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Americans Are Large, Appetites Are in Charge
A customer eats with a 21-ounce cup of soda at a Manhattan McDonalds on Sept. 13. John Christopher Fine argues that the ban on large soft drinks targets the wrong culprits. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
There are 7 billion people on Earth. They weigh 633 billion pounds. That averages about 90 pounds for every man, woman, and child. Since the earth’s population is made up mostly of children, the others must be grossly overweight.
What’s going on in American society? The swimming pool at a campground in Pennsylvania was crowded on a hot summer day. Of a pool population of 30 people, all were obese, some morbidly so. Their comportment was such that some, old and young, could hardly walk.
Lawsuits point to the crisis of people unwilling to shoulder blame for their own self-inflicted maladies.
The daughter of a friend was influenced by classmates. She had every potential and was gifted in sports. Her body ballooned as she joined her teenage friends for copious lunches they could easily afford in one of suburban New York’s wealthiest communities. The girls were all fat.
When questioned by her mother, the daughter proclaimed, “I’m large and in charge.”
Overindulgence
Not much poetry that, but it was a declaration of war upon societal norms that restrain overeating. There is nothing clinical or glandular about today’s fat people. They are indulging themselves with food and drink.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared war on fast food emporiums that over size portions to satisfy their oversized customers. The mayor was mocked and the populace shocked. The mayor placed blame on the wrong culprits. Nobody required fat people to stuff themselves.
Dr. Joe Boyer, a veteran pediatrician who has served the needs of children over many years in a well-to-do suburban New York community, laments the crisis of obesity in children he treats.
“Boys come in that are a hundred pounds overweight. They have large breasts. Their parents are usually morbidly obese. I try to tell the parents that this is unhealthy for their children. They won’t listen. Obesity at that young age can lead to heart problems, diabetes, and disease,” Dr. Boyer said.
Eventually society will pay for this—just as we are now paying for drug addiction and the diseases it causes. Society through public health care programs is now paying for smoking and the effects of disease this pernicious habit causes. Society pays for alcoholism that degrades health.
Society in the United States has become self-indulgent. Lawsuits directed at fast-food chains point to the crisis of people unwilling to shoulder blame for their own self-inflicted maladies. Smokers have sued, victims of drunk drivers have sued. Hospitals milk the welfare system for million-dollar medical bills of crack babies they have to treat. Fat people target society for their indulgences.
Crisis of Starvation
Researching a book about world hunger, I reviewed statistics compiled by UNICEF, the United Nations organization charged with protection of child welfare. The crisis of starvation is appalling.
In other countries, 35,000 people die from starvation every day. The statistics that were available described “The State of the World’s Children,” reporting that a billion people in the world are hungry and chronically undernourished. The World Food Council reported that every year, 13 million to 18 million people die from starvation. Of the 24 people who starve to death every minute, 18 are children under the age of 5.
A billion people in the world are hungry and chronically undernourished.
Compare that with the St. Louis School of Medicine’s published study that reported: “In America, land of plenty, 34 million Americans are obese. Four in 20 women and three in 20 men tip the scales at least 100 pounds more than they should.”
Those statistics are 25 years old and foretold a crisis in America that has surpassed even the researchers’ predictions.
The Harvard School of Public Health, in a study done 25 years ago, likewise predicted a dismal future for American youth. That Harvard study revealed that “nearly a third of all American preteen white males are overweight, that there has been a 54 percent increase in obesity among six to eleven year olds and a 36 percent increase in obesity among people aged twelve to seventeen.”
There is hope. The young woman on her way to obesity graduated. Once free of the clan of friends that indulged themselves, the onus was on her to take a responsible course to guide her lifestyle.
A psychiatrist helped by pointing out the obvious. It may sound like cruel advice when the physician told the young woman plainly that if she remained fat, she would not have the choice of boyfriends she hoped for. She would have to settle for someone who accepts her obesity.
The young woman sought the help of a physician who specializes in creating diets for people in her situation. It worked. Without drugs, crash diets, or dangerous health compromises, the woman lost excess weight, followed a regimen of exercise, and is happy with a boyfriend who appreciates her ability to engage in outdoor sports.
Her life is back on track and hopefully forever free of chronic overeating that added extra pounds unnecessarily.
Americans must stop placing blame on others. If we run up credit card debts by indulging our appetites for restaurant food and luxury items, if we seek mansions to live in beyond our ability to pay, if we eat to the point of becoming morbidly obese, it is not money lenders, society, nor government that is to be blamed.
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There is nothing to stop you from proclaiming that you are large and in charge— except you and your children’s future health and welfare.
Dr. John Christopher Fine is the author of 24 books on a variety of subjects. His articles and photography appear in major magazines and newspapers in the United States and Europe.
*Republished under agreement from The Epoch TImes
