How Fat Is Your State?

[Sigurd]

You can get good (Eg woodfire, specially-made) large pizzas here for about AU$25-$30. The largest meals at the large Burger places (ie McDonalds) are $12-$15 or so (I don't go there often, but that is what I remember).

The comparisons would be the expensive pizzas at Pizza Hut, and I know I got a Whooper meal in AUS for $5 AUD.
Of course you could go to a more exclusive restaurant and get a hamburger for $33 AUD (not including drinks), which is inexpensive compared to other dishes on the menu. I have done that a few times with my wife and they are smokin good. You get a few potato wedges with it and some oil sprinkled salad as garnish. Damn, I feel like getting one.

[Adrian II]

I think people that really is obese, have a problem. Their addiction is food, and you can't just take it away as they will get sick.

Oh you gotta be kidding, that video is disgusting.. I couldn't watch it.

[Whacker]

That's a good point Siggy. Around here, junk food and unhealthy stuff is always dirt cheap. Healthy foods, from the mundane to the special organic stuff and the like, etc, is all VERY expensive. I think it should be the other way around. I think the other part of the issue is convenience. Many of us are on the go all day long until we go to bed, so being able to stop and prepare something for 15-30 minutes isn't always feasible. It's a bit of a weak excuse, but it is valid. Of course most of the microwave meals and all that jazz are rather unhealthy, so it becomes a bit of a vicious cycle. The last part of the equation that seems to hold true quite a bit, esp. for me personally, is that I find a lot of healthier foods taste like crap. The flipside of this is that again for me personally, some of the worst unhealthy foods tend to disgust me now. McDonalds makes me gag at this point, I really can't eat it anymore and have zero desire to.

[Marius Dynamite]

Fast food should be more expensive. The cheaper option should always be home made.
A whooper meal should cost around $20 and a large pizza at pizza hut should cost around $50.

I disagree here, why should people have to pay more for fast food because some people are irresponsible and eat too much?

if people want to make themselves fat let them, dont make me pay the costs...

[Ice]

A pizza hut pizza is around $10.

A large meal at McDonald's is around $6 or 7.

This is to the best of my memory. I've haven't eaten a pizza hut for ages and I've only eaten at McDonald's when I was drunk a few times.

[Viking]

8.3, only beaten by the Swiss among the western countries. Surprisingly we appear to be beating the Mediterranean countries in that survey, ha.

[drone]

25.5, not as bad as most of the south, but still pretty large. Southern cooking is full of fat, but it's better tasting than the tofu and bean sprouts those hippies on the left coast eat.

Give us 10 years of higher food costs and gas prices, and then we'll see. A lot more people are walking and biking around here now.

And BMI is a joke, it's just a lazy way to classify population "density", individual body fat analysis is the only way to go.

[SwordsMaster]

Ha! The only excuse to be fat is not apply the principles of my fitness thread enough!

[yesdachi]

Perhaps the rising cost of food in the US due to the “crises” caused by the demand for bio-fuel will be good for tubby America.

Of course the increased cost of cigarettes has only caused the smokers to bitch more, not smoke less.

Welcome to the USA, home of “More cushion for the pushing!”

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Vermont's the third leanest state! Though really our obesity rate should be lower...I don't doubt that our generally very humid climate plays a part in keeping people a bit heavier, but damn people need to get out and move more often. I went out and chopped wood in 80-90 degree heat and high humidity today, and because I sweat like a dog it wasn't that unpleasant and now that I've showered it's all good. Move people!

[Proletariat]

25.5, not as bad as most of the south, but still pretty large. Southern cooking is full of fat, but it's better tasting than the tofu and bean sprouts those hippies on the left coast eat.

Give us 10 years of higher food costs and gas prices, and then we'll see. A lot more people are walking and biking around here now.

And BMI is a joke, it's just a lazy way to classify population "density", individual body fat analysis is the only way to go.

Agreed about the BMI laugh. It's a shame we can't get a break down between NoVa and the rest of Virginia. They don't think we're authentic Virginians anyway and I bet our tubbiness comes from their neck of the woods (no offense, Seamus ). Too much delicious ham down that way and too close to NC-style pulled pork, methinks.

[Adrian II]

And BMI is a joke, it's just a lazy way to classify population "density", individual body fat analysis is the only way to go.

It's not a joke. It isn't accurate for body builders and elderly, but the first category is statistically negligible and the second is roughly the same in percentage for every western nation. So yeah, the BMI statistics mentioned actually reflect differences in fatness, as between normal, blob and megablob.

[drone]

It's not a joke. It isn't accurate for body builders and elderly, but the first category is statistically negligible and the second is roughly the same in percentage for every western nation. So yeah, the BMI statistics mentioned actually reflect differences in fatness, as between normal, blob and megablob.

It's a joke. It's not just body-builders, but most athletes in general get classified incorrectly. It does not take into account the simple fact that muscle weighs more than fat, so anyone who is relatively fit gets classified as overweight or worse.

And I beg to differ about the elderly, our old people are way fatter than your old people.

[Adrian II]

And I beg to differ about the elderly, our old people are way fatter than your old people.

How would you know, it it isn't through measurements of BMI?

[drone]

I've been to Europe. Your old people are still moving along nicely, chucking down the vino, eating good food, and enjoying liaisons I'd rather not think about. Ours are scooter-bound, just waiting to die.

Actually though, you may be right, I'm surprised by the Florida results. It's lower than I thought, maybe our old people aren't as fat as I imagine.


I sat in the parking lot of my grocery store yesterday, thinking about this thread and watching the people go in and out. The ratio of overweight people (young and old) I saw was pretty high. Not a very encouraging observation.

[GoreBag]

I'm in good shape and I don't care about anyone else sharing 'my' country with me. Raughle at having half the obesity of the US, though.

[Adrian II]

It's a joke. It's not just body-builders, but most athletes in general get classified incorrectly.

Are you seriously trying to tell us the number of athletes in your country has doubled in the past 25 years?

[Ice]

I sat in the parking lot of my grocery store yesterday, thinking about this thread and watching the people go in and out. The ratio of overweight people (young and old) I saw was pretty high. Not a very encouraging observation.

I've done that. It is is quite depressing. The best is to go to a moderately low priced restaurant and see what people are ordering and what they look like. It gets depressing as I'm order a piece of grilled chicken with veggies, while the 200 pound fat woman next to me is getting a large pizza.

[drone]

Are you seriously trying to tell us the number of athletes in your country has doubled in the past 25 years?

I'm not arguing the fact that the US is fat, but the methodology for determining that statistic is flawed and cannot be trusted.

[drone]

I've done that. It is is quite depressing. The best is to go to a moderately low priced restaurant and see what people are ordering and what they look like. It gets depressing as I'm order a piece of grilled chicken with veggies, while the 200 pound fat woman next to me is getting a large pizza.

The strangest is to go into a Whole Foods grocery store. Full of expensive, organic, healthy food, you would expect to see it patronized by fit hotties and vegan stick-figures. Not so, at least around here.

[Sigurd]

It gets depressing as I'm order a piece of grilled chicken with veggies, while the 200 pound fat woman next to me is getting a large pizza.

That's what you get for dating large women. Take a slim one out, they'll just eat a salad.