories, better but SLOW. She did weight lifting and now shes a able to go bare midriff without an issue.

My guess, and I haven't been to europe in a long time, is that the american portion size which started in the early 80's, has leaked over to europe. Its an economic model for restaurants. They make more selling bigger portions. The prep time is only slightly increased, but since people are getting a big meal they are more willing to pay $15.00 for pasta or whatever. This is only a guess, it could also be a snack food thing, another bane of the obese, or both.

I'm old enough to remember 'doggie bags' which were those small bags meant to take your scant leftovers home, now you need something about 1/2 the size of a cake box if you want to not over eat.

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Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host

Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps.

Baraka_Guru

350 calories is about 15% of the caloric intake of a healthful diet (of 2500 calories/day). I'd say that's enough to consider it an important factor. And this is excluding other exercise I may do during the week. This is what I burn daily when I walk to and from work. And no one should be eating hamburgers and drinking Pepsi everyday.

You don't know what these people are eating. You don't know their average metabolic rate. You don't know their genetic makeup. You might be appalled. Used properly, treadmills burn calories... including fat.

I know exactly what you mean. The best way to burn fat is a combination of weights and aerobic exercise. I've done this myself with amazing results. But walking the amount I do still burns an extra 350 calories daily (which is equal to 3 pounds of fat (or potential fat) per month).

I congratulate your wife on her health and fitness success. Many women don't get it when it comes to the weight training and fat loss connection.

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot