The "Truthiness" of American Obesity

Recently on the Truthiness blog, Laura published an article about America's weight problems. The article can be read here.

I think you have a valid argument Laura. Its sad to know that over two thirds of our country is overweight, and shocking to know that over 30% is considered obese. While I don't advocate using body-fat indexes to charge parents with child abuse, I think we do need to change the way we as a society eat.

I must admit, I love an A1 Thick N' Hearty burger from Whataburger every now and then, and I'm a sucker for buttery, cheesy mashed potatoes covered in bacon bits with a steak on the side, but one serious issue that I think could help your argument is lack of affordable, healthy food. The consumer demand for fast, often fried food is so large that it has cornered the market, causing the supply of healthy foods to dimish, sending the prices for good food through the roof. The truth(iness) is that most people cannot afford to eat right. This doesn't mean they have to gorge on bad food all day long, but it is the start of an unhealthy cycle, in my opinion.

Even in foods that are generally considered healthy, this is the case. For example, I can buy apples from Wal Mart for thrity-three cents a piece. But those apples suck. I don't want to eat them, so why would a kid? But if you want an awesome Honeycrisp apple that'll make the toes on your tastebuds curl, you have to find a local food market and pay $2+ for each apple. This isn't convienient, especially not for a mother shopping for her weeks groceries. Consequently, her kids are going to eat the Little Debbies Nutter bars instead of the apple (the Nutter bars are much cheaper than even the shitty Wal Mart apples, too). For one more closing example, we can look at a recent KFC commercial. Yum brands food proposes a challenge to potential customers: Try to make a 7 piece chicken dinner with sides using store-bought ingredients, and try to do this for less money than it costs at KFC. KFC wins, b/c they already know that you can't do it. Why spend more money and take more time to make a healthier meal when you could just go to KFC? In our fast-paced world, people are choosing the quick and easy way over the healthy way. Soda tastes better than water, and mediocre chocolate is better than bad fruit.

Ultimately it is up to the individual to decide what is right for them. I grew up eating crappy food b/c my parents couldn't afford to feed all of their children organic nutricious foods. Fortunately I inherited a lightning fast metablosim, so I get to avoid weight concerns. Still, eating right tastes and feels so much better, that I now choose to drink water and pay retarded amounts of money for good apples. The news is out though, so as people become more informed, hopefully we'll one day be a less Booty-full (in a strictly obese sense) country.