Saturday, December 17, 2011
American Obesity
Walking through the streets of Singapore, something that caught my attention was how nearly no one was overweight. Walking in the busy subway stations and in shopping malls, seeing someone overweight was pretty rare. It was surprising compared to in the US where many people are struggling with obesity.
America is generally known as being overweight and lazy. I always knew that, but never before this had actually payed attention to other countries in comparison. I thought about it more and more every day we were out walking around, and then last night we were out at a restaurant best known for their crab. During the meal, we all commented saying the crab was good, but it was a lot of work just to eat it. None of us really enjoyed breaking up the crab, because it took quite some time. However, my uncle told us that Asian people actually enjoy doing that. They like taking the time to pick out the edible pieces. This helped me realize how lazy we really are. Us Americans don't even like to pick out some crab meat because it takes an extra 3 minutes?
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Obesity is vicious; It creeps up on you day after day, laying down the layers of fat around the hips, the belly and the heart.
ReplyDeletebariatric surgery
First of all, I'd like to comment that I love picking the meat out of crabs, but that's not really relevant.
ReplyDeleteWhat is more relevant, is that this idea of American "laziness" as a deliberate choice on the part of individuals. Yes, one of the major causes of obesity is the lack of physical activity and fast food that doesn't take time or effort to prepare- both which can be associated with laziness. And yes, our need to jump into a car to go three blocks is rather lazy, but it's something we've learned. When I want to go somewhere nearby, I don't decide to drive over walking, I just get in a car and drive there. The thought that walking might be a better idea never even occurs to me. I think that laziness generally involves choosing an easier path and for many of us the harder path never even comes up as an option.
As for the crab, if you're used to it, it gets to be kind of fun. The first few times though, it's a pain. Our laziness isn't an individual failing, it's a learned behavior.