8 Shocking Signs of American Excess

By Allison Ford, DivineCaroline

Here in America, we do everything bigger. Our skyscrapers are taller, our toilets have more-powerful flushes, and even our beauty queens are prettier than those from the rest of the world. We like our reputation as the home of the biggest, the best, the grandest, the fanciest, and the most luxurious.

Except that commitment leads to some pretty embarrassing displays of excess. We Americans are used to a level of abundance that many in the world would gawk at; in fact, it can be downright embarrassing. Other countries and other cultures have their vomitoriums, desert ski resorts, and the Taj Mahal, but when the rest of the world talks about America as the original land of outrageous, inexcusable, and stomach-churning gluttony, this is what they’re thinking of.

Man v. Food
In this television show for the Travel Channel, Richman tours the country, looking for the biggest, most fattening, most heart attack–inducing plates of food. And then he eats them. Or he tries to, anyway. Seriously—that’s the whole premise: how much food can Adam Richman stuff into his gullet? In a world where 1.7 billion people live in poverty, this show could only be the product of a country airing no fewer than eight weight-loss reality shows on television as of December 2010. In other words, screw you, poor people!

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Theresa W.

11:58AM PST on Jan 21, 2012

Um, about the extravagant toilet paper. It's easy to be flippant and to say that Americans are so spoiled that we won't wipe our a**es on anything but the best.... But let's take a look at one dramatic illustration. My husband, who is 48 years old, recently had to have a colonoscopy because blood showed up in the stool sample that he took to the doctor's office. He suffered through the 24-hour fasting period, complete with laxatives that made him run to the bathroom every 10 minutes or so. Then, of course, he had the joy of going through the colonoscopy itself. Our insurance company was charged over $3000 for the procedure, and we had to pay the remaining 10% or 20%. As it turns out, his colon was completely clear and healthy. The doctor who did the colonoscopy was happy, I'm sure, but it was a complete waste of money. So what caused the bleeding in the first place? Scratchy toilet paper.

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Hannah L.

4:00PM PST on Jan 12, 2012

I never did like man vs. food. It always seemed pointless

Elvina A.

2:29PM PST on Dec 31, 2011

Great - three identical posts in a row. I'm sorry about that, I wish Care2 would fix these bugs.

2:27PM PST on Dec 31, 2011

I know not all americans are like this but you do have very bad reputation in the world. When I hear the word america I think about: fatty huge foods like pizza (vegetable, lol), very overweight people, very poor people vs. very rich ones, extreme religiousity vs. superficial spoiled kids with the "sex sells" attitude, going by car (SUVs) everywhere, the heart of capitalism and, don't let me going about their politics (I mean... the republicans *sigh*). No one I know take america seriously, it's a great pity cause they do have every possible potential to become the best role model in the world!

2:25PM PST on Dec 31, 2011