(no subject)

[tinyjo]

According to New Scientist, 60% of American adults are obese! And apparently, high carb/sugar foods could be addictive according to some researchers. It must be difficult to define addiction to food, I would have thought, because no-one can give it up (or at least, no-one survives withdrawal).

Comments

ho ho.

[jinty]

Food is necessary to life, but sugar and foodstuffs high in carbohydrates (ie complex sugars) are not. And yes, I think it could be said that sugar is addictive -- what about that sugar rush/sugar buzz people get? If not physically addictive, it would at least be psychologically so...

and... not at all surprised that 60% of USAians count as obese.

Re: ho ho.

[applez.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Most Americans fail to realise they are generally overweight because there are so many, the standard has shifted to heavier latitudes. In that way, the morbidly obese are seen as merely 'obese' and the obese as merely 'fat.'

The most readily available objective testament is seat sizes. Airlines are scrambling to expand from the formerly acceptable 16-18 inch width to the demanded 21 inches. This is also seen with West End theatre seats, and the recent BBC article on their size expansion.

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I think one of the crimes of nutrition in the US is the adding of sugars and carbs to foods that really don't need any of them, even as fruit and other healthier snacks are available as never before. Incidentally, the Japanese are as bad, but they don't have the twin problem of ever-growing serving sizes. 'Supersize it' indeed. I remember, for example, that the current 'small' beverage container size for the Burger King used to be the rare 'supersize.' Combine that with the standard practice of offering the greater size for 'just $0.XY more' - and the result is entirely predictable. Also, proper sit-down restaurants have followed a similiar serving-size inflation.

Oh, since I'm on the topic, it's sadly funny that one can't even find a 'small' size in most coffee express places. The very word, let alone the concept, has been utterly banished.