Everyone Is So Fat

[robby]

I couldn't help notice that almost all the people at the supermarket were grossly obese, at least 50 lbs overweight. In the case of the mother/daughter combos, the 20-something daughters were heavier than their moms.

American are truthfully characterized around the world as fatties. My guess is that this epidemic of obesity is due to the crappy over-processed food that is over-marketed to us. A whole mega-industry has grown up around food processing and it's clearly killing us.

Comments

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

Well, it's partly due to overprocessed foods.

I suspect it's also partly due to the fact that health care has become a growth industry. In other words, they keep creating "cures" for the diseases and disabilities that accompany obesity, which lessens any incentive people might have for losing weight. I mean, basically being overweight is a public health issue. But since the health care megalith has to keep growing, they've turned it into a medical issue.

[robby.livejournal.com]

There you are. I was thinking you've started the new job and were too busy for all of this.

My perspective is that the nature of food has changed so much. I've read that now the average person consumes 45 gallons of soda beverages a year. Not so long ago refined sugar was a luxury and small amounts were kept locked up in "sugar safes", and people would have a piece of homemade cake or pie on Sunday.

Now, what was once a luxury, people shovel in all through the day. I'm also concerned and skeptical about all the sodium put into processed foods and the corn sweeteners...I think processed food has become like crack cocaine for some people.

The current answer is becoming the stomach stapling and such. I wonder where all this bizarre food craziness is leading.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

Obesity is a class issue, you will note, and much of it is related to the fact that nutritious foods are considerably more expensive than processed foods. That's a huge factor in the obesity epidemic as well.

But I keep thinking that the medical model plays a part in it too. I mean, medicine is magic as far as many people are concerned, and many people would much prefer to deal with underlying issues through the application of magical thinking -- I will have this stomach stapling procedure and magically lose weight -- then be proactive about eating less on their own.

too busy for all of this.

Still readjusting to the move, the new job and such.

[robby.livejournal.com]

You're in a huge adjustment, so take good care of yourself. I hope it goes well for you.

The poor seem to choose a lot of self-destructive behaviors, and poor nutrition is often these bad choices as much as less money to spend on food.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

The poor in this country have very rough lives. Seriously. Though not as rough as the poor in most parts of the world outside of Western Europe, I will grant you.

Since my VISTA stipend is miniscule, I applied for Food Stamps earlier this morning, and I gotta tell you that was a really depressing experience. Just the waves of hopelessness in that huge, ugly waiting room.

One of the things I'm trying to do with the youth program I'm now running that has absolutely zero operational budget is to get some grant money to buy food carts, so I can set up a business which my kids can then run -- with supervision, of course. But I'd like to introduce them to the joys of capitalism. I think that's a better way of breaking the cycle than handouts per se. (Though I'm glad that food stamps exist because otherwise I'd starve this year.)