XD I never said all of the ppl are 400+ but seeing a person that was that morbidly obese in the course of a day or even a few was not unusual while I was there.
That just seems odd to me as an American. I was curious if there were any statistics and I found something from Howard University Medical center that said 50,000 Americans had a BMI of 50 or above, that would be someone who is 5'5 and weighed 300 lbs. I didn't see anything for higher BMIs though.
Although that isn't a great number, it is still a fairly low percentage.
There are so many more "truthful" things that can be done.
Like sweeteners - anything under 5 calories a serving can be counted as zero calories. So, that teaspoon of splenda ins not really zero calories.
And Yes, definitely seeing the calorie count, even though its an estimation, is still HUGELY helpful because sometimes you can't tell by the ingredient list.
Though, you might be surprised at people. One time I was standing in a long line at Chipotle. It was the first (and only time) I had been there. I was so happy for the calorie count. The family near us all had their menus too. The mom said, "Oh, I think I'm going to get this. That isn't so bad." The dad and teenaged son said they were going to get something else. She looked it up and informed them that it was over 1200 calories. The dad was like, "I don't care how many calories it has. I want it." And that's what he ordered. So, you have to want to care too.
With that said though, a few weeks back I had a really horrible dental visit. On the way out I decided I wanted to get msyelf a shamrock shake. That would be my lunch. I had every intention of getting the large. Then I saw the calorie count. After I saw that, I got the small - which was my lunch for the day, but I was SURE hungry come dinner, but was glad I knew I hadn't gone over for the day despite the sweet small shake that cost me over 400 calories. if the calorie count wasn't listed? I would have totally gotten the large and been in denial as to the real damage. Denial is HUGE
After being in Italy, I'd have to say yes. Granted, I'm over weight, but I usually feel normal to small compared with the people I see on a day to day basis, but I felt like an overweight elephant there. The only people who were even slightly overweight were at least 65, and even they weren't that big. It was embarassing. And yet I couldn't barely eat a 2 course meal, while they were regularily eating 3, 4, & 5 courses. I guess the difference is processed food, so I'm trying to cut a lot of it from my diet.
Last edited by MonteCristo; 03-28-2013 at 04:26 PM.
Coming from outside the US, where slim/healthy is the norm.... I believe it. Once you step over that border, you can see right away that weight is a different kind of "normal".
My parents hate seeing calories and the like on menus - it offends their red-blooded raised-by-Depression-era-parents American sensibilities or something. In New York state it goes by county - I live in a county that doesn't print calories on menus, but if I cross the river they're all there.
In NYC the soda ban issue is also probably an issue because the people drinking all that soda tend to be low-income and probably dependent on state welfare programs - NY state has more Medicaid spending than any other to my knowledge and we can't afford it. But still, all the money poured into studies and time exerted in bill writing and all that re: soda ban...there are totally worse and more urgent things to focus on.
See, I was just in Europe this summer at the seaside and I was shocked at the number of overweight children and women and even men. At my 175-180, I was AVERAGE there whereas when I have been there in the past, I would have been very large.
They are driving more, walking less and eating more processed foods.
I have been to these same places 4 times before and never saw obese children. This time I saw MANY.... totally shocking.
Croatian coast - full of Croats, Italians, Germans, Austrians, Slovenes, etc.
