I think processed grains and sugars have the most to do with it.
It's soooo much easier and cheaper to fill up on that stuff than it is to fill up on meats and veg. The human body wasn't made to process the amount and types of junk we eat. Honestly, I'm surprised we're not bigger!
I think it depends on where you go too, for example in Montreal it caters a lot to American tourists (mostly from NY, NH, VT etc) and so that is reflected with the meals particularly in tourist areas. Same with having English menus, selling alcohol on site (rather than apporter votre vin, mean bring your own wine which is traditional for most places). When you go outside Montreal, into "real" Quebec, there is a stark difference in portion sizing, for example where I live, and outside the tourist streets of Quebec city.
If you were to go into French Canada where even the service staff cannot speak English, you will find portions a good 1/3-1/2 the size.
The places we went to (for the most part) didn't have english menus and I don't remember servers other than one place where they also didn't speak English. I can read Spanish and Italian so I was able to figure out mostly what was being served. We just pointed at menu items for at least one place. It was a fun experience though.
I can understand though that since it is a touristy city, portions might be a bit larger. They were smaller than American portions though.
Take my mother's village for example, it's really rural, riverine, there are no fast food joints or anything. The diet is heavy on fish and even heavier on starches. Yams, starch flours, plantains, rice, potatoes etc in large quantities with a side of seafood. The people are fishermen and farmers. But when my mom was little, they had manual boats and canoes that they'd actually row into the ocean to fish (don't ask).
Yeah, I saw similar things in China. White noodles, white rice, white buns, fruit, sweetened foods, etc with a side of veggies/meat. Carbs, carbs, carbs yet everyone was skinny. You did see some chunky people in Beijing where they had started to adopt fast food restaurants and more westernized food. Even then though, it was only some slight chunkiness, not obesity. Also, one of my better weight loss weeks was when I was in China eating lots of rice, noodles and sweets as well. I was pretty amazed.
Poutine is meant to be enjoyed when it's 4 am and you've been drinking and dancing all night. Or if you are a lumberjack. No middle ground allowed.
I am on team "portion control." Yes it's bad to use corn syrup and hydrogenated XYZ oils in EVERY FOOD. But I think one of the most common and prevalent mindsets is to blame The Man or basically anything except personal responsibility. People from affluent and fit backgrounds often seem to think "they" (the obese) must be hideously uneducated about food, but in fact I can't go anywhere ("mainstream" supermarket, gas station, corner store) or do anything without loud honking reminders to "eat fresh fruits and vegetables!" or "get 30 minutes of activity a day!" - and I live in a small industrial city that isn't really health-conscious. I look at people who count calories and don't change their eating habits beyond eating smaller portions and lose 200 pounds. I look at my mom, who lost and kept off 30 pounds and subsists on Hostess products, frozen pot pies and carb-laden restaurant meals. Ideal health can only be achieved through a perfect balance of everything, but a "healthy" weight does not require the perfection and expertise many people think it does.
I have major issues with the logic and conclusions of that article. It is putting the onus of the problem on society and not the individual, and where that road leads is bad news bears. The main thing obesigenic about this country is the food subsidies and dietary recommendations, not a lack of sidewalks. Stop making processed junk cheap by subsidizing grain and corn syrup, stop recommending inflammatory foods be the basis of our diet, and stop vilifying any diet that deals with tht head on.
That's a better start. I don't want to government or policy anywhere near me on this one. Being fat or not is mine to deal with, thankfully.
I think the problem is a lot more complicated than just "People don't move enough"
This, exactly. Ignoring the endocrinology side of obesity, and that it is a symptom of dysfunction, not the dysfunction, itself, is nonsensical. The same advice we have had for thirty years has done nothing but make us more fat and more sick, and while there is certainly a cultural component it relates directly to dietary choices and policy regarding them. Activity levels haven't fallen enough in the past forty years to explain the leap increase in obesity across the spectrum.
