[angarg12]

After living in England for a while, this year we finally moved to the US. Although I have never been too athletic, I've put on 5-7 KG since we moved, and I can't shed them off. We are mostly eating the same as before, and in fact I'm more active than I was over there.

There isn't much point to this comment other than the flabbergasting anecdote of how eating roughly the same diet in different countries can have markedly different effect in your health.

[CadmiumYellow]

Look carefully at the ingredients list on any packaged foods you're buying. Many things contain sugar in the US when the equivalent product in Europe does not. A particularly insidious example is pre-made broth/stock: nearly every single product on the shelves at my local grocery store contains unnecessary sugar. Same goes for canned beans and salad dressings. Doing your due diligence when buying packaged foods is an unfortunate necessity if you live in the US and want to stay healthy. God, I miss grocery shopping in France!!

[kennend3]

As the other guy said watch your SUGAR intake.

Because of corn subsidies the nation is awash in cheap corn. This is turned into "HFCS" and put everywhere.

Google "surprising sources of hidden sugar" - you might be surprised to find foods that you are not expecting sugar are buried with it in the US.

[jstarfish]

Diet can have different effect across different states in the US too. California doesn't (seem to) use the same types of lard and oils that you'd find in Georgia, judging by cholesterol issues that self-resolved without change in diet or exercise.

[nradov]

Eating cholesterol has very little impact on the cholesterol levels in your body.

https://peterattiamd.com/the-straight-dope-on-cholesterol-pa...

[HDThoreaun]

I find that portions are generally bigger in the US. Especially if you're not in California easy to eat the same stuff but just have a bigger plate.