Why do you think that the USA's default diet is so bad for you?

[Prof_Don]

When imo many countries don't give you a detrimental health sentence by following their food norms?

If you think about it, what is the USA known for food-wise? No vegetables besides potatoes and corn and baked beans (which are smothered in sugar) come to mind.

Like I said to my sister, "you have to be a dietary maverick in this country and battle personal persecution and criticism to be healthy."

It's sad that being at being in even AVERAGE health in the USA is so rare and against the norm that you have to mentally battle ppl's put-downs, criticism, pessimism, and sabotage...

...to protect your health in this country.

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Why is America's "default" diet so damning for your health, compared to other nations in the world, whose "default" diet seems more balanced overall?

[beastman88]

people always find things to poke fun about especially the health conscious. its nobodies business but yours what you put in your body. if people want to pollute their bodies let them. people this day and age should know what they have to eat.



although in usa I would say that most people don't know how to control portion sizes. that's a really important part. most Americans are fat though because they eat until they don't feel hungry, a lot of people are emotional eaters. hunger a lot of times can also get confused with thirst, again people will eat instead of drinking water.

alot of people also drink a lot of pop drinks instead of water. this is not good all. sugar is just empty cals and will also dehydrate you further. when you think about it, in our more natural state sugar was very hard to come across a very long time ago. we had to hunt all day to find a meal. which probably involved a lot of walking and running, jogging etc.

now the way we have come to obtain food has been warped by means of fast food joints, grocerie stores and what not. so in turn to be healthy you have to fit that exercise in some how or another. who cares if you get picked on for being healthy, in the end you will probably end up living longer than them anyway.

[la_exile]

I think it started as a throw-back to an earlier time in American history. A lot of livestock and farming in the past, and hard work. So a man could eat steak, or have bacon and eggs every day. He'd work it off. That diet was necessary. I'd hear stories about my great uncles and lumberjacks eating ...a lot. High calorie stuff.

But that food evolved... and we did less and less physical activity. WW2 ended and we were very well off compared to the rest of the world. People could afford to eat whatever. And going into the 80s we developed this mentality of consumption. We stopped saving money and got fatter.

Now we've built up this food industry and it wants to continue selling is Big Macs. Corporations selling food. And it tastes good, so it's hard to go back to a normal diet when this is all we've known.

[madmisskelly]

When you think about it, the USA doesn't have a staple food. The french have cheese, Italy has pasta, etc.

The thing about a staple food is that you get REALLY good at that food. It's hand crafted, savory, and delicious.

Also, a lot of these countries, while they have their staple food in a lot of dishes, make it the center of the meal. The serving size is smaller so that while you may not be getting that much, it is still some of the best tasting pasta/cheese/fish. Its quality over quantity.

The united states is the opposite. We choose quantity over quality, which is probably why we don't have a staple food outside of our "meat and potatoes" mentality. Its more about quantity over quality. How much can we get, how fast and for how cheap. As a result, we end up with mediocre food and a lot of it anytime we want it.

The way we are raised is to grab and eat food whenever we feel like it and food is the center of all that we do. I think if we just took away the convenience part we would be okay. There are plenty of countries that use food and family as their center in celebrations and get togethers and their country doesn't have the weight problem that we do.

[jmr2191]

We do have a staple food: it's just that unlike other countries, it's called a Big Mac, you can only get it at McDonald's and it discriminates against vegetarians and vegans. Welcome to America my friend- the land of instant gratification and more calories per dollar.

[Anonymous]

Default diet? The United States just passed a universal health care bill. It is just one's assumption that it is only a matter of time until the government mandates what you can and can't eat as a result of impacts to your health. Obviously it will cost more money to have overweight and diabetes-ridden people than thin and healthy ones. This will lead to a shut down of fast-food restaurants and other food venues that won't fit into the governments healthy standards of eating.

[Opinion Owner]

Foolycooly1001, please stop down voting my answers.

[sketchy]

There's nothing wrong with a diet based on meat / dairy / cereal. The problem is that portions are too large and people don't exercise enough.

[foolycooly1001]

The longer work hours in the U.S. make fast food more popular. Subsidies encourage companies to pump out more varied junk food.