Is America Eating Unhealthily? (And Some Vegetarian Talk)

[Zantalio]

So, is America eating unhealthily? I would ask this question due to the stats on how super unhealthy Americans are eating. I mean

Overall in 2015–2018, US adults consumed an average of 4.8 junk food items daily.

This is according to the article.

Total sugar intake deriving from junk foods was 54.4 g/d (75.0% of total sugar intake), saturated fat was 14.4 g/d (48.0% of total saturated fat intake), and sodium was 1669 mg/d (45.5% of total sodium intake). Overall, sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) were the highest contributor to total sugar intake from junk foods in 2015–2018 (22.2 g/d; 41% of total sugar deriving from junk foods; Table 3). Sandwiches, burgers, and pizzas were the highest food group contributor to energy [221 kcal/d (21%)], saturated fat [4.4 g/d (31%)], and sodium intake [465 mg/d (28%)] deriving from junk foods. Collectively, confectionery, desserts, and SSBs contributed ∼75% of total sugar intake deriving from junk foods. Bread, ready-to-eat cereals, and processed meat, poultry, and fish contributed 25% of sodium intake collectively.

Also from the article.
I would say, yes, America eats unhealthily because of the above study (which by the way was taken 8-5 or 9-6 years ago from my time so it could be even worse [?]) and obesity rates. (Not saying fat people are unhealthy, but obesity causes health problems.)
I don’t think people should be forced to be a vegetarian or a vegan but it should be encouraged to eat vegetables.
(Please tell me if I’m wrong with context).

---

There’s some vegetarian talk here so I’ll say, you can be a vegetarian if you want to, but you don’t have to, because no one is asking you to.

[Paappapapa]

Yes

[The Marineri Islands]

I don't think that there is an argument to be had here. The answer is yes. Of course, it varies wildly from individual to individual, but on average, yes, America is eating unhealthily.

[Cerespasia]

If Nikocado Avocado isn't a big enough walking sign saying "YES" then I don't know what is. But to be fair, not every people in the US are obese or have health problems, though even the latter is in the monrity.

[DutchFormosa]

I'd assume it's mostly due to how cheap junk food and unhealthy is in the US, along with all the advertising that is put into it. If we were to fix the obesity problem, we could start by making healthier alternatives easier to access to the majority of the population.

[Zantalio]

I'd assume it's mostly due to how cheap junk food and unhealthy is in the US, along with all the advertising that is put into it. If we were to fix the obesity problem, we could start by making healthier alternatives easier to access to the majority of the population.

Remove the preservatives and chemicals in the food and organic food is great for health, i think.

[DutchFormosa]

I'd assume it's mostly due to how cheap junk food and unhealthy is in the US, along with all the advertising that is put into it. If we were to fix the obesity problem, we could start by making healthier alternatives easier to access to the majority of the population.

Remove the preservatives and chemicals in the food and organic food is great for health, i think.

Yeah, that works too.

[Kerwa]

Yes, but they get upset when you point it out.

[New Temecula]

I, as almost none of you care to acknowledge, am Idahoan. Thus, I am American.

I have no hate towards overweight people. They are people, just like you and I.

With that being said, there are three overweight people in my classroom. Three. Out of the thirty people in the class, 10% of them are overweight. Isn't that at all concerning?

However, I've seen average-weight people eat a BLT sammie, chicken nuggets, Caprisun, GoGurt, and instant ramen as lunch in my school.

Heck! I, a severely underweight person of 79 pounds, am guilty of this too. For breakfast on Sundays, I eat biscuits, scrambled eggs, tater tots, and sausages. For dinner, I eat three burritos and a bowl of buttered rice. Sometimes, I eat soup with the works, a King's Hawaiian roll, and ten saltine crackers. Don't ever get me started on Thanksgiving!

I am only severely underweight as a side effect of my autism medications. Yeah, I don't get it either. I am thirteen, not a pharmacist.

In conclusion, since I am qualified to speak on behalf of all of America's youth...

Yes. We are severely unhealthy eaters.

[Unmet Player]

Extremely

[Juansonia]

Suburban American here. Our food, even when it pretends to be healthy, often is shitty. Many of us exercise enough to power through, but that "one chocolate bar" becomes a lot harder to budget into the diet.

Speaking of which, isn't it weird how Americans view exercise as a routine instead of a commute?

[Zantalio]

I, as almost none of you care to acknowledge, am Idahoan. Thus, I am American.

I have no hate towards overweight people. They are people, just like you and I.

With that being said, there are three overweight people in my classroom. Three. Out of the thirty people in the class, 10% of them are overweight. Isn't that at all concerning?

However, I've seen average-weight people eat a BLT sammie, chicken nuggets, Caprisun, GoGurt, and instant ramen as lunch in my school.

Heck! I, a severely underweight person of 79 pounds, am guilty of this too. For breakfast on Sundays, I eat biscuits, scrambled eggs, tater tots, and sausages. For dinner, I eat three burritos and a bowl of buttered rice. Sometimes, I eat soup with the works, a King's Hawaiian roll, and ten saltine crackers. Don't ever get me started on Thanksgiving!

I am only severely underweight as a side effect of my autism medications. Yeah, I don't get it either. I am thirteen, not a pharmacist.

In conclusion, since I am qualified to speak on behalf of all of America's youth...

Yes. We are severely unhealthy eaters.

Maybe since your Idahoan the potatoes keep you guys healthy.
Since I am also in my youth like you, yeah they pass off processed chemical-infused pieces of “food” (or at least it was food) as school lunches.

[The Black Forrest]

Yes.

HFC is added to just about everything. My wife got gestational diabetes. We had a dilly of a time looking for things for her to eat.

Even today; I saw a news blip where HFC was being added to honey.

[Bombadil]

As some wit said, America eats as though it has free healthcare.

[Kostane]

Yes, but we should be asking how do we fix it? It’s certainly a problem that can and should be fixed. Telling people to eat less is not the solution, since often the foods that are made are designed to be addicting and have lots of fat, but not necessarily very filling. It’s not that people are eating tooo much food, but rather that their diet is not sufficiently balanced. Moreover, many live in food deserts, where the only access they have to food is a McDonald’s that will never provide them a good meal, or their local gas station grocery store. This needs to be fixed if we ever hope to promote healthier diets.

Diagnosing the problem is merely the first step. We should ask ourselves — why do Americans (and large amounts of other Western nations, though people don’t talk about those as much) have such unhealthy eating habits?

[New Temecula]

I, as almost none of you care to acknowledge, am Idahoan. Thus, I am American.

I have no hate towards overweight people. They are people, just like you and I.

With that being said, there are three overweight people in my classroom. Three. Out of the thirty people in the class, 10% of them are overweight. Isn't that at all concerning?

However, I've seen average-weight people eat a BLT sammie, chicken nuggets, Caprisun, GoGurt, and instant ramen as lunch in my school.

Heck! I, a severely underweight person of 79 pounds, am guilty of this too. For breakfast on Sundays, I eat biscuits, scrambled eggs, tater tots, and sausages. For dinner, I eat three burritos and a bowl of buttered rice. Sometimes, I eat soup with the works, a King's Hawaiian roll, and ten saltine crackers. Don't ever get me started on Thanksgiving!

I am only severely underweight as a side effect of my autism medications. Yeah, I don't get it either. I am thirteen, not a pharmacist.

In conclusion, since I am qualified to speak on behalf of all of America's youth...

Yes. We are severely unhealthy eaters.

Maybe since your Idahoan the potatoes keep you guys healthy.
Since I am also in my youth like you, yeah they pass off processed chemical-infused pieces of “food” (or at least it was food) as school lunches.

I eat them with butter, sour cream, and fiesta cheese. All microwaved for a minute and a half. Does that sound "healthy" to you?

[Saiwana]

The food corporations love or hate them, tend to know what they're doing. They don't put chemicals in food just for their amusement. It is because they tried the organic method and it either sucks or is too expensive. Using the chemical, it is a trade off to make the end product more as expected or desirable and thus more profitable at the supermarkets.

There are tons of vegetarians in my experience who're obese. Well, it's usually because they don't eat just green produce, to make up for all the protein they're missing from rejecting meat, they're gorging on junk like Oreos or pastries and pasta. Humans are supposed to be omnivores at the end of the day.

[The Xenopolis Confederation]

The food corporations love or hate them, tend to know what they're doing. They don't put chemicals in food just for their amusement. It is because they tried the organic method and it either sucks or is too expensive. Using the chemical, it is a trade off to make the end product more as expected or desirable and thus more profitable at the supermarkets.

There are tons of vegetarians in my experience who're obese. Well, it's usually because they don't eat just green produce, to make up for all the protein they're missing from rejecting meat, they're gorging on junk like Oreos or pastries and pasta. Humans are supposed to be omnivores at the end of the day.

Vegans are significantly less likely to be obese than omnivores.

[Urine Town]

Yes, but we should be asking how do we fix it? It’s certainly a problem that can and should be fixed. Telling people to eat less is not the solution, since often the foods that are made are designed to be addicting and have lots of fat, but not necessarily very filling. It’s not that people are eating tooo much food, but rather that their diet is not sufficiently balanced. Moreover, many live in food deserts, where the only access they have to food is a McDonald’s that will never provide them a good meal, or their local gas station grocery store. This needs to be fixed if we ever hope to promote healthier diets.

Diagnosing the problem is merely the first step. We should ask ourselves — why do Americans (and large amounts of other Western nations, though people don’t talk about those as much) have such unhealthy eating habits?

Well said. Some problems are much more simple to fix, such as raising the minimum wage, but partisan bicker, primarily from one side of the aisle, has prevented change.

This is not one of those problems.

Food corporations are shitty for using cheap, fake ingredients making their products addictive while shrinking the amount of food so customers pay more for less food. Grocery stores are shitty for refusing to provide accessible healthy food to lower income regions of America. And sometimes it’s our own damn fault for choosing McDonald’s over a salad because we like the taste

[Soviet Haaregrad]

If Nikocado Avocado isn't a big enough walking sign saying "YES" then I don't know what is. But to be fair, not every people in the US are obese or have health problems, though even the latter is in the monrity.

I'm pretty sure he's what's referred to as an outlier.

[Inner Albania]

Most definitely.

[Kingdom Of faizan]

I've noticed more and more Americans (Anecdotal) are more aware of the dangers of junk and fast food, and hence avoid it. I personally hope the people raising the younger generation of Americans(Millenials and some Gen X) pay extra attention to their kid's health and learn from their mistakes.

[Emotional Support Crocodile]

Think of it as a large store of hydrocarbons for when the oil runs out.

[Ethel mermania]

With a big Mac meal being 20 dollars, and 5 guys being 25, Americans are going to start eating better whether we want to or not

[Saiwana]

With a big Mac meal being 20 dollars, and 5 guys being 25, Americans are going to start eating better whether we want to or not

Heh, weren't people telling me the other week here that I was lying when I was saying that McDonald's was too expensive now and that a Big Mac was $18? Perhaps it's only one location in Connecticut but the trend stands that it's going up everywhere. Five Guys in my experience has always been expensive even before the inflation but isn't even that good.

How do those places expect to survive if for what they want to charge, there are better options for sit down eating? People may as well buy the burger ingredients and cook it at home.

The cost of payroll is surely to blame for the price hikes beyond just the cost of materials and rent going up as well. If labor costs are the most expensive factor for any business, that is surely where it makes the most sense to automate and eliminate expense if wanting to compete on price. It should not pay much just for a person to flip a burger or do janitor work. You shouldn't tip at a fast food place neither, it was reserved for people that bring you your food/drink at a proper table and atmosphere but it's perhaps time to do away with tipping altogether if it's a hassle everywhere instead of just dining industry.