America the Obese

There is no need for statistics when the truth is obvious...Americans are overweight. The striking thing is that unlike evolution that takes millions of years to affect change, we are doing it in mere decades making "Survival of the Fittest" seem nothing more than a mere joke. That being said, I am not going to blast the American population. Surely it is our own fault, and no one can deny that, but we can't really be blamed. The confluence of events creating the perfect storm are only now visible with hindsight...processed foods, sedentary jobs, and eating out. And even though these factors are clearly and have been clearly visible, their negative impacts took years to play out in plumper people. While I am going to give the American public a free pass for the last 2 decades, there is no more time to deny responsibility of our big fat mess.

But why does this issue even need to be addressed, shouldn't it be just treated as an individual issue? If someone is ok with being overweight, isn't that their choice? The answer should be no. While the effects on other people are not as obvious as second hand smoke, there is an effect of a person's obesity on the rest of the country. Effects, for example, are future strains on the healthcare system and medicare, loss of productivity from not only the invididual, but also the loss of productivity from the individuals relatives and friends who have to spend time, energy, and emotion caring for the obese and their heart diseases, diabetes, and slew of medical problems, procedures, and surgeries. No matter what people want to eat and no matter how much they don't want to exercise this is not a fair burden on our friends, family, and the country's tax revenues.

Can we as a nation find ways to help curb this epidemic that individuals on a general level show little ability to kick on their own? Taking matters into its own hands, New York City is proposing to prohibit restaurants from using artificial trans fats. While I laud the attention and action directed toward the issue, this is not the complete answer. First and foremost necessary is education. Could an average american tell you how many calories there are in a bagel, in a slice of pizza, in a double cheeseburger, or even a casaer salad? No way. People don't even know what they are eating. And this is no where more evident than in the success of the whatever the latest fad diet, whether it be atkins, zone, south beach, etc. As if there is some magical quick fix. That is proof that americans just don't get it. Nutrition education needs to be a class in our education system now as important as math, history, and biology. And we need to start from the beginning...every grade starting from first should have a health and wellness class, that's how dumb we are on this issue.

Education at the earliest levels may save the next generation but we have 30 years of trouble coming our way starting now, before any of that education makes any difference. Where New York city fails in its proposal is that it only addresses such a single element of the problem - food consumed at restaurants.

I believe we can take dramatic steps toward trimming the fat (literally) of our nation, with an elegant stroke. We need to appeal to our motivations that are more powerful than desire for ice cream and pizza on the couch in front of the tv. And that is Greed. If I may quote Gordon Gecko, "Greed, for lack of a better word, is good." What if the government offered a $1000 tax break to every adult that was within the recommended body fat percentages? I bet we would see a lot off people work to maintain that. But so many of americans are now so far from being anywhere close to that number. I think there should be another tax break, say $500, for anyone who improves 5% on their body fat percentage over a year. (no gaming the system, you only get improvment points if you improve from the trough. Not up one year, down the next stuff). By appealing to our senses of greed, the american people will find their own way...not just avoiding artificial trans fats at restaurants. They will do whatever works, eat better, walk run, swim, whatever. And they should generally feel pretty motivated because really how much more incentive should one need than money, vanity, and health...Now that is what i call a perfect storm to get us out of this mess.