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American diets versus European diets
May 27, 2009
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I already know that a lot of readers are going to be a bit offended by this photo and it might create a lot of controversy given that it’s a graphic depiction of the result of the types of foods most Europeans eat versus the types of diets Americans keep .
If a picture is worth 1,000 words this picture is surely proof that Americans are eating way too much food because portions are far greater than what the average person really needs. It might be a bit graphic, but the creator of this collage is surely getting the message across loud and clear.
On one side you have a slender woman with the European flag and in the lower right corner you see a basket of wine and what seems like “good quality foods”. On the other side you have an obese woman who is seemingly several pounds overweight and we see the American flag on the upper right hand side of the photo and a fast food meal from McDonald’s in the lower right of the photo.
Personally, I think that the thongs could have been omitted from the photos, but I guess perhaps it’s part of the shock value.
I was recently on a business trip in the U.S. and I actually considered ordering a pizza, but when I saw the size of that big wheel of dough, I was taken aback by the size of that pizza and decided to opt for something that was more manageable and that would give me one week’s worth of calories in one meal. The portion size for that pizza that was served at the restaurant where I ate was sufficient to feed an entire family yet there are only two women sitting in front of a really large pizza doing their best to finish it.
I shook my head because that would literally last me a week if I were to order such a large pizza.
I’ve often said that if America cut its portion size in restaurants by as little as 20%, the entire country would effortlessly lose loads of weight.
I think that so many of us feel compelled to eat as much as we see so if you reduce what people are seeing you effectively reduce how much people are eating.
I’ve heard countless times Americans say that when they visit Europe, they constantly feel starved because they feel the portions are kiddie-sizes. In reality, the portions served in most European countries are normal because there is no such thing as “super size” in Europe (perhaps the U.K. might be exempt from this example as Britons have a serious weight problem).
The equation in my mind is very clear and that’s why there is a multi-billion dollar diet industry.
It’s important to make better food choices and limit processed foods/junk foods to a minimum, but it’s equally important to be mindful of portion sizes.
After all, the more you feed your body, the more it will want to be fed!
Photo of the post card by aid85
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May 30th, 2009 at 7:35
I think the picture really weakens the article– even keeping away from the more debateable stuff, if you added up the calories of that basket of “high-quality foods”, (like cheese, wine, pate, etc?) it would easily top even the calorie-loaded McDonalds meal. It’s simplistic, and vaguely classist.
I wish I could tell you which issue it was, but Self magazine did an article on this several years ago, where they compared pictures of standard portions in European countries with standard American portions, and it was pretty impressive. The other thing they went into is that European cities are often built around an Urban planning model that encourages walking and biking much more than American cities do, so that the typical European citizen walks up to twice as much in a day as the typical American. It was a fantastic issue.
…And I always feel like this is a cheap shot, but it’s the truth: Europeans still smoke, to this day, a lot more than Americans do. That has to be the standard disclaimer on articles about how much ‘healthier’ and thinner the average European is, since plenty of them are using smoking to reduce their appetites and not portion control.
June 1st, 2009 at 10:39
Beth,
Thanks for your feedback.
I did warn that the photo would be controversial.
I found the photo months ago, but waited for the site to be up to tackle the issue here as opposed to doing it on my beauty site.
I chose the photo because it had a shock factor.
I can assure you that your assessment is correct. My Parisian and Italian friends don’t go to the gym, they don’t count calories and they don’t know how to spell “diet”. They simply enjoy good quality food and they walk a lot!
Most people in North America live suburbs where walking is almost impossible because the distances are so wide. Most North American also prefer fast foods to slow foods and most people on this side of the Atlantic are allergic to cooking.
The “diet” industry in Europe (outside of the U.K.) is non-existent. They don’t have the same issued relating to foods.
I agree, most smoke and have wine at lunch and dinner and they still live longer and healthier lives than most North Americans.
There is a lot to learn from them and that’s what I’m hoping to share on Eat Smart Age Smart!
Thanks for dropping by!
September 7th, 2009 at 20:45
Good thing I am an Asian.
The first thing that caught my eye is that controversial picture. And it explains it all. Maybe Americans should really try to adapt Europeans or Asian diet and eliminate such “supersize me” treats.
Well this is another best article in here!
October 11th, 2009 at 14:49
There are soooo many reasons for the obesity problem in the US. Yes, its the fast food industry (and our choice to eat it), the way the suburbs are built, the corn and soy industry that puts HFCS and soybean oil in everything, high fat non-nutritious factory farmed meats and other foods, lack of education about nutrition and lifestyle and so on.
Being from San Francisco and currently living in Portland, I forget how limited healthy food is in many parts of the country until I have to travel to certain ares. Its astounding how little choice many people have. If you want healthy food, go to the SF Bay Area, parts of LA, Portland, Seattle, Boulder, NYC and a few other places.