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I spend a lot of time thinking about obesity in america. It boggles my mind, that if you were to grab 2 random american dudes my height, one would weigh at least 45lbs more than me. The other would weigh 20-40lb more than me. Its not as if I'm a twig, i wear a size 32!

Does anyone else watch these climbing statistics with a inward sense of Schadenfreude? An adult who isn't carrying a spare tire is becoming a rare sight in the united states. The comparative attractiveness of a person who practices self discipline goes up, which has cascading beneficial effects in life. The higher the stats get, the more schadenfreude I feel.

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A few summers back I spent a month in Florida at my aunt's place. I was buying broccoli and kale at the local supermarket with my cousins when we heard this landwhale couple behind us barely trying to contain their disgust. "Is that broccoli? Disgusting! And what is that??" After we paid for the stuff we couldn't stop laughing all the way to the parking lot. True story.

...in 2030 42% of Americans will be obese. lol.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/05/unless-we-shape-up-42-of-us-will-be-obese-within-20-years/256823/

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Posted · Hidden by fobsquad, May 13, 2012 - mybad
Hidden by fobsquad, May 13, 2012 - mybad

cheddar-garlic-biscuits2.jpg

when i was a fat and poor kid, my mom would stash these red lobster cheddar bay biscuits in her purse whenever i asked her to.

i love you mom.

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If you ever go to mississippi, I'm sure you'd go hulk status.

I lived in Mississippi for over 20 years, and I don't feel bad saying that the vast major of obese people in the state are the ones below (and near) the poverty line. I'm not sure the 2012 stats, but I know over 30% of the state is obese and over 20% lives below the national poverty line.... the connection cannot be ignored.

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i fucking hate seafood but will always willingly go to red lobster for those biscuits. they are fucking amazing.

this dude i know who worked at red lobster (city unnamed) told me that he used to jack off in the cheddar bay biscuits because he hated his manager. i will never touch those biscuits at any red lobster.

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income/education level most definitely play a huge role, still doesn't stop me being disgusted though. In Australia all processed foods have a tax on them, while fresh potentially more healthy food isn't taxed which perhaps undermine the income relationship in Australia anyway.

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Imma call shenanigans on that story. what'd the dude whip his dick out in the middle of the kitchen and no one noticed?

he told me he did it in the walk-in cooler at the beginning of the shift before most of the employees showed up.

regardless, i would never eat a biscuit he made.

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Whats everyone's favorite explanation of the obesity epidemic in america?

I'm a big fan of the lowered cost of food due to industrialized production, ie GMO/Monsanto style large scale, high yield production of a few staple crops (corn, soy, proteins). I'm a time scale of 100 years, not the last decade. Source: http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2008/08/over-100-years-food-prices-have-fallen.html

There may have been a time where mass produced food as we see it today was economically nonviable. The cost of labor and food prices made it so. Raising chickens and a vegetable garden may have historically been the cheapest options, in addition to the healthiest (if 'healthiest' even has meaning in the 1800's). Today, running a garden or chicken coop is a sign that you have the leisure time and space (ie wealth) to do so.

Ok, so now that people can afford to eat themselves into the grave, why do they? I believe the answer to why lies in an emergent property of cheap food combined with capitalism. My favorite explanation is by David Kessler - so called hyperpalatable foods. it has been shown that there is a optimum combination of sugar, fat and salt which creates the most pleasure. This is why foods at large successful chains are distinctly "restaurant-y". All dishes undergo a development cycle where they are tweaked to pack the most palatable punch - every facet of a snickers bar (peanut size, moisture content, salt level, viscosity of caramel, etc) is tightly controlled, tested and optimized to the most delicious point possible. HFCS is not the culprit, only the cheapest means to the optimum sugar/fat/salt ratio.

http://www.amazon.com/The-End-Overeating-Insatiable-American/dp/1605297852

There you have it. cheap, hyperpalatable food.

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Whats everyone's favorite explanation of the obesity epidemic in america?

I'm a big fan of the lowered cost of food due to industrialized production, ie GMO/Monsanto style large scale, high yield production of a few staple crops (corn, soy, proteins). I'm a time scale of 100 years, not the last decade. Source: http://mjperry.blogs...ave-fallen.html

There may have been a time where mass produced food as we see it today was economically nonviable. The cost of labor and food prices made it so. Raising chickens and a vegetable garden may have historically been the cheapest options, in addition to the healthiest (if 'healthiest' even has meaning in the 1800's). Today, running a garden or chicken coop is a sign that you have the leisure time and space (ie wealth) to do so.

Ok, so now that people can afford to eat themselves into the grave, why do they? I believe the answer to why lies in an emergent property of cheap food combined with capitalism. My favorite explanation is by David Kessler - so called hyperpalatable foods. it has been shown that there is a optimum combination of sugar, fat and salt which creates the most pleasure. This is why foods at large successful chains are distinctly "restaurant-y". All dishes undergo a development cycle where they are tweaked to pack the most palatable punch - every facet of a snickers bar (peanut size, moisture content, salt level, viscosity of caramel, etc) is tightly controlled, tested and optimized to the most delicious point possible. HFCS is not the culprit, only the cheapest means to the optimum sugar/fat/salt ratio.

http://www.amazon.co...n/dp/1605297852

There you have it. cheap, hyperpalatable food.

HBO has been showing a new documentary called "The Weight of the Nation" which discusses some of the stuff above.

Def worth checking out.

http://theweightofthenation.hbo.com/

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HBO has been showing a new documentary called "The Weight of the Nation" which discusses some of the stuff above.

Def worth checking out.

http://theweightofthenation.hbo.com/

this documentary has been getting a TON of press..will definitely have to watch. was worried that there would be no way i could watch for free, but surprise surprise it looks like I can.

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HBO is even gracious enough to put it on youtube. hbo's hosting blows for my shitty connection

Edited by TTM
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A few summers back I spent a month in Florida at my aunt's place.

People hate on Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, etc... but the Florida panhandle is a special kind of white trash. You have to experience it to really understand.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Whats everyone's favorite explanation of the obesity epidemic in america?

I'm a big fan of the lowered cost of food due to industrialized production, ie GMO/Monsanto style large scale, high yield production of a few staple crops (corn, soy, proteins). I'm a time scale of 100 years, not the last decade. Source: http://mjperry.blogs...ave-fallen.html

There may have been a time where mass produced food as we see it today was economically nonviable. The cost of labor and food prices made it so. Raising chickens and a vegetable garden may have historically been the cheapest options, in addition to the healthiest (if 'healthiest' even has meaning in the 1800's). Today, running a garden or chicken coop is a sign that you have the leisure time and space (ie wealth) to do so.

Ok, so now that people can afford to eat themselves into the grave, why do they? I believe the answer to why lies in an emergent property of cheap food combined with capitalism. My favorite explanation is by David Kessler - so called hyperpalatable foods. it has been shown that there is a optimum combination of sugar, fat and salt which creates the most pleasure. This is why foods at large successful chains are distinctly "restaurant-y". All dishes undergo a development cycle where they are tweaked to pack the most palatable punch - every facet of a snickers bar (peanut size, moisture content, salt level, viscosity of caramel, etc) is tightly controlled, tested and optimized to the most delicious point possible. HFCS is not the culprit, only the cheapest means to the optimum sugar/fat/salt ratio.

http://www.amazon.co...n/dp/1605297852

There you have it. cheap, hyperpalatable food.

I agree with this. Also it's not like fast food/junk is cheaper than preparing meals yourself... it's just easily accessible and convenient for most.

On another note

cXAGs.png

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I agree with this. Also it's not like fast food/junk is cheaper than preparing meals yourself... it's just easily accessible and convenient for most.

On another note

cXAGs.png

what in fuck's name.....

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IMG_0418.jpg

This woman I snapped a pic of on the train is:

a) looking for something in her bags

B) looking at something she stepped on

c) falling asleep

The answer is c!! It's a medical condition called the Pickwickian syndrome and its main component is obstructive sleep apnea (osa). At night the musculature around our throat naturally relax as part of falling asleep. That's no problem for normal sized people. For obese people the fat tissue around the throat begins to compress the windpipe without the support of tight muscles and air is actually blocked from entering the lungs. They never fully wake up, but wake up enough to start breathing again. It's a subtle form of sleep disturbance but over the course of an entire night it really adds up. The result is in the morning despite sleeping for 8 hours the obese person with OSA is dead tired...all the time! And the only position that allows good sleep is the sitting position where the fat doesn't compress the airway -- so whenever they are sitting up, they fall asleep, like sitting on a couch or driving a car. (a major cause of falling asleep at the wheel)

This woman was literally on the edge of falling off her ass. She dozed off and as she got deeper and deeper in her sleep, she kept falling farther and farther forward. God it was a sight to see, we were all staring to see if she'd fall off completely. Lucky for her she didn't. And that my friends is all thanks to mcdonalds

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just watched this on netflix last night... holy shit.

http://wildandwonderfulwhites.com/

yoo, watch White Lightnin if you haven't/when you get a chance -- it's based off of Jesco White, and shit's hella intense. I mean, the ~cinematography~ is fucking great and if you've got the slightest christian guilt, certain scenes with the 'old style FM radio evangelical preachers' yelling in the background about the end is near will give you nightmares for days on end. Either way, it's worth a watch, and it's on netflix!

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  • 7 months later...

Its amazing how attractive fast food workers are outside of the US.

Really late response to this but...

The summer I graduated high school my band toured the country, when I stopped at a Dairy Queen in Utah all of the workers were twenty something year old women that looked like volleyball players and were in perfect shape... some were even sweeping the floor

So they exist, just in some twilight zone area of Utah

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