Comments on: Obesity in America http://www.naturalcondition.com/2008/01/29/obesity-in-america/ Informative articles on life, health, and medicine, by Matthew E. Nolan Thu, 21 Aug 2008 04:07:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Justin http://www.naturalcondition.com/2008/01/29/obesity-in-america/#comment-9 Justin Wed, 30 Jan 2008 03:00:36 +0000 http://www.naturalcondition.com/2008/01/29/obesity-in-america/#comment-9 In my Experimental Television class, one of the episodes we are producing is on the topic of "vices." When you think of vices, generally drinking, smoking, gambling, etc come to mind. Someone brought up the point that while people can be very quick to warn a smoker that their habit is unhealthy, few do the same when they see someone eating fast food. I think that really strikes it at the core. It's not a matter of educations--people know fast food is bad for you. The problem is that it's socially accepted. It will be interesting to see in 30 years if fatty foods have gone the way of cigarettes. People will still eat it, but we'll look back and, with a chuckle, remember when they served curly fries, soda, and hot dogs in the school cafeteria. Tighter regulations on public school food is already a reality, and that's spreading outward in life to new regulations like the trans fat ban in NY and Philadelphia. But I don't think it should be any surprise that obesity is what it is today. Genetics surely have little to nothing to do with it. It's simply the way our culture has evolved. Where we once had stay-at-home wives and healthier home cooked meals, we now have dual-income families and less time to be healthy. I'm personally having that problem this semester--I don't get home until after 8 most days, tired and hungry. Unfortunately fast and healthy just don't go together. At least not without a hefty premium most aren't willing to pay. In my Experimental Television class, one of the episodes we are producing is on the topic of “vices.” When you think of vices, generally drinking, smoking, gambling, etc come to mind. Someone brought up the point that while people can be very quick to warn a smoker that their habit is unhealthy, few do the same when they see someone eating fast food.

I think that really strikes it at the core. It’s not a matter of educations–people know fast food is bad for you. The problem is that it’s socially accepted. It will be interesting to see in 30 years if fatty foods have gone the way of cigarettes. People will still eat it, but we’ll look back and, with a chuckle, remember when they served curly fries, soda, and hot dogs in the school cafeteria. Tighter regulations on public school food is already a reality, and that’s spreading outward in life to new regulations like the trans fat ban in NY and Philadelphia.

But I don’t think it should be any surprise that obesity is what it is today. Genetics surely have little to nothing to do with it. It’s simply the way our culture has evolved. Where we once had stay-at-home wives and healthier home cooked meals, we now have dual-income families and less time to be healthy. I’m personally having that problem this semester–I don’t get home until after 8 most days, tired and hungry. Unfortunately fast and healthy just don’t go together. At least not without a hefty premium most aren’t willing to pay.

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