America is disgusting.

Yes, yes. You guys already knew that.


I've recently begun making lengthy trips on my bike (30-40 miles, though 40 makes my ass hurt, so I'll stick to 30) as a way to get some exercise and stay in shape. Being that I don't feel like sweating my ass off, I don't bring any food. I've no place to put it without carrying a backpack, and since I already have 3 liters of water on my back, I don't feel much like carrying more. I'm already seating enough.

Anyway, I usually make it a point to stop at a convince store to pick up a granola bar and a powerade to replace lost sodium and electrolytes. (I know, not typically needed for training durations of less than five hours, but I think 4 hours is good enough.)
So when I walk into the store to find something relatively healthy, it's damn near impossible. Everything is seemingly made by Little Debbie, who can not possibly be little when you look at the caloric and fat content of her shit.

I'm in no way a health nut, but ever since I started eating better and exercising more, I've felt much better. It's just disgusting to know that my options for a quick snack are mostly limited to candy bars or nacho-flavored calories. Today I found some cereal bars, that were so ignored that they were dusty. Gross.


And besides that, there's the ridiculous vehicles that people are driving. Like the woman that I saw driving the Hummer solo. I hope she has fun at the pump. Watching my brother's submission of "Who killed the electric car?", I heard one person say something to the effect of "Americans don't want to be asked to live like Europeans!" - And I thought to myself - why not? Heaven forbid we use less than 80% of the world's energy. Heaven forbid we drive a vehicle that gets more than 11 miles to the gallon. Heaven forbid we turn the thermostat down 5 degrees and put on a sweater.


I think I'm gonna go live in Europe instead.
Farhad2000 says...

Sometimes I think American companies want to make americans fat so they can feel horrible about themselves, thus selling lots of diet services, gym memberships, and make them guilty via fashion magazines.

Also doctors need more work dealing with obesity cases.

Thylan says...

^

That implies execs sit around making choices between healthy, and not healthy. they dont, they chose between what sells, and what dosnet. yes, they sell fat, cos people buy it. sugar too. and they sell you gym memberships and sliming cos youll buy that. its not about being moraly evil, its about money.

thinker247 says...

Hear, hear!

My roommate drives a Hummer, and I just don't see how he does it. Even if gas is cheap, why bother with a massive vehicle like that?

And yes, seeing grocery items with dust on the package is disgusting.

snoozedoctor says...

The American way has been to sell the public what it wants. Supply and demand. If they sold enough cereal bars, if that's what the majority of Americans wanted, they would be on the shelf.

Kids develop dietary habits instilled by their parents. Inuit kids have no trouble chewing whale blubber, whereas it would almost certainly make me vomit. If you let kids eat potato chips, cheetos and oreo cookies from day one, they will develop bad dietary habits.

Americans are also addicted to eating fast and hurriedly. Traveling abroad I'm always amazed by how unrushed a meal is. Even if you are the only one in the restaurant, you can count on a couple of hours for a meal.

It's difficult to store fresh fruit and vegetables for dispensing from a drive thru window.

When I was in New Zealand, everywhere I went all I saw were slim, athletic looking people. I stayed on a sheep farm and the 60ish farmer asked my young son if he wanted to pet a sheep. He grabbed this full grown sheep and slung it on its back and pinned it to the ground. He says "go ahead and scratch its belly."

I was 25 years younger and I thought, "geesh, I couldn't do that."

If there were an international competition between all countries, in which each and every citizen under 50 years of age had to line up and run a 100 meter dash, I'm fairly certain America would finish dead last.

And what can you say about those Hummers (Humblers, as I've heard them called), absolutely ridiculous. I bought a Prius and I recommend it highly.

bamdrew says...

Reminds me of this quote:

"We’re the only nation in the world where all our poor people are fat.”

Attributed to Phil Gramm, former Texas Senator and current economic adviser to McCain, in the context of the current market not being a recession and people not really having serious money problems... because obviously if you're able to work two jobs and eat fast food all the time there is no way you could be in financial hardship...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/12/opinion/12herbert.html?em&ex=1216008000&en=5c504b9acdffed62&ei=5087%0A

choggie says...

I'm constantly saying to the idgits who parrot the idea of some band-aid for the health care system in the US..... this Obama (scary motherfucker), in serious tone, spewing what the uninformed mob-monkeys want to hear, blah blah blah...

America eats shit. Her citizens can't afford, and the nation can't afford, the kind of health care nightmare that comes with her diet-sick, dying, killing themselves with food-fuck universal health care-only for people that teach heir children to, and who themselves become healthy, by taking the toxins out of their diets completely......But first, destroy the purveyors of the shit making it not so lazily available.....replace conv. stores with vegetable coops-soda pops with the juices of the hundreds of fruit trees the govt. subsidies, are used to plant alla Ladybird Johnson style, above the fatted plains....

3 day work week, wage-slavery becomes a thing of the past-people have time to educate themselves, fuck more, and play more.

My "I have a dream" speech would include many radical changes to the National psyche....and a wholesale bitch-slapping for all the motherfuckers, who have systematically dumbed-down this place in the last 75-100 years......

NordlichReiter says...

I tend to drink a beer about an hour before bed, and 30 minutes after training. About every five days.

I hit the bad for about 90 minutes, sustained punching is difficult to keep rhythm especially with all this shit they sell in the stores that has fructose, extreme amounts of sugar, and but loads of sodium.

I know where you are coming from on the bike seats and ass problem. That's why I don't ride any more.

critttter says...

Look for V8 juice and soy chips, or some kind of predominately peanut candy bar. (Payday) Yeah, you're still eating processed crap, but convenience store dining = desperate measures. Some of those granola bars are loaded with garbage, and if they're out of date, their rancid oils are carcinogenic. Yes, it sucks mightily. Suicidal eating is an American epidemic.

choggie says...

and none of yer health dare reform can fix a sucking chest wound like the one we got in the good ol' USA...great ol' USA...better than tomatoes from people wiping thiier asses and shipping it here, USA....

That bike seat situation can be remedied if you wanna look stupid..had the fat-ass cushiony bitch seat on a few of my bikes....but I don't ride no bikes no more either...beer works better than a hard seat ever could...and them insulated designer genes-

oileanach says...

A big part of the problem is the almost universal belief that everything should be as cheap as possible, and food the cheapest of all. My god, food keeps you alive, you are literally made of the stuff you eat, and yet you seek out the cheapest possible sources? SUVs are only getting cheap because people can't afford to fill the tanks anymore, but before that people would buy a big-ass truck (for two to three times the cost of a perfectly nice car) to haul their not coincidentally big-asses around from one drive through "restaurant" to the next, with stops in-between for the drive-through bank, and drive through pharmacy (cholesterol pills, naturally). It is amazing with all the knowledge and intelligence around that this system makes sense to anyone, much less the majority.

10444 says...

The sad part is that most Americans don't know what it feels like to be healthy, and aware of their bodies the way healthy people are. And trying to tell them that 'I feel so much better after losing weight!' won't really motivate them. They'll go eat some cookies and play a few more games, and drive over to the neighbor across the street to watch their favorite TV show, because that's something they already know that makes them feel better.

It's the lifestyle.. They've grown up with it, it's accepted. Blame the system, not the people that are following it blindly ( because they don't know how to live anything else ). You have to introduce it to them without being some health nut. People aren't comfortable with drastic change, and no matter how small it might seem after you take a step, it was hard to take it before you knew that. You can make a difference. But then again, it's not really your responsibility is it?

And that's why this kinda stuff stays. It's never anyone's responsibility..

Payback says...

Someone needs to start a fast healthy food restaurant that actually has food that tastes good and has complete meals for less than $5.

It's the only way you'll beat the Big Boys. McDonalds, Burger King, etc.

hehe, and make people lineup on conveyor belts moving AWAY from the cash register...

oh, and ban drive-thrus. More exercise, help the enviroment, and cut back on foreign oil all at once!

dgandhi says...

>> ^Payback:
Someone needs to start a fast healthy food restaurant that actually has food that tastes good and has complete meals for less than $5.


What about all those chain burrito joints? qudoba,baja fresh,chipotle sell decent size burrito (full meal in a tortilla) for about $5. It's just about the only fast/cheap food I eat, and while it's not perfect, it sure beats the hell out of any other sub $10 meal on the go. Many of these are big enough to split if your on a "I'm sitting on my ass all day" 1200Cal diet. My GF and I sometimes split one, feed two for $5 is a pretty good deal.

Send this Article to a Friend



Separate multiple emails with a comma (,); limit 5 recipients






Your email has been sent successfully!

Manage this Video in Your Playlists

New Blog Posts from All Members