Maybe this is why food makes us here in the USA make us fat

[TruckDriver]

This is very interesting. Maybe this is why food makes us here in the USA make us fat. Just look at all the ingredients illegal to use in food in other counties that are deemed safe in the USA by the FDA. In France, deep fried foods are a main diet staple, and yet most French are thin with no or little exercise.

http://www.seattleorganicrestaurants.com/vegan-whole-food/foods-banned-in-other-countries-but-we-eat-in-us.php

[HPP]

Yeah, and the Swiss eat cheese likes it going out of style. Many Europeans also have twice the number of vacation days they utiize as well.

Stress is a bigger problem with our diets than some of the ingredients we ingest.

[Brock Lee]

It is all about the amount of caloric intake minus the calories burned through the day. I honestly evaluated my calorie burn every day and ended up eating maybe half of what I was used to. I did lose weight, but I couldn't even go out to eat often as 75% of the dishes served at any of these sit down restaurants started at a full daily serving and went up from there.

When friends would come in from Europe, we would go out to eat and they would almost always comment the portion was much larger than what they were used to. Large amounts of food are now part of the American lifestyle. We don't even notice it.

[el dub]

You get fat from overeating and not exercising. Its simple. But there is money to be made.

[TruckDriver]

You get fat from overeating and not exercising. Its simple. But there is money to be made.

Not really true, I lost over 200 pounds with NO exercising at all. I was forced to do it as a kid, I now absolutely HATE exercising. I also know people in their 70's that never did it and are just as healthy as can be even though they are over weight. I think a lot of it is the size of servings here and the overall calorie intake. Watch all the cooking shows where they go over seas and look at all the deep fried foods they eat, and they never get fat.

[Mike DC]

                              
After spending a few days or weeks in some other countries, I'm convinced the food supply in the USA is at least helping to make us fat.  Multiple reasons add up to that feeling.  


I also think individual genetic differences are WAY more important than we understand today.  In another 30 years we will be shaking our heads at these "Do XXXX exercise, eat the YYYY diet, and you will lose ZZZZ pounds" recommendations. 

It's like saying "spend XXXX time working out, for YYYY amont of time, and you will be able to lift ZZZZ pounds - guaranteed!"  When it's in these terms we understand that there is too much variation between individuals to expect results to be that consistent.   

[MoParJW]

                             
I also think individual genetic differences are WAY more important than we understand today.     

For example: according to a recent study here in the Netherlands, offspring of people who suffered from starvation during the 1944 ''hunger winter'' are more likely to develop overweight or obese (among other things).

[Chad L. Magee]

I see that it is from an organic food site who has a stake in turning people away from "regular" foods to buy their products.  They do not like pesticides, hormones, etc. because of the damage that it can potentially do, yet never consider that they are needed to be able to feed the modern world that we live in in mass quantities.  We are already too urbanized to be able to do only organic farming and be able to sustain the population that we have.   

I looked at the website that was mentioned above (I gave it a chance), but could not get over how inaccurate some of the chemical terms were.  For example, on number nine (Arsenic), they do not cover in detail that there is inorganic and organic arsenic.  Both forms have arsenic in them, but one is fairly toxic to the body and the other is not nearly as much.  There was a study done (released on the Dr. OZ show) a few years ago on apple juice with inorganic arsenic in it. So, the FDA did this as a reply:

http://blogs.fda.gov/fdavoice/index.php/tag/organic-and-inorganic-arsenic/ 

On the formaldehyde section, they call it methanol, but it is not methanol.  The correct term is methanal (the -al part signifies aldehyde functional group).  Big difference in chemical properties.  They may be right on some of the substances in our foods, but I cannot stomach how they are off on some of the terms.  Yes, I know (picky, picky).... 


Side note:

When someone makes a batch of grain alcohol (ethanol), there is always a few mL of methanol that forms with it.  It can be removed by distilling the solution and pulling off the first fraction that comes off the column (nearly pure methanol).  Methanol is commonly referred to as wood alcohol and takes two teaspoons to kill you should you ever drink it.  It becomes formaldehyde upon oxidation within the body.  However, it does not stop there, as it becomes oxidized into formic acid (same thing in ant bites).  It goes to your retinas first (making you go blind), then kidneys (making you drop dead).

[el dub]

I see that it is from an organic food site who has a stake in turning people away from "regular" foods to buy their products.  They do not like pesticides, hormones, etc. because of the damage that it can potentially do, yet never consider that they are needed to be able to feed the modern world that we live in in mass quantities.  We are already too urbanized to be able to do only organic farming and be able to sustain the population that we have.   

I looked at the website that was mentioned above (I gave it a chance), but could not get over how inaccurate some of the chemical terms were.  For example, on number nine (Arsenic), they do not cover in detail that there is inorganic and organic arsenic.  Both forms have arsenic in them, but one is fairly toxic to the body and the other is not nearly as much.  There was a study done (released on the Dr. OZ show) a few years ago on apple juice with inorganic arsenic in it. So, the FDA did this as a reply:

http://blogs.fda.gov/fdavoice/index.php/tag/organic-and-inorganic-arsenic/ 

On the formaldehyde section, they call it methanol, but it is not methanol.  The correct term is methanal (the -al part signifies aldehyde functional group).  Big difference in chemical properties.  They may be right on some of the substances in our foods, but I cannot stomach how they are off on some of the terms.  Yes, I know (picky, picky).... 


Side note:

When someone makes a batch of grain alcohol (ethanol), there is always a few mL of methanol that forms with it.  It can be removed by distilling the solution and pulling off the first fraction that comes off the column (nearly pure methanol).  Methanol is commonly referred to as wood alcohol and takes two teaspoons to kill you should you ever drink it.  It becomes formaldehyde upon oxidation within the body.  However, it does not stop there, as it becomes oxidized into formic acid (same thing in ant bites).  It goes to your retinas first (making you go blind), then kidneys (making you drop dead).

    Good info, thanks. Goes to show the old adage is true.  Don't believe everything you read.

[Chad L. Magee]

El Dub - Thanks for the input.  I try to teach the concept of chemical accuracy in my chemistry classes.  Someday, a few of them may become medical doctors and pharmacists, so chemical accuracy is an important topic to learn....

After thinking about it a bit, my  ....

Another thing I thought I would mention is that many of these organic food organizations equate natural is = to safe (or pure).  That is not always the case.  You can have natural things that are quite toxic to humans in certain concentrations.  Castor beans can be used to extract a very potent poison as an example (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricin).  A similar thing occurs with peach pits that contain small forms of cyanide (http://www.drgourmet.com/askdrgourmet/peachpits.shtml).  The list of natural poisons is quite long.  [One of my hobbies as a kid was to learn all about natural and synthetic poisons as I was leaning towards a career in toxicology at one time.] 

The problem that I have with their train of thought is that they tend to think that all "synthetic" chemicals are bad, which is not the case.  It depends upon how the chemical is being used.  I can generate water as a byproduct of a Schiff Base condensation reaction during research projects.  Water can be a deadly chemical if it is used wrong, like trying to drink 5 gallons of it at one time (death by dilution of body minerals) or drinking only the deionized form for a long period (death by loss of mineral salts).  Oxygen gas can be made synthetically and can be deadly if used wrong (hint: never smoke around a pure oxygen tank).  Hydrogen cyanide (made in situ) is toxic to humans, but also has a good use in manufacturing other chemicals that we use every day.  It is all in how it is being used that makes a difference in what they do.  Technology in identifying how chemicals act (in vivo, within the living body) is constantly changing and improving.  Sometimes it takes years on the market before a bad trait of a chemical shows up in a way that can be identified within a living human body.  Once it does, then the way it is being used can be adapted to a safer method or a safer chemical if possible.  In some ways, life is a gamble with chemicals, not everyone wins....

[Lennard]

                             
After spending a few days or weeks in some other countries, I'm convinced the food supply in the USA is at least helping to make us fat.  Multiple reasons add up to that feeling.  

This is true...I moved to the u.s.a. in 2007 and continued eating and living the way I did in the Netherlands and I gained twenty pounds within the first few months. I used to eat half a loaf of bread in N.L per day and did the same thing here...until someone told me that the bread here is full of preservatives and suchs to keep it "soft and fresh" for more than a week. In the N.L. if you leave the bread bag open, the bread will be hard and crusty within an hour.

[Mike DC]

                       
Same here.  Every time I go to Europe I eat/exercise at least as badly if not worse than at home, just because of the nature of traveling.  I still manage to come home a couple pounds thinner. 


We really need some research into what the hell is going on with our food supply. 

It probably wouldn't take too long to figure out the worst offenders - IF we could ever get a large scale unbiased effort.   

[polywideblock]

don't your manufacturers have to list ALL ingredients /additives on the pack ,if not they should .its law here

                        http://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/_Documents/consumer_pdf/Foodlabelling_brochure.pdf

[Chad L. Magee]

don't your manufacturers have to list ALL ingredients /additives on the pack ,if not they should .its law here

                        http://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/_Documents/consumer_pdf/Foodlabelling_brochure.pdf

Yes and no is the answer to your question....

Yes, they have to list major ingredients per FDA rules, but not always every single one....

Many times, chemical preservatives are simply listed as "preservatives" and not by their chemical name.  Same thing for some coloring agents, synthetic sweeteners and artificial flavors.  It really depends on how much is used in making the food product.

[Tilar]

Any kind of store bought bread is the worst thing you can stick in your stomach. Wheat is about useless as tits on a bull, it's so full of crap nowadays that there is very little food value in it anymore...nothing but filler.

[JB400]

It's not really the food itself, but the lifestyle here in the U.S. that makes us fat.

[Beav]

**Disclaimer... I'm not nearly enough "up" on the subject, however...**

I saw a documentary recently about the chemical companies and their process of "genetic engineering."  Stunning, to say the least!!!

The food crops have been "altered" in a way that they now actually produce their own insecticide, thus no need to spray them.  Any insects that feed on these plants die....    and those products are brought to market for our consumption.

Paul Stamets is onto something.... (26 minutes long, but quite interesting... or just google & read about him.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAw_Zzge49c

I bet that the corporate chemical companies are begging for his patent (perhaps in the BILLIONS range,) so that the formula could be locked away never to be put into action.

I only hope that he doesn't sell out, but his ideas go mainstream.

"We" are killing ourselves.... Alzheimers / dementia will soon overtake cancer as the worlds leading disease.  Every wonder why? 

Wheat was "modified" in '56, and hasn't been healthy since.

Greed for the almighty dollar...

Beav

[Mike DC]

It's not really the food itself, but the lifestyle here in the U.S. that makes us fat.

That's what I used to think.  Not now.  There are other places full of thinner people who don't live so much better than we do.   

Yeah we have plenty of lazy over-eaters here.  But we also have plenty of other people who do regular exercise.  I have never seen any other place with as much exercising in public on a nice day as the USA.  Not even close.  Same with the big number of (occupied) gyms here too. 

Some Americans regularly exercise but don't ever get very thin, even after they have improved their conditioning.  You just don't see much of that in other places.  It's pretty normal to see that here.   



American habits are surely part of the problem for many people here.  But I am convinced the food supply or some other factor is doing part of the job too. 

[Bob T]

Thanks for your input Chad, hoping you would chime in.
Also, genetics, excercise and portion control ( quantity consumed ) have a lot to do with it.
Consider any worldwide population that has a high fat, high sugar, high salt, convenience food availability and the high incidence of obesity, heart problems, diabetes and general ill health coupled with a sedentary lifestyle and the problem gets bigger. Pacific Islands and UAE are two places that come to mind straight away.

I also think a lot of it is about self discipline, i.e. when a few kilos are put on, do something about it instead of waiting for next year or next year when the xxxl trackpants are the only ones that fit. A friend of mine had been majorly overweight for years and did nothing, now at early 50's she has diabetes and is on dialysis which is terrible for her and her family. The ball has been in her court for years and she still did nothing. Really dissapointed about how her life is now.

TruckDriver, check out a doco called "The  World According To Monsanto" for additives to crops etc.

[Old Moparz]

Don't forget that food is also a for profit business. A lot of what you shove in your face is actually designed to be addictive, then marketed to the masses. It's not always about "caring for humanity" or "feeding the hungry" because the CEO & the shareholders don't give a rat's ass.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-11-02/fatty-foods-addictive-as-cocaine-in-growing-body-of-science