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Old 04-04-2012, 12:01 PM   #1  
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Default Regional differences in weight norms/attitudes?

I am in upstate New York, specifically the Capital Region. I think here is a pretty accurate cross-section of America - it seems of the people I see, a little under a third are obese, most are somewhat overweight but not by too much, and with people my age, fewer are overweight but still many are.

I've never gotten the "oh god eat more" talk from anyone my age - it is becoming fashionable and mainstream to care about nutrition and eat fresh/local/whole food. Still, most people in the region aren't too concerned and the most successful businesses here are chain restaurants and BBQ joints.

Talking to friends in other areas of the country/other countries, I hear a lot about how EVERYONE in the Midwest is very overweight, and how in LA it's fashionable to be waifish vs. slim but solid. What's your take on your area and what have you noticed on your travels? The only time I've left the Northeast US in the past 5 years was when I visited relatives in a very affluent part of Michigan, where I noticed very few people were heavy.
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Old 04-04-2012, 12:10 PM   #2  
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I live in Quebec, right on the border of upstate NY-> being overweight is not common and it is quite unacceptable. It's very much French culture in that sense. Same when I lived in BC. It is quite noticeable when I travel in the United States, even Seattle which would be one of the 'thinner' regions.
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Old 04-04-2012, 12:21 PM   #3  
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Everyone where I live is thin! But when I travel to the midwest, I am thin by comparison. My company has an office out there and I get to go maybe once a year. It always surprises me to suddenly be on the thinner side...
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Old 04-04-2012, 12:33 PM   #4  
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I live in the Midwest (grew up in the South) and yes, the Midwest is a lot heavier. AND it seems more acceptable. I've seen people wearing clothing that lets it all hang out - LITERALLY - and its okay. At size 14 I don't like wearing sleeveless, backless or tucked in but the Midwesterners do not care. Its the norm to point that there are stores that make backless, strapless, cut outs, microminis in sizes 18 and way upward. I'm not knocking the plus sizers, I used to be one of them, but in no other area of the country I've visited / lived in have I seen being overweight / obese done quite like this.

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Old 04-04-2012, 12:45 PM   #5  
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I live in the dc area. It varies a lot by socio economic status the most. The wealthy are thin. The poor are overweight an by a lot. The middle class is thin to mildly overweight. My weight made me stick out (middle class with most of our friends intellectual PhDs, not the rich business sector). I was always the heaviest. Now I'm the norm for my age.
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Old 04-04-2012, 12:56 PM   #6  
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I live in Quebec too, close to montreal, and being overweight for a girl my age is seen as being lazy, not classy (/trashy), neglectful or being poor.

Most people, even older one, are thin ! Mid-BMI range.

Overweight kid ? I see about one per year. And I JUDGE, and everybody judge. If your kid is overweight, you are a neglectful parent.

Being lightly overweight can be somewhat acceptable, but being obese ? Don't even think about it !

I went to Prince Edward Island on a summer vacation with my parents a few years ago: we were camping really far from the city. In the city, everybody was thin and fashionable. The farther you are from the city, people get fatter and fatter.
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Old 04-04-2012, 01:06 PM   #7  
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I remember when I went to the united states for the first time (granted, it was Texas and Louisiana) I wanted to cry after just a week. I came home completely stunned by the way people ate and moved around.

What I observed:
- SO MANY fastfood chains. In the Netherlands there's fast food too, obviously, but it's more of a treat to go eat fastfood with the family. Like a silly fun thing you don't do too often. Unless you went out all night and need to cure a hangover.
- Everything is done by car. If you'd want to ride a bike to places you'd get yourself killed. There's even drive through banks (WHAT?). And when you are at Walmart and Staples is on the other side of the road you can no way get there safely walking. Here a lot of people use public transport, or we walk. But most of all we go by bike everywhere. That is a very typical Dutch thing, I know. Our country is very flat, and very small. A lot of stuff you can do by bike if it's in your own town/city. But still, the lack of transportation other than by car was just wowing me.
- That fast-food is cheaper than buying whole foods/fresh healthy foods. How are families with children and not a lot of time, nor a lot knowledge of nutrition going to ever make the right foodchoices? Oh and let me add to that that the portion sizes everywhere I've been in the US are twice as big as here. What we consider XL here is probably a medium portion in The US.
- A lot of overweight/obese people. In the Netherlands people are tall and thin. ( am short with my 5"4.5') - Though admitting, we get more big fastfood chains here and more candy in schools and people are getting bigger and bigger. But not like in the US/Texas yet.
- Everything has corn syrup/sugar in it. The bread just made me cry after a week. I eventually found french bread, because all the other bread had a sweet taste to it. That is not how bread is suppose to be! lol.
- The most baffling thing in the world to me was going the movies and and the lady asked if I wanted butter with my popcorn. I had no clue what that meant, but appearantly it's normal to throw like 2 tablespoons of melted butter over your popcorn?

I don't mean to sound judgemental, but that visit just really freaked me out. I wasn't as health-concious as I am now but even back then I was so weirded out by a lot of things. I've been to New York City/Washington since then and it's different thankfully, you can walk places. Even some cyclists. And you can buy relatively healthy sandwiches. Though it is harder than here still, but maybe that's because as a visitor I didn't know the way to the good places. I LOVE china town though. That is like the best place on earth. I was there every day for lunch. Hihi.


As for other countries, I've been in the Middle East quite a lot and for longer periods, the food there is really healthy but a lot of women are overweight still. That's because a lot of them do stay home with the kids and the entire extended family and the most important part of their culture is eating and offering food to others to be hospitable. They also have SO MUCH sugar in their coffee and tea. Oh and they are pretty good with making sweets like baklava and such.

Here in the Netherlands it's the complete opposite, the majority of the people eat because they need fuel. Our most common dinner is boiled potato, a piece of beef or pork and some veggies. Nothing fancy. A slice of bread with a slice of gouda cheese in the middle for lunch (no toppings, no sauces no nothing) and some oats for breakfast. We spent the least time of all the Europeans in the kitchen preparing dinner. My dad's wife is Norwegian and they care way more for their food and have some pretty nice staples.

So yeh. My two cents. It is all just culture, unfortunately the biggest export (culture wise) of the US is Hollywood. And all the brands that are promoted in Hollywood find their way to Europe. Such as subway, starbucks, McD, KFC and whatnot. It's becoming more popular in Europe too. So the increased amount of overweight people will follow I am pretty sure.

Last edited by philana; 04-04-2012 at 01:26 PM.
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Old 04-04-2012, 01:11 PM   #8  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Magalo View Post
I live in Quebec too, close to montreal, and being overweight for a girl my age is seen as being lazy, not classy (/trashy), neglectful or being poor.

Most people, even older one, are thin ! Mid-BMI range.

Overweight kid ? I see about one per year. And I JUDGE, and everybody judge. If your kid is overweight, you are a neglectful parent.

Being lightly overweight can be somewhat acceptable, but being obese ? Don't even think about it !

I went to Prince Edward Island on a summer vacation with my parents a few years ago: we were camping really far from the city. In the city, everybody was thin and fashionable. The farther you are from the city, people get fatter and fatter.
By the way, this sounds exactly like the Netherlands! The way that people look at overweight folks. If you are a female past 40 it's okay to carry a few extra pounds, and men over 40 can have their beer belly. But nothing more than that.
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Old 04-04-2012, 01:35 PM   #9  
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Lifelong Texan here. I live in a VERY rural area, and I can honestly say that probably a majority of people in my town are overweight or obese. Health is not a priority.
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Old 04-04-2012, 01:49 PM   #10  
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philana - don't forget PANCAKES <3

One thing I'd like to point out is that "the gym" is hugely popular in America vs. other countries - sure, most developed countries have them, but I'd say the average French, Japanese or Saudi person probably doesn't have a Planet Fitness membership. I'm one of the only folks I know who has never belonged to a gym.

And the whole "driving everywhere" thing truly stinks, but our infrastructure and culture discourage it pretty badly, especially for women. I live in a walkable city, but due to laziness and the discomfort of being stared at/catcalled while walking as a female at any time of day, I often end up driving wherever I'm going. Sometimes I really, really miss walking everywhere and being peacefully left alone like I could in Japan.
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Old 04-04-2012, 01:52 PM   #11  
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I grew up in the midwest and thin people were certainly the exception and not the norm.....When I moved to the East Coast it was the exact opposite. I was shocked to find that the masses actually put effort into being fit and healthy.
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Old 04-04-2012, 01:55 PM   #12  
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I live in SW Ohio which some consider the mid-west. We are kinda stuck between the east and the west. I prefer Ohio Valley

Many people here are overweight to obese. Luckily, I feel that my city is in a transition period when it comes to health. We have the state's oldest continuously operated public market, Findlay Market, where business has boomed in the past few years. Community gardens are opening in the urban core everywhere you look. We are in the process of remodeling a large part as well as building a new one downtown. Bike lanes are popping up everywhere. Locally owned restaurants seem to be opening at a faster pace than fast food joints.

I don't feel that overweight people are treated with the same disrespect here that they may be treated with in various other parts of the country and world.
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Old 04-04-2012, 02:04 PM   #13  
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To get places by walking / public transportation, I really have to plan because a lot of the streets don't have proper sidewalks. Add to it that Detroit is the motor capital of the world so its infrastructure was designed to force people to buy cars. To be a city of this size, its a shame that we don't have a lightrail, subway etc.

At any rate, when its warm and I don't have a lot to purchase I do walk to the stores in my area (I live in the suburbs) but to be honest, its moreso because gas is so high and not as much about being healthy.

I also notice the differences in attitudes in the city vs. the burbs. There are fast food joints all over the place in Detroit, both the national chains and the mom and pop chains, the coney island chains etc. There are NO whole food stores in the city - no Kroger, no A&P, no nothing. In order to go to a good grocery store you have to go to the suburbs and if you don't have a car, then you can take a bus BUT the city has a different bus system than the suburbs so it will take you a couple hours and multiple buses to get there and back. Its a crying shame. Literally, a crying shame.
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Old 04-04-2012, 02:06 PM   #14  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Magalo View Post
I live in Quebec too, close to montreal, and being overweight for a girl my age is seen as being lazy, not classy (/trashy), neglectful or being poor.

Most people, even older one, are thin ! Mid-BMI range.

Overweight kid ? I see about one per year. And I JUDGE, and everybody judge. If your kid is overweight, you are a neglectful parent.

Being lightly overweight can be somewhat acceptable, but being obese ? Don't even think about it !

I went to Prince Edward Island on a summer vacation with my parents a few years ago: we were camping really far from the city. In the city, everybody was thin and fashionable. The farther you are from the city, people get fatter and fatter.
Now that I think of it, I have not seen 1 overweight/obese chidl since I moved here, 1 year ago.
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Old 04-04-2012, 02:18 PM   #15  
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I grew up during the 80's in the Midwest. Up until fifth grade, we had one overweight kid in our entire class (I became the second one in sixth grade). I'm guessing it doesn't look like that anymore.

I've been here in Vegas for five years now, and if anything, I notice more obese people here than where I grew up. Maybe I wasn't doing as much people watching back in the day? But I really try not to be conscious of it.
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