| We are a large people. 65% of us are | | | | |
| overweight, 30% actually obese. How did we | | | | We love nothing better than a good bargain: |
| reach this point? | | | | something for nothing or, at the very least, |
| | | | at a discount. If we can obtain just a few |
| We ate ourselves into a prison of our own | | | | more ounces of something for negligible extra |
| fat. | | | | money, we pounce on the larger size. If we're |
| | | | offered two for the price of one and a half, |
| Why? | | | | we don't have to stop and think. If we can |
| | | | save money by buying a whole package, even if |
| Well, we certainly didn't sit down and decide | | | | we don't want all of it, we'll do it because |
| that we wanted to gain weight, did we? We had | | | | it makes economic sense (ah, the birth of |
| no pressure on us to fatten ourselves for | | | | super size!) |
| some eventual slaughter. On the contrary, as | | | | |
| our collective girth increased, we | | | | Where did we get the idea that bigger is |
| paradoxically elevated scrawny to a cultural | | | | better? Is it the national legacy of the |
| icon, happily dismissing the corseted | | | | depression when we swore we'd never "do |
| matronly figures of the past two centuries. | | | | without" again? Is it a natural spillover |
| | | | from our thoughtless squandering of the |
| Where did the disconnect between our reality | | | | world's resources? Is it the speed and stress |
| and our ideals begin? | | | | of our competitive lives that logically leads |
| | | | to our attacking our food with the same |
| We can blame the processors who milled out | | | | disregard for restraint we show in business? |
| the vitamins and minerals we need. We can | | | | |
| blame the preservers who cut back on fiber | | | | Whatever has brought us to this point, it is |
| and freshness in favor of additives and | | | | time for us all to cry "enough!" We may fear |
| chemicals. We can blame the packagers who | | | | terrorist attacks or biological warfare but |
| added sugar and starch to everything. We can | | | | it is our daily over-consumption of food that |
| blame the fast food industry for frying | | | | is killing us. Diabetes, clogged arteries, |
| everything and we can blame the beverage | | | | and other obesity-related illnesses cost |
| companies for their addictive colas. | | | | 350,000 American lives a year and the figure |
| | | | continues to climb. The associated medical |
| While all of these made their contributions | | | | costs are staggering and threaten eventual |
| to our current plight, one source of our | | | | bankruptcy for the Medicare system if not |
| caloric distress runs through everything: | | | | reined back. |
| portion size. | | | | |
| | | | Several states and school districts are |
| We eat hamburgers - not the gigantic, | | | | attempting to apply brakes to a junk food |
| multi-patty ones, just a standard burger - | | | | society out of control. A change in the |
| that are 3 times as big as those of 30 years | | | | structure of our farm subsidy programs has |
| ago. Our orders of french fries are at least | | | | been suggested - to reward the growers of |
| twice the size of their cousins in the 1970s. | | | | healthy crops and penalize those who raise |
| Pizza no longer has cheese only on the top | | | | the building blocks of edible garbage (sugar |
| but its crust is also filled. Large soft | | | | and corn syrup). Taxation, as has been used |
| drinks are the size of watering cans instead | | | | to curb the purchase of cigarettes, could |
| of baby bottles. Recipes that once announced | | | | change the consumption equation by hitting |
| "serves 8" now report "serves 4" with exactly | | | | our wallets (and a 1 cent tax on every soft |
| the same ingredients. Bagels and muffins are | | | | drink sold in the United States would raise |
| 3 to 4 times as large as their predecessors | | | | 40 billion dollars a year). |
| (and any fan of Seinfeld knows that only the | | | | |
| tops are worthwhile). Thank heavens for | | | | However, the great change will only come when |
| hormones that can produce the 20 to 30 pound | | | | each of us, individually and collectively, |
| turkeys we demand for our holiday dinners. | | | | start cutting back. |
| | | | |
| Compare the small boxes of frozen vegetables | | | | We need to insist, repeatedly and loudly, |
| that so awed us in the 1950s with the huge | | | | that restaurants serve child and senior size |
| bags available today, awash in butter or | | | | plates to adults and split orders without |
| cheese sauce. The TV dinners we precariously | | | | extra charge (where are the class action |
| balanced on rickety tray tables are now heavy | | | | lawyers when you need them?) We have to |
| enough that those same tables wouldn't hold | | | | demand that small sizes of meal components |
| them. | | | | are offered. We should start boycotting those |
| | | | huge "economy" sizes of everything from soft |
| Restaurant meals have grown as well, with a | | | | drinks, to frozen potatoes, to cooking lard, |
| "to go" container almost standard because few | | | | and potato chips. |
| eaters can finish them (although we try | | | | |
| terribly hard). Far from their smorgasbord | | | | And the buck finally stops at our own plate. |
| roots, buffets have become almost obscene in | | | | For our health, our longevity, and our looks, |
| their offerings. | | | | we must limit how much we eat of anything. If |
| | | | we cut our intake in half, we will be doing |
| Whatever happened to nouvelle cuisine? Has | | | | ourselves, our children, and our society a |
| the fastidious gourmet been completely | | | | great favor and our bodies will thank us for |
| swallowed by the voracious gourmand? Is | | | | it. |
| gluttony no longer a deadly sin? | | | | |