Why Indian Ladies gain weight in the US?
#1. Cheap Food - Relative to income, food is pretty inexpensive in the US. KFC chicken popcorn costs just $.99! That makes us to buy and consume a whole lot of food.
#2. Big Portion Sizes - Even the normal portion sizes in many US restaurants can feed 1 1/2 to 2 persons.
#3. Variety of Cuisine and Restaurants - It is hard to find a decent sized city in the US that doesn't have Indian, Chinese, Thai, Italian, Mexican, Mediterranean, Vietnamese, American food.
#4. Access & Convenience - More than in India, access to food is so easy. Just hop on a car and drive 5 miles, you are in a strip mall that has every type of food that you would crave for. Walk down the aisle in your office and you have a vending machine! Denny's is open 24 hours!
#5. Soda instead of water - Soda has become the defacto water in all restaurants. The first thing they ask is "What would you like to drink?". In India, they would just keep water without even asking. Over time, we find out it is actually better to have a Soda with a Burrito!!
#6. Insanely low cost of upsells - Super size it for just 15 cents more! It is hard to resist such a good deal. We buy thinking we can always throw the extra portion away, but after buying, we don't want to waste it and empty it into the garbage bin called stomach.
#7. Tasty snacks - Given how hard food companies compete, it churns out a variety of very tasty snacks (who would hate Cheetos? mmm.. Yummy!). There is an army of employees in companies come into work everyday with the soul goal of breaking our will power.
#8. Packaged and processed foods - Given our lifestyles, food is sold in ways that it can be easily packed, transported and stored. Hence, the fridge is always stuffed with good food. It needs only a minor temptation to dig in! Also, processed foods is more fattening than the natural foods that we mostly consume in India.
#9. Icecreams and Pastries - The people who make icecreams and pastries (rich in sugar and fat) know how to make them sooooo good!
#10. Quality of Food - More pure quality of food, helps to increase weight. Options in Milk ranges from Whole Milk, 1% and 2%. Whole Milk has enough fats, equivalent to tons of cheese.
#11. Cheese/ Burger/ Chips - Pizza, Burger and Chips are taken in ample quantities, as if we had snacks in India. They are loaded with cheese and fats. To add, soda is an additional boost given for adding more kgs/pounds to you.
#12. Weather - Since weather is very different than India, it helps to gain weight.
#13. Visa - Most of the H1 candidates have their families (wives and children) on H4 visa, where they cannot work. So they are stuck at home without work and much exercise.
This adds up to gaining weight for them.
