Why Polish people are fat ?

When I was in Poland I saw a lot of very fat people... Why is this the case? Maybe it's the food??

I dunno but the pace at which this society has gone from lithe to portly has been astounding.

Bollocks. You never visited Poland.


and your only contact with Poland is through this forum.

Among US-born Polish Americans there are quite a few in the overweight category. But most remark how svelte the Polish girls coming over from Poland look.

^ That is based on a completely warped understanding of what being "overweight" actually means.
Among Americans, Canadians, The English and Australians, "chubby" has now become the average and considered normal.

I actually have to agree with him. I visited Poland not that long ago and I would say encountering overweight/obese people was a much more common sight than it was 14 years ago.

The fattening of a country's people is not something unique to Poland though.

25% of Poles are obese. Same percentage as Germans, Irish and Slovaks. Brits are slightly more obese: 27%. 30% or more of Czechs and Americans are obese. Only 5-6% of Japanese and Chinese are fat.

cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2228rank.html?countryname=Poland&countrycode=pl&regionCode=eur&rank=56#pl

^That information is from 5-6 years old from when it was released (if I've read things correctly).
I appreciate you've gone through the trouble to provide something like evidence to shed light on the discussion but I think you would agree that based on the changes we see in western society, up-to-date information is important. Another thing that is important with any study is how the information that led to conclusions was gathered. It really makes or breaks things for me.

The only reason why people in any country are fat is because they eat too much. Ask any doctor/nutritionist and they'll tell you the same thing.

This is up to date. UN's FAO and WHO quote the same data, from the same year (no fresher statistics are available, I guess). What reason do you have to question their methodology?

It is true Poles are getting fatter but when you do see fat people in Poland they tend to be old. In the US and Canada there are many more obese people than Poland and they tend to come in all ages. Childhood obesity is a huge problem in north America.

I don't consider numbers released in 2007/08 (likely obtained and compiled earlier) up-to-date in August of 2013. The fact there isn't more recent data doesn't change that.


I question any methodology on principal alone: )

I disagree. If anything, there seems to be more overweight people among younger demographics.


What you have to understand is that on this forum, you can't dare to say Poles are not perfect. Poles are always right. There is no such thing as a fat Pole. There is no such thing as a racist/anti-Semitic Pole. Any survey/study showing otherwise is to be automatically dismissed.

Did you visit only Recovered Lands or other regions of Poland too??

being fat, comes from eating more calories that are burned by the metabolism of the human body

it is the same for almost every single human being with the exception of some medical conditions

If I was president of Poland, every citizen would eat clean organic food with limitation on eating fatty meats. They would exercise on some level, mandatory. Include herbal medicine and oxygen therapy in every house. The society would teach the children the knowledge to become physically elite and everyone would be at their optimum level of performance. That bar would bring the laziest people up and even if they could not comply the would be better from all those that internalized these methods.

Society would be smarter, stronger, more educated, more driven, more competitive, and dominate Europe and soon the entire world. That means limits on poor quality food, alcohol, drugs, tobacco. Those would be taxed heavily or outlawed.

Thank you!

You would need strong NKVD units to enforce those regulations.... :):):)

Start training them now, time passes quickly.... I hope you possess a desert island where you can produce them en masse. Otherwise, forget the great plan.

I am surprised that this line ever got off the ground. Last Summer I had the privilege to travel in Poland and while there I commented to my travel partner that "We are the fat Americans". I marveled at how fit the average Pole was, and that it seemed that the only ones carrying any extra weight were some of the elderly.

Don`t be silly. Nobody claims that.

Sadly, not true for the reason stated above. I see far too many overweight kids here.


OK comrade, or should I just say Sieg Heil?

:):) No, better say: Nuts kaputt.

NO, please don't mistake me with that pathetic soul, this is to show the world what pride in country is all about, not to oppress. Progress only, in the name of the nation.

In Poland, of course, things are not as bad as they are in the US, Mexico, Egypt.... or in Europe, GB (the fattest in Europe) and Germany, but there are a lot ot fat people mostly among older people (I'm amazed at the waist of most women past 45/50), poor youth and not only in the country (Polish girls are not all slim bimboes) as Polish traditional food is very unhealthy and also very young kids raised on chocolate, crips, and coke (an explanation too for their bad teeth). Poles may probably be among the fattest in Europe and the trend shall continue as most Poles eat more and more processed food and sweets.

Its directly linked to the food quality of a now capitalist country. The food is not meant to be healthy it is meant to make profit, when profit comes before health the results can be see in the population just like the US and the UK - leading capitalist countries. Its not a coincidence that these two countries have the fattest populations of the planet.

These days a large McDonalds meal with fries and a coke is cheaper than the average salad.

Again, not true



Add Australia to your list of obese people. About two years ago they surpassed the US in the percentage of obese/overweight people.

A lot of poor countries have a huge % of very fat or obese people such as Mexico, Egypt whereas for instance China, Japan, Singapore as well as Southern Europe have a very low %. It is related to cooking and poor eating habits. Eating sweets and industrial "food" the way most Anglosaxons do all day long is an obvious way to get fat.

Due to an increase in obesity, are Polish people now receiving more weight-loss surgery treatments?

As someone who lives in the US, I will say it's definitely possible to buy cheap healthy organic food.

Let's not blame capitalism just because some people don't take care of themselves.

Have you seen the adverts for McDonalds and Coca Cola lately? big business brainwashing at its finest. Unfortunately obesity does seem to be more prevalent among the poorer pockets of society, so im afraid im going to have to blame capitalism.


I'm sure it is possible....however

The blame rests squarely with education, the system of upbringing, be it in the family, school, organisations, church or wherever. Or rather the lack of effective educaiton and proper upbringing. The capitalists cannot be blamed because they are in it for maximum profits and that's what their marketing and advertising are all about. But who has failed to build up society's sales resistance, its ability to see through the fake products and false promises, its health awareness, economic common sense and even its sense of self-survival? They are the real culprits!

In a single word 'environment' - that's precisely it. Capitalism is directly responsible for the environment of which people are subjected to, and dont even think of giving me any of that "naturally gifted will rise to the top of the economic pile" rhetoric BS.