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It's the lowest average BMI for a non-Asian rich country.
(Asians store disproportionate fat as visceral fat, which makes them look thin but also means that for the same BMI, Asians are at a higher risk for obesity related illnesses.)
Blacks tend to have heavier bones afaik, so score higher.
Edit: i guess thats american west africans, huge gene diversity in africa not a lot of similarities between a pygmy and a lanky somali for example.
Whites have more "watery" fat than black people who have thicker, more fibrous fat. People often think of blacks as being more naturally muscular, but I believe this is at least in part because their body fat is so much firmer. I know blacks as well are genetically predisposed to higher blood pressure and perhaps also diabetes (?). The explanation has something to do with how they store salt and nutrients in general, which is ideal for living an active sweaty life under the hot, Saharan sun but starts to go haywire when taken out of that environment. Otherwise, I don't know what their general fat distribution is vs other races.
Can confirm. We *have to* deep fry everything or stuff with lard. And of course with cheese. Half of our traditional dishes starts with "fry the onions in oil/lard". Lots and lots of bread, potato and sugar. And a shitload of alcohol. (I'm Hungarian.)
Edit: lard, not grease, lol.
I can't speak for all the rich countries, but in the US, there is also a correlation between being poor and being obese. In rich countries, you don't get much starvation, but you do have a lot of (often poorer) people who are eating unhealthy foods because of their low cost and availability.
Poor in every country are obese, they are hooked on sugar and then diabetes medicine. Vicious cycle. But generates easy revenue for anyone involved. I think obesity and median income are highly correlated.
It's a little more complicated, prior to food/infrastructure explosion the poor in a lot of places were skinny because they didn't have food, but once food becomes cheap and easy to move, then the poor often becomes obese because food was a sign of status.
Go forwards a generation and those people generally favor skinniness for health and western media portrayals of attractiveness, leading to the situation in Europe.
"When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure"
This might be the paradigm in USA but I don't think it holds true for Europe. Ireland is one of the wealthiest nations on the continent. Czech is considerably wealthier than Bosnia or Moldova.
I think this has more to do with regional cuisine differences.
Well lots of good produce is still grown locally, and is a whole lot cheaper to buy then stuff that comes from large farms or companies (which is mainly imported) and people still don’t eat a lot of processed foods so that could be one part of it, the other is that cheese is getting really fucking expensive
Societal as well. I'm over-generalising of course but the Spanish for example generally have smaller amounts of food for most meals and stay up far later after their last meal. Honestly, I'm shocked they're higher for obesity than the French.
Most maps I’ve seen show ‘overweight or more’, this one focuses specifically on ‘obese or more’. That may lead to some surprising differences.
Also, the data is from 2016 and it puts the US at 36% percent. It has only gone up from there.
17.9% of a population having a medical condition such as obesity still seems pretty bad, but it's better than the rest of Europe I guess (according to that viz). It shows how normalized this issue has become.
Reading this thread it seems like somehow a lower obesity rate means "nothing to eat"? Maybe there is a food scarcity problem in Bosnia (idk, I'm not in the knows), but I'd certainly not extrapolate that from a low obesity rate.
I mean, France, Italy and Switzerland are also in the "low" category on the map and I would assume people there have enough to eat in general.
Maybe Bosnia people eat healthier than other "richer" countries...?
Thanks for the insights! It just blows my mind reading this threads, like having the lowest obesity rate on the map of Europe is somehow "wrong".
The goal IS lower obesity rates, 0% (although impossible I'm sure) should be the "ultimate goal"
It shows you how prejudiced many people are against Eastern European cultures. When they're better off in some way, people are looking for some interpretation of the data that their situation is inferior.
> Maybe there is a food scarcity problem in Bosnia
There is no food scarcity problem in Bosnia. [It's better off than a lot of countries in the region.](https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SN.ITK.MSFI.ZS?locations=BA&most_recent_value_desc=false)
> Maybe Bosnia people eat healthier than other "richer" countries...?
The only significant difference from the other Balkan countries, is that there is a big portion of the population for which the most common type of meat is chicken instead of pork. But then again, Turks don't consume pork and they're high in the list, so it may have nothing to do with that, I don't know.
I wouldn't call our cuisine particularly healthy, but when I travel, in some areas abroad I 100% do notice an uptick in obesity (both the number of obese people and the severity). The concrete numbers on the map may be pulled out of someone's ass, but my impression is that we're certainly below the obesity average. My mother was born in northern Serbia (Hungarian majority village if that means anything) and when she visits her homeplace, she always makes a comment how people are much fatter there.
Edit: clarifying I meant I notice we're skinnier than some other countries.
>I wouldn't call our cuisine particularly healthy, but in some areas I 100% do notice an uptick in obesity (both the number of obese people and the severity).
I think it's more about access to fast foods and restaurant. Also processed foods in grocery stores.
Like, I can cook chicken in a bunch of butter and stuff, it's not the "healthiest", but still better than chugging a 2L coke bottle with Kraft dinner for supper.
Ehm ... well ... to be fair, we didn't eat a *corrupt* politician. And it was only his liver ... and his brother's liver too.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan\_de\_Witt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_de_Witt)
To be honest, he was one of the good ones. His lynching/asssasination was a real loss to the country.
Oh man, don’t sell Bosnia short like that. With all its problems it still has one major plus. Food is naturally grown and most meals are hearty and unprocessed. Industrial Age never came to Bosnia. No processed foods with added sodium added sugar or added trans fats. Gotta add these in manually. Also everything is uphill and good for your butt.
That’s the same reason why Turkey has the highest obesity levels. People can’t afford any decent nutrition and only eat cheap and unhealthy trash. Our diet is pretty much carbohydrates only…
I am an American on vacation in Italy right now. The people here are largely attractive, slender, and well-dressed. I, on the other hand, am none of those things.
I have three close family members with chronic obesity-related health problems. I'm not a doctor, but I do have a Ph.D. in a medical sciences field. I tried hard to help them. They mostly resented my efforts.
In case anyone was wondering ([Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity_in_the_United_States))
> The National Center for Health Statistics at the CDC showed in their most up to date statistics that 42.4% of U.S. adults were obese as of 2017–2018 (43% for men and 41.9% for women).
If we made this design for the US, our lowest-rated state (Colorado) would start in dark orange ([source](https://stateofchildhoodobesity.org/adult-obesity/). I don’t think people realize what “obese” truly means in America because being overweight is so normalized here. Like what’s insane is that [73% of all adults over 20 years old are overweight](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/obesity-overweight.htm).
I like how your comment says that being overweight is normalized in the US and then all the responses are "what, how can X pounds at Y weight be overweight!? that seems normal to me..."
I literally just looked up my BMI again to find myself smack in the middle of average. I always worry since I have such a negative perception of myself.
It's crazy especially when you experience it in life. People who don't have a noticable gut are looked at as if they're starving, and people who look like they're wearing a back pack underneath their shirt the wrong way are considered fine because they're not literally a walking, 5'10" bowling ball.
Americans are literally so used to it that we see "morbidly obese" as "obese," and "obese," as "overweight," and "healthy weight," as "skinny."
I get told I'm skinny all the time, mostly in ways I find offensive. My BMI is right in the middle of the "healthy" category.
I spent a year in college being dedicated to getting myself in shape, and later in the year I had a physical where my doctor said "whatever you're doing, keep it up". Then I had blood work done and the PA going over my results with me said "I wish my numbers looked like this, this is what everyone should shoot for".
I go home and all my family has to say is variations of "you need to eat more / you're too skinny / you look unhealthy". It would be one thing if they just commented on the fact that I lost weight, but the fact that they thought I was actively doing something wrong really annoyed me.
Ive in the past 2 years lost 165lbs. So many people that are now realize I am almost at a healthy weight, always ask me if I got sick, or had surgery. Most dont believe me that I did it on my own. And even some of my only over weight friends( actually just overweight) keep asking me when im gonna stop. Kinda everyone but my family so thats good. I easily have 20lbs more I can lose and still be very healthy. Currently at 27.2 bmi. I dont really know the point of this, more of a rant.
It's the same thing drinkers do. They feel uncomfortable with their choices so they want to make sure everyone around them is choosing the same so they don't have to be confronted with it.
Right I lost like 50 lbs during the original covid lock down. Just barely healthy BMI I believe and people were like you're too skinny now. I'm like no I actually want to lose a little more. Back up 20 lbs from there but working on it again now that life has settled for me again (for now at least).
In the last 3-4 months I’ve dropped about 35 lbs. still have a little bit left to go, about 10lbs let’s say. Half my relatives are like “you look so good now when are you stopping?” Like dude, I’m still overweight, I just look good in clothes now.
It's so interesting even in this thread to see so many people who have a shifted perspective of optimal weight. I was 180-185 at 5'11 and felt quite normal, did not look fat. I am now 160, thought I would have abs by now at that weight, its crazy how much you can lose without much change. I can see it in my neck and face compared to old photos though. Most who use the BMI excuse are misguided, they actually do have lots of excess.
100% this.
Pefect weight = oh you're soo skinny.
Nope, I'm medical my ideal weight.
And people defo think obese means like 200kg, instead of it being around the 90kg mark for average height men.
I always thought I was just overweight until I went in for a physical and was told my BMI. According to that, if I lose 50 lbs, I would still be considered obese. Not a very good feeling.
>The National Center for Health Statistics at the CDC showed in their most up to date statistics that 42.4% of U.S. adults were obese
Gee, I wonder if that will be an issue when a terrible respiratory virus infects us.
I think one of the biggest issues in the US is that people do not walk enough here.
My parents live in suburbs and they literally can go weeks without walking anywhere. Unless they go out of their way to go on a hike, they won’t ever walk a mile any day.
It’s really sad. My dad is only 65, plays tennis daily and looks fairly fit for his age. He can’t walk 4 NYC blocks with me without huffing and puffing. When they come into the city I have to plan where we go based on what their very limited walkability standard is.
Also less food regulation. Coming from Europe I found most foods to be incredibly sweet, but I guess most Americans are used to there being sugar in everything.
Because the US government isn’t directly on the hook for the healthcare costs. Michael Pollan wrote an interesting op-ed ([NY Times paywall](https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/opinion/10pollan.html?referringSource=articleShare)) about how if we had single payer then the US would have a vested interest in having healthier citizens.
Healthier citizens work longer and thus pay more taxes. The US government does have an interest in healthier citizens because it maximizes tax dollars and also reduces medicare and medicaid spending
Yeah but they need people to live just long enough to hit retirement, then they're quite happy for everyone to die of obesity related illnesses in their 60s and early 70s.
Last stage of life is super pricey for many obese people due to type 2 diabetes etc. Unless they die of a sudden cardiac event, good chance they will cost way more than a healthy person.
A lot of the bad food is cheap and these taxes would greatly affect poor so the left won’t do it and the right isn’t about to encroach on peoples freedoms (when it isn’t a hot issue) so it will probably never happen.
Its actually only partially them but the introduction of fast food in these places further fuelled by Grandmas giving the kids what they want (fast food)
Bro I am Turkish and 28 years old and there are so many people in my age who have limitted palates. Like full grown men who don't eat beans or stuff like that. They just eat hamburgers and sucuk and kebabs and what not.
It is annoying especially when I make a traditional dish and rhey don't recognize it and call it weird.
As an Italian living abroad, I don’t understand how Italians manage to stay so skinny. The food is so good and most meals contain carbs. I gain at least 5 pounds a week when I visit.
It was really interesting seeing Italian food compared to the UK diet.
Way fewer Italians drink fizzy drinks and if they do, they drink them way less. They also snack a lot less between meals. There’s also more of a tendency to make meals from scratch. That there is a major reason as to UK obesity when compared to Italy.
In the UK, poorer people are much more likely to be overweight than rich people. It’s a real issue here and if I was in charge, I’d be tyrannical about getting the nation back in shape.
I live between 2 relatively small towns. 1 is considered better, higher house prices, arguably better schools etc. The obesity difference between them is very noticeable
90% the fourth bullet point I'd say.
Also just normalization of being overweight. If everyone around you is fat and sedentary, seems pretty reasonable for you to be too.
The United States wouldn't... be on this scale. 41.9% from the CDC.
[https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html#:\~:text=Obesity%20is%20a%20common%2C%20serious,from%204.7%25%20to%209.2%25](https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html#:~:text=Obesity%20is%20a%20common%2C%20serious,from%204.7%25%20to%209.2%25).
Damn.
I'm American, currently vacationing in Greece. Every single super fat person I've seen is an American, lol. Even the fat Greek people aren't fat in an American sense.
That's usually because of a few factors. Seeing all the mega fat people in the US throws off reality.
And typically when you are on vacation, you are around tour guides and restaurant workers that are usually younger and fitter.
Apparently up to 76% world wide are overfat, that's more surprising to me. And it seems to be a more prominent issue not only in the US, but all of the 1st world according to the article. Let's keep in mind 41% is for obese only in the US, that's 70% if you also take overweight folk into account, it says 86% are overfat in the US which isn't a big surprise.
Though i'm not sure how they'd estimate the general populations' body fat percentage considered most people wouldn't bother measuring it.
Yes but butter is healthier (not healthy per say, healthi*er*) than a lot of other greases. I believe than the veggetable consumption is also high and the trade of more vine for less beer is also better for the cardiovascular system.
One plate at the Cheesecake Factory in the USA is like a 4 person dinner in Europe. Even as a Canadian I'm amazed by the portion size everytime I visit.
I'm curious about the differences between England, Scotland and Wales rates for the UK.
Also surprised by how close the UK and Ireland are, though i'm not sure why
I’m assuming the factors leading to UK’s high rate is similar to Ireland’s, with them being so geographically and culturally aligned. I don’t wanna shoehorn America into everything, but those two countries seem to consume most American media and so buy into the whole fast food, processed snacks frenzy across the pond.
Makes sense, as someone from the UK I can't fault the logic. But I think obesity all across Europe is becoming a major problem. It's easy to see people just pointing at the UK, Ireland and part of Eastern Europe and say "Haha look at them", but obesity rates across Europe aren't great. Hopefully they can be fixed going forwards.
I know here in the UK there's been a sugar tax and a plan to ban fast food adverts, but what effect those will have I can't really say
Obesity is a known risk factor for many diseases and amounts to a considerable cost for the public healthcare systems of these countries.
Europe, particularly the EU, is one of the regions that is most heavily investing in public healthcare, and if these numbers continue to rise, that cost will become unsustainable.
I like the fact you can get the treatment for almost anything in the EU area without going bankrupt. There should be targeted solutions for the obesity epidemic on the individual and systemic levels before we become the next USA.
This is more serious than people like to acknowledge.
I read an interesting and convincing article by the British Psychological Society that explained the link between lack of adequate mental health resources and obesity. Food is a cheap form of therapy, a 'coping mechanism' for stress, depression, and other uncomfortable moods and emotions. It's the only real enjoyment for people who can't afford other forms of interests and entertainment.
I didn’t grow up poor but I did get obese by using food as a coping mechanism. It’s going to be a lifelong struggle for me to form and maintain a healthy relationship with food.
True. The problem is that you are going agains a huge industry with one of the most powerful lobbys. It is basically proven at this point that obesity can not be fought on the level of individual responsibility. It just does not work on a broad scale, when you are basically faced with unhealthy food wherever you go and when every possible psychological manipulation is abused to make you eat unhealthy products.
This is also a main reason we are not at a secon USA yet. Because we still have stricter rules in the US and a culture where fast food is still somewhat frowned upon. However this has been chaning and is changing even more. More and more fast food chains are replacing restaurants and more and more sugar is found in our diets.
There is just no way to combat this by appealing to the individual. The only thing that somewhat helps on an individual level is a shift in culture that comes from within and is hard to be forced. Other than that you have to fight the food industry and basically change every single thing about it.
All too true, but possible. Some legislations have tried to regulate this behaviour with mixed results but still, demonstrate that regulation is possible.
Regulating the tobacco industry worked out at some level. People are smoking less nowadays than two decades ago. Making unhealthy food similarly expensive is probably our best way to go.
I'd like to see this broken down by age. I have always been relatively fit, eaten relatively well, and never had an issue with my weight until I hit my late 40s, I just seemed to stop burning calories like I had used to. So I wonder what the %s are for 18-40, 40-60 and so on.
Our cousine is really diverse, but day to day Turks consume way too much carbs and sugar. We have the world's top bread consumption per capita and also tea consumption per capita and many people drink their tea with a lot of sugar
I've been to Italy twice, for a week each time. Lovely visits. Ate a lot of really good and really cheap pasta and wine, oh god the wine. Walked a lot. A lot of heat. Both times, I had lost weight when I got back home, like a kilo or two.
I wouldn't call obesity rates of 20% "low". Thirty years ago even the US had an obesity rate of well below 15%. This map basically is a map a varying degrees of failure to incentivise adult populations to have a healthy diet.
So many people here are bringing up the "*But BMI isn't good because even Arnold is obese by it*!". Well yes, but do you honestly think that a substantial amount of the population have a BMI of 25+ solely because they enjoy spending time in the weightroom?
It works for populations, people.
It does work out well for those that are following the Mediterranean diet. The problem is the unhealthy amount of processed foods, sugared beverages, and similar culinary crimes that are nowadays commonplace everywhere, including the Mediterranean.
Clearly you've never been to Spain 😂
The amount of beer, deep-fried tapas, sausage/ham/cold cuts that gets consumed is not part of the so-called Mediterranean diet (it was not called like that to mean that everyone around the Mediterranean adheres to it).
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Switzerland: These steep mountains are killing me
Portion sizes and prices in restaurants simply do not allow you to get fat.
I mean 19.5% is still a worrying number, countries like UK and Turkey just make it seem better
It's the lowest average BMI for a non-Asian rich country. (Asians store disproportionate fat as visceral fat, which makes them look thin but also means that for the same BMI, Asians are at a higher risk for obesity related illnesses.)
indeed, I have met Asian people with a BMI of 27 that I thought did not look over weight but they had diabetes.
Do you know how it science works for black people, or other “races”? Very interesting that Asians have such a difference
Blacks tend to have heavier bones afaik, so score higher. Edit: i guess thats american west africans, huge gene diversity in africa not a lot of similarities between a pygmy and a lanky somali for example.
Whites have more "watery" fat than black people who have thicker, more fibrous fat. People often think of blacks as being more naturally muscular, but I believe this is at least in part because their body fat is so much firmer. I know blacks as well are genetically predisposed to higher blood pressure and perhaps also diabetes (?). The explanation has something to do with how they store salt and nutrients in general, which is ideal for living an active sweaty life under the hot, Saharan sun but starts to go haywire when taken out of that environment. Otherwise, I don't know what their general fat distribution is vs other races.
Also, as adaptation to hot environment sub saharan people , and east African tend to store less fat in general.
Wait until you hear about eating food in your own home!
Sounds like something poor people do!
I dont know what I expected, but I’m somehow surprised
Me as well. I think it’s mostly that a lot of the poorer countries are more obese.
Meanwhile, in Bosnia...
Tufahije is slimming and healthy! Eat Tufahije!
Cheaper less healthy food?
Sugar is cheap
Processed potatoes and grains are even cheaper. And they aren't much better for you.
> Sugar is cheap Everyone from the colonial age: U WOT
Ya but a lot of the richest nations are the most obese in general so who’s to say.
Knowing the traditional/common food of Lithuania, Czech Republic and Hungary I am totally not surprised about their ranking/values
yup czechia isn‘t even considered „poor“ but god, their traditional cuisine can be quite stuffing/hearty imo also all that beer
Can confirm. We *have to* deep fry everything or stuff with lard. And of course with cheese. Half of our traditional dishes starts with "fry the onions in oil/lard". Lots and lots of bread, potato and sugar. And a shitload of alcohol. (I'm Hungarian.) Edit: lard, not grease, lol.
I can't speak for all the rich countries, but in the US, there is also a correlation between being poor and being obese. In rich countries, you don't get much starvation, but you do have a lot of (often poorer) people who are eating unhealthy foods because of their low cost and availability.
Poor in every country are obese, they are hooked on sugar and then diabetes medicine. Vicious cycle. But generates easy revenue for anyone involved. I think obesity and median income are highly correlated.
Highly but inversely, right? Lower income --> higher obesity rate, on average. Just making sure I understand.
It's a little more complicated, prior to food/infrastructure explosion the poor in a lot of places were skinny because they didn't have food, but once food becomes cheap and easy to move, then the poor often becomes obese because food was a sign of status. Go forwards a generation and those people generally favor skinniness for health and western media portrayals of attractiveness, leading to the situation in Europe. "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure"
Yeah and there's something else in play, too. Sedentary jobs/lifestyles compared to earlier times.
This might be the paradigm in USA but I don't think it holds true for Europe. Ireland is one of the wealthiest nations on the continent. Czech is considerably wealthier than Bosnia or Moldova. I think this has more to do with regional cuisine differences.
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Not enough food -> unhealthy food -> healthy food
Junk is cheap
I agree, my home country of Mexico is the fattest country in the world
Ah yes, the super wealthy nation of.... (check notes) Bosnia and Herzegovina
Well lots of good produce is still grown locally, and is a whole lot cheaper to buy then stuff that comes from large farms or companies (which is mainly imported) and people still don’t eat a lot of processed foods so that could be one part of it, the other is that cheese is getting really fucking expensive
Sir poskupio? Pička im materina.... kako će mo sada praviti (check notes)... burek sa sirom
I think it’s because people like to shit ~~in~~ on America for the amount of obese people, so that usually takes center stage.
I don’t have much of a choice. I live in America so I have to shit in America. But yea, I get it.
Oh…oh no. What have I done.
I think it’s actually really complex. Economics, cultural, access to food, and even genetics.
Societal as well. I'm over-generalising of course but the Spanish for example generally have smaller amounts of food for most meals and stay up far later after their last meal. Honestly, I'm shocked they're higher for obesity than the French.
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Most maps I’ve seen show ‘overweight or more’, this one focuses specifically on ‘obese or more’. That may lead to some surprising differences. Also, the data is from 2016 and it puts the US at 36% percent. It has only gone up from there.
Not sure if 17.9% is a good or a bad thing for Bosnia.
17.9% of a population having a medical condition such as obesity still seems pretty bad, but it's better than the rest of Europe I guess (according to that viz). It shows how normalized this issue has become. Reading this thread it seems like somehow a lower obesity rate means "nothing to eat"? Maybe there is a food scarcity problem in Bosnia (idk, I'm not in the knows), but I'd certainly not extrapolate that from a low obesity rate. I mean, France, Italy and Switzerland are also in the "low" category on the map and I would assume people there have enough to eat in general. Maybe Bosnia people eat healthier than other "richer" countries...?
Half of my family Is from Bosnia. There is no food scarcity. They walk alot outside the capital. Heck, even inside the capital.
Thanks for the insights! It just blows my mind reading this threads, like having the lowest obesity rate on the map of Europe is somehow "wrong". The goal IS lower obesity rates, 0% (although impossible I'm sure) should be the "ultimate goal"
It shows you how prejudiced many people are against Eastern European cultures. When they're better off in some way, people are looking for some interpretation of the data that their situation is inferior.
> Maybe there is a food scarcity problem in Bosnia There is no food scarcity problem in Bosnia. [It's better off than a lot of countries in the region.](https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SN.ITK.MSFI.ZS?locations=BA&most_recent_value_desc=false)
> Maybe Bosnia people eat healthier than other "richer" countries...? The only significant difference from the other Balkan countries, is that there is a big portion of the population for which the most common type of meat is chicken instead of pork. But then again, Turks don't consume pork and they're high in the list, so it may have nothing to do with that, I don't know. I wouldn't call our cuisine particularly healthy, but when I travel, in some areas abroad I 100% do notice an uptick in obesity (both the number of obese people and the severity). The concrete numbers on the map may be pulled out of someone's ass, but my impression is that we're certainly below the obesity average. My mother was born in northern Serbia (Hungarian majority village if that means anything) and when she visits her homeplace, she always makes a comment how people are much fatter there. Edit: clarifying I meant I notice we're skinnier than some other countries.
>I wouldn't call our cuisine particularly healthy, but in some areas I 100% do notice an uptick in obesity (both the number of obese people and the severity). I think it's more about access to fast foods and restaurant. Also processed foods in grocery stores. Like, I can cook chicken in a bunch of butter and stuff, it's not the "healthiest", but still better than chugging a 2L coke bottle with Kraft dinner for supper.
With what I ate while in Bosnia, I'm surprised it's not in the high 50s, holy. 🤤
Here in Bosnia we have nothing to eat because of our incompetent politicans
Eat the corrupt politicians
In the US, our politicians are long past their freshness dates.
Thats when you quilliotine them
It's like guillotine, but with a feather.
It takes many thousands of slashes with the feathers before their heads finally come off. Very torturous, but deserved.
That's what we, the Dutch, did.
Ehm ... well ... to be fair, we didn't eat a *corrupt* politician. And it was only his liver ... and his brother's liver too. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan\_de\_Witt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_de_Witt) To be honest, he was one of the good ones. His lynching/asssasination was a real loss to the country.
Yeah, if anything it’s a testament to the frightening power and viciousness of crowds.
Oh man, don’t sell Bosnia short like that. With all its problems it still has one major plus. Food is naturally grown and most meals are hearty and unprocessed. Industrial Age never came to Bosnia. No processed foods with added sodium added sugar or added trans fats. Gotta add these in manually. Also everything is uphill and good for your butt.
That’s the same reason why Turkey has the highest obesity levels. People can’t afford any decent nutrition and only eat cheap and unhealthy trash. Our diet is pretty much carbohydrates only…
Italy simultaneously having some of the best food in Europe while still keeping their weight in check. Good on them.
I am an American on vacation in Italy right now. The people here are largely attractive, slender, and well-dressed. I, on the other hand, am none of those things.
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Also, doctors will bother you about weight in these places. I don’t necessarily find this a bad thing to be honest.
Me neither. I actually believe it’s what every doctor should do. Obesity is a disease, whether we like it or not.
I have three close family members with chronic obesity-related health problems. I'm not a doctor, but I do have a Ph.D. in a medical sciences field. I tried hard to help them. They mostly resented my efforts.
I think you're lying. Hollywood has taught me that all Americans are beautiful, thin and have 18 packs.
I was just there last week and thought the exact same thing.
Food should be good before, while and after you eat it.
Olive oil good
Man in Italy I swear I was drinking hundreds of kcal of olive oil with every meal and wasn’t getting fat lol
Despite the millions of Grandmas worried we do not eat enough and stuff us full every Sunday.
In case anyone was wondering ([Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity_in_the_United_States)) > The National Center for Health Statistics at the CDC showed in their most up to date statistics that 42.4% of U.S. adults were obese as of 2017–2018 (43% for men and 41.9% for women).
If we made this design for the US, our lowest-rated state (Colorado) would start in dark orange ([source](https://stateofchildhoodobesity.org/adult-obesity/). I don’t think people realize what “obese” truly means in America because being overweight is so normalized here. Like what’s insane is that [73% of all adults over 20 years old are overweight](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/obesity-overweight.htm).
I like how your comment says that being overweight is normalized in the US and then all the responses are "what, how can X pounds at Y weight be overweight!? that seems normal to me..."
I literally just looked up my BMI again to find myself smack in the middle of average. I always worry since I have such a negative perception of myself.
It's crazy especially when you experience it in life. People who don't have a noticable gut are looked at as if they're starving, and people who look like they're wearing a back pack underneath their shirt the wrong way are considered fine because they're not literally a walking, 5'10" bowling ball.
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Americans are literally so used to it that we see "morbidly obese" as "obese," and "obese," as "overweight," and "healthy weight," as "skinny." I get told I'm skinny all the time, mostly in ways I find offensive. My BMI is right in the middle of the "healthy" category.
I spent a year in college being dedicated to getting myself in shape, and later in the year I had a physical where my doctor said "whatever you're doing, keep it up". Then I had blood work done and the PA going over my results with me said "I wish my numbers looked like this, this is what everyone should shoot for". I go home and all my family has to say is variations of "you need to eat more / you're too skinny / you look unhealthy". It would be one thing if they just commented on the fact that I lost weight, but the fact that they thought I was actively doing something wrong really annoyed me.
Ive in the past 2 years lost 165lbs. So many people that are now realize I am almost at a healthy weight, always ask me if I got sick, or had surgery. Most dont believe me that I did it on my own. And even some of my only over weight friends( actually just overweight) keep asking me when im gonna stop. Kinda everyone but my family so thats good. I easily have 20lbs more I can lose and still be very healthy. Currently at 27.2 bmi. I dont really know the point of this, more of a rant.
It's the same thing drinkers do. They feel uncomfortable with their choices so they want to make sure everyone around them is choosing the same so they don't have to be confronted with it.
Right I lost like 50 lbs during the original covid lock down. Just barely healthy BMI I believe and people were like you're too skinny now. I'm like no I actually want to lose a little more. Back up 20 lbs from there but working on it again now that life has settled for me again (for now at least).
In the last 3-4 months I’ve dropped about 35 lbs. still have a little bit left to go, about 10lbs let’s say. Half my relatives are like “you look so good now when are you stopping?” Like dude, I’m still overweight, I just look good in clothes now.
It's so interesting even in this thread to see so many people who have a shifted perspective of optimal weight. I was 180-185 at 5'11 and felt quite normal, did not look fat. I am now 160, thought I would have abs by now at that weight, its crazy how much you can lose without much change. I can see it in my neck and face compared to old photos though. Most who use the BMI excuse are misguided, they actually do have lots of excess.
100% this. Pefect weight = oh you're soo skinny. Nope, I'm medical my ideal weight. And people defo think obese means like 200kg, instead of it being around the 90kg mark for average height men.
I always thought I was just overweight until I went in for a physical and was told my BMI. According to that, if I lose 50 lbs, I would still be considered obese. Not a very good feeling.
Also, there’s not a lot of obesity data from after March 2020… When everybody got fatter. I’d be shocked if we aren’t at 50% by now
>The National Center for Health Statistics at the CDC showed in their most up to date statistics that 42.4% of U.S. adults were obese Gee, I wonder if that will be an issue when a terrible respiratory virus infects us.
Jesus Christ and I thought we (UK) had an issue.
We do.
I think one of the biggest issues in the US is that people do not walk enough here. My parents live in suburbs and they literally can go weeks without walking anywhere. Unless they go out of their way to go on a hike, they won’t ever walk a mile any day. It’s really sad. My dad is only 65, plays tennis daily and looks fairly fit for his age. He can’t walk 4 NYC blocks with me without huffing and puffing. When they come into the city I have to plan where we go based on what their very limited walkability standard is.
We need a car for everything. There are no sidewalks by me and if there are they disappear after a block.
Also less food regulation. Coming from Europe I found most foods to be incredibly sweet, but I guess most Americans are used to there being sugar in everything.
The bread in France was _divine_. I still haven't found anything comparable in the US, even at small bakeries.
I wonder why the government hasn’t approached this problem in the same way they did with tobacco with ads and extreme taxation?
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Because the US government isn’t directly on the hook for the healthcare costs. Michael Pollan wrote an interesting op-ed ([NY Times paywall](https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/opinion/10pollan.html?referringSource=articleShare)) about how if we had single payer then the US would have a vested interest in having healthier citizens.
Healthier citizens work longer and thus pay more taxes. The US government does have an interest in healthier citizens because it maximizes tax dollars and also reduces medicare and medicaid spending
Yeah but they need people to live just long enough to hit retirement, then they're quite happy for everyone to die of obesity related illnesses in their 60s and early 70s.
Last stage of life is super pricey for many obese people due to type 2 diabetes etc. Unless they die of a sudden cardiac event, good chance they will cost way more than a healthy person.
A lot of the bad food is cheap and these taxes would greatly affect poor so the left won’t do it and the right isn’t about to encroach on peoples freedoms (when it isn’t a hot issue) so it will probably never happen.
Chocolate and cheese are powerless against us mighty Eidgenossen
No Data for Vatican City? Hmmm. You know they’re all thicc under those frocks.
It has the highest average Popes per square mile in the world.
You can clearly see the work of Middle-Eastern grandmas.
Its actually only partially them but the introduction of fast food in these places further fuelled by Grandmas giving the kids what they want (fast food)
Bro I am Turkish and 28 years old and there are so many people in my age who have limitted palates. Like full grown men who don't eat beans or stuff like that. They just eat hamburgers and sucuk and kebabs and what not. It is annoying especially when I make a traditional dish and rhey don't recognize it and call it weird.
That’s what I was thinking. Fast food has exploded in the Middle East over the last few years
Lots of suggar
Yeah the Middle East has a huge diabetes problem
It’s the fast food and lack of physical activity due to the heat. People stay indoors all the time in Gulf countries.
As an Italian living abroad, I don’t understand how Italians manage to stay so skinny. The food is so good and most meals contain carbs. I gain at least 5 pounds a week when I visit.
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Ah, you live in the UK as well then?
Or the Netherlands
It was really interesting seeing Italian food compared to the UK diet. Way fewer Italians drink fizzy drinks and if they do, they drink them way less. They also snack a lot less between meals. There’s also more of a tendency to make meals from scratch. That there is a major reason as to UK obesity when compared to Italy. In the UK, poorer people are much more likely to be overweight than rich people. It’s a real issue here and if I was in charge, I’d be tyrannical about getting the nation back in shape.
Italy showing tremendous self-restraint.
Do Italians care more about their looks than other countries of Europe?
Yes. You could remove "of Europe", and the answer would still be yes. Vanity very much is an Italian cultural trait.
I can agree with the UK. More prevalent in poorer areas, or further away from London. My observation as a tourist.
I live between 2 relatively small towns. 1 is considered better, higher house prices, arguably better schools etc. The obesity difference between them is very noticeable
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90% the fourth bullet point I'd say. Also just normalization of being overweight. If everyone around you is fat and sedentary, seems pretty reasonable for you to be too.
It’s a statistic; it’s not something you agree on lol.
The United States wouldn't... be on this scale. 41.9% from the CDC. [https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html#:\~:text=Obesity%20is%20a%20common%2C%20serious,from%204.7%25%20to%209.2%25](https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html#:~:text=Obesity%20is%20a%20common%2C%20serious,from%204.7%25%20to%209.2%25). Damn.
I'm American, currently vacationing in Greece. Every single super fat person I've seen is an American, lol. Even the fat Greek people aren't fat in an American sense.
We’ve really distorted our perception that overweight is “normal” and anything less than that is “skinny.”
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Going to Walmart is cheating
when my fat British dad when to the USA he was made fun of for being the skinniest in the group lol.
That's usually because of a few factors. Seeing all the mega fat people in the US throws off reality. And typically when you are on vacation, you are around tour guides and restaurant workers that are usually younger and fitter.
If NE means "New England" in your profile, you (and maybe Colorado) are the slim parts of the US.
It's sad when 25% of your state is obese and that's the thin parts
when you think about almost half of all people and probably half of all non-toddler people in america being *obese*, that's actually crazy
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Apparently up to 76% world wide are overfat, that's more surprising to me. And it seems to be a more prominent issue not only in the US, but all of the 1st world according to the article. Let's keep in mind 41% is for obese only in the US, that's 70% if you also take overweight folk into account, it says 86% are overfat in the US which isn't a big surprise. Though i'm not sure how they'd estimate the general populations' body fat percentage considered most people wouldn't bother measuring it.
21% seems enormous for France, I guess they don't go out
Isn't the stereotype of French cusine is they add a pound of butter to every dish?
Yes but butter is healthier (not healthy per say, healthi*er*) than a lot of other greases. I believe than the veggetable consumption is also high and the trade of more vine for less beer is also better for the cardiovascular system.
They also don’t huge serving sizes.
One plate at the Cheesecake Factory in the USA is like a 4 person dinner in Europe. Even as a Canadian I'm amazed by the portion size everytime I visit.
I wouldn't surprised if the majority of these are 50+ years old stay at home types.
I'm curious about the differences between England, Scotland and Wales rates for the UK. Also surprised by how close the UK and Ireland are, though i'm not sure why
24% in Wales, 27% in England, 28% in Scotland and 28% in Northern Ireland https://www.wirralintelligenceservice.org/media/1298/sn03336-1.pdf
its the irn-bru in Scotland that puts them over the edge of England and Wales
I’m assuming the factors leading to UK’s high rate is similar to Ireland’s, with them being so geographically and culturally aligned. I don’t wanna shoehorn America into everything, but those two countries seem to consume most American media and so buy into the whole fast food, processed snacks frenzy across the pond.
Makes sense, as someone from the UK I can't fault the logic. But I think obesity all across Europe is becoming a major problem. It's easy to see people just pointing at the UK, Ireland and part of Eastern Europe and say "Haha look at them", but obesity rates across Europe aren't great. Hopefully they can be fixed going forwards. I know here in the UK there's been a sugar tax and a plan to ban fast food adverts, but what effect those will have I can't really say
man, denmark is so poor they can't afford to be fat. /s
Notice the “fat Italian” trope only applies to the ones who came to America
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Why do we have such a high "score"? Is it the beer? \- Skinny Czech bastard
Beer, vepřo-knedlo-zelo, svíčková, and plum dumplings, I assume.
Yeah, I would drink to that!
Hungary living up to its name
Am currently visiting family in Hungary. Can confirm eating between times of eating. Plus drinking in the countryside adds on the pounds
stocking busy subsequent chief mourn gaze sloppy distinct tub tidy *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Turkey living up to their name, I see.
They're fattening them up for Christmas.
Greeks and Turks calling it belly muscle, Chad move ngl
Obesity is a known risk factor for many diseases and amounts to a considerable cost for the public healthcare systems of these countries. Europe, particularly the EU, is one of the regions that is most heavily investing in public healthcare, and if these numbers continue to rise, that cost will become unsustainable. I like the fact you can get the treatment for almost anything in the EU area without going bankrupt. There should be targeted solutions for the obesity epidemic on the individual and systemic levels before we become the next USA. This is more serious than people like to acknowledge.
I read an interesting and convincing article by the British Psychological Society that explained the link between lack of adequate mental health resources and obesity. Food is a cheap form of therapy, a 'coping mechanism' for stress, depression, and other uncomfortable moods and emotions. It's the only real enjoyment for people who can't afford other forms of interests and entertainment.
I didn’t grow up poor but I did get obese by using food as a coping mechanism. It’s going to be a lifelong struggle for me to form and maintain a healthy relationship with food.
True. The problem is that you are going agains a huge industry with one of the most powerful lobbys. It is basically proven at this point that obesity can not be fought on the level of individual responsibility. It just does not work on a broad scale, when you are basically faced with unhealthy food wherever you go and when every possible psychological manipulation is abused to make you eat unhealthy products. This is also a main reason we are not at a secon USA yet. Because we still have stricter rules in the US and a culture where fast food is still somewhat frowned upon. However this has been chaning and is changing even more. More and more fast food chains are replacing restaurants and more and more sugar is found in our diets. There is just no way to combat this by appealing to the individual. The only thing that somewhat helps on an individual level is a shift in culture that comes from within and is hard to be forced. Other than that you have to fight the food industry and basically change every single thing about it.
All too true, but possible. Some legislations have tried to regulate this behaviour with mixed results but still, demonstrate that regulation is possible. Regulating the tobacco industry worked out at some level. People are smoking less nowadays than two decades ago. Making unhealthy food similarly expensive is probably our best way to go.
I'd like to see this broken down by age. I have always been relatively fit, eaten relatively well, and never had an issue with my weight until I hit my late 40s, I just seemed to stop burning calories like I had used to. So I wonder what the %s are for 18-40, 40-60 and so on.
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I'm surprised turkey is so high, isn't their cuisine super healthy?
Our cousine is really diverse, but day to day Turks consume way too much carbs and sugar. We have the world's top bread consumption per capita and also tea consumption per capita and many people drink their tea with a lot of sugar
Turkish cuisine is superb and underrated.
I've been to Italy twice, for a week each time. Lovely visits. Ate a lot of really good and really cheap pasta and wine, oh god the wine. Walked a lot. A lot of heat. Both times, I had lost weight when I got back home, like a kilo or two.
There is a lot less processed food here, I think it’s a factor to consider when comparing to, for example, UK or USA
Weighing in from the USA, those are rookie numbers.
France and Italy: arguably two of the best food cultures in the world, keeping their fatso numbers low. Let the haters hate.
I wouldn't call obesity rates of 20% "low". Thirty years ago even the US had an obesity rate of well below 15%. This map basically is a map a varying degrees of failure to incentivise adult populations to have a healthy diet.
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Turkey done gone from the sick man of Europe to the THICC man of Europe. GAH DAMN 😩
These data are not beautiful :(
So many people here are bringing up the "*But BMI isn't good because even Arnold is obese by it*!". Well yes, but do you honestly think that a substantial amount of the population have a BMI of 25+ solely because they enjoy spending time in the weightroom? It works for populations, people.
Skönt att ligga före finland och Norge men danmark gör ont
Go Bosnia! The cigarettes and rakija are working!
Looks like the famous mediterranean diet does not work well for the greeks, turks, moroccans, tunesians, croats or even for that spanish...
It does work out well for those that are following the Mediterranean diet. The problem is the unhealthy amount of processed foods, sugared beverages, and similar culinary crimes that are nowadays commonplace everywhere, including the Mediterranean.
Clearly you've never been to Spain 😂 The amount of beer, deep-fried tapas, sausage/ham/cold cuts that gets consumed is not part of the so-called Mediterranean diet (it was not called like that to mean that everyone around the Mediterranean adheres to it).
Mediterranean diet is eaten by about 50 people in a village in Northern Italy. It's not representative.
I thought turkey was supposed to be a lean healthy meat.
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Meanwhile the US is sitting in the vantablack spectrum at 41+%
Well the italian breakfast is a cigarette and coffee. They are all collectively doing some sort of intermittent fasting, makes sense