Synopsis: "same food 40% more of it...more junk food...less activity"

In my experience, this slightly misses the mark. I moved to the Netherlands about 3 months ago and have lost about 25-30 pounds passively in that time.

The portion size hasn't been an issue. My portion sizes since moving overseas haven't changed, neither has the fact that we cook at home 6-7 days a week nor have the composition of the meals changed, meaning they're still 50-60% protein and an even split for the remaining % between starch and veggies.

The food just isn't as full of garbage. It goes stale, molds, loses flavor within a few days. You have to shop 2-3 times a week, not stock up once a week or month. You don't feel bloated and gross after eating until full; you feel full, or content, for about 2 hours then you start to feel hungry again. I tend to feel slightly hungry when I go to bed and feel hungry when I wake up.

(I was actually talking to my wife about two or three weeks ago about how I feel like people who do intermittent fasting in the US are trying to mimic the metabolic cycles your body experiences when you're not eating the processed s*&^ US consumers are fed.)

The rest is true IMO. Walking/biking is actively discouraged by urban planning in the US whereas everything is walkable here. We never bought a car after moving here and aren't planning to any time soon. I bike to and from work (9 miles round trip) and all weekend errands are by bike or walking.

The one (major...MAJOR) thing they missed IMO is stress and cortisol responses have increased. Constant elevated cortisol wreaks havoc on your body and packs on belly fat. All of the things that made America great in the 70s have been demolished for the sake of "shareholder value," leading to ever increasing stress, decreased sleep quality and loss of work/life balance. Throw in the rabid consumerism that is not American "culture" and there's the additional stress of all that work not adding up to the same amount of s*&^ as your neighbor.