Obesity - Does economy play a role?

[Optimus Prime]

My parents just got back from a three week vacation to various parts of Europe, and one of the things they said they noticed is that there aren't nearly as many obese people in Europe as in North America. Another thing the mentioned is how expensive everything is, food included. Example, two bottles of water and three gourmet cookies would cost about $3.00 Canadian roughly, my Dad was telling me how over there it cost him $16.00 Canadian (after conversion) to buy the exact same thing.

In restaurants, meals that would cost $20 here cost upwards of $45 over there (And apparently, at least in England, the food isn't that good either). Not only that, cost of living is higher there, (A lawyer here lives better than a lawyer making the same income over there). So basically, disposable income is far less available than it is here. So does that mean people don't have as much money to spend on food as we do?

Makes you think, does economy play that large of a role in obesity?

 

[Jakut]

Well i live in Estonia >_> And i think everything dosnt cost here as much as it does in the UK but we have smaller income XD And i dont really think that economy matters when it comes to obesity >_> Just eat either less or dont always add oil to everything or eat fast food >_>

 

[Optimus Prime]

Well i live in Estonia >_> And i think everything dosnt cost here as much as it does in the UK but we have smaller income XD And i dont really think that economy matters when it comes to obesity >_> Just eat either less or dont always add oil to everything or eat fast food >_>

My point was that people don't have as much money to SPEND on fast food, which is more expensive to begin with.

 

[[S]]

Not only that the size of the food matters OP i remember being in france and everything seemed smaller there foodwise atleast to me.

 

[Jakut]

Funny thing, most people i know that are obese actually really hate fastfood and never eat it >_> It's the fatty homecooking that gets em. So Economy dosnt really matter, since it's just everyday home meals >_>

 

[Mogwai]

Obese people are a simple fix, get rid of the dollar menu in america, and we won't have a problem.

Seriously, think about it, which is cheaper 2 dollar double cheese burgers, or 1 healthy cooked meal?

 

[DragonDude]

I would say that it certainly does.

However, some other things I noticed when I was in Europe (I stayed in Greece for about a month a few years ago, so I speak only from that limited experience) was that quantities of food are much less. You walk into a grocery store and all of the food containers are much smaller, yet are priced the same or higher than their American counterparts.

Sugar content in foods is also seemed to be much lower. Little local nonsense snack foods like cookies tasted bland to me, having an American palette. Westerners, one could argue, are terribly addicted to sugar.

Much less use of automobiles in most European countries (certainly Greece, atleast) leads to much more walking and biking to travel from place to place. This certainly has an effect as well.

 

[Skiwan]

heh, english food is good

But yeah, i think economy has a big role in obesity, if people with less self control have a plethora bargin priced fatty foods, whats gonna stop them? I know this because its the same with me, when im hungry and i go to the shop for something to eat, if I see something fatty/greasy/unhealthy in a large quantity and its cheaper than something healthy, i know what choice im gonna make(most of the time). Its also about whats on offer in most places where you live, i dunno what american convenience stores are like, but here the selection is quite limited.

 

[Fire Phoenix]

I think it also matters on metabolism and what kind of food they eat. But how much they eat also plays a role.

 

[Pieter Paul Rubens]

Well, as said before, our quantities are far less and we hardly eat as fat as americans etc.. But, it's an allknown fact that this american foodculture is spreading over to europe at a very fast rate.. Soon we'll have king-sized meals too, and vegetables floating in a sause of fat..

I wouldn't really blame economy, I'd rather blame culture..

 

[ace005]

hmm...Depend where your parents went..I used to live in Romania, and nothing was so expensive. But North Americans are obese because of all these fast-foods : taco Bell, Wendys, Arby's ETC, Mcdonalds being the only one i think in all europe. Some americans got to fast-food restaurants very often, maybe once a day in some families, and those fast-food meals are VERY VERY VERY fatning

 

[clen]

hmm...Depend where your parents went..I used to live in Romania, and nothing was so expensive. But North Americans are obese because of all these fast-foods : taco Bell, Wendys, Arby's ETC, Mcdonalds being the only one i think in all europe. Some americans got to fast-food restaurants very often, maybe once a day in some families, and those fast-food meals are VERY VERY VERY fatning

>:O Tacos aren't fast food, just in the U.S./Canada
Man I love my metabolism, I eat all I want and sometimes I lose weight.
Anywho it could really be depending on what they can afford if food is cheap why not eat a lot of it right?

 

[MC]

It's not just fast food, it's a large number of factors that play into obesity. You can eat fast food and not become obese, to due so would require you to burn more calories than you consume or burn a fair amount if you wish to maintain your weight.

 

[Sicron]

I do think economy does play a role yes. Our economy these days in the Netherlands isn't what you would call...good. Since we changed to the Euro the economy went downwards, only now to slowly regain its strength. But it does mean that we have less money while everything is getting twice as expensive here. But even though everything costs a lot more here, we do eat alot of junkfood sometimes, but for some reason we are not nearly as obese as most americans.

 

[Jariroth]

hmmm...lack of exercise could also be the reason for obesity not only the cheap food:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthews/273052/

 

[Kurt`]

The only fat person I know is from California, so I can't really tell. o_o

 

[Devion]

It's not really the economy, as the economy has in Europe and US has high and low points, but people stay fat.
Also some European have the same kind of wellfare rate as the US or even better and some worse.

America the land of fast food, MacDonalds, Burger King, KFC on almost every corner, while we got maybe 1 in every medium/big city.

The fact that Europe is more expensive to live is because of the limited amount of space left to build on, which raises the prices on houses and land.
This year alone dutch houses rose 7 percent in value, which is insane.

Furthermore most (North/Western)-European countries have excellent/good health care like Sweden, Holland, Norway, Belgium, Germany etc. which also raises the cost to live here.

My last theory is that obesity is more accepted in America then in Europe. TBH I still go "what the hell", when I see a (insane)obese person.

I do think economy does play a role yes. Our economy these days in the Netherlands isn't what you would call...good. Since we changed to the Euro the economy went downwards, only now to slowly regain its strength. But it does mean that we have less money while everything is getting twice as expensive here. But even though everything costs a lot more here, we do eat alot of junkfood sometimes, but for some reason we are not nearly as obese as most americans.

Sicron, no offense dude, but we got one of the best(And by far the most healthiest) economy in the world. Only the region know in dutch as Vlaanderen, the dutch part of Belgium has a more healthier economy and is the wealthiest region in the world.(Excluding states as Monaco, Andorra, Liechtenstein etc)

The only thing the Euro did in certain sectors is almost double the price, but thats not only because of the Euro, but the high inflation rates in those years. The Euro is being blamed for this, but we can only blame ourselves for asking for higher wages and the economy overheating in the 90's.

 

[jp]

Well, as said before, our quantities are far less and we hardly eat as fat as americans etc.. But, it's an allknown fact that this american foodculture is spreading over to europe at a very fast rate.. Soon we'll have king-sized meals too, and vegetables floating in a sause of fat..

I wouldn't really blame economy, I'd rather blame culture..

I agree with that, economy has nothing to do with it really, economy does allow us to buy fresh veggies, and all, its just the way of preparing that ruins it and makes it unhealthy.

And that has to do with culture.

A piece of meat isn't unhealthy, if you prepare it in a good way, but if you go the mc donalds style with all the sauces and ****, then you got a wrong bite.

 

[Devion]

And that has to do with culture.

Word.

omgwtftenchars.

 

[ZeroNightmare]

My point was that people don't have as much money to SPEND on fast food, which is more expensive to begin with.

fat ass people are the reason for obescity

its simple, stop eating.

edit, didnt mean to quote