# Why is America so fat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 15, 2019, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-america-so-fat/832583 "2019-04-15T16:59:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-america-so-fat/832583/41 "2019-04-16T01:43:51Z")
What’s the proportion of macronutrients Americans eat vs other developed countries? I noticed something while fasting: A few hours after eating, I would get a sensation that compelled me to eat but if I held, it would eventually transform into real hunger after about a day. So what was the sensation I got after a few hours? Probably low blood sugar. Consuming a lot of carbs, especially sugar, makes blood sugar spike which makes insulin spike which lowers blood sugar too low, which then can compel to eat more carbs and so on; you get an amplifying yo-yo movement of blood sugar levels. Sugar can be somewhat like a drug in that it’s soothing and pleasurable to have it, especially in refined form, and can create withdrawal. You may also need increased doses to maintain the same effect; If you’re used to sugar, you can gulp down a lot of sugary soda but if not, the same amount would sicken you. So I’m guessing it’s mainly carb, especially sugar, consumption but I’m having a difficult time finding a study that breaks down caloric intake by macronutrient when comparing the US to another country. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-america-so-fat/832583/42 "2019-04-16T01:46:41Z")
> [@pohjonen](#): > > If fat shaming did anything positive, no one would be fat past the second grade. Obviously, people aren’t doing it right. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-america-so-fat/832583/43 "2019-04-16T01:48:24Z")
> [@Wallaby](#): > > I also think there is an attitude that ‘eating’ is something to do. > > ‘Lets go out and have a bite to eat’. > ‘Let’s get a coffee’. > ‘Let’s go for a drive in the country, see the forests, ansd stop somewhere for something to eat’. > > It’s become a habit, rather than a necessity. Hasn’t that always been the case, though? People have been going to dinner and a movie or dinner and a play for decades. Movie theaters started selling concessions in the 1930’s. A Sunday drive with a stop for ice cream was a tradition for some families. And people have invited each other out for coffee since the first café, the difference there being that “coffee” usually meant an 8 oz. cup with sugar, and possibly cream (66 calories for both), not a 20 oz. double chocolate frappuccino (520 calories). Similarly, movie theater popcorn in the Thirties meant a small bag (220 calories), not a large bucket (1,030 calories). ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-america-so-fat/832583/44 "2019-04-16T02:39:10Z")
Echoing most of the comments here. In sum: - Everyone (mostly) has enough money to buy food. Even our poor people are fat, and no-one is starving to death (unless they choose). - Unhealthy, calorie-rich food is ubiquitous and cheap. Healthy, nutrient-rich food is harder to get and more expensive. - Portion sizes at restaurants are determined based on what makes sense from a business perspective (profit), and not from a health perspective (healthy). It’s quantity over quality, because that is how business operates. And, - Food lobbies are powerful. Say anything or try to pass laws restricting bad things and try to promote good things, and you will soon be confronted by lawyers. These lobbies exist to further the interests of their said product (sugar, beef, etc.) and to ensure no one does or says anything that may hurt that product. Examples: Oprah vs the Beef industry, efforts to rid schools of soda and candy machines, school lunch programs influenced by various lobbies. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-america-so-fat/832583/45 "2019-04-16T03:05:14Z")
I think our dependence on cars is a huge factor. Over 70% of Americans live in suburbs or rural areas. [This article](https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2017/10/03/americans-commuting-choices-5-major-takeaways-from-2016-census-data/) says 76% of commuters drive alone, and another 9% carpool. That’s 85% of commuters who are dependent on cars. And presumably, most of those people use cars for almost all their non-commuting trips as well (grocery shopping, taking kids to school, etc). I can’t find a country-by-country comparison for this, but [this (PDF)](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/661933/tsgb-2017-report-summaries.pdf) says 62% of all “trips” in UK are by car. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-america-so-fat/832583/46 "2019-04-16T03:06:59Z")
> [@guestchaz](#): > > dang it, hit post to soon, lost the train of thought, missed the edit window too. We are from the same tribe. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-america-so-fat/832583/47 "2019-04-16T04:25:25Z")
I hardly think that toning down the fat shaming caused people to be obese. It stands to reason that being fat needs to be the standard before it becomes normalized enough to be accepted. I mean like, we didn’t put “Mike & Molly” on the air and then Americans all became fat. Rather we were all fat enough as a society by 2010 to warrant being comfortable with seeing two fat people in love on prime time tv. I’m going with the points others have made: - Extra sugar in foods - Low costs of unhealthy foods - Lack of exercise in work and play - Over eating as a coping mechanism for depression I’m not buying the “everything revolves around food now” theory. Everything has always revolved around food for all of time, in every culture. I also don’t see how portion sizes would CAUSE obesity. Like body positivity, I see it as a result of obesity. I mean like as a fat person, I don’t need a McDonalds large fry to be larger in order to get my fry fix. I am very capable of ordering 1-4 small fries if I need them. And my parents, who eat like birds (old birds) aren’t getting fat because the portions at Bob Evans are bigger than they were in 1974. My parents are just leaving more on the plate. If I’m super fat and the portions at a restaurant are super big I’m simply not having a snack when I get home. No one is suddenly eating more food cuz it’s there on their plate. They’re eating more food in one place instead of another. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-america-so-fat/832583/48 "2019-04-16T04:33:21Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > It’s the American fast food diet. Pollan studied several regional "diets’ and pretty muc, world wide they all work- except the American fast Food diet. > > [How to Eat - Michael Pollan](https://michaelpollan.com/reviews/how-to-eat/) > > That’s too much sugar, fat and salt. Then why have people managed to lose weight on an all-fast food diet? [https://www.fitnessmagazine.com/weight-loss/plans/diets/lose-weight-fast-food-diet/](https://www.fitnessmagazine.com/weight-loss/plans/diets/lose-weight-fast-food-diet/) > **[Man ate only McDonalds for a month and lost 16lbs - but experts are concerned](https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/weight-loss-diet-fat-mcdonalds-calories-nutrition-super-size-me-ryan-williams-exercise-a8632016.html)** > > He wanted to disprove the results of the documentary Super Size Me ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-america-so-fat/832583/49 "2019-04-16T04:51:40Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > Then why have people managed to lose weight on an all-fast food diet? > > [https://www.fitnessmagazine.com/weight-loss/plans/diets/lose-weight-fast-food-diet/](https://www.fitnessmagazine.com/weight-loss/plans/diets/lose-weight-fast-food-diet/) > > [Man loses weight after month-long diet of McDonald's - but experts aren't convinced | The Independent | The Independent](https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/weight-loss-diet-fat-mcdonalds-calories-nutrition-super-size-me-ryan-williams-exercise-a8632016.html) Um, do you really not see the difference between a couple of short-term tightly-controlled calorie-limited stunt “diets” consisting only of fast food, and the everyday eating habits of ordinary people trying to manage their eating choices among food options where fast food is drastically overrepresented? If so, let me help you out with a few excerpts from your linked articles: > [@](#): > > When the nutrition director of Fitness called and asked me to eat nothing but fast food for a week […] > > With the help of Nelda Mercer, RD, a dietitian based near me in Ann Arbor, Michigan, I figured out that eating 1,500 calories a day would have me losing one to two pounds a week based on my level of activity, which consists of running and walking three days a week. Mercer and her assistant, Rebecca DeKeyser, then pored over menus to come up with a week’s worth of meals. After a lot of calculating, they gave me a plan that satisfied most of my nutritional requirements. Calcium and fiber were low, however, so Mercer suggested that I take a multivitamin. […] > > The next day, I wake up, weigh myself and am surprised to find that I did indeed drop a pound. > [@](#): > > A man ate nothing but McDonald’s for 30 days and managed to lose weight to prove a point about calorie intake and weight loss […] > > Ryan Williams, 29, a postman from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, decided to undertake the fast food diet to disprove the 2004 documentary Super Size Me […] > > However, Williams also spent an hour at the gym each morning […] > > For his own challenge, Williams stressed the importance of balancing caloric intake with staying in shape. > > “It’s obvious that calories are quite important, but the average Joe doesn’t always know how to balance the recommended calorie intake with staying in shape," he said - and although he does not suggest it is a “healthy way of living,” he wanted “to show that it’s purely a calorie game, as opposed to the types of food you eat.” > > Williams began the month eating 2,500 calories per day - the recommended calorie intake for a male adult - but dropped down to 2,300 by the end of the second week. […] > > In the final two weeks of the challenge, he dropped his calories slightly further, depending on how his weight and body fat index were performing. In other words, when highly active fit people devise or are handed a carefully managed short-term diet consisting only of fast food with caloric intake tightly controlled, while still maintaining high activity levels, then surprise surprise, they can lose weight on it. That doesn’t mean that fast food overall doesn’t still have unhealthily high fat levels and calorie content that significantly contribute to American obesity. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-america-so-fat/832583/50 "2019-04-16T05:10:03Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I also don’t see how portion sizes would CAUSE obesity. Like body positivity, I see it as a result of obesity. I mean like as a fat person, I don’t need a McDonalds large fry to be larger in order to get my fry fix. Really? When I eat out in Japan or Europe and order a standard portion of a main course, I can always finish it and feel satiated, but not feel overly full. If I want to feel _really_ full, I’d specifically need to choose a type of restaurant that allows for it (e.g. sushi restaurants, where you keep ordering more food till you feel full). It just isn’t the norm. When I eat out in the US, I often can’t finish a meal. And if I do, I feel physically full, not just satiated. I don’t know if this is a _major_ contribution to the obesity epidemic, but surely it is a non-negligible factor. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-america-so-fat/832583/51 "2019-04-16T05:26:07Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > so “low fat” foods, which tend to have much more sugar to compensate, are in fact a factor in increased obesity. As I keep telling myself, “low-fat” is usually deferred fat. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-america-so-fat/832583/52 "2019-04-16T05:31:07Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > 1. Sugar (or high-fructose corn syrup) has snuck its way into countless items that did not have sugar in past decades. This one really kills me. As a single person who’s always on the move (I move for every contract and my last few contracts have been for three, three, six and four months), it is relatively easy to be able to cook for myself but stuff such as tomato sauce or tomato puré make it so much easier. Right now I live in a tiny French town that’s got half a dozen supermarkets. Every single tomato sauce brand and variety has sugar. Why? I’ve never met a cook that put sugar in tomato sauce! It’s not supposed to have sugar! I’ve found one brand of tomato puré that’s tomato, tomato and tomato, but soon if I want my tomato sauce to have no added sugar I’ll need to go ask my mother for her manual blender. The way things are going, I’m not sure I can trust Braun to make a blender that won’t magically add sugar… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-america-so-fat/832583/53 "2019-04-16T05:35:52Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > No one is suddenly eating more food cuz it’s there on their plate. They’re eating more food in one place instead of another. Not “suddenly” but a lot of the US has a traditional expectation of “cleaning your plate.” If it’s there, they feel obligated to eat it, and if you don’t there are often comments. And not just among family, which I get all the time; I’ve heard a lot of “you didn’t like it?” at restaurants because I didn’t finish a trough of pasta. To me, the most hilarious portion issue is soda. I run a marathon and I’m offered about six ounces of water every four miles, and typically I’ll take a couple of cups. But apparently I need a _quart_ of soda to make it thru a movie, or wash down a Wendy’s single with large fries. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-america-so-fat/832583/54 "2019-04-16T05:36:36Z")
I’m a little surprised to see Australia is 44 on the list in the OP. I remember fat people being very rare when I was a kid in the 70s. Nowadays, I see a lot more of them. I’m a skinny guy, which is due to a number of reasons, but being active is one of them. I walk around 9 - 10 km a day. That’s approx 6 miles. Not a huge amount, but considerably more than average. However, before cars were common, that _was_ the average amount people walked, according to what I’ve read. In conclusion, I’d say inactivity is a BIG part of why so many people are fat. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-america-so-fat/832583/55 "2019-04-16T05:39:59Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I also don’t see how portion sizes would CAUSE obesity. Portion sizes combined with “finish what’s on your plate!” The US had The Great Depression; Europe has the Postwar (multiple ones, depending on location). A lot of our obesity-prevention campaigns are focusing on portion control: don’t give your 2yo double his mother’s portion, if you haven’t chosen your portion and it’s too large it’s OK to leave some… American portions tend to be about twice the size of a Spanish “truck drivers’ portion”. The portions in my local cantina are perfectly fine meals for office and factory workers: I sometimes see people leaving their dessert or, if it’s the packaged kind, returning it to the fridge (the returned ones are put on the side, so we all know that yoghurt standing away from its brothers spent a few minutes in the room; some people will specifically take that one). We’ve had American visitors who instead of portion and one or two sides took portion and each of the four available sides (the cooks needed to give him a second plate), plus two desserts. Dude wasn’t round yet, but he was well on his way; you could have gotten two of our younger guys out of him. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-america-so-fat/832583/56 "2019-04-16T05:50:07Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > There’s also a [strong correlation between obesity and time spent driving a car](https://www.fastcompany.com/1679157/mapping-the-link-between-obesity-and-car-driving). Americans tend to spend much more time behind the wheel than Europeans, on average (though Europeans AFAIK are increasing their private car ownership/use rates these days, and perhaps not coincidentally, getting fatter). In Spain at least it’s going down or stable depending on which statistic you look at, the multi-car-house model seems to have reached a plateau. We’re getting scare articles about “young people aren’t getting their licenses at 18!!!” but that was also the case 30 years ago and the reasons are the same now as back then. Thing is, we can “afford” not to get driver’s licenses as early as Americans for the same reasons we did back then: zoning is a lot more mixed than in the US (you don’t need a car to do your shopping) and in places without a decent public transportation network it’s perfecty normal to hitchike. There have been attempts at American-style zoning but they tend to get buckled down as soon as people realize how horribly inconvenient and un-neighborly it is to have a fully-residential neighborhood with not a bar or corner store in sight. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-america-so-fat/832583/57 "2019-04-16T07:49:39Z")
> [@Surreal](#): > > It appears that most of the responders above didn’t bother to read the OP, but one of the key reasons for the difference in the obesity rate between the US and Japan is that Japan still practices fat-shaming, whereas we have largely abandoned this practice. We finally realized that America’s obesity epidemic is just a gland problem. Maybe the Japanese obese are fat because they eat poorly and don’t exercise hence they are shamed. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-america-so-fat/832583/58 "2019-04-16T11:46:29Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > What I’m wondering is why those factors aren’t present to the same extent in other developed countries as well, since (to my ignorant eye) consumers in those countries appear to have the same freedom of choice we do, and businesses in those countries appear to have the same ability to shape the market to serve their interests rather than those of the consumer (i.e. by advertising/selling large portions of cheap, highly processed foods). **Senoy** and you seem to have caught this point; now that I’m spotlighting it, I’m hopeful that others might continue to offer perspective along those same lines. When I lived in the Netherlands I was amazed to read the ingredients of the regular store brand cookies at my local Albert Heijn (large supermarket chain in Holland). I don’t recall exactly but it had a short ingredient list\*. Something like: flour, sugar, butter, egg, milk poeder, emulsifier, natural flavors and artificial colors. They were delicious and cheap. Your most basic, generic, packaged Dutch supermarket cookie tastes better than _ANY_ mass-marketed cookie found on _most_ American supermarket shelves. They don’t have all the fillers, gums and preservatives American cookies have. I wonder what would happen if a European supermarket somehow magically switched their cookie aisle to an American one at the snap of their fingers? What would the reactions of shoppers be when they read the labels or Og forbid, tasted the product? What does this have to do with obesity? Just this: America values corporate profit-making over almost everything else. Supermarkets ain’t gonna sell cookies with decent ingredients in them if they don’t have to, Far more important is long shelf-life and adding as much fillers as possible. Profits over quality (and nutrition, and safety) in the USA doesn’t only lead to crappy store-brand cookies, it has profound effects on the food-consumption behaviors of Americans some of which has already been mentioned in this thread (e.g. dollar menus and supersizing) Our food industry and our relationship with it is pretty fucked up. \*re: ingredient lists. There’s also the 18 or so ingredients in US McD’s french fries compared to four in the UK fries and similar discrepancies in Kraft Mac & Cheese and zillions more. I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![SOJA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@SOJA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SOJA)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-america-so-fat/832583/59 "2019-04-16T12:02:21Z")
I post on this other site called city data (not sure if this is allowed mods) and this came up a few years ago. The discussion was originally about bland foods Americans like versus other cultures and it turned into obesity. Being the child of European immigrants myself I’ve experienced both sides of the coin. I’d say that most Americans, and by that I mean your stereotypical white, corn fed, blue blooded American tends to eat bland-ish food and doesn’t really know portion size if proper portions weren’t instilled into them by family. I’m going to just guess off the top of my head that most obesity cases are in the midwest and southern states that may have a few seasonings but nothing fancy. I see lack of flavor as more a reason to eat more of something. I’m not fat or overweight myself, but I’d sooner eat 1-2 Keebler Samoas/Coconut Delights over a large slice of sponge cake with a heavy dusting of powdered sugar and cocoa. Or better yet, I’d rather eat a small bowl of fiery hot Thai food than eat a burger with a plate of fries or chips, and a bowl of slaw. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-america-so-fat/832583/60 "2019-04-16T13:17:14Z")
> [@SOJA](#): > > I post on this other site called city data (not sure if this is allowed mods) and this came up a few years ago. The discussion was originally about bland foods Americans like versus other cultures and it turned into obesity. > > Being the child of European immigrants myself I’ve experienced both sides of the coin. I’d say that most Americans, and by that I mean your stereotypical white, corn fed, blue blooded American tends to eat bland-ish food and doesn’t really know portion size if proper portions weren’t instilled into them by family. I’m going to just guess off the top of my head that most obesity cases are in the midwest and southern states that may have a few seasonings but nothing fancy. > > I see lack of flavor as more a reason to eat more of something. I’m not fat or overweight myself, but I’d sooner eat 1-2 Keebler Samoas/Coconut Delights over a large slice of sponge cake with a heavy dusting of powdered sugar and cocoa. Or better yet, I’d rather eat a small bowl of fiery hot Thai food than eat a burger with a plate of fries or chips, and a bowl of slaw. You make a good point about the blandness of food. Now that I think about it, a lot of obese people I’ve known did tend to eat bland foods. If you’re eating well-done steak with ketchup, it might take a lot of it to give you some satisfaction, especially since sugar tends to dull taste buds. Many of them smoke which further dulls taste. I’d also note that people who have anxiety, depression or less openness tend to be less adventurous and so may go for bland food. Depression can make all food taste bland so there may be an effort to “up the dose” of their makeshift anti-depressant. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-america-so-fat/832583.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-america-so-fat/832583.md?page=4)