I am a new non meat eater and i have to agree.

I also wouldn’t attack her appearance.

And for the record–I’m a chubby vegan.

Yes you are right. It has gotten worse in Europe. Not only are the people getting bigger (though still not near the sizes I see regularly in the US! but even their vehicles are getting bigger! Every time I go I see many more SUV’s (Sad) I’m in a retreat and am not supposed to be online (bad Erin) but actually I don’t think I disagree with anything you said. We both agree that they’re healthier in Europe (as a whole) but catching up fast with America. That’s sad. I hope that when I return to Prague (I’m half Czech) all the beautiful slender women aren’t all heavier than Kelly Clarkson. It would be a tragedy to see them all eating tv dinners and increasing their portions (we probably all agree that up until recently their portions are smaller than Americans typically eat….

RemyC great like about not eating anything bigger than we are. Words to live by.

E

Have you ever heard the expression, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do?”

It’s called diplomacy. What is she going to do, go on a crusade to evangelise all the members of her family to a vegan lifestyle?

I go by what the aliens told Billy Meier in Switzerland… never eat anything bigger than you are.

Yes, I was speaking about Paris, France, to give an example, but that’s only one of many. Not all people go to the market every day, some do, but not all, most people have no time. The saying in Paris is “subway-work-sleep”, and sadly in many cases that’s true (meaning you spend a lot of time communting to work, then back again to sleep). The sad fact is that there’s an immense amount of scrutiny on women here and none on men. It’s not healthy.

And once again, I’m not American, I’m European (whatever that means).
I have traveled throughout Europe, Asia, and several places in South America, some places in the US and met all types of people. I have seen obesity like in the US in places like China and Mexico.

Europe is a continent with many different cultures, languages, styles of cooking. In the south, granted, the diet is traditionally heavier on vegetables, but in the northern countries it’s heavier on meat and dairy. Simple fact.
However, with the EU it’s becoming more and more homogenized and people are embracing some kind of americanization which in actual fact basically means that they’re eating more and more fastfood.

I guess we’re making two separate arguments. You’re talking about the situation in the US, which I’m not defending, and I’m talking about the growing problem with weight in Europe. Making America healthy is great, but at the same time it’s important we try and stop this worrying trend of eating fast food, lots of sugar, transfats, etc, in Europe… well, basically, worldwide. Attemps of doing this over here are being made, and I hope the same is done in the US. You mentioned launching a website. That sounds like a great initiative!

I think the huge difference between, let’s say once again, the US and Europe would be that up until recently TV-dinners, fastfood and such were sort of a luxury (in Europe) and people would still go to the market and cook their own food. Parents would treat their children to a fastfood “restaurant” a couple of times a year (for their birthday or such) but now, for many, it’s practically every weekend. And with all these take-outs, people suddenly have no time to cook food, whereas before there were no take-outs and somehow they still had time to cook. Not sure when this happened in the US, but I’m only guessing it must have been some time ago.
People are lazy… but sadly there’s no quick fix.

In the words of Aneurin Bevan:
This is my truth, tell me yours.