There is no doubt that it is cheaper to eat like shit. It is also easier, especially if you go for the fast food option ahead of cooking your own cheap, unhealthy crap. It occurs to me that there is also a laziness factor involved here, which no doubt goes hand in hand with the "no exercise" cause of obesity.
Better to drag yourself into the car and drive two blocks for a super-sized quadruple cheeseburger than to walk to the kitchen and have to stand there making, or zapping, something. But yes, coming back from my tangent, lower incomes certainly play a part, but lower education?
On that one I'm torn. On one side of the question, I have a few friends myself who, though not obese, could stand to shed a few dozen pounds. Most of these are highly intellectual, college-educated people in very successful careers. I wouldn't go so far as to say that they are smarter than me, but they would. They are well off and clever; so where do they come into the equation?
On the inverse side of the same query, if stupidity played any part in fatness, Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, Paris Hilton, and Lindsey Lohan would be like a pod of blue whales. So I'm not sure I can agree on that.
The one quarter fraction that I gave to the ignorance side of the theory is for those people out there, and I suppose there must be some, who are so ignorant that still now they don't realize that eating crap and living on the sofa results in a couple of extra pounds gained. Other than that, I don't believe any lack of education allows you to never stumble across the information that eating fast food and other crap might be somewhat detrimental to your figure.
Now for part two. Are the parents of obese kids stupid or evil? I believe these are your only choices. I'm not talking about anyone who is obese through some kidney condition or any other ill health or accident or even those cases that do exist where the obesity is hereditary. I am talking about obese kids, seemingly nearly always the product of obese parents, made that way by their bad diet.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Elvira Black
Well, what would one think of as American "cuisine?"
Lessee...hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza (an American invention, from what I hear). McDonalds, Wendy's, Burger King. Fried chicken; chicken fried steak, turkery with plenty of stuffing and mashed and gravy, apple pie. Some may quibble, but virtually all the traditional American fare is delicious but deadly.
I agree with the income factor to a large degree, though it is still possible, if more ardous, to buy cheap and eat healthy.
Great piece!
2 - Alex
Yes, it certainly is possible to eat healthily on a budget, but then that other major cause of the problem rears its head - laziness. There is no doubt that it takes a much greater effort to buy and prepare healthy cheaper alternatives, and greater effort is not the favored thing of many obese people. And thanks for reading and for the comment.
3 - JR
Yes, it certainly is possible to eat healthily on a budget
Indeed. Rule number one: stay the fuck away from Whole Foods. That place is rip-off exploiting rich, stupid Americans.
4 - Orchid
This article ignores a great deal of the complexity in this issue and asks all the wrong questions. The conclusions reached here are far too simplistic because the premise is incorrect, short-sighted and based on a desire to equate "stupid", "lazy" and "poor" with "fat".
Obesity is the result of a disease, food addiction. It's no different than lung cancer being the result of nicotine addiction and smoking or liver disease and alcohol addiction. The causes of food addiction are many and varied but it does have one thing in common with other addictions. It's about placating yourself with the wrong thing when you are in pain or emotional distress.
As to why Americans are afflicted at such an alarming rate, there are many reasons as well but one of the primary ones has to be unchecked capitalist competition and a consumerist culture. Why do restaurants serve enough food for 2 when they should serve enough for 1? It's because they know their restaurant will be viewed more favorably than others if they serve large portions and food is so cheap that there is little profit lost in serving so much. And research shows that almost every human being, not just Americans, will eat more if more is put in front of him. That's part of an evolutionary desire to consume as much as possible while food is available.
The constant drumbeat of advertising which tells you what will comfort you and how you deserve more is another factor. In a country where people work more and more hours and do so often behind desks, counters, or machinery, they come home exhausted and turn on the T.V. where they receive food cues from commercials. Sure, they could say, "I'm fat and I should go exercise" but after working all day, it's a lot harder to resist ordering a pizza and indulging yourself.
You can add into the mix that Americans are discouraged from pursuing practically every other vice on a societal level. Drugs, alcohol and cigarettes as vices are more seriously frowned upon in the U.S. than other countries. If you couple all of this with the decay in community involvement which brings emotional fulfillment, you have people who are taking comfort in the only addiction they have left which won't land them in jail or have them hounded out of restaurants.
This situation is much deeper and more involved than I have space or desire to write about here but the problem with simple-minded conclusions about the obesity problem is that they do nothing to solve the problem but provide those with an agenda, in this case, America-bashing, with smug satisfaction.
5 - Elvira Black
I must say that Orchid has brought up some excellent and valid points. Thing is, that of all the addictions, food addiction is arguably the most "visible"--and thus the most despised--though millions struggle with this demon. You can't give up eating "cold turkey" (pun intended), and this can make it doubly hard to conquer. And our society reviles obesity and glorifies fast food in equal measure. Commercials for the Total Gym and Jenny Craig are constantly juxtaposed with close-ups of Whoppers and Pizza Hut pan pizzas with extra toppings. Very seductive stuff.
6 - Alex
I think I made it clear that I was not America-bashing, first by stating my affection for this country, and second by pointing out Britain's own problems. Indeed, the article quoted was a British one talking about British society, with just one reference to "American fat". My article was not intended as a fully-fleshed out discussion of the problem, which would require a book to do. It was a superficial look at a newspaper article postulating that education and income played a role in the obesity problem. The only part of the article that constituted my own thoughts, and I stand by them, was at the end when I suggest that obese parents have it in their power to make sure that their children do not succumb to the same "addiction" as they have. And when I see obese parents walking around with their obese children I feel that the parents have severely let down their children. Two parents addicted to smack or crack do not start their kids on their own addiction. Because, amongst other reasons, they do not want their children to suffer as they have. No one is in a better position to prevent children getting obese than obese parents who know all the problems pursuant to such a condition. Even if they can't stop eating themselves, they are perfectly capable of making sure that their small children eat smaller portions. But all too often I already see children 5 and 6 years old already on course to be like their parents. I don't believe there is any argument out there that is going to make me feel for the parents, however addicted to food, who do not have it in them to make their children's lives better than their own, when all it takes is to dish out a smaller portion for them.
7 - Mohjho
Or...average fatness of a culture is simply an indicator of its economic success. This may seem glib, but has ramifications for so many other countries. I do not believe this is an American problem, but a psychological reaction that any country will face if they find themselves in a similar economic situation.
8 - Justin Berry
So thats why supermodels and millions in sub-saharan africa are so thin! All this time Ive been led to believe that they were either anorexic (which I also heard was unhealthy) or extremely poor and starving.
I am so angry at the biased conservative media for leading me astray and allowing me to wallow in ignorance. All this time Ive been dieting and jogging, and all I had to do was change jobs! hoodathunkit?
9 - Alex
Agreed on the irony of the poverty argument. I remember back in the Middle Ages, our poor were all emaciated and living in gutters, since their poverty didn't allow them to drink their swill and buy food too. And yet today it seems that lack of money allows you to grow the size of our large-breasted whores back then and the characters that Botticelli was painting.
10 - Justin Berry
Thats because the Euro's were fat then so it was a sign of wealth. They set the bar we jumped it now they say we were supposed to go under. Kind of like the Tour de America (lets be honest the french dont have a chance), If an American wins it they must have cheated (come on 1 bad,7 good;Testosterone?).
Like a carrot on stick;
Fat, we set on them.
money, we buy and sell them.
Sports, well they still have darts.
cowardice, we're trying.
libaralism, " "
11 - VAL
ALEX WAS RIGHT, IT IS MOSTLY LAZINESS THAT IS MAKING OUR NATION OBESE, MY FAMILY IS ON A STRICT BUDGET, I COOK ALMOST EVERYTHING FROM SCRATCH, WHEN WE GO OUT TO EAT IT IS A TREAT FOR THE KIDS BECAUSE IT'S NOT A DAILY OR EVEN WEEKLY OCCURANCE, ANY GOODIES THEY GET ARE HOME MADE BY ME, AND MY KIDS GET ONE EVERY NIGHT BEFORE BED, BUT MY KIDS WEAR SLIM CLOTHES WHICH ARE HARDER TO FIND NOW DAYS BECAUSE OF ALL THE OBESE CHILDREN. BUT I THINK ONE OF THE BIG DIFFERANCES WITH MY FAMILY AND SO MANY OF THERE FRIENDS IS THE ACTIVITIES THAT THEY DO WHEN THEY ARE NOT IN SCHOOL, MY KIDS ACTUALLY PLAY IN THE YARD OR RIDE THERE BIKES DOWN TO THE CREEK TO GO FISHING INSTEAD OF WATCHING TV ALL DAY OR PLAYING VIDEO GAMES AND SITTING ON THERE ASSES EVERY DAY, THEY GET BORED INSIDE ON RAINY DAYS AND WANT TO GO OUT AND PLAY, DOES NOBODY DO THESE THINGS ANY MORE? IT IS MOSTLY THE LAZY IGNORANT POOR WHO ARE OBESE IN MY COMMUNITY, IT'S NOT A SHORT SIGHTED STATEMENT, IT'S A FACT, I WORKED AT A GROCERY STORE AND THE PEOPLE WHO CAME IN WITH FOOD STAMPS BOUGHT THINGS LIKE LUNCH CAKES AND COOKIES, AND ALL KINDS OF OTHER FATTENING FOODS INSTEAD OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES, ALMOST NONE OF THEM BOUGHT FOOD THEY WOULD ACTUALLY HAVE TO COOK, AND ALMOST ALL OF THEM HAD TO COME BACK WHEN THE FOOD STAMPS HAD RUN OUT WITH ROLLS OF CHANGE TO BUY MORE FOOD, TO ME THAT'S IGNORANT FOR NOT BEING ABLE TO CONTROL THERE SPENDING SO THEY COULD GET THE FOOD THEY NEEDED IN THE FIRST PLACE, AND LAZY FOR JUST GIVING IN TO THERE KIDS ON ALL THE TREATS THEY WANTED. I THINK WE ARE GETTING CARRIED AWAY WITH BLAMING EVERY ONE ELSE FOR OUR PROBLEMS, THE RESTRAUNTS DIDN'T MAKE YOU STOP AT THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE, THE STORES DIDN'T MAKE YOU BUY ALL THE JUNK FOOD DOES NOONE HAVE SELF CONTROL ANY MORE, AND WHAT ARE WE TEACHING THE KIDS, THAT HAY IT'S ALRIGHT HONEY, THE ADVERTISERS ARE THE ONES MAKING YOU FAT AND ADDICTED TO THE FOOD SO YOU JUST GO AHEAD AND EAT ANOTHER TWINKIE, IN MY OPION PEOPLE JUST NEED TO GET A GRIP ON REALITY AND GET OFF THERE ASSES
12 - Alex
There's one very true aspect in that comment that I totally neglected to deal with. The TV, video game, computer, never-get-any-exercise factor. And it is likely one of the main reasons behind obese children. Certainly 40 years ago kids didn't have any of those distractions and so were likely to be far more active. Unfortunately, for the sake of a thorough compare and contrast, they also didn't have all the unhealthy crap and fast foods that kids indulge in today. So it would be hard to prove how much of a thinner, fitter generation of kids was down to more exercise back then or less crap food back then. I mean, obviously both played a role, but as to how much of each...? What would be interesting would be to visit a parallel universe where kids today ate the same shit but had no TVs or computers or Playstations and were thus all more active. Would the obese merely be overweight there?
13 - Lady Dragonfyre
I've observed parents giving young children those super-cafinated energy drinks, including the Starbucks expresso ones. I also saw a lady giving a toddler some Coke (the soft drink).
I go to the grocery store now and see six packs of cola and other soft drinks in tiny cans, obviously meant for children. If a child is so young that he can only drink three ounces of fluid at a time, he sure as hell is too young to be drinking soda (pop)!
The portions are so huge at restaurants, especially fast-food joints. Even the "small" sizes are pretty big. The super-size cups are around a liter, and the most popular sandwiches, such as the Whopper and the Double-Quarter Pounder, are enough to feed two people. I can't fathom how anyone can drink a super-sized soda in one sitting.
I worked at McDs during my high school years, and I once received an order from a drive-thru customer for SIX double-quarter pounders with cheese -- and a super sized diet Coke (not kidding!) At first, I thought the guy was ordering take out for his family, but after receiving his order, we watched the guy pull into a parking space in front of the restaurant and eat ALL the burgers!
I can vouch for the high costs of healthy eating. I’m dirt poor, and my diet at the moment consists primarily of lentil soup with whole grain crusty bread. It’s all I can afford right now.
However, I'd rather eat very modest healthy fare than spend the same amount of money on a greasy steak, buttered dinner rolls and potato puffs.
14 - Nancy
Most of American food as currently consumed is the direct result of relentless hype & marketing, usually directed at people from the time they're small children (for example, McDonald's Ronald, the Hamburgler, etc.), which IMO should be criminal and absolutely forbidden - but that's another thread.
Recently I had radical stomach surgery. As a result, I've had to make some radical dietary changes as well, involving cutting out all processed flours & sugars, red meats, and more or less switching to ovo-lacto-vegetarianism. Once I got used to it, I found it was no more work to cook a spaghetti squash or throw together a small curry than it was to grill a burger. Less, in fact. It also costs less without the meat, altho fish and even cheese (which used to be reasonable) are almost as outrageous in price. The only drawback to veggies is that they aren't really condusive to spur-of-the-moment snacking like pizza or burgers are. Oh, you can rustle up a carrot stick or a radish in a blink, but they really aren't what anyone wants, and they aren't very satisfying, because what you're satisfying is generally appetite, not hunger, a distinction most Americans - even poor ones - are unaware of. Appetite is where something in particular appeals to you, and that's all you want; hunger is when you'll eat ANYTHING that doesn't run faster than you can. A big difference, and one I never appreciated until I learned what true hunger is.
The problem is, that we now have multiple generations who can't cook from scratch, who have been raised on processed foods loaded with fats, sugars, additives, and chemicals, and who are as addicted to these additives as they would be to cocaine.
I wouldn't be surprised if in the future someone exposed the food industry of deliberately putting addictive substances in foods - especially fast foods and junk foods - in order to secure & increase their share of captive consumers.
15 - Bliffle
It's expensive to eat bad food and become obese. Requires more cooking effort, too. You can eat well, cut your budget and lose weight with a few simple principles. Here's how:
1-eat a good breakfast: filling, high fiber and tasty. Never skip breakfast because you will overeat later. Here's the best breakfast: put a tablespoon of oatmeal in a bowl with a pinch of salt and an appropriate amout of tap water and nuke in the microwave for 1.5 minutes. If you don't have fresh fruit handy and some chopped up figs, dried cranberries, dried raisins, etc., so they get plumped up, too. Add chopped fresh fruit when cooked, a peach, pear, orange, etc. If you require sweetener add a half packet of Splenda. Once or twice a week use a half teaspoon of brown sugar. Add some non-fat milk to the oatmeal, or nonfat yogurt. It only takes a couple minutes to prepare and eat this breakfast, which may last you right thru lunch hour. On saturday or sunday treat yourself to your favorite sinful breakfast, mine is a country breakfast of fried egg, potato and bacon, perhaps at a restaurant. Exercise moderation. And you can cook it better at home, usually, so maybe you invite a friend or friends for a convivial brunch of traditional food.
2-don't eat a sandwich for lunch. You don't need the bread. you should bring a lunch to the office. More later.
3-eat small amounts of varied foods for dinner. No big helpings of meat and potatoes, but lots of variety.
4-shopping: this is the most important. Shop well and you eat well. You save, too. No need to go to Whole Foods, good food at reasonable prices is always available at a chain market, like Safeway. Pick a store near you, get their discount card and study their stocking and sales patterns. You should be able to save 25% on every trip because you buy what you need when it is on sale. the most important principle in shopping is to try to buy NOTHING that is packaged. Go immediately to the produce section and load up on fresh fruits and vegetables before you go anywhere else. Make yourself justify any packaged food, even a bottle of olives. Allow yourself two shopping indulgences: you can go into your target store every day even if just to survey, and you can walk out without buying anything.
16 - Heloise
The more brown and black Brits you get, the more fat you may find on your sidewalks over there. This piece does not take into account the genetic factor that is involved in the wide girths here.
Yes, poverty, race and class are tied together like the knot in your story...that it's funny to make fun of fat people. They don't think it's so funny. I have gotten in trouble for hints at saying someone is a fat or obese person. I don't use that word.
It's true. It is not the color of your gray matter that determines your gene size, but the color of your skin. If you think that Paris and the others are stupid then just take a look at their bank accounts. Now, that's PHAT for you.
Heloise
17 - Alex
Well, to begin suggesting that Paris Hilton, Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears have a brain cell between them is never going to be defendable. Paris is rich because of Hilton hotels, which she had no part in obviously. Jessica Simpson proved all by herself on her silly show just how moronic she is. Can anyone say Chicken of the Sea. That link's definitely worth seeing again. And Britney? Come on! In case you haven't seen it, go check that link. Also, the point of my story had nothing to do with making fun of fat people. What there was, was some anger at some fat people on behalf of their kids.
But most of all, when I picture obese people I see in this country, the image I get is not of non-whites. Statistics show that about 20% of the obese in America are White, and 30% are black. Not such a big divide and certainly not one meriting suggestions that having more blacks in your country would lead to a leap in obesity. That's no better than simply saying that all blacks eat fried chicken by the bucket, which would clearly be unacceptable.
18 - Heloise
Percentages translate to numbers. And there are simply more Blacks and Mexicans who are overweight. That is a fact.
Now, if you are suggesting that the media has spent an inordinate amount of time on white, rich, anorexic-looking females who are also synaptically challengelled to the detriment of all other peoples of color--then you might be on to something.
If you are suggesting that brainy or stupid they are not THE most important topic of primetime news--then you would be wrong. Please don't insult MY nor the public's intelligence, when it comes to assessing whose ass is on TV for whatever reason. Many movie stars have degrees from Ivy colleges. This is not a sign of intelligence if you count George Bush. But you are insulting these public figures by suggesting that they have a low IQ. And if you are then you would be WRONG. Just because you inherit money does not make you stupid. Who has really lost their trail of logic?
It is not totally due to what is eaten but what is added. The salt or sodium content would reach to the now non-planet Pluto for fast foods (which most lower class blacks do consume for various reasons) and that leads to a host of problems. Then there is the gene for metabolizing sugar. Most Asians, blacks and Native Americans are not used to that type of diet of civilization. And yes, I am suggesting that an influx of these, not just blacks, will tip the scales.
Heloise
19 - Alex
Your opinion of the celebrities mentioned in these comments is quite baffling. My opinion is based on many interviews where I have heard them speak, or TV shows they have been on. They are morons. A couple of them can sing and have a good manager or agent or father. But your hypothesis that just because they are on TV a lot it means that they must be intelligent is quite astonishing. By that logic, the girls in Girls Gone Wild videos are all pretty smart too just because they've been on the screen. They had tits. Jessica and Britney have a mild singing talent. Paris is on TV and famous because she goes to parties and shows herself to be pretty dumb on a reality TV show. I am not saying that inheriting money makes you stupid...I never did. One has nothing to do with the other. Paris inherited money. Paris is stupid. Neither one because of the other. I never thought I'd hear the argument made for these people's intellects. I can only assume you are defending them on principle, because if you'd seen them speak you could not do it. My God, watch the link to the Britney video in my previous comment and watch her state that she thinks time travel happens, amongst other gems. You must be kidding me.
20 - Heloise
If you read my comments it says "are you suggesting?" The IQ cutoff for average is 100. The students I see fall a little below that. In the "Bell Curve" they argue that blacks fall well below the normal IQ.
People can "act as if" until the cows come home. But put them in front of a test with a black of lower class and whom do you think will do better on the test? This is my point. Not who is playing stupid on TV.
Heloise
21 - Dave is Fat
Your fat... nuff said.
22 - lostNtheWoods
Heartland america is also in deep doo-doo. Having moved from Southern California to rural New Hampshire I am amazed at the obesity levels. Here's a place of 99.9% white, where the poor, the working class and yes even the middle class are almost all at least overweight or obese. But what really strikes me is the apparent lack of concern. Fifteen years ago when I first moved here it was more or less the case. Now when you see a group of kids getting off the school bus seven out of ten of them are overweight. It almost seems that if the majority of folks are heavy then why bother, it's normal. What the heck, come home from two jobs so you can afford the new Escalade and a garage full of motorized toys. Drive thru Crapdonald's for the family meal and fall in front of the tube for some dumbed down entertainment. Rural America is now falling down this slippery slope screaming "don't know, don't care". I guess it's ok to be ignorant as long as you're American.
23 - Bliffle
What nonsense! Good healthy tasty food is cheaper than junk food and quicker and easier to prepare. You've all just been indoctrinated by relentless advertising into believing the absurd notion that factory food is cheaper and quicker, a notion which is absurd on the face of it. It is simply impossible that food burdened with the extra costs of all the processing could be cheaper, and all meals can be prepared in less time than required to go to McD and return.
I defy you all. Go ahead, dare me to prove it!
You won't because you know I'm right. You've surrendered your miserable souls to the demons of advertising and corporate food peddlers and your case is hopeless.
24 - allie
maybe there is something we can do. it is stupid to just sit around and have our country be fat!! i hate it and it makes me cry
25 - Sam
I am poor and always have been. Eating healthy meats, veggy's are expensive. You look at meats the cheaper meat is full of fat. The family package of hamburger, etc are usually the cheapest and they are usually mostly fat with little bit of good meat on it. When your poor you buy cheapest and what will last the longest. This very very rarely is the good quality meat. Once in rare while you can find the lean meat.
As for fresh veggies they also not the cheapest and they don't hold up. meaning if you get what little food stamps you may get once a month and do your shoping for whole month fresh veggies don't usually last whole month. So you go with the can stuff which isn't as healthy as fresh. Also if your like me you don't like cooked veggies. But yet you can't afford the fresh. So your stuck with canned.
Also when comes to food stamps they usually don't give you enough to cover all your food costs. When we get our whole $11.00 in food stamps we just rush out and buy all all that expensive healthy food we can, Yeah i wish!!
Most poor people rent and you compare what a poor person pays in bills doesn't leave them much for food. You have someone that makes $20,000, say your paying $900 in Rent, 400 for insurance, lights, etc and then you have to buy clothing, maybe you want to get out and do something for fun once in while. So that is extra cost to lets say about $50 a month. Well with that you spent $16,200 that only leaves you $3800 for extra expenses. Food, Gas, Dr Bills. These also depends were you live. maybe more expensive maybe little cheaper. But doesn't leave you much to go buy that expensive food.
As for making stuff from scratch i have tried that yet after you buy all the cooking stuff you need your broke. You spent most of your money on things like baking soda, flower, baking powder. In my house you don't find to much of that stuff. You find can goods and meat.
There are people who take advantage of what they get and go hog wild buying junk food. Or buying the 12 burgers at McDonalds. But most people i know very rarely go to those places let alone order 12 burgers. I wish i could afford that many, i'd go do something i really want to do with that money though.