sugar, oh lordy, lordy

[mariposa]

funny, i see tons of fat people (i mean, really fat!) every day.

 

[syngirl]

I never knew alfajores contained beef fat! I'm horrified as I'm vegetarian and loved them

Sorry Cafeconleche -- I hate to break the news, but you'll have to start reviewing the ingredients on a lot of other products too -- they use tallow here a lot more often than you think -- often in products that are semi-soft (check labels on cookies etc)

In other shocking beef tallow news... MacDonald's french fries have that taste to them because of it. They did have to change the oil in some places out of respect / due to complaints from hindus and muslims, so by now they may have changed it around the world (for no particular reason at all, I haven't eaten MacD's in about 5 years, so couldn't tell you if they still taste the same.)

 

[syngirl]

hmm wait i must be wrong, muslims eat beef.... maybe it was hindus and sikhs? i just remember there was some suit against them, wonder if they ever changed the frying oil in south America?

 

[Napoleon]

funny, i see tons of fat people (i mean, really fat!) every day.

Brazilian tourists in Recoleta, La Boca, & Calle Florida.

This city is teeming with them.

 

[KatharineAnn]

I think one´s perception of whether people in Buenos Aires tend to be fat or not depends on where one comes from. Maybe if you are a yuppie from Manhattan or otherwise posh area where everyone eats organic and shops exclusively at Whole Foods this city would seem fat to you, but if you are from the suburbs of any middle class or lower area in the US you will see 10 times more overweight people than here.

I come from Ohio and I am easily the skinniest girl of almost all the 20-somethings I know, except for those lucky few who are incapable of gaining weight (yes we all know some of them, it´s just not fair). The rest? Range from chubby to obese. Meanwhile I have been called chubby here, and more than once have been made aware of my ´panza´. I never had even thought about the possibility of my stomach being ¨too big¨ before I moved here. And I am feverishly trying to not let the anorexic masses get to me....

As for sugar...yes Argentines are sugar fiends. But they eat so much less junk here than in the US overall, really it is just too easy and CHEAP to douse yourself in junk in the US. You can´t even compare. Here things like cake are expensive, so it´s certainly not an everyday dessert. You can´t just pick up a cake for 6 bucks at the grocery store and down a piece every night of the week if you like (cake is my biggest weakness, and its expensiveness here has surely helped me stay trim without me realizing it).

Really also it is well known that high fructose corn syrup is a LOT worse for the body than regular sugar, as the body has more trouble metabolizing it and it turns into fat. I don´t know if its a coincidence that the US is the ONLY country I know that consumes HFCS in almost every known product that is even remotely sweet, and the US also happens to be the most sadly obese country in the world. Not good! I´ll stick to good old sugar, thank you!

 

[citygirl]

Syngirl - I think you're thinking of India with the McDonald's suit. Eating anything with cow fat there is very, very bad.

And according to a study published in Forbes in 2007, Argentina is #13 on the list of world's fattest countries (US was #9). 69.4% of people over the age of 15 here have a BMI of 25 or higher - anything over 25 is overweight. So yes, not so much truth in the whole all Argentines are skinny stereotype.

ETA - If discussing obesity vs overweight (over 30 BMI), I believe the US is # 2 or 3.

Article is here: http://www.forbes.com/2007/02/07/worlds-fattest-countries-forbeslife-cx_ls_0208worldfat_2.html

 

[Uncle Dermot]

Here things like cake are expensive, so it´s certainly not an everyday dessert. You can´t just pick up a cake for 6 bucks at the grocery store and down a piece every night of the week if you like (cake is my biggest weakness, and its expensiveness here has surely helped me stay trim without me realizing it).

You think cakes and pastries are expensive here? If you wanna give up sweets altogether you should move to Europe then: a full cheese-cake I can buy here for some 5 euros would be at least 20/25 euros in Italy, same thing for facturas: you would get a slightly bigger factura for around 1.20 euros in Italy, while here it is 20 cents!

 

[French jurist]

Syngirl - I think you're thinking of India with the McDonald's suit. Eating anything with cow fat there is very, very bad.

And according to a study published in Forbes in 2007, Argentina is #13 on the list of world's fattest countries (US was #9). 69.4% of people over the age of 15 here have a BMI of 25 or higher - anything over 25 is overweight. So yes, not so much truth in the whole all Argentines are skinny stereotype.

ETA - If discussing obesity vs overweight (over 30 BMI), I believe the US is # 2 or 3.

Article is here: http://www.forbes.com/2007/02/07/worlds-fattest-countries-forbeslife-cx_ls_0208worldfat_2.html

France ranks 128 , only beaten by Romania in the EU.
I guess that's what medics call the "French paradox", no wonder though, I'm skinny too.

How is it in other countries in schools, are those machines distributing candies banned or not (I recall they were banned in France, only fruits are allowed and such).
Too it would be good to ban fastfoods nearby schools and such.

Small thought for African kids (one dying every 4 to 5 seconds).

 

[KatharineAnn]

Well the minor detail is that in Europe you also earn in euros. Well, presumably. 5 euros are like 25 pesos, and I do not find that cheap for a dessert. Actually, that´s an EXTREMELY cheap cake here. Most bakeries I´ve seen sell very few cakes for less than 40-50 pesos. And I sure as hell don´t plan on spending 50 pesos on a cake!!

 

[esllou]

Syngirl - I think you're thinking of India with the McDonald's suit. Eating anything with cow fat there is very, very bad.

And according to a study published in Forbes in 2007, Argentina is #13 on the list of world's fattest countries (US was #9). 69.4% of people over the age of 15 here have a BMI of 25 or higher - anything over 25 is overweight. So yes, not so much truth in the whole all Argentines are skinny stereotype.

ETA - If discussing obesity vs overweight (over 30 BMI), I believe the US is # 2 or 3.

Article is here: http://www.forbes.com/2007/02/07/worlds-fattest-countries-forbeslife-cx_ls_0208worldfat_2.html

how weird is it that all the top countries on that list are Pacific Island nations!!

what's the deal with that???