My new National Post column joins a symposium on Dr. David Kessler’s new book about American obesity.
Here’s the one thing that won’t work: turning today’s obesity problem into a morality play in which evil corporations are depicted as exploiting hapless victims. The fabulous productivity of modern agriculture and industry have made food more available than ever before in the history of the world. Human beings, who evolved in conditions of food scarcity, are understandably finding it difficult to adapt to these new conditions of abundance. It will be the work of a generation, maybe two, to teach ourselves how to stay fit when we can no longer rely on our instinct to crave fats and sweets or to gorge when we can because tomorrow we may starve.
Read the rest here.
8 responses so far
1 Reason60 // Oct 31, 2009 at 9:29 pm
A good article; The basic premise is sound that ultimately no one chooses what to put in our mouths but ourselves; McDonald’s has always offered salads, but no one ate them in quantities like Big Macs;
Having said that, David does point out that there are often hidden government policies that discourage healthy choices- like schools cutting back on athletic programs, and allowing fast food menusto be substituted for balanced ones.
Which raises a deeper point; one of the most pernicious myths in the conservative dialogue is the notion that whatever status quo we are talking about- health, housing policies, land use- is the result of the invisible hand or the free marketplace.
In most cases this is simply demonstrably untrue. In health, for example, although people do have an insatiable hunger for fats and sugars which would lead to fast food being popular no matter what, the fact remains that we are subsidizing the production of corn syrup, sugar beets, and cane sugar. Fast food is not only targeted to our evolutionary taste buds, but government subsidies help make it artificially cheap as well.
2 sinz54 // Nov 1, 2009 at 10:19 am
reason60:
Agreed.
And there’s more.
Because much fresh produce is imported from Latin America these days, the steady debasement of the dollar has made it more and more expensive to buy such healthy foods.
It has become tremendously expensive to “eat healthy.” A 3,000 calorie diet plan consisting of healthy foods (whole grains, fruits and vegetables, etc.) is far more expensive than a Big Mac with fries and a shake. The poor just can’t afford it.
3 SFTor1 // Nov 1, 2009 at 9:22 pm
Sounds like everyone is on board with taking a long, hard look at the Ag Bill and how it distorts the economy of the food supply.
4 LFC // Nov 2, 2009 at 12:11 pm
SFTor1, I think most conservatives at this site would agree. The political realities are another story. And the line isn’t Dem / Repub, it’s more ag-dependent state / non-ag-dependent state.
5 DFL // Nov 2, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Venture into a supermarket sometime and look at the slovenliness of the average American. Tens of million of Americans are slobs because that’s what they want to be. Government can’t make policies to alter that in a democracy.
6 furrydoc // Nov 2, 2009 at 3:06 pm
As the one who deals with the ravages of obesity professionally, I agree with David that with few exceptions, the business of marketing abundant food to those who gobble it up excessively does not seem to be a significant part of the solution to obesity. While McD’s may have removed the supersized portions, the 7 oz soda bottle will never again replace the 7-11 Big Gulp, which seems to be what the consumer wants. Across the street from my medical center there is an Old Country Buffet where for a nominal sum patients can prepare for their pre-op evaluation with the bariatric surgeon by gorging themselves to even greater surgical value.
I think ultimately you need to change the consumers by making gluttony uncool.
7 sinz54 // Nov 2, 2009 at 3:57 pm
The gluttony for sugar doesn’t explain why salt has to be added to just about everything.
I tried to purchase a package of ordinary frozen mixed vegetables–unseasoned–at my local supermarket. It turned out they had added salt to it anyway. It’s a good thing I checked the ingredients on the label, because I’m on a low-salt diet.
8 sinz54 // Nov 2, 2009 at 3:59 pm
sftor1:
True. But the steady devaluation of the dollar is also making many healthy foods too expensive. The devaluation of the dollar affects the dollar price of all imported foods, from lettuce to coffee.
After Nixon devalued the dollar in 1974, the price of coffee quadrupled.
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