75% of Americans Too Fat or Dumb to Join Army

[Thumpalumpacus]

In related news, American scientists have devised a new weapon for use in the never-ending miasma of Middle Eastern strife: the Bacon grenade.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

That's so Sikh!

[amused]

Lentils/beans and rice are cheap, easy to prepare, and provide a complete protein in combination. They're just not as tasty as a burger and fries.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Lentils/beans and rice are cheap, easy to prepare, and provide a complete protein in combination. They're just not as tasty as a burger and fries.

You can put $0.50 worth of ham in two gallons of beans and still get that flavor. My mom proved it.

[maiforpeace]

Lentils/beans and rice are cheap, easy to prepare, and provide a complete protein in combination. They're just not as tasty as a burger and fries.

You can put $0.50 worth of ham in two gallons of beans and still get that flavor. My mom proved it.

These days, the ham is cheaper than a hambone.

And the hambone is connected to the funny bone....

[Gawdzilla Sama]

We need to have a Southern Cooking night during the Train Wreck. Fried chicken, yams, boiled okra, cornbread, etc.

[maiforpeace]

Please dun't boil th' okra. Ah doesn't like t'eat snot! Fry mah hide! Kin we fry it in co'nmeal instead?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Please dun't boil th' okra. Ah doesn't like t'eat snot! Fry mah hide! Kin we fry it in co'nmeal instead?

I have to have some boiled okra so folks can tells stories about it.

[Ian]

We need to have a Southern Cooking night during the Train Wreck. Fried chicken, yams, boiled okra, cornbread, etc.

I'll bring a recipe for New England Clam Chowder.

[Thumpalumpacus]

We need to have a Southern Cooking night during the Train Wreck. Fried chicken, yams, boiled okra, cornbread, etc.

I'll put up a thread the next time I make hambone soup.

eta: And oddly enough, I'm having homemade red beans and rice as I type this.

[Svartalf]

We need to have a Southern Cooking night during the Train Wreck. Fried chicken, yams, boiled okra, cornbread, etc.

But okra is mediocre... can we at least have gumbo?

[JimC]

And, what's amazing is that the US nevertheless has the fiercest, deadliest force of fighting soldiers on the planet.

What's that say about the rest of you?

1. Currently, a huge firepower advantage, and a massive infrastructure...

2. I read the OP as a warning for the future, rather than a comment on the present. However, it may well be that the number of required fit young men will be less in the new model you seem to be heading towards...

[Coito ergo sum]

Poverty doesn't cause obesity.

No, you're right, it's not a simple as that. But there is a strong correlation between the two and a whole load of other social issues mixed in. What is clear is that the problem is not going to go away by simplifying it to "They're overweight because they eat too much".

No, actually, the problem doesn't go away by overcomplicating it. They ARE overweight because they eat too much.

Look -- 50 years ago only something like 30% of Americans were overweight, and there was hardly a welfare system and barely a safety net, and reportedly there was plenty of poverty all over the place. Yet, people weren't fat.

Over the last 50 years, people began eating more and more, and life has become more and more sedentary (witness the increase in television watching time from 1960 to 2010). Calories are up something like 30% per day, and activity is way down. More in, less out. What does that result in? Weight gain.

The thing is - it IS that simple.

What it isn't is "easy." Naturally, for overweight people to lose weight, it may be difficult because of habit, culture, lifestyle, etc. I've had a hard time losing weight myself. But, the difficulty doesn't make it complicated. It's still a function of eating too much.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

We need to have a Southern Cooking night during the Train Wreck. Fried chicken, yams, boiled okra, cornbread, etc.

But okra is mediocre... can we at least have gumbo?

Jambalaya FTW.

However, I'm thinking the dinner at the Broadway Oyster Bar will cover this. Imma hankerin' for some 'gator.

[Coito ergo sum]

Pound of hamburger, 93% lean, is $4.08 here. That's four quarter pounders, or a dollar a burger for the meat. Add $0.50 for the rest, bread, lettuce, tomato if they're lucky, and that's $1.50 for a meal for a kid.

Walmart whole wheat pasta, $1.05 per 13.5 ounce package. 32 ounces of tomato sauce - like $3, if you get the store brand. And, you've fed 3-4 people.