[brnt]

As a European, the (default) food options I see in the US make it very difficult to eat what I would call a healthy meal. You really have to make an extraordinary effort, which I don't experience back home and therefore I can't be surprised to see it translates in these obesity statistics. To place that all on personal agency seems not very productive to me, back home there are efforts made that make easy and default options meet a minimum level of healthiness. I don't see why Americans can't do the same, and why you would want to count on billions of individual choices if you can solve with a (health) program. This kind of thinking made us into programmers, right?

[eue6e6ey]

I see variations of this idea a lot but I find it hard to agree with them. Right now (in California) I can buy a week's worth of low calorie healthy groceries (including a variety of leafy greens) from Walmart for around 30 bucks. I'm fancy so for me it's around 45 via instacart (sub+tip). That's not too bad for most Americans. Even if it is for some, rice, beans, and milk alongside a wide variety of filling vegetables can be bought for gallons/pounds on the dollar. The problem isn't access to healthy meal options, it's that most Americans with a choice would rather just eat food they enjoy more. Personally I never saw the issue since private healthcare means the added health burdens get priced in.

[watwut]

This assumes you cook own lunch and dinner. Before covid, I would had lunch next office just like everybody else. And how easy it is to find healthy balanced option there makes big difference.

Plus, American version of everything contains more sugar - notably bread, sauces, cola, cereals, everything. Bread is the thing that makes massive difference. Aaaand milk is invariably low fat, which makes it less satiating.

When I heart Americans talk about healthy food, they often end up citing food that can't work long term. Or that just seem designed to be tastles and punish you. You can't have the same beans your only protein source long term.

Rice+beans easily amount to food that makes you both fat and hungry. Vegetables add vitamins and fibre, but absent some other fat and protein source you are bound to feel hungry.

[eue6e6ey]

Beans were just one example to emphasize the cost point, though given the rates of obesity in south east asia I'd point out that even if they can make you fat that it's more a matter of not eating too much than the items actually being unhealthy. Speaking to cost again though, at a latino market I can get pork for a bit over $2 a pound for example and chicken is only a few cents more where I am. Beans are by no means the only way to get cheap protein and fats. And if I get tired of rice I can go go to an asian market and get fresh noodles to keep in the fridge for not much more than rice.

I'll give you that lunch is more of a struggle if you're short on time and don't want to meal prep but you could still just buy a value menu taco or burger from a fast food joint and be fine (the ultra calorie monster items are not in the value menu). Sure, it'll come with transfats and some of the other non-christian food ingredients but one Breakfast Jack, Value Cheeseburger, Potato Taco, etc. per day aren't going to be what makes you fat. Which winds back around to my point that the issue isn't really one of access for most Americans, it's one of preference and excess.

[maxerickson]

The starch in bread is processed by the body as sugars. A gram or 2 of sugar in a slice isn't changing much of anything.

I am lactose intolerant and so don't drink raw milk, but I don't have any problem buying full fat milk products. I guess restaurants might not serve full fat stuff, but stores pretty universally stock the range.

[ketamine__]

The lactose in raw and pasteurized milk is the same?

[watwut]

The difference in sugar content between American and European break itms way bigger then you assume. It is also super noticeable by taste.

[maxerickson]

I live in the US and shop for lower sugar breads, so I'm actually pretty well aware of how much sugar is in US breads.

Do European breads have negative sugar in them?

[brnt]

This is different country to country, but in places where I've lived, 'breads' don't have added sugar at all. In France that kind of bread would be called a brioche, in the Netherlands suikerbrood (sugerbread). Generally it's thought of as a pastry, not bread.

[phonypc]

I'm not convinced added sugar in bread means a whole lot nutritionally. Like any starchy food, it's effectively largely sugar (glucose) anyway. And the added sugar is only a few grams per serving, so if you take the viewpoint that the fructose component is what makes sucrose/HFCS especially harmful, it's not nearly equivalent to downing a glass of juice or soda.

[watwut]

> not nearly equivalent to downing a glass of juice or soda.

Whose sugary content is also bigger. It is that thing I noticed - I eate roughly the same in different counties and put sand effort into food. And sometimes I was gaining weight and other times loosing it. It was not me that was changing.

All of that adds up and the form od sugar do matters too.

[phonypc]

I think you're assuming too much based on the stereotype of Americans being sugar fiends. Fruit juice typically doesn't have added sugar. Soda brands are comparably sugary between locations.

It's true that sugar is added to things that typically wouldn't contain them elsewhere, e.g. bread and pasta sauce, but I'd argue not in amounts that are nutritionally meaningful.

The issue we have is over-consumption.