Global Obesity Comparisons by Country

[RawHeaven]

I'm doing some research for a talk and came across the following information. It's not new information for sure and as usual we Americans are at the top. Nonetheless, I thought I'd post it as it compares obesity percentages based on country. I know that culture, diet, financial status and means, stress levels, work conditions have a lot to do with health epidemics also and I wish the surveys and research were more expansive. If you have other information you can share based on your own research or interpretations that would be great!

Dear Eva, direct question for you. I know you're in Hungary right now and have mentioned the diet is heavily fat laden. In the US, 63% of the population is overweight and we have a 31% obesity rate compared to Hungary's 19% obesity rate. You've lived in both countries, what is your take on the differences if we both struggle with the actual diet? How do the diets & lifestyles differ for example? Any insight you can share based on your personal experience? I'm just curious and starting to explore ways to help and share information with people who are ready to change. I think the obesity problem in the west is much more complex than it appears on the surface.

Anything else that anyone wants to discuss or what your impressions are of this subject are greatly appreciated and welcome.

Thanks and have a great day! Stay Raw. :D

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/51585.php

The USA has the highest percentage of obese people in the world, followed by Mexico 6.4% behind. The top seven countries include the USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand - all English-speaking countries. The only English-speaking country that finds itself a fair way down is Ireland.

Experts say countries with high and rising obesity rates are so because their people don't do enough exercise and eat the wrong foods. Other factors influence your obesity risk, such as stress, some medications, and not sleeping enough hours each day.

Percentage of People Who Are Obese

1 - United States 30.6%
2 - Mexico 24.2%
3 - United Kingdom 23%
4 - Canada 22.4%
5 - Greece 21.9%
6 - Australia 21.7%
7 - New Zealand 20.9%
8 - Hungary 18.8%
9 - Luxembourg 18.7%
10 - Slovak Republic 15.4%
11 - Czech Republic 14.8%
12 - Finland 14%
13 - Spain 13.1%
14 - Ireland 13%
15 - Germany 12.9%
16 - Portugal 12.8%
17 - Belgium 12.7%
18 - Iceland 12.4%
19 - Turkey 12%
20 - Poland 11.4%
21 - Netherlands 10.9%
22 - Sweden 9.8%
23 - France 9.5%
24 - Denmark 9.5%
25 - Austria 9.1%
26 - Italy 9%
27 - Norway 8.3%
28 - Switzerland 7.7%
29 - Japan 3.2%
30 - Korea 3.2%

[Veganforlife]

WOW! That doesn't say much about us, huh?

[fruitandveggies]

Haha, the fact that we are the fattest AND we pollute the most says LOADS about us! Oi...

[rawstrength]

China
Today about 15 percent of adults, or 200 million Chinese, are reportedly overweight.
Of these, 90 million—about 7 percent—are obese (though China uses a slightly lower threshold for both designations than the UN's World Health Organization does).
In big cities, 16.7 percent of school-age boys and 9.6 percent of school-age girls are obese, compared to only 3% in rural areas.

The spread of the Western diet and lifestyle is affecting many parts of the world. Every place we went in China this summer had a Kentucky Fried Chicken Restaurant.

[Raine]

Another factor to take into consideration on the weight gain is the increasing popularity of social networking sites as reported by the London Mirror a few days ago in this article "Facebook makes you fat":

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2008/08/15/facebook-makes-you-fat-as-britons-pile-on-the-pounds-115875-20698474/

[RawHeaven]

The spread of the Western diet and lifestyle is affecting many parts of the world. Every place we went in China this summer had a Kentucky Fried Chicken Restaurant.

This is true and pretty frightening isn't it? I also know their menus are a little different, but maybe not that much. Taking this into consideration though, I know there are McDonald's restaurants in Japan and when I was in Shanghai and Beijing I saw the hard rock cafes and KFC's, but Japan still has only a 3.2 % obesity rate. There's something else going on under the surface. Japan doesn't seem to be influenced by the west when it comes to diet, even though there are western fast food restaurants there.

Perhaps studying how they're able to do this or knowing what the percentage of people who frequent (or don't frequent) these places can help us ironically. I don't want to open up a non-raw discussion of course or focus on a non-raw diet -- simply being realistic about sharing and speaking to an audience who is still learning about releasing certain detrimental and lifestyle habits and why it's beneficial. It seems that there has been so much information shared about what it takes to be healthy, but people are not absorbing it. There has to be another way that reaches them. Perhaps comparing us with other countries will help stimulate our intrinsic competitive nature (in a good way). haha.

[RawHeaven]

Another factor to take into consideration on the weight gain is the increasing popularity of social networking sites as reported by the London Mirror a few days ago in this article "Facebook makes you fat":

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2008/08/15/facebook-makes-you-fat-as-britons-pile-on-the-pounds-115875-20698474/

hmmmm...interesting. thank you for sharing this.

[RawSinger]

RawHeaven: thank you soo much for those statistics. Very eye-opening. Damn! America has to be at the top with everything, doesn't it?

[petaltothemetal]

My father used to travel to various parts of the USSR when it was still the USSR for his job. He'd be gone months and come home saying how good it was to be home where everyone wasn't fat and sick and he wasn't afraid to eat the food. The peasants ate so much bread and potatoes along with whatever they could squeak out of their gardens and the mushrooms they could gather. All that starch made them fat even though they were still nutritionally starving. The best diets, he said, were along the coast lines, where the temperatures were more moderate and people ate greens, fruit and fish more. He said when people figured out he was a foreigner (he looked and spoke Russian) that they would start offering him expensive luxury foods like strawberries, but he was always afraid to eat them because the water there was so bad. He bathed in bottled water when he stayed in St Petersburg. A coworker who showered regularly got parasites through his SKIN.

When he travelled a lot, I was in elementary school, and I remember I was considered fat and all I had was a belly pouch. In high school there was ONE big girl and no one could believe she weighed 195 lbs. They used to do weigh ins at the gym. Now the teacher would be sued for that. At that time I weighed about 115. When I signed my son up for high school 7 years ago I noticed half the kids in line with us were as big as that girl I remember from high school, and about a quarter of them were bigger. I'm 43; it's not like I'm reaching back 50 years here in my memory. The attitudes here have changed dramatically about fat in the last 20+ years. If everyone's fat, it must be OK!!!! There's a lot less worry about what is happening to us and a lot more concern with being politically correct.

[lambe]

these are interesting, & not as i expected really. for instance, i would have thought italy would have been higher up on the list.

[RawHeaven]

When he travelled a lot, I was in elementary school, and I remember I was considered fat and all I had was a belly pouch. In high school there was ONE big girl and no one could believe she weighed 195 lbs. They used to do weigh ins at the gym. Now the teacher would be sued for that. At that time I weighed about 115. When I signed my son up for high school 7 years ago I noticed half the kids in line with us were as big as that girl I remember from high school, and about a quarter of them were bigger. I'm 43; it's not like I'm reaching back 50 years here in my memory. The attitudes here have changed dramatically about fat in the last 20+ years. If everyone's fat, it must be OK!!!! There's a lot less worry about what is happening to us and a lot more concern with being politically correct.

Petaltothemetal, thanks for sharing. This is so true isn't it? I'm close to your age and I just remember being glued to my bicycle as a kid and the first thing we wanted to do after school was play outside with our friends. We didn't have video games, we created our activities and games. We loved summer solely because we could stay out all day long and sometimes get to go outside again after dinner. I think there were maybe 1 or 2 heavy kids in my entire elementary school. It was probably the same stats with my high school. I do realize you can't let your kids too far out of sight in this day and age, but there must be another way for them to learn healthy habits and get their exercise, etc. What you write does make you think regarding if everyone looks the same, it must be okay.

[RawHeaven]

these are interesting, & not as i expected really. for instance, i would have thought italy would have been higher up on the list.

I lived in Italy for a short time in the early 90's. You would think their obesity index would be higher based on the perceptions that Italian food is heavy and rich, but you have to understand it's their lifestyle and the food is not prepared the same way that it is here. Most Italian people shop daily at the grocery and eat fresh, healthy foods. They do not eat a lot of processed garbage and they walk a lot. Also there are a lot of great markets where you can get fresh vegetables and fruits, especially in the South. Aside from the rampant cigarette smoking which is still prevalent in most of Europe I think (correct me if I'm wrong), they're pretty healthy and fit. Well, they're extremely healthy and fit compared to us! LOL.

[Eva]

Sorry that I'm just now responding to the question re: Hungary! I've only just seen it since we've been traveling a lot.

From what I have seen, many people here do not have a lot of money or a lot of stress. They move slowly and walk a lot. I could not imagine having a car here in the city. My aunt has a beautiful house in the countryside, three bedrooms to herself and some fruit trees, a garden, etc. Very lovely place. She does not have a car, though... bikes and walks everywhere. :)

In my family, only one person is probably in the "overweight" category, although everyone (except me and my cousins that are under 18) could stand to lose about 15-20 pounds. They all eat lots of sweets and fatty stuff but do exercise. The person who is overweight is under a lot of stress and has her own business. I think this is related. She seems to be in an unhappy period too, which is a shame because she has such a lovely heart. Anyways, I think the unhappiness and stress is more related to the weight than anything she eats.

Anyways, Hungary is pretty high up the list even if it is not so high as the US! I don't think this is the place to look for health advice.

Very, very few Hungarians seem to either get very drunk or to eat out for 98% of their meals. When I have gone for beer (me drinking herbal tea! which they always have at bars) with Hungarians, they NEVER seem to have more than one or two. But it's maybe just the folks I'm around. And they all eat meals at home.

McDonalds here (there are also some Burger Kings and I think I saw a Subway) is very expensive. I went to a McDonalds once with my cousin, and her meal came to the equivalent of like $7 for a small salad, the normal fries and some ketchup! That was all she got for that much money! In the USA, the same would be much, much less. And it would be cheap enough that most people could afford it -- maybe even less than eating at home. But here? No way. I could get a whole day's veggies and fruit from the market for $7!

Anyways, I'm curious where China would land on that list and what the situation is with overall lifestyle choices in Korea and Japan...

[RawHeaven]

Thanks Eva for sharing your experiences. Where you're staying with your family sounds really lovely. I like the idea of biking and walking everywhere and I had to laugh with the vision of you sipping your herbal tea in a bar. I can just see the picture of people swinging their mugs around, big mugs sliding down the bar, voices getting louder and there you are with your tea. hahaaaa. That is too funny. Love it.

I'm sure it factors in that Hungarians seem to be more active and this keeps them in a lower category on the list above. I believe stress is one of the reasons for the health/weight situation here. Americans are overworked and stressed out. And probably pretty unhappy at times too which no doubt oftentimes exacerbates health issues.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.

[RawHeaven]

^^^
Oh I forgot to say that's pretty interesting that McDonald's and similar restaurants are expensive there. I wonder what would happen if they raised the price of their popular items to $5 here? I wonder if people would stop eating at these places as often -- with it no longer being a viable & cheap option. But this is where their (fast food industry) power lies. They can offer this stuff inexpensively and that's probably one of the reasons people frequent them. Aside from the addicting food additives that keeps them coming back of course.

[shashibala]

I was in India last summer for 2 months. I was sadly, the plumpest person in sight. Not anymore! I digress. There, the richer people are beginning to gain weight as they have access to expensive prepared, processed foods and MacDonalds. The poorer people, the ones who have enough to eat, look very healthy, slender and fit. Interesting, as we see here in the US that the poorer we are, the more processed food we eat. Most people in India buy food daily at street markets, but grocery stores are cropping up. These stores are fairly expensive and the food is mostly packaged. I fear it will be a slippery slope to a packaged food economy. I read that it takes 20 years for a society to develop chronic, lifestyle related illnesses once processed foods and a western diet is introduced. It is very sad to me.