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Get startedWhy Americans are obese, part 2
This was my second cruise, so it wasn’t quite as shocking as last time. But the frightening obesity problems everywhere has a good explanation. The fear of fat is as obvious as the enormous abundance of sugar and starch.
For starters, you are immediately offered unlimited refills of soda for six days for $6 (adults) or $4.50 (kids). And that is just the beginning…
Cake buffet
Once past the soda stations you can go for lunch. Beyond the obvious starchy fast food (fries, cheap hot dogs, ice cream and pizza) you can fortunately choose the buffet lunch with plenty of real food (meat, fish and vegetables).
But even the people choosing the buffet has a mountain of cakes and cookies to choose from. For lunch!
By the fast food
Overall the people choosing the buffet food where among the fittest on the boat. Outside, close to the pool, all the fast food, soda and ice cream you can eat were served for free. That is where the consequences of the American sugary and starchy food were most frightening.
The big mistake
Despite the abundance of pure sugar and starch, everywhere, that is not what Americans fear. Instead they are warned, for no good reason, to avoid natural fat.
For breakfast you can for example have loads of sugary cereals, even marschmallows (“Lucky Charms”). But natural whole milk you can forget. Instead you can choose from low fat, skim milk or low fat chocolate milk – with lots of added sugar!
And when you sit down at night for a nice dinner, when you actually can get GOOD and satisfying food, real food, then those who need it the most are suggested not to eat it.
Here is a menu with lots of excellent and tasty options, such as meat and fish dishes:
But check out the “healthy” options at the bottom, those that people with a weight problem may try to choose. Here we see the usual fear of fat and calories. The “healthy” options are low in fat, cholesterol and salt. But no one worries about the sugar and starch. It’s not even mentioned.
Left page, bottom:
Right page, bottom:
So what is the problem? These “healthy” options contain so few calories that the people choosing it are likely to wake up the next morning ravenously hungry, if they even make it that far. And then a ship full of free sugar and starch is waiting for them again. With the food that raises their blood sugar and the hormone insulin, our main fat storing hormone.
Americans fear fat and calories more than any other people. And during the decades that this has been going on they have became the fattest people on earth. How long will it take before everybody realize what a mistake it’s been?
Hopefully we can make it happen fairly soon.
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LCHF for beginners
That cereal was horrific!!!
Tell me about it! Even many health food stores promote those products. They think it is healthier because it is organic or natural. It is definitely worth an effort to shop around.
My kids are considered strange because they don't eat those cereals, which to me is just like candy. They get some treats on a Saturdays instead. They think you come from out of space because you don't allow your kids to eat snacks or cereal that resemble candy. Or let them drink soda instead of water.
Sure, exercise is good for you.
On the other hand, the rates of obesity has tripled i the US since the end of the 80s. As far as I know Americans already used cars twenty years ago. So that can hardly be the main explanation for the massive obesity epidemic in the last couple of decades.
If I may predict the future, you started something in the U.S the same time you entered your first cruise... The American Food Revolution started... with a low carb cruise! Make sure the media is engaged the next time. If not otherwise, someone ought to be interested in making a documentery to keep in the archives until the low carb movement is large enough in the U.S to show how it really began.
I have lost over 60 pound so far and I am heading in the right direction I love my low carb American friends(I am English) and have made some life long friends who love and respect me for the person I am. We respect not criticize each other as we all live the same struggle. I admire and envy those people who can just give up the 'bad' foods but it is not always that easy and it takes more than just that. Try think of an alcoholic trying to give up alcohol giving up food isn't always that straight forward. Yes call me weak willed as possibly I am. And to quote another poster 'sad' well I definitely am!
Your emotional problem is of course another issue, but im sure none of them is because you are weak or a sad person. :)
And to Alisa: I've also spent most of my 40 years being a carb addict. I was lucky enough not to get a serious weight problem because of enormous amounts of exercise, but that's not too healthy either. For the past 4 months I've been on LCHF and never felt better. I've also felt better emotionally, which hopefully you'll discover too. When you give your body proper nutrition, it will also effect your mind positively and help you to heal - in so many ways. All the best to you and good luck on your journey!
It certainly is not easy to avoid bad carbs in America. That is exactly the problem! So I mean absolutely no disrespect to all the people who are struggling as best they can with their weight.
The point I wanted to make is that it's important to try to make that easier for people, by not promoting low fat products while the alternative is lots of sugar and starch.
I wish you luck with changing attitudes but it maybe need to be more directed higher up, low carb is hard to convince people because of the bad press.
Change can only come from the bottom up, like a revolution usually does.
It astounds me how many doctors put their diabetic patients on insulin without so much as testing them to see if they're still making any. There's a test called the C-peptide that checks for native insulin, and all doctors ought to be using it.
It's the snobbery and the "I'm better than thou, therefor you should all be like me" attitude that gets the tree hugging label more so than what you choose to do in your personal life.
And to put it bluntly, it is governments that got us into this mess to begin with.
Governments have their function, but that function should be severely limited. It should not include butting their noses in and micro-managing people's lives.
Also, people put too much stock in said governments and it's embarrassing how much people look to them to take care of them. "But the government said..." We're all grown adults now and should not have to look to government to be the new parent.
Seriously, people, government is just a small handful of people that don't know their butt from a hole in the ground about most of the stuff they talk about. And like most people, they do things that benefit them (money, influence, power). The problem is, when people in government do these things, the ramifications are felt by millions rather than just one (and usually it's not beneficial).
So stop looking to the government to solve this for you. Take a little responsibility, a little effort, and you can make things happen in your own life. You want LCHF, then do it. Meat can be found, coconut, veggies, butter. It's not as difficult as people make it out to be. Might be a little expensive, but not difficult.
If you want to change the views, like the Doc said, you have to do it one individual at a time. Lead from the front...be an example. People will see the results and there's a good chance someone will ask you how you did it. That opens a line of dialogue that allows you to share what you have learned without shoving it down someone's throat unasked for. It also makes them more receptive to what you have to say.
They will either take it to heart or not. And if not, don't worry about it. You can't change the world, but you can create ripples in the pond.
Very true... although all those ripples might become a tsunami (for good) in the end.
Continue eating LCHF (or low carb or what you call it) and work with your sugar addiction, then it will get better.
And if you lose weight you can tell everybody you know! ;)
What's unfortunate is all the bad science and LIES out there which convince people to eat in all the crazy ways you see, really self defeating ways such as low fat and high carb. People are also led to believe that losing a lot of weight can be easy and quick, and it simply cannot. It takes times and consistency, which is why you have to find a sane way of eating. That way is LCHF, no way around it. While I believe that exercise (moderate) has its health benefits, I have personally seen that it is NOT required for weight loss. When I first did Atkins for about 6 or 8 weeks in 2003, I had a sprained shoulder/broken rib from a ski fall, and I did the program with zero exercise. The weight dropped off effortlessly because I was totally consistent with the LC diet.
The old saying "work up an appetite" is true - people who work hard eat more than those you do not work as hard. Depending upon what they eat, they may well gain more weight.
Yes I do think you can compensate bad food habits by exercise. But why excersise and keep the bad food habits? Its seems like one step forward and one step back.
By the way, America is NOT the fattest nation in the world, it is the fattest DEVELOPED nation in the world.
http://www.expatify.com/news/the-worlds-top-10-fattest-countries.html
"Since obesity rates can be an indicator of a nation’s nutritional trends, health and culture, we thought it might be useful information for the expat to know. Here are the 10 fattest countries of the last decade:
(of the population that is overweight)
(1) American Samoa, 93.5%
(2) Kiribati, 81.5%
(3) U.S.A., 66.7%
(4) Germany, 66.5%
(5) Egypt, 66%
(6) Bosnia-Herzegovina, 62.9%
(7) New Zealand, 62.7%
(8) Israel, 61.9%
(9) Croatia, 61.4%
(10) United Kingdom, 61%
So my point is that this is not simply an American problem, it is a world wide problem. By the way, poverty is one of the leading causes of obesity in America.
But when you eat a diet consisting of high amount white flour, sugar and very little fat. Chances are big that you overeat.
Unfortunately, I don't see this trend changing any time soon. The reason it is so slanted in the wrong direction is because of corporate greed. These companies that produce all the crap they call food that fills the grocery store aisles is making money hand over fist. They can produce it on the cheap and sell it for a maximum profit. They buy off politicians to keep the regulation in their favor. So, it will take a lot to turn this trend around...probably a lot of grass-roots efforts on all of us who know the truth and can afford to sway the country with the power of our purchasing dollars.
I cancelled my surgery and in 8 months have dropped 55lbs eating LCHF. I never have an issue finding something to eat when out and about...unless the only options are fast food. Yuck...never cared much for it to begin with...can't even handle the smell anymore. Weight keeps coming off at a rate of 1-3lbs every week. This summer it has slowed b/c I was eating more fruit. When I cut that out the weight flies off again.
My kids and I are much healthier and happier with a LCHF diet. Now to convince hubby!
I do agree that cruises can be a floating carb fest and many people are terribly obese and that is a sad sight. I am one of the obese, but if you see me on a cruise, I am making LC choices and getting better.
http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/lowcarb101/a/gettingstarted.htm
http://authoritynutrition.com/low-carb-diet-meal-plan-and-menu/
The low carb thing is about lower glucose levels and insulin levels.. less fat storing and longer satiety.
And for losing fat one have to be a fatburner.. then one have to eat fat, and it takes some adaptions.
Fysical adaptions is the easy part, one get side effects in the begining, but the mental change is more difficult.
Obviously, we have a major struggle in America to re-educate our patients, and the public in general. We need to get the news out about hearth-healthy fats! We have to 'undo' 30 plus years of 'fat phobia', after all. It's going to be a long time, but worth every effort. Thank you for all the splendid information! More LCHF recipes would be greatly appreciated! Good recipes are difficult to find on the web.
Brilliant website! I am constantly coming back for more education ;)
We will be starting the challenge Sunday - very excited to see how I feel after the 2-week challenge! Thank you for making this possible.