Ya wanna know if you're fat?

Get in a swimming pool, do the 'dead man's float' and expel all the air you can from your lungs.

If you sink like a stone, you're not obese, I don't care how much you weigh.

I don't know, I actually do sink like a stone and I could stand to lose 15 or 20 pounds of fat. I can't tread water either. :o

Sadly a similar Canadian map (if one existed) would be pretty much navy blue, with splotches of red, too.

A coworker of mine is from Holland and her family came for a visit, arriving this weekend. They went to various tourist things - a local festival, a local pool and waterslide, etc. - and after being here for a day or two, one of the children turned to my coworker and asked, "How come there are so many fat people here?"


And sure enough, where I used to live in Manitoba, and where I currently live in Alberta are both bright red.


I recently returned from a 1 week business trip to Rimouski, Quebec. I was amazed at the number of people using bicycles and how fit and trim everyone was. Oh sure, there was the odd fat person, but when I got back to Nova Scotia

KABLAM!!

Jeez, there sure are alot of fat people here.

More up to date map from the cdc:

http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/trend/maps/

I spent a couple weeks in Virginia and was amazed at how many morbidly obese people there were. They were everywhere and then everyone else (besides college kids and the odd minority average-sized person) was just plain ol' fat. And according to the map, Virginia isn't even as bad as the rest of the south.

I don't know why the south is so freaking fat (I'm serious, I couldn't turn a corner in VA without running into a morbidly obese person) but all I can say is nearly everything I ate in that state was some combination of fat, sugar, and simple carbs. The bbq pork was the healthiest stuff on the menu half the places I ate. I was stopped up and in a stupor for days. We finally just stopped eating out except maybe one meal a day and spent the last week eating fruit, trying to get our hearts started again.

Oh man, we didn't have any option besides this chain restaurant one day for breakfast and they had a breakfast bar. I counted something like 9 people in there who were seriously, morbidly obese, and they were all pounding down mac and cheese and grits and bacon and french toast. I was sort of freaking out. It's... unsettling to sit among a large number of people who weigh at least 400 lbs (at least, I'm not kidding) shoveling plate after plate of crap down their gullets. Uhg, I'm sorry, that sounds so mean but, my god, it was freaky.

I forgot to say salt. Everything I ate was a combo of fat, sugar, simple carbs and salt. And velveeta seemed to sneak in quite a lot too.

Fast food is a real killer! I'm Type 2 diabetic, and control my blood glucose levels with diet and exercise, plus two pills per day. Normally my wife prepares quite healthy meals, and packs my lunch. However I travel quite a bit for my job - currently I'm on a two-week trip to New Jersey (around Princeton). When one has to eat in restaurants, you have no idea what they're putting into your food.

Luckily the place where I'm working has a decent cafeteria that serves several entrees each day. I always try to make an intelligent choice. When I get home....er, back to the hotel....I check my glucose before I eat supper, and it's been running around a 125 (a little high, but I sit in front of a computer all day). Yesterday mid-morning I had to run an errand, and coming back to the plant I got stuck in traffic. It was lunchtime, and I started feeling like I needed to refuel. I stopped at a Burger King that happened to be along the way, and got a burger and fries, and a diet Coke. Yesterday evening, when I got back to the hotel, I was 185!

I agree fast food is nasty. I've been off it almost completely for the past year. I don't deny myself high fat foods, but I get BETTER ones. So instead of getting a big brick of low grade jack cheese and overeating it, I get a wedge of double Gloucester or sage derby and eat it with good como or sourdough bread. A little of the good stuff goes MUCH further than a lot of the cruddy stuff. I've also been trying eat more fruit and fish. The fish is easy here in AK, but the fruit ain't. Braeburns are about the only reliably good apple here. Softer fruit is a crap shot, with much of it in very poor condition by the time it gets here.

I don't know why the south is so freaking fat (I'm serious, I couldn't turn a corner in VA without running into a morbidly obese person) but all I can say is nearly everything I ate in that state was some combination of fat, sugar, and simple carbs. The bbq pork was the healthiest stuff on the menu half the places I ate. I was stopped up and in a stupor for days. We finally just stopped eating out except maybe one meal a day and spent the last week eating fruit, trying to get our hearts started again."You people ever hear of the ongoing cholesterol problem down here"?-- Vinnie Gambini, My Cousin Vinnie

I agree fast food is nasty. I've been off it almost completely for the past year. I don't deny myself high fat foods, but I get BETTER ones. So instead of getting a big brick of low grade jack cheese and overeating it, I get a wedge of double Gloucester or sage derby and eat it with good como or sourdough bread. A little of the good stuff goes MUCH further than a lot of the cruddy stuff. And as long as you're eating more fruit, throw some fruit on that plate, and you've got a very tasty meal.

I've also been trying eat more fruit and fish. The fish is easy here in AK, but the fruit ain't. Braeburns are about the only reliably good apple here. Softer fruit is a crap shot, with much of it in very poor condition by the time it gets here.

You want me to send ya a box of the best cherries you ever popped?

Each one looks like a tiny purple plump ass :D

I agree fast food is nasty. I've been off it almost completely for the past year. I don't deny myself high fat foods, but I get BETTER ones. So instead of getting a big brick of low grade jack cheese and overeating it, I get a wedge of double Gloucester or sage derby and eat it with good como or sourdough bread. A little of the good stuff goes MUCH further than a lot of the cruddy stuff. I've also been trying eat more fruit and fish. The fish is easy here in AK, but the fruit ain't. Braeburns are about the only reliably good apple here. Softer fruit is a crap shot, with much of it in very poor condition by the time it gets here.
Excellent suggestions. I do pretty much the same. Come south to visit us here in the PNW some summer - you can fill up on fruit like a bear. :D ;)

Excellent suggestions. I do pretty much the same. Come south to visit us here in the PNW some summer - you can fill up on fruit like a bear. :D ;)Farmer's market tomorrow. :)

I bought the last organic cherries of the season last Saturday, plus some organic blueberries. I wonder what will be on sale tomorrow?

I also WALK to the corner store (it's a 4-5minute walk a waste to start a car) - these little things add up over time.
Wow, are people seriously avoiding a 5 minute walk? :eek: I can't believe someone would take out a car for such a short distance.

Wow, are people seriously avoiding a 5 minute walk? :eek: I can't believe someone would take out a car for such a short distance.

I have seen people drive a car 500 feet from one end of a strip mall to the other to buy lunch...then drive back:rolleyes:

Aaron:)

I have seen people drive a car 500 feet from one end of a strip mall to the other to buy lunch...then drive back:rolleyes:

Aaron:)

500 feet? At the apartments where I live, the mailboxes stand alone in their own little kiosk. I've seen countless people stop their cars by the mailboxes to get mail, then get back in and drive LITERALLY 40 feet to their apartments.

I get a real kick out of the fact that this obesity epidemic has spread to Europe, Australia and Canada.

All of a sudden that holier-than-thou, America is a nation of blubberous sloths schtick gives me so much sweet schadenfreude.

Humans are conditional animals, and capitalists will find the cheapest way to addict them.