Support NeoGAF

[gutter_trash]

All I know is when I come over from Canada I am still surprised by how cheap food is. Food is way cheaper over there,even when I factor in the exchange rate.

tarifs, transportation, dairy cartel

Canadian food prices are really fucked up.

Went to Portugal this summer, we bagged a week's worth of groceries over there for the price of a day's worth in Canada

again, the dairy cartel in Quebec can go fuck themselves

http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/blame-canadas-dairy-cartel-for-our-expensive-milk-and-cheese-867

 

[Glendemonium]

longe school hours,
few phys ed hours,
parents work long hours and have fewer hours to interact with kids.
fear mentality of not letting kids play outside (when crime rates are at their lowest)

This had to of played a huge part. Thanks to the media sensationalizing it.

I remember parents since the 90s had this huge paranoia that people are just out to kidnap their children. Yes there are predators, but most kids know better. And many of them could outrun a pot bellied pedophile if they had to.

 

[paperboywriter]

 

[Hoo-doo]

How do US kids get to school?

When I went to middle school, I had to ride a bike for 16KM to even get there. That means I cycled around 20 miles a day, every day with hundreds of kids doing the same. Getting driven there by car was basically non-existent.

 

[Dinjooh]

Just in case anyone is interesting in knowing the full list

1. Tanzania (by fricken miles)
2. Iceland
3. Estonia
4. Norway
5. Japan
6. Denmark


HUUUUUGE

DIIIISTAANCE


26. Sweden
27. Austria
28. Netherlands
29. Spain
30. South Africa
31. Switzerland
32. Uganda
33. Seychelles
34. Columbia
35. Australia
36. Hungary
37. Italy
38. Hong Kong
39. Chile
40. Argentina
41. Philippines
42. Greece
43. Portugal
44. Brazil
45. Cyprus
46. Republic of Korea
47. USA
48. Latvia
49. Peru
50. Mexico

Even though 6th is quite good, it still sucks to be behind norway.

At least we're not sweden, lololol.

Spoiler

Hvad laver svensken!?

 

[Draft]

I wonder if the high ranking countries have year round school and mandatory gym class.

 

[jmdajr]

Just in case anyone is interesting in knowing the full list

1. Tanzania (by fricken miles)
2. Iceland
3. Estonia
4. Norway
5. Japan
6. Denmark
7. Czech Republic
8. Finland
9. Cote d'lvoire
10. Morocco
11. France
12. Lithuania
13. Benin
14. Djibouti
15. Mauritius
16. Slovakia
17. Germany
18. Senegal
19. Canada
20. Turkey
21. UK
22. Poland
23. Suriname
24. Belgium
25. China
26. Sweden
27. Austria
28. Netherlands
29. Spain
30. South Africa
31. Switzerland
32. Uganda
33. Seychelles
34. Columbia
35. Australia
36. Hungary
37. Italy
38. Hong Kong
39. Chile
40. Argentina
41. Philippines
42. Greece
43. Portugal
44. Brazil
45. Cyprus
46. Republic of Korea
47. USA
48. Latvia
49. Peru
50. Mexico

Fucking tacos

Spoiler

are the best

 

[Enduin]

How do US kids get to school?

When I went to middle school, I had to ride a bike for 16KM to even get there. That means I cycled around 20 miles a day, every day with hundreds of kids doing the same. Getting driven there by car was basically non-existent.

School bus mostly.

You rode a bike for probably over an hour, twice a day, five days a week? That blows.

I lived barely over a mile from school and was driven, but that was because our school bus took like an hour and half to get there, we lived in rural CT with no sidewalks and a fuck ton of hills between on a major route with lots of trucks and blind turns and my parents owned their own store which was barely another mile down the road past the school.

I had a lot of freedom though otherwise as a kid and spent most of my time outside and went all over town on my bike after school and especially during the summer and played a lot of sports all throughout highschool.

 

[entremet]

How do US kids get to school?

When I went to middle school, I had to ride a bike for 16KM to even get there. That means I cycled around 20 miles a day, every day with hundreds of kids doing the same. Getting driven there by car was basically non-existent.

Most via bus. Parents who have time flexibility such as Stay at Home parents usually drive them.

Carpooling is also common.

 

[Stinkles]

Get your shit together Latvia.

 

[PdotMichael]

That would explain why USgaf is so crazy about automatic and selfdriving cars.

 

[Hoo-doo]

School bus mostly.

You rode a bike for probably over an hour, twice a day, five days a week? That blows.

I lived barely over a mile from school and was driven, but that was because our school bus took like an hour and half to get there, we lived in rural CT with now sidewalks and a fuck ton of hills between and my parents owned their own store which was barely another mile down the road past the school.

Fourty-five minutes to get there, fourty-five minutes back. For six years. I didn't think it blew at all, it became completely routine and it was never something you actually got tired of once you got used to it.

I mean, I could have went by bus if I really wanted to and some kids did so during the winter months, but cycling outside through forests and fields and shit with some music on is pretty damn great.
Plus, it kept me active and healthy.

 

[gutter_trash]

This had to of played a huge part. Thanks to the media sensationalizing it.

I remember parents since the 90s had this huge paranoia that people are just out to kidnap their children. Yes there are predators, but most kids know better. And many of them could outrun a pot bellied pedophile if they had to.

I barely ever see any kids play outside anymore, parents of today live in fear that we did not have in the 1980s

where are these kids?

 

[HammerOfThor]

Crappy diet that the government told us is great but really isnt(high carbs/grains), mixed with less time outdoors.

 

[hurricanes]

Food culture in the U.S. is disgusting, from virtually every aspect.

And People keep blame it on that income unequality. There are plenty of developing countries where people are poorer eating more healthy than the U.S. Population, the graph shows.

 

[Phu]

Fourty-five minutes to get there, fourty-five minutes back. For six years. I didn't think it blew at all, it became completely routine and it was never something you actually got tired of once you got used to it.

I mean, I could have went by bus if I really wanted to and some kids did so during the winter months, but cycling outside through forests and fields and shit with some music on is pretty damn great.
Plus, it kept me active and healthy.

16km to school during the winter sounds like a good way to die where I live.

 

[Not Spaceghost]

Unless I am wrong about some countries I believe that the US is one of like 3 countries in the bottom 10 where you can actually drink the tap water.

I suspect that the impact of having less available potable water leads people to buy more soda which is having an impact on these kids health.

After all most bottled water costs about the same or only slightly cheaper than a soda.

 

[Tacitus_]

Crappy diet that the government told us is great but really isnt(high carbs/grains), mixed with less time outdoors.

Stop trying to hide behind a perceived bad diet. You just eat too much and don't exercise enough.
This is what the Finnish government recommends and we made #8

 

[linko9]

I would have never guessed Latvia and Estonia would be on completely different ends of the list. Wonder what the reason for that is.

 

[gwailo]

Food culture in the U.S. is disgusting, from virtually every aspect.

And People keep blame it on that income unequality. There are plenty of developing countries where people are poorer eating more healthy than the U.S. Population, the graph shows.

Most low income neighborhoods don't have access to a grocery store but there will be plenty of fast food places or dollar store that stocks poor quality (but cheap) foods.

 

[Zaru]

I guess this can be mostly attributed to american food culture. I mean, just look at GAF and the internet in general.

The way people celebrate new menu items of fast food chains like big events is pretty disturbing.

It always raises my eyebrows to see people care so much about fastfood menus. Those constant OT threads in particular make me go "really?"

 

[M52B28]

Going around and telling people to just avoid carbs isnt helping either.

Most american kids have absolutely no idea how many calories they need, or how macros work. They just eat whats in front of them, which is usually fast food or snacks, And they dont work out.

This is what I did. I didn't know what a calorie was for a while, so I didn't care about what I ate. I'm paying for it now because I'm still trying to work off the weight that I gained from youth.

I've lost a good amount so far. I was 270lbs a year after highschool. Fucking insane.

When I was little, my mom would also feed me big & tastys from McDonald's, have me eating cheesecake and pizza, just glutton. If I had the mindset I had now so that I could regulate my eating, I wouldn't be nearly this big.

It always raises my eyebrows to see people care so much about fastfood menus. Those constant OT threads in particular make me go "really?"

Yeah, this is really interesting to me. I didn't pay attention to it because I found it funny for a while, but it's hard to know if people are serious

 

[Enduin]

16km to school during the winter sounds like a good way to die where I live.

Yeah a good portion of the year would be impossible for me to walk/bike to school due to snow. Even in good conditions the road to school has a should over about 2 feet at best in most places and curves and winds all over. Having to deal with that normally would be super dangerous on the regular, add in snow and it would be a sure fire recipe for death.

Plus I became a master of sleeping in and getting showered and ready in like 5 minutes flat. So I would sleep up until like barely 15-20 minutes before school started.

 

[Hoo-doo]

16km to school during the winter sounds like a good way to die where I live.

Obviously it's impossible in some countries. You'd freeze solid.

I think the coldest weather i've cycled to school in was around -18 degrees celcius (which is -0.4F if Google is correct) and it was no biggie. All that happened is that my headphones froze to my ears. God bless the modest climate over here

Yeah a good portion of the year would be impossible for me to walk/bike to school due to snow. Even in good conditions the road to school has a should over about 2 feet at best in most places and curves and winds all over. Having to deal with that normally would be super dangerous on the regular, add in snow and it would be a sure fire recipe for death.

Plus I became a master of sleeping in and getting showered and ready in like 5 minutes flat. So I would sleep up until like barely 15-20 minutes before school started.

We don't get a whole lot of snow, fortunately. On snow days the roads would always be salted days in advance to prevent freezing or snow buildup, plus country-wide snow plowing efforts happen at the crack of dawn.
The dutch take their cycling infrastructure very serious.

 

[Piers]

"I bet Japan is the top f-"

Just in case anyone is interesting in knowing the full list
5. Japan

Never change.

 

[Skoen]

I guess this can be mostly attributed to american food culture. I mean, just look at GAF and the internet in general.

The way people celebrate new menu items of fast food chains like big events is pretty disturbing. Or the bacon cult. Or the grease meat "epic" youtube channels.

Fat people are people who aren't fit. America has lots of fat people because of said food culture.

Glad I´m not the only one noticing this. Watching GAF OT celebrating new fast food menues is beyond disturbing!

 

[synchronicity]

A diet dominated by refined sugars, unhealthy fats, and loaded with salt zaps vitality. Couple that with the abundance of sedentary entertainment available, and there is a recipe for unfit people.

 

[radioactivez0r]

My firsthand experience with this is that kids have more homework at an earlier age, cutting into whatever time they might otherwise spend outside running around.

My solution: Kinect. The kids love Kinect.

 

[Stinkles]

It always raises my eyebrows to see people care so much about fastfood menus. Those constant OT threads in particular make me go "really?"

Enjoy digging Hakkarl out of the sand and drinking it down with your own tears. We're over here in FLAVORTOWN.

 

[Hjod]

Even though 6th is quite good, it still sucks to be behind norway.

At least we're not sweden, lololol.

Spoiler

Hvad laver svensken!?

I have no idea what happened there. I'm ashamed of Sweden to be honest, seeing how freaking expensive fast food are here. It's all that freaking candy I guess. But seeing how Denmark eats the most candy per person in the world I'm kind left guessing what is causing our children to be lazy bastards, maybe it's all the high speed internet?

Spoiler

We need to keep our kids fat so they don't freeze to death when we come marching over The Belt again.

 

[mnz]

My firsthand experience with this is that kids have more homework at an earlier age, cutting into whatever time they might otherwise spend outside running around. My gf's 3rd grader goes to an after school program where they do spend some time outside, but by the time she gets picked up it's come home and do homework while mom makes dinner (good dinner, with vegetables and shit! for reals!), finish homework, get ready for bed. We have to wait for the weekends to have more time, and then it's like shit the week was so busy let's just chill inside yeah?

My solution: Kinect. The kids love Kinect.

I mean...do you think kids in other countries don't have a lot of school and homework?

 

[Jasup]

When I was in elementary school my parents didn't let me walk to school even though it was a 10 minute walk there. [snip]

You can take what I say with a grain of salt cause every experience is going to be different but there's a huge lack of physical activity or even free time during the average student's day. And if you're not in PE in middle school or high school? You can just pretty much forget about going outside unless there's like a special project or something.

I'd say it's quite telling, and your experience is becoming a reality for more and more children around the world. Of course there are people who will have different experiences, but the overall trend is that in developed world children are moving less.

 

[Kill3r7]

I barely ever see any kids play outside anymore, parents of today live in fear that we did not have in the 1980s

where are these kids?

Kids still play today. It is just that they are often running (being driven by car) from swimming class, to the soccer field before going to piano lessons. I guess it depends where they live because in my experience I have seen kids who have busier schedules than many adults.

 

[Keasar]

The Nordic Secret.

Even though 6th is quite good, it still sucks to be behind norway.

At least we're not sweden, lololol.

Spoiler

Hvad laver svensken!?

It's because we don't bother chasing you into the woods again after you keep raiding our shit jävla Snapphanar!

Spoiler

Älskar er ändå~

 

[Lucumo]

I have no idea what happened there. I'm ashamed of Sweden to be honest, seeing how freaking expensive fast food are here. It's all that freaking candy I guess. But seeing how Denmark eats the most candy per person in the world I'm kind left guessing what is causing our children to be lazy bastards, maybe it's all the high speed internet?

Spoiler

We need to keep our kids fat so they don't freeze to death when we come marching rolling over The Belt again.

Fixed that for you

Top 20. Behind France, meh. Shame on Italy though.

Also, is PE not mandatory everywhere? I would have thought so, especially since it's way more important than music or art.

 

[Linkura]

I can believe it. Health education wasn't great when I was growing up, and my parents instilled poor habits. I wasn't overweight, though, I was underweight, and not fit at all. I actually thought I was totally healthy because I was underweight and not fat, which is absolutely not true. And I'm paying for it as an adult. Many kids are the opposite of course- fat and unhealthy and aren't getting the education and resources they need. We need to do much, much better as a country. It's been a problem for a long time and it's getting worse.

 

[Melon Husk]

American school food is unhealthy (pizza, wtf?) and food in general has extra sugar injected in them. Soda is cheap as water. Not biking/walking to school because infrastructure is built for cars.
Those are my three first guesses.

I guess this can be mostly attributed to american food culture. I mean, just look at GAF and the internet in general.

The way people celebrate new menu items of fast food chains like big events is pretty disturbing. Or the bacon cult. Or the grease meat "epic" youtube channels.

Fat people are people who aren't fit. America has lots of fat people because of said food culture.

It always raises my eyebrows to see people care so much about fastfood menus. Those constant OT threads in particular make me go "really?"

Fast food topics blow my mind eevery time.

 

[Circinus]

Crappy diet that the government told us is great but really isnt(high carbs/grains), mixed with less time outdoors.

Explain how Tanzania is #1 with their traditional foods/diet being very carbohydrate-rich?

Also, most Americans clearly don't follow your government's dietary guidelines at all. (I'm not American for the record)

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6426a1.htm
https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/80400530/pdf/0102/usualintaketables2001-02.pdf

97% don't meet recommended amount of daily intake of fiber
87% don't meet recommended daily intake of vegetables
76% don't meet recommended daily intake of fruit

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20702750

90%(except those over 71 years, 80% in that group) exceed their daily caloric allowance.

 

[bman94]

Fourty-five minutes to get there, fourty-five minutes back. For six years. I didn't think it blew at all, it became completely routine and it was never something you actually got tired of once you got used to it.

I mean, I could have went by bus if I really wanted to and some kids did so during the winter months, but cycling outside through forests and fields and shit with some music on is pretty damn great.
Plus, it kept me active and healthy.

Better man than me. I get pissed off just driving 30 minutes to work, I couldn't imagine cycling there.

 

[hoos30]

My kid and her friends "play" on screens. It is a real struggle to get them to go outside and play. She also rides a bus to school, whereas my friends and I walked 2 miles each way for middle and high school.

 

[hoos30]

Explain how Tanzania is #1 with their traditional foods/diet being very carbohydrate-rich?

Also, most Americans clearly don't follow your government's dietary guidelines at all. (I'm not American for the record)

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6426a1.htm
https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/80400530/pdf/0102/usualintaketables2001-02.pdf

97% don't meet recommended amount of daily intake of fiber
87% don't meet recommended daily intake of vegetables
76% don't meet recommended daily intake of fruit

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20702750

90%(except those over 71 years, 80% in that group) exceed their daily caloric allowance.

If kids in Tanzania get enough exercise to dominate this list, they could eat nothing but Twinkies and still have a respectable showing.

 

[entremet]

If kids in Tanzania get enough exercise to dominate this list, they could eat nothing but Twinkies and still have a respectable showing.

Not sure about that since many studies have concluded that exercise is only fraction of maintaining a healthy weight.

https://www.theguardian.com/science...ls-that-exercise-alone-wont-cause-weight-loss

 

[Lucumo]

Fourty-five minutes to get there, fourty-five minutes back. For six years. I didn't think it blew at all, it became completely routine and it was never something you actually got tired of once you got used to it.

I mean, I could have went by bus if I really wanted to and some kids did so during the winter months, but cycling outside through forests and fields and shit with some music on is pretty damn great.
Plus, it kept me active and healthy.

I really like cycling and always did so on the way to school but if it's windy (and it's blowing in your face), it just sucks.

 

[Jasup]

Yeah a good portion of the year would be impossible for me to walk/bike to school due to snow. Even in good conditions the road to school has a should over about 2 feet at best in most places and curves and winds all over. Having to deal with that normally would be super dangerous on the regular, add in snow and it would be a sure fire recipe for death.

Plus I became a master of sleeping in and getting showered and ready in like 5 minutes flat. So I would sleep up until like barely 15-20 minutes before school started.

I think this picture is relevant to the discussion here. It's a school yard during February in northern Finland.

Stolen from this blog post, which covers physical activity: https://stacykissel.com/2015/02/26/walk-bike-ski-or-sled/

 

[bman94]

I'd say it's quite telling, and your experience is becoming a reality for more and more children around the world. Of course there are people who will have different experiences, but the overall trend is that in developed world children are moving less.

Now that I think about, I walked more in college than I ever did in grade school. Having absolutely no transportation in college basically made it so that we had to walk everywhere. Wanna go to the beach? Well let's get ready for this 45 minute walk cause none of us can afford gas money or taxi money.

I think this picture is relevant to the discussion here. It's a school yard during February in northern Finland.
Stolen from this blog post, which covers physical activity: https://stacykissel.com/2015/02/26/walk-bike-ski-or-sled/

What the shit? That's a lot of bikes without locks. Do they just not give a shit about their bikes being stolen?

 

[le.phat]

US food culture is incredibly gross and revolves around instant gratification. Case in point: US food threads on this very forum. I've spent this summer roadtripping the east coast of the US and the amount of fast food joints, or just bad food is just mind boggling.
When ordering a salad i had to specifically tell them to leave out the bacon, cheese and dressing, otherwise my salad would be buried in a ton of gross shit that's wasn't even on the menu. No wonder the country is riddled with fat people when it's that hard to eat a healthy meal.

 

[mnz]

What the shit? That's a lot of bikes without locks. Do they just not give a shit about their bikes being stolen?

I see a few locks on the frame. It's actually pretty cool looking. I really like the spiked tyres.

 

[oti]

At least Greece managed to beat Portugal.

JUST LIKE EURO 2004 ELLAS ELLAS ELLAS

 

[Dr.Guru of Peru]

Poverty, inequality, and a culture of sloth.

 

[Jasup]

Now that I think about, I walked more in college than I ever did in grade school. Having absolutely no transportation in college basically made it so that we had to walk everywhere. Wanna go to the beach? Well let's get ready for this 45 minute walk cause none of us can afford gas money or taxi money.

This is the same experience when living in a city with good public transport or pedestrian/cycling infrastructure. You move without even realizing it by just traveling from A to B.

What the shit? That's a lot of bikes without locks. Do they just not give a shit about their bikes being stolen?

As far as I can see all the bikes are locked, they have frame locks. You can still pick the bikes up and take them with you, and it sometimes happens, but not on a scale that would make children worry. That school is for kids between 7 and 12 years old (1st - 6th grade) btw.