What Does the Obesity Epidemic Really Mean?
I know billions of pages have been expended trying to make sense of the staggering rise of obesity in America. I don't have anything new to add to the literature, in scientific terms. It's one of those things that seems normal to the eye if you live there--you get used to it. But if you get off the plane from another country, having been away from the US for some time, it's shocking.
The first thing I noticed at Dulles Airport, the first visual impression, was that the United States looked unbelievably wealthy and powerful, despite all the media despair about the recession. The US is clearly, still, an awesome superpower. That's just obvious.
The second thing I noticed was the obesity--and my immediate, unforced, emotional response was, "This is a sign that something is desperately wrong here."
I don't think that's a reaction to rationalize away. It wasn't a response of snobbery. It was similar to the reaction I have to the sight of malnourished children begging in the streets, or the sight of faceless women in black burqas. You just know, the second you see certain things, that something about what you're looking at is really wrong.
We can talk endlessly about the pernicious influence of high-fructose corn syrup, but somehow I suspect all the talk about the particulars of the American diet is just hand-waving. There's something going on underneath this--something on which I can't quite put my finger. It's nothing obvious or simplistic. Americans don't, by and large, strike me as otherwise depressed, lazy, greedy, sexually conflicted, or whatever other glib moral explanation you might assign to the phenomenon.
I saw more kids than I could count who clearly could not enjoy a normal childhood--who wouldn't easily be able to run or play. I saw many adults who looked as if they could barely breath, and many more who almost certainly would not live out a normal life expectancy.
Why is this so commonplace?
What's the deeper meaning of it?
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May '10
Re: What Does the Obesity Epidemic Really Mean?
Too many of us have jobs that don't require physical labor. In fact we have to join clubs to learn how to sweat honestly.
As for the children, a sexualized culture, the 24-hour-news cycle, Amber Alerts and the disintegration of the family has caused us to imprison our kids and shove a PS3 remote in their hands. Yeah, they're fat, but they're safe.
Jul '10
Re: What Does the Obesity Epidemic Really Mean?
This is something that often occupies my mind as well. The problem has gotten much worse than my days in college (1979-1984). Today's obesity really hits you in the face the moment you arrive at an US airport whereas in those days, you saw them here and there. What is just as interesting is the fact that obesity has made its way all the way to Turkey. There was near-zero obesity in Turkey in the 1970's, but now you see the American-type obese here and there.
May '10
Re: What Does the Obesity Epidemic Really Mean?
I moved to the States, after a childhood overseas, at age 12. We arrived in June. The first thing I noticed was that the kids were all inside. And stayed there all summer.
Re: What Does the Obesity Epidemic Really Mean?
This struck me too, EJHill. My mom took me to her gym, and I found the whole place so strange--people standing on exercise contraptions, going around and around in these machines like gerbils, reading books at the same time, their minds and bodies clearly completely disassociated. They were also obviously moving as little as possible, just discharging a grim duty. It was such an utterly joyless business. Does it have something to do with people having lost touch with what it means to play? That's not a satisfying answer either, though, because generally Americans are very playful. Just not physically playful.
Re: What Does the Obesity Epidemic Really Mean?
It's a great question, Claire. I am loath to suggest that food manufactures, restaurants or fast-food chains should be forced to comply with any sort of government mandates, but I think Conservatives might have to find some response to the issue other than "people are free to eat what they want." And, by the way, I agree with that statement. But "education campaigns" don't seem to do much good either.
I suspect there are all sorts of deep-seated societal and sociological issues contributing to this phenomenon, but it is becoming a serious issue with potentially devastating consequences for lots of people, and the Right might need to find a way to...(drum roll, please)...weigh in on this.
May '10
Re: What Does the Obesity Epidemic Really Mean?
Claire - My father was skinny as a rail. He also was a steel worker and came home from the shop floor everyday looking like he had gone 10 with Ali. Every day. Honest, hardworking sweat labor.
I spend my work days "sweating" over a computer. Had my father lived to see me grow up I often wondered what he would have thought about what I do. Is television "real" work or not?
Re: What Does the Obesity Epidemic Really Mean?
EJHill: Claire - My father was skinny as a rail. He also was a steel worker and came home from the shop floor everyday looking like he had gone 10 with Ali. Every day. Honest, hardworking sweat labor.
I spend my work days "sweating" over a computer. Had my father lived to see me grow up I often wondered what he would have thought about what I do. Is television "real" work or not? · Sep 17 at 4:59am
I'm much happier when I move all day than when I sit at a computer all day, for what it's worth. At the end of a long day sitting in front of the computer I'm always irritable, claustrophobic, and vaguely depressed. So yes, it's definitely work--work being, as Twain said, what a body is obliged to do.
May '10
Re: What Does the Obesity Epidemic Really Mean?
With four kids and me on the road 3 1/2 days a week, meal time is too often a drive thru. The girl is babysitting. Boy A is at track til 5:30. Boy B has theater rehearsal at 6:30. And everybody has homework. Sunday mornings we shake hands and introduce each other.
Re: What Does the Obesity Epidemic Really Mean?
If for no other reason than because it's now a national security issue.
Aug '10
Re: What Does the Obesity Epidemic Really Mean?
We are in trouble, but the answer is self-government and acceptance of personal responsibility; not more government. We'll have to bottom-out, like a drug addict facing destruction, before we find the heart and will to make a real change. This has been my road, and it does lead to a better life.
People are self-medicating, trying to cure anxiety and emotional pain by eating, using drugs, and having sex. The standards of beauty and success in our Lamestream media-driven popular culture are so exclusive and unattainable that most people know they can never reach it. Women are expected to be impossibly skinny, and the classic standards of beauty - Venus de Milo, Marilyn Monroe - have been discarded. The self-indulgent personalities of Snooky and Lady Gaga are lionized.
For men it's just as bad. If you don't have a steroid-enhanced six-pack physique like Schwarzenegger, you've fallen short. Since Bill Clinton lowered the bar, men know that it's acceptable to be an undisciplined couch potato slob, and Homer Simpson is the new standard for the common man.
Re: What Does the Obesity Epidemic Really Mean?
Claire, maybe you could speak to this point better than I can, but I visited Kuwait last year to do some research and I was struck, the same way you were at Dulles, by how obese the women were. The men were a bit overweight too, but not quite like the women. When I tried to account for the difference between the sexes the first thing that came to mind was the burqa: if you're covering up your entire body--face, head-to-toe--then maybe your physical appearance becomes less meaningful for you. Also--and this would apply to Kuwaiti men and women--but I wonder if not being able to drink alcohol means that they see food as a primary source of social / physical pleasure. Going out to Johnny Rocket was a "nice dinner" -- and McDonald's had valet parking!
Jul '10
Re: What Does the Obesity Epidemic Really Mean?
People are fat because they eat too much and because there is no longer any shame in being fat. Sure, modern life is sedentary and food is plentiful but people make choices. They are not, despite what food zealots tell us, prisoners of their environment who must be rescued and protected by their betters. I would rather live in a nation of fatsos than listen to the professional scolds browbeating, litigating and legislating us to an earlier death than all the Dunkin Donuts ever would. And I am speaking as a thin person.
Sep '10
Re: What Does the Obesity Epidemic Really Mean?
I think high fructose corn syrup is by far the major factor.This is one area that I would accept some strong government intervention. However, that's not going to happen. Instead we will ALL be subject to more lectures and bothersome requirements while the real culprit, high fructose corn syrup, cause the bulk of the fat explosion.
Jun '10
Re: What Does the Obesity Epidemic Really Mean?
People that don't get enough sleep tend to eat too much, and lots of us react to general nervousness by eating "comfort foods," full of fat, or sugar, or both. What makes us nervous? We all have a lot on our calendars, don't get much time to unwind, and we see a lot of discord in the nation, and in our families. Hard to blame just one thing. But again, my main diagnosis for all our nation's ills is: broken families. Broken families create increases in crime, in hostility, and an atmosphere of crime or hostility tends to keep people inside, in front of their TVs or computers. The happiest people may be the ones who never watch the news.
Jul '10
Re: What Does the Obesity Epidemic Really Mean?
That's because you were in an airport in a very wealthy part of the country, one that pretty much lives off the largess of the Federal Government. I think if you went to a mall in Baton Rouge, you might not think the same thing.
Aug '10
Re: What Does the Obesity Epidemic Really Mean?
I remember reading about a study done a few years ago where the diet of the Amish was compared to the diet of the average American. The Amish on average consumed a lot more fats, salt, sugars etc and their daily caloric intake was very high but they were healthier and in better physical condition than the average American, the researchers concluded that due to the very active lifestyle of the Amish the high calorie diet didn't affect their overall health, in fact they were healthier than the average American.
I think physical activity is the key. When we were young my mother didn't allow us to lay about the house watching T.V., she chased us outdoors, which is where we usually stayed until lunch or supper, and then we were back outdoors until it was time to come in and get ready for bed.
Re: What Does the Obesity Epidemic Really Mean?
Michael Tee
That's because you were in an airport in a very wealthy part of the country, one that pretty much lives off the largess of the Federal Government. I think if you went to a mall in Baton Rouge, you might not think the same thing. · Sep 17 at 6:26am
I was only in the coastal cities, it's true. But I did, for example, drive through the outskirts of Seattle and Tacoma. Not as wealthy, but still, by the standards of most of the world, stupendously wealthy. And the upper-class suburbs of the coastal cities--of New York, San Francisco, etc? Staggeringly, unfathomably wealthy. As if money just fell off trees. I know this is hardly the reality for all Americans, but it's still a striking sight if your eye isn't used to it.
Edited on Sep 17, 2010 at 6:34amRe: What Does the Obesity Epidemic Really Mean?
The odd thing is that I didn't see people overeating. At one restaurant, in Los Angeles, the portions were just ridiculous--a plate was enough for four people. But generally, I didn't witness a gluttonous orgy of over-indulgence. In fact, I nearly starved to death because food just wasn't served at any of the meetings I went to. You couldn't get through any kind of professional meeting in Turkey without being offered something to eat (usually a lot), and I kept hopefully expecting that someone would bring out the appetizers, at least, or the cookies--but it never happened. No food on the planes, and even at parties, just not that much food. I can't explain this.
Jul '10
Re: What Does the Obesity Epidemic Really Mean?
1. Families don't eat together anymore. It's hard to watch what your kids eat when you're not around when they are eating. Many folks are have so many "important duties" that they can't find the time to spend with their kids, unless dropping them off at a "play date."When kids do eat, it isn't something Mom (or Dad - I do the cooking in my house) made in the kitchen. It's a microwave "TV dinner." Children are accessories to many people, they say they love them so much, but never spend time with them.
2. When is the last time you saw kids playing in the street? Streets are safer than ever, but kids can't play unsupervised, lest they break a nail or Heaven forfend, get bruised or cut.
continued.
Jul '10
Re: What Does the Obesity Epidemic Really Mean?
3. There is no shame in being fat. (H/T Ragnarok). In the 80s (and before) girls and boys were thin. Look at any video or TV show from that era; everyone was wearing skin tight jeans and leather pants it seemed. Then the "grunge era" came along with the baggy clothing, but it was more than that. It was the beginning of the Oprahization of society. People had lowered expectations as to what was desirable for them "You should accept being a fat woman and understand that you're beautiful on the inside!, etc." Girls and boys were starting to get chubby and doughy and so were their role models, with the exception of sports stars. Because of Reason 1, parents didn't notice or care.
Who was chubby at 20 in 1990 is 40 and obese. And so are their kids.