Why are calorie-counting Americans fatter than Europeans who do not care about calories!?

Question

I am wondering why Americans (who are obsessed with counting calories, fat intake, etc) are fatter than people in European countries, such as Italy, France, Serbia (where I'm from), Romania, etc, who do not give a d**n about calories or fat intake? From personal experience, most of their products DO NOT even include nutritional facts! I personally believe its in the genes and in the American food that makes Americans fat. Let me know what you think.

Answer 1

Americans are doing nothing wrong when it comes to counting calories, but they are not good at reading the other important aspect of a healthy diet. EXERCISE!!! Most nutrition labels are based on a 2000-Calorie diet, meaning that a person must get enough exercise to burn off 2 million calories per day. (Remember: 1 Calorie = 1,000 calories) Europeans pretty much walk everywhere they go (to work, to a subway station to get to work, or maybe even bike). However, what do Americans do? Yes. They have automobiles, which is not only a waste of gasoline but also a waste of the calories they eat. Ultimately, Americans must learn that the calorie-counting they do only works provided they accept the condition that they burn the number of calories that is advised.

Answer 2

Steroids in the meats.

Answer 3

This is a really complicated issue, with no easy explanation.

It's not the genes. All white Americans are descended from Europeans. There are some nationalities that are genetically predisposed to obesity (mainly Pacific Islanders who evolved on a meager diet) but the vast majority of obese Americans are either white, black, or Hispanic.

A lot of it has to do with portion sizes. Portion sizes have been getting bigger and bigger, and studies show that the more food in front of you, the more food you will eat. A lot of Americans seem to think that it's better to have more food, and are disappointed by restaurant meals that don't leave them feeling overly stuffed. It's even worse at buffets, where people feel like they need to "get their money's worth" by eating as much as humanly possible.

Also, most Americans do not look at nutrition facts, and if they do, chances are they don't understand it. A 20 oz bottle of soda may say it has 150 calories, but that is for an 8 oz serving. And people might think something is healthy because it is low fat (candy is fat free) or low carb (bacon has no carbs). All of this really comes down to scientific illiteracy.

I think the biggest factor, though, is fast food, especially for the poor. This is one of the only places in the world where the poorest people are overweight. You can get a reasonably sized meal at McDonalds or Taco Bell for about $3. With high grocery prices, as well as time limitations due to working multiple jobs, or being a single mother of several children, fast food seems like a better option.

The people who are obsessed with calorie counts and fat intake are either not overweight, or are overweight but trying to lose weight. In our culture people want results fast, and people who are overweight tend toward faster diets with severe calorie restrictions. They can't stick with it, and they end up gaining the weight back and then some. They don't have the patience to make gradual healthy changes to their lifestyle.

If you can, I recommend watching the movie Supersize Me, where the filmmaker eats nothing but McDonalds for a month to see what happens, as well as expose fast food for what it really is.

Answer 4

Many of the "calorie-counters" have not been counting calories their whole life. Most people do it to loose weight.

Answer 5

The obesity epidemic that started in America is now spreading to other countries.  It has little to do with dieting or calory-counting.  It has a lot to do with affluence.

In the next 5 to 10 years, you'll be seeing a lot of fat Germans, Chinese, and Australians.

Answer 6

There is a book called Why French Women Don't Get Fat that explains some of the reasons Americans are fatter than Europeans.  Americans don't relax and dine, they eat fast food on the run.  When you don't take time to enjoy food and prepare 'interesting' food, you aren't as satisfied and you tend to eat more.  We eat in our cars and on the run.  We eat frozen already prepared meals because we are in a hurry.  In France, people take two hr. lunches and enjoy their food slowly with friends.  Another thing that seems to help Europeans is that they drink wine with meals which keeps their cholesterol lower.   My husband pointed out that so many poor people in the U.S. are fat. His thinking was if they are so poor, why are they are so fat?   I think it's because they don't get that much enjoyment out of life so they eat a lot  and they eat things like KFC (fried chicken) with potatoes and gravy and lots of fattening fast food or pizza, and lots of processed cheese on things like macaroni and cheese.All the fast food restaurants care about is making the food taste good, not the nutritional value or calories and fat content. The less money you have in the U.S., the more likely you are to eat poor quality fast food which is loaded with fat. It's not like a lot of people can afford to go to an expensive restaurant where they prepare food in a healthy way, but Americans eat out a lot anyway because they are always in a hurry to get somewhere, so they end up eating a lot of junk. We don't exercise enough either.  People don't walk or ride bikes places, they drive.  Probably a majority of people spend the day in their cars or at a desk.  We have to make a special effort and go to a gym to get exercise instead of walking as a means of transportation .