My fellow Americans, I've got some bad news for you. If you're trying to be healthy, lean, and fit in this country, you are screwed. Let's talk about it.
Several factors have come together in early 21st century America that make a nasty cocktail for anyone trying to have a life based on wellness. Just a few of these wouldn't be the end of the world, but when you get them all together, staying fit in the US is like trying to swim against a tsunami. So, in no particular order:
Geography: Unless you live in New York or San Francisco, going about your day on foot is simply impossible. There's no choice but to take a car or bus to do everything. Driving is a tricky thing. If you spend three hours a day driving here and there, you'll be mentally fatigued at the end of it, and feel like you've had a "big day". But in terms of calories burned and exercise done, you could've been sitting on your couch for three hours. So even an active, busy American will "lose" all the calorie burn that a Londoner, Parisian, or Tokyoite gets from simply going about their day, walking to the post office, train station, or supermarket. In a given day this isn't a big difference, perhaps just 200 calories, but multiply that over a lifetime and it'll make a huge impact.
Even If You Wanted to Walk... There are few sidewalks, little infrastructure for pedestrians (crosswalk signs, etc...) and the unpleasant fact that you will be surrounded by car noise and exhaust for your entire stroll.
The Free Market: America has the most open and competitive markets anywhere in the world. It's a ruthless environment. One company will come out with a good product, and their competitor will respond with a similar version at a cheaper price. This usually benefits the consumer as high quality products at a competitive price will always rise to the top. However, when the product is the food you eat, you get an unintended consequence. Your iPhone can get faster, lighter and more powerful every year. But how do you make a "better version" of a food. The response is usually to boost the flavor and lower the price through streamlined industrialization. So every year the salt and sugar levels in packaged foods inch up, and the ingredients get farther and farther from things that actually grow in the ground. The result is the oft quoted fact that you can get an entire fast food value meal for less than a head of broccoli. Again, this might not mean a big change in any given day. But if it leads a person to buy the cheaper, more convenient, more flavorful processed food just a few times more a week, that will have a big impact over the course of a lifetime. Which leads me to:
Loss of Palate: If you've grown up on the packaged foods, your taste buds will have acclimated to the high amounts of salt and sugars. So your tongue has a certain expectation for flavor every meal. And when you bring a natural food into that environment it will disappoint the palate. Fruits will taste dull. Vegetables will be bitter. Everything will seem somehow "plain". And it won't be long before you're reaching for a sauce or dressing to bring a little pop to your bland meal, or skipping the natural foods all together. No one believes me when I tell them their palate is whacked, but just read through some PCPers reactions to their regular foods after just a few weeks off the salt and sugar rollercoaster.
Portion Size. You've heard of people dumbing stuff down to meet the lowest common denominator. Well, in the US, the idea is to make food that satisfies the largest common denominator. Every meal seems designed for a 6'5" athletic male. The fact that there are very few 6'5" athletic males walking around doesn't seem to stop anybody from eating like them. And there's usually no way to order a "half-plate." The truth is, to keep a slim, lean physique, people need to be eating the kind of portion that's only offered on the kids menu.
"Bling" vegetables. Now here's the real kick in the pants. Even if you eat fresh fruits and vegetables, you're only getting a fraction of the nutrition that your grandparents got. This is largely due to the fact that supermarkets want to have big, glossy vegetables and fruit on the stands. So farmers breed for size, not for nutrition. There's a lot of science on this which I won't bore you with. Just know that your more-expensive-than-a-value-meal broccoli has 1/3 the nutrients of a head of broccoli from the 1950s. You can see this if you buy a truly organic, locally made vegetable. They will be small, gnarly, and visually unappealing. And packed with nutrients. So even the minority of people buying fresh are getting a raw deal, pun intended.
Fat Tolerance. A few years ago a study came out that established something we all know from common sense. When the people around you are a certain way, you'll tend to become more like them. So if your friends are all healthy and into exercise, you'll gradually drift in that direction. In the US at the moment, we've got the opposite dynamic. When the majority of people are lugging around an extra 40 pounds, you'll feel pretty good that you're just lugging around an extra 30. Just as your palate becomes acclimated to the salt and sugar, your psyche becomes acclimated to the idea that "everyone" is a little jowly and heavy around the middle. This is not how your body was intended to look. Again, a subtle effect that will get you over a lifespan.
Science Has the Answer. Most people think of the US as a very religious country, but the truth is that most Americans trust science above all else. Specifically, trust in technology. Even the most die-hard evangelical christian will happily whip out their smart-phone, microwave their dinner, and take a prescription drug to reduce depression. Jesus saves but science delivers. I love technology too, but its surprisingly poor at making you any healthier. All the things that will make you fit require you to get AWAY from technology. Out of the car, unplugged from the internet, away from the scientifically formulated sports drinks, the diet pills, weight loss shakes, off the space age gym machines and out into the very unscientific world of simple foods, sweat, and exercise. Science makes life zippy and cool, but it doesn't make you fit. Which leads right into my next point:
Gyms. I'm getting famous for my hatred of gyms. I met a gym trainer the other day who said, "Oh yeah, your that guy trying to put us out of business." That's right buddy. Gyms are everywhere in the US, and they aren't helping. A gym exists to suck your money away, and they will do whatever they can to insist that your health and fitness isn't possible without them. They make people think that getting in shape is difficult without that special place with all its special equipment. They compartmentalize fitness to that one hour three times a week. Fitness is all around you! You don't need anything besides your own body and basic food knowledge. You don't need these places, they need you, like a parasite needs a host. Gyms disempower and impoverish the few fitness-inclined people out there, and they piss me off. And finally,
Aversion to Pain and Sacrifice. When I've lived in developing countries, I have been amazed at people's ability to be happy an fulfilled even as they have performed back breaking labor and scratched a meager existence out of the soil. The wealth and power of the US has made us all soft. And getting into good shape requires pain. The pain of passing on a delicious dessert, the pain of a muscle burning an exercise, the pain of sacrificing your time to workout when you could be doing a million other more fun things. Very few Americans have what it takes. This is not a failing of character, it's just that without practice you won't be "good at pain." And the US gives you very few chances to practice pain and sacrifice. So when it comes time for someone to stick with a plan, very few make it.
Again, these factors are not only found in America, nor is any one of them that big a deal. But throw them all together and you've got an environment that will trip up your wellness goals no matter what you do.
YOU ARE SCREWED.
(The funny thing about people is, when you tell them there's no way out of a situation, they instantly start hatching plans of escape. Nothing will rouse the human spirit like being told it can't do something. So, my countrymen, you're living in a place that has set you up to be fat and sick. What are you gonna do about it? Are you just gonna sit there and take it? Doesn't sound very American to me!)
