Americans Reveal How US Food Makes Them Sick Compared To Food Abroad
"I'm just so mad at the food in the US. I left for two weeks to Italy. My mood was better, my awareness was better. I could eat wheat (I'm extremely gluten intolerant, and it messes with my autoimmune disease if I eat it, among a multitude of other symptoms) with gluten pills with minor bloating. I had some of the best food, best health feelings (other than muscle soreness from walking so much), I've ever had in my life. It's made me have so much resentment for US food. I mean, even my skin cleared up quite a bit overseas. I eat pretty healthy — I love snacking on veggies. It just makes me so mad that having any kind of sugar is just too much here. Sugar, wheat, and whatever else are just so much harder on my body here than in Italy. I want to move."
"We just spent a month between France and Italy. I ate a metric ton of carbs, full fat dairy, sugar, etc. and lost 6 lbs. I walked just as many steps there as I do at home and go to the gym five days a week lifting heavy."
"I went to Italy for 15 days. We ate like fat Americans on vacation. Pizza, pasta, wine, double entrees at every restaurant because we knew we might not ever get to go back — every single day we ate so much. Lost 17 lbs. I couldn't believe it."
"I went to Aruba for 10 days, ate like a queen at five-star restaurants, drank liquor almost every day, and still lost 4 pounds. We're being poisoned here and without shame. The food industry is getting rich in exchange for our health. Then the healthcare facilities get their cut, too."
"I'm an Australian who visited the US last year. I was weirdly excited to try the food there because the US has such a big food culture that I thought it would at least be really flavorsome. But I ended up being quite disappointed. It seems like the food there is just full of 'filler' ingredients with very little nutrients while also lacking in flavor. The food there made me feel like crap and didn't even taste good."
"When I first moved to the US, I gained 60 whole pounds. My habits didn't actually change much but everyone I know who's come here from a different country has a similar story to tell."
"I have SIBO — huge gut issues. Can't eat wheat among many other things. When I travel abroad I rarely have issues. Just got back from Africa where I ate everything and was actually better."
"My brother's SO is from Singapore. They regularly mention how sugary and sweet everything is in the US. With health trends like fasting and keto, I almost feel like that speaks for itself. Our food is so bad here people choose to not eat or completely cut out certain foods they sell here because it will help lose or manage weight. But the issue isn't even the type of food, it's what's in our food. Other countries have diets that are extremely carb heavy, and you'll still see people that are skinny as hell and relatively healthier. The quality of our food is garbage."
"My wife is Filipino but lived in Singapore for 10 years before coming to America. She constantly expresses her thoughts on how salty and sweet all this processed food is here."
"I live in Canada and thought our two countries were pretty close for most fast food, but everything is sweeter in the US. And the sad thing is that kids are given this sugar-laden food at a very young age, so they just adapt to it. We got donuts with some friends, and the only thing I could taste was sugar. I said, 'Wow, these are so sweet,' and they just said they were normal. A Canadian donut chain here was bought by an American company, and instead of cooking fresh in store, they started to bring in frozen, and everything is now coated in a thick sugary glaze. I hope we aren't going down the same path."
"I have a friend who is a high ranking EU regulatory pharmacist. He tells me that, for example, the EU does not allow the routine use of antibiotics in animal feed. It is allowed in the US."
"Have you even been to Germany? I grew up there, and I swear pretty much every single meal is carb-based. Even if it isn't, some form of carb is still a major component. I mean, Germany is known for its bread and bakeries. The sheer number of bakeries you see in Germany that sell hundreds of breads and other flour-based products is wild. And then I moved to the US, where the general sentiment is 'bread makes you fat,' and apparently the best way to get healthier or lose weight is to significantly lower or completely cut out carbs."
"I was in Mexico a couple of years ago, and my stomach and digestive system were never better. I came back to the States and immediately went back to having a sick body."
"It's because we use sugars and corn syrups as preservatives in almost everything as a handout to the American farm industry (got to figure out what to do with all that corn after all). Things you would never think should have it in them have tons of sugar. It makes us sluggish and bigger. Combine that with a way more sedentary lifestyle than European and Asian countries, and it's no wonder we're so unhealthy."
"I had a chance to go to Japan and France last year. I had an incredible time with the food. I feel like my tummy is always so sensitive and upset at home in the US, but nothing bothered me there. Plus, all the city walking was great. Lost some weight both times traveling — despite eating whatever I wanted because I had 'vacation mindset' and wasn't going to limit myself. Wild."
"One thing that opened my eyes traveling back and forth from North America to Asia is how much damn sugar is in almost all drinks. Outside of diet soda and black coffee, buying an unsweetened bottle of tea is almost impossible. Americans and Canadians drink so many of our calories, and those are the easiest calories to not keep track of."
"My mom (Canadian) has endless gut issues and is gluten intolerant, too. Every time she goes to Spain, her stomach stays flat and she feels great. It's terrifying!"
"I go to Germany frequently for work. When I'm there, I eat and drink like a damn pig: chocolate croissants and bacon and cereal every day for breakfast, pizza and kebabs for lunch, big meals out with a bunch of beer every night. Without fail, I've lost weight when I get home."
"I had the opposite — I'm a Brit and went to the US for two weeks earlier this year. The first few days, I found all the food tasted so...chemical? And artificial? By the end of the two weeks, though, I was loving it (and borderline addicted to the sugar and salt). It was wild how quickly my perception of it changed. I felt so groggy those couple of weeks, too. Couldn't wait to get back to boring old English food!"
"I was in Costa Rica last month — for only a little over a week — but I felt so much better. So much energy, more regular digestion. My lifelong struggle with cystic and fungal acne also cleared up in a matter of days, only to return within five days of being back in the States."
"Americans also eat too fast because we don't have labor protections to protect our lunch hours, don't have maternity care so parents are frazzled and over-scheduled at dinner time, have an 'on the go' culture (try getting a to-go coffee in Italy and see how that goes), don't have health insurance, and don't live in walkable cities."
"I lived abroad for 20 years. Every country I lived in or visited was far more in touch with their historic food cultures and foodways than most Americans. They valued quality, fresh ingredients. They didn't consider cooking a chore. And they generally ate far less fast food and overprocessed stuff than we do. But the sad fact is that when you only get half an hour for lunch and are working two jobs to make ends meet, at the end of the day, you only have energy to stick a Hot Pocket in the microwave and shove it in your mouth."
"Every time I go to Europe, my face clears up within days. I eat whatever I want there and my skin is perfect. I know it's the food. I have spent months meticulously taking out each and every food from my diet to see what's causing it. Whole food groups and individual foods. I even did without coffee for two weeks in desperation since it was the last thing I had left to try. I can't figure out the culprit or culprits. I think it's pesticides, since I don't eat processed food. But I can't be sure."
"I've visited the US twice for just over a week. The first time I visited, I couldn't get over the bread. It tasted like brioche because it was so sweet. Luckily, we could go to the supermarket, so we could get fruit and veg (which was all huge, which was nice). But whenever we did get fast food (airports), the portions were absolutely massive. I got a medium meal from McDonald's, and it was bigger than the large in my country. The second time I visited, I was a little more prepared, but after a few days, both my friend and I were craving vegetables that weren't green beans."
"My wife is from Australia and came to live with me in the States. Until she and I got together, I honestly never knew how bad our food was. Her first real moment was before we were married. A friend of hers sent a gift package full of Aussie treats, including a tiny jar of Vegemite. She ran to put some on toast and immediately spit it out. She looked into it and realized how much sugar is in the bread, which clashed with the Vegemite. We moved to Australia several years ago, and I commented on how 'bland' and 'flavorless' the food here is. But the reality is, I had to adjust to much lower sugar and salt levels."
"I spent three weeks in the US, and it took me 3-4 months to recover. It's the land of the free: free to sell crap to the customers."
"Beyond the food, vacations usually help a lot with stress too. When I was in Italy, we walked like 15 miles a day, so I was a lot more active as well. We took our time and it really cleared my head. It's very possible that some of the stressors in your day-to-day life are also contributing to these negative stomach issues. But yeah, the food is definitely cleaner there, too."
"Back when I was working in retail (a multinational company), we had chocolate training and we were told that chocolate from the US is sweeter than in Europe due to their market demands. Also, I lost 3 kg during my first trip to US because I couldn't eat. The food was too heavy and fabricated. Plus, these packs of 'easy' mac 'n' cheese are disgusting. I wanted to give it a try because I was craving the 'full American experience,' but I faced an intense episode of acid reflux that traumatized me."
Have you noticed a difference in how your body feels when eating food abroad compared to the US? Do you think it's the ingredients, the lifestyle, or something bigger? Share your thoughts or experiences in the comments below!
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hamilton Spectator
4 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
RFK Jr. promoted a food company he says will make Americans healthy. Their meals are ultraprocessed
WASHINGTON (AP) — Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday praised a company that makes $7-a-pop meals that are delivered directly to the homes of Medicaid and Medicare enrollees. He even thanked Mom's Meals for sending taxpayer-funded meals 'without additives' to the homes of sick or elderly Americans. The spreads include chicken bacon ranch pasta for dinner and French toast sticks with fruit or ham patties. 'This is really one of the solutions for making our country healthy again,' Kennedy said in the video, posted to his official health secretary account, after he toured the company's Oklahoma facility last week. But an Associated Press review of Mom's Meals menu, including the ingredients and nutrition labels, shows that the company's offerings are the type of heat-and-eat, ultraprocessed foods that Kennedy routinely criticizes for making people sick. The meals contain chemical additives that would render them impossible to recreate at home in your kitchen, said Marion Nestle, a nutritionist at New York University and food policy expert, who reviewed the menu for The AP. Many menu items are high in sodium, and some are high in sugar or saturated fats, she said. 'It is perfectly possible to make meals like this with real foods and no ultra-processing additives but every one of the meals I looked at is loaded with such additives,' Nestle said. 'What's so sad is that they don't have to be this way. Other companies are able to produce much better products, but of course they cost more.' Mom's Meals do not have the artificial, petroleum dyes that Kennedy has pressured companies to remove from products, she noted. Mom's Meals said in an emailed response that its food products 'do not include ingredients that are commonly found in ultra-processed foods.' The company does not use synthetic food dyes, high fructose corn syrup, certain sweeteners or synthetic preservatives that are banned in Europe, said Teresa Roof, a company spokeswoman. The meals are a 'healthy alternative' to what many people would find in their grocery stores, said Andrew Nixon, U.S. Health and Human Services spokesman, in response to questions about Mom's Meals. Mom's Meals is one of several companies across the U.S. that deliver 'medically tailored' at-home meals. The meal programs are covered by Medicaid for some enrollees, including people who are sick with cancer or diabetes, as well as some older Americans who are enrolled in certain Medicare health insurance plans. Patients recently discharged from the hospital can also have the meals delivered, according to the company's website. It's unclear how much federal taxpayers spend on providing meals through Medicaid and Medicare every year. An investigation by STAT news last year found that some states were spending millions of dollars to provide medically tailored meals to Medicaid enrollees that were marketed as healthy and 'dietician approved.' But many companies served up meals loaded with salt, fat or sugar — all staples of an unhealthy American's diet, the report concluded. Defining ultraprocessed foods can be tricky. Most U.S. foods are processed, whether it's by freezing, grinding, fermentation, pasteurization or other means. Foods created through industrial processes and with ingredients such as additives, colors and preservatives that you couldn't duplicate in a home kitchen are considered the most processed. Kennedy has said healthier U.S. diets are key to his vision to 'Make America Healthy Again.' His call for Americans to increase whole foods in their diets has helped Kennedy build his unique coalition of Trump loyalists and suburban moms who have branded themselves as 'MAHA.' In a recent social media post where he criticized the vast amount of ultraprocessed foods in American diets, Kennedy urged Americans to make healthier choices. 'This country has lost the most basic of all freedoms — the freedom that comes from being healthy,' Kennedy said. — Aleccia reported from Temecula, Calif.
USA Today
7 hours ago
- USA Today
Leading doctors sue RFK Jr. over COVID-19 vaccines. Here's why.
America's top medical organizations are suing Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over the agency's COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for children and pregnant people. On May 27, Kennedy said the shot would no longer be included in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommended immunization schedule for healthy children and pregnant women, a move that broke with previous expert guidance and bypassed the normal scientific review process. The health secretary also fired all 17 original members of a federal vaccine panel June 9 and quickly appointed eight new members, including some vaccine skeptics. The panel met for the first time on June 25 but did not make COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for the fall. The plaintiffs, which include the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, claim Kennedy's recent decisions were designed to mislead, confuse and desensitize the public to anti-vaccine and anti-science rhetoric. In the July 7 lawsuit filed in Massachusetts, they ask the judge to halt changes made to the COVID-19 vaccine policy. Vaccine panel on thimerosal: What is that and why is there controversy? 'This wasn't just sidelining science,' said AAP President Dr. Susan Kressly. 'It's an attack on the very foundation of how we protect families and children's health. And the consequences could be dangerous.' The American College of Physicians, American Public Health Association, Infectious Diseases Society of America, Massachusetts Public Health Alliance and an anonymous pregnant physician were also listed as plaintiffs. The organizations urge parents and patients to follow medical advice published on their websites. 'We will not stand by while a single federal official unilaterally and effectively strips Americans of their choice to vaccinate with actions that thoroughly disregard overwhelming scientific evidence and decades of established federal processes,' said IDSA President Dr. Tina Tan. 'As a community of clinicians, public health officials and scientists, our focus remains the protection of patients and public health.' USA TODAY reached out to HHS for comment. Adrianna Rodriguez can be reached at adrodriguez@
Hamilton Spectator
7 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Doctors and public health organizations sue Kennedy over vaccine policy changes
NEW YORK (AP) — A coalition of doctors groups and public health organizations sued the U.S. government on Monday over the decision to stop recommending COVID-19 vaccinations for most children and pregnant women. The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Public Health Association and four other groups — along with an unnamed pregnant doctor who works in a hospital — filed the lawsuit in federal court in Boston. U.S. health officials, following infectious disease experts' guidance, previously urged annual COVID-19 shots for all Americans ages 6 months and older. But in late May, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced he was removing COVID-19 shots from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommendations for healthy children and pregnant women. A number of health experts decried the move as confusing and accused Kennedy of disregarding the scientific review process that has been in place for decades — in which experts publicly review current medical evidence and hash out the pros and cons of policy changes. The new lawsuit repeats those concerns, alleging that Kennedy and other political appointees at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have flouted federal procedures and systematically attempted to mislead the public. 'This administration is an existential threat to vaccination in America, and those in charge are only just getting started,' said Richard H. Hughes IV, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs. 'If left unchecked, Secretary Kennedy will accomplish his goal of ridding the United States of vaccines, which would unleash a wave of preventable harm on our nation's children.' HHS officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Also joining the suit are the American College of Physicians, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Massachusetts Public Health Association and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
