" U.S. ranked near and at the bottom in almost every heath indicator. That stunned us."

[wickerwoman]

93. Developing diabetes

and similar "lifestyle diseases" early makes a huge difference in the prognosis and in quality of life. If you can catch diabetes before the need for insulin and before it's combined with heart and kidney problems that require medication which makes it almost impossible to lose weight safely, then it's much easier to manage it with lifestyle changes and reduce the impact (and cost) of the disease significantly.

It's very easy to live in denial of your bad habits, but going into a doctor's office at 27 and hearing that I was well on my way to permanent liver damage was the impetus for me to make drastic lifestyle changes that will add twenty years to my life.

All of the other Westernised countries have junk food, some smoke much more heavily than the US and have more liberal attitudes towards sex (although they more actively promote condoms which is the real issue, not the fornicating itself). Very few other countries have the exercise obsession that the US does. It's quite rare in the UK, for example, to meet someone who "works out".

Part of it is the environment which forces them to walk more and doesn't "supersize" everything but a lot of it is the poverty and the lack of a real safety net. Countries with universal health care tend to also have near universal public housing. It's unheard of in New Zealand, for example, for someone to be homeless other than by choice. It's very rare for someone to live in accomodation where they had nothing to cook with but a microwave.

Compare that to the US where section 8 housing voucher programs are closing their waiting lists in acknowledgement of the fact that most of the people on them will never receive assistance. Far too many people are homeless or living in extremely marginal housing.