We Americans are a FAT nation, not calorically challenged, not encumbered, not overweight for our height, but fat. Many want to attribute the rise in fatsos to the ingredients in food, or genetics, but I attribute it to our society’s lack of having the “set” required to tell people that they are fat, huge, or rolly polly.
This progressive map shows the massive rise in our weight from 1985 – 2007. Now, when I was little, there was often “the fat kid” in class. One. One fat kid. Now, our leanest state, Colorado has 18.7% obesity. With a class size of 20, that’s 3 or 4 fat kids. Go to AL, MS, or TN, and you may have 6 or 7 fat kids! One might think that this is due to the increased financial stability of American families, but compared to other affluent industrialized nations, we are off the charts as well.
Knowing that this is not an issue where we are so rich, we have become fat, we look to other areas. I have to look no further than political correctness, which seeks to rename things into nicer terms so feeling aren’t hurt. We’ve seen movements go so far as to try to change the modeling business so the models don’t look so thin, in order to save the feelings of the lazy fat people thinking that they should lose weight to look better. HELLO! Not only will you look better if you lose weight, but you will feel better, and be healthier, and lower the burden on your health insurance carrier as well (not to mention your grocery bill).
The problem with political correctness is that one of the greatest motivators for people in this world is shame and guilt. Being overweight, in most cases is a choice. I’ll admit that personally I could stand to lose a couple of pounds, and there was a time when I bordered on being a wide load. What changed me, is that I was embarrassed to take off my shirt at the beach, or while playing ball. I realized I had some choices: Don’t go to the beach, lose the weight, or have people lie to me and tell me that I’m not fat, but that the world is too thin, and that they were going to call me something nicer than fat to describe my disgusting condition. Well, I wasn’t going to give up going out, and I don’t like being lied to in order to save my tender little feelings, so I opted to drop 20 lbs. Amazingly, I was no longer fat, and people gave me real compliments… amazingly.
Political correctness is going to cause the healthy people to have to shoulder the MASSIVE weight of the fat ones in terms of not only health insurance premiums, but also care in general as we are see enormous rises in diabetes, and other related diseases, which is ironic, because your more slender people are already working harder.
So what do we need to do? We need to stop these sissy little movements by people who would rather have the world change to suit them, than be embarrassed. We need to suck it up and deal with the fact that we are in a health crisis, and that nice words won’t cure it, but diet and nutrition will. Instead of watching Paula Dean, and all these other cholesterol junkies, we need to read articles by industry experts like Will Brink, or better yet (no offense Will) go out and get some exercise, eat more reasonably, and pay attention to our bodies. Talk to nutritionists and doctors about some simple things you can do that will help your diet without offending your picky sense of taste. Drink more water before your meals. Have one serving, and, if after 15 minutes of being done eating you’re hungry, THEN have seconds.
Filed under: Health, Politics | Tagged: Centrist, Conservative, Crisis, Democrat, epidemic, fat, Indepependent, liberal, moderate, obesity, overweight, politcally correct, Politics, republican, Third, united states, wide load, Will Brink
[...] wrote a piece a while back outlining how the push toward “political correctness” was a huge factor in America [...]
I am behind the times! I agree with the Wii, I know people who have thrown out their shoulders playing.
For most people free of injuries and genetic predispositions, it’s not that hard to stay in shape. Simply standing up at your desk while working, taking the stairs instead of elevators or escalators, parking your car as far as you can from entrances, etc. is enough to burn a few extra calories. You don’t need a home gym, trendy workout videos, a membership to a fancy gym, or a dietitian to be healthy. You just need to use some common sense.
Also:
“But instead of us calling them fat and lazy, many seem to want to re-label this, and cause us to accept this as part of the times we live in.”
That reminded me of the “jelly belly” memo that a Florida police chief was fired over. Here’s part of his memo and it really encompasses this whole discussion:
“Take a good look at yourself,” he wrote. “If you are unfit, do yourself and everyone else a favor. See a professional about a proper diet and a fitness training program, quit smoking, limit alcohol intake and start thinking self-pride, confidence and respectability. And stop making excuses for delaying what you know you should have been doing years ago. We didn’t hire you unfit and we don’t want you working unfit. Don’t mean to offend, this is just straight talk. I owe it to you.”
The fact that he was fired for writing such an eloquent and sensible memo is proof that we’re definitely headed in the wrong direction.
Ian,
Well put, and well expanded upon the point. I think we’ve allowed our youth, and therefor a lot of society to get lazy, and often fat. Kids used to grab a ball and play for hours, now they gather and text. Often the result is that they get fat. But instead of us calling them fat and lazy, many seem to want to re-label this, and cause us to accept this as part of the times we live in.
Now don’t get me wrong. People with LEGITIMATE reasons for being overweight (injury, genetic issues, etc.) get a free pass from me, as well as a lot of compassion. It goes with my common thread of people who refuse to help themselves, and the enablers that perpetuate the condition, and that whole diatribe. I’m afraid that this is another long-term issue that will fall upon the backs of the responsible people to have to shoulder this hefty burden.
At least the Wii has come out that forces the kids to move a little when playing. And Ian, since I have zero disagreement, let me at least take a weak shot at you: You need to keep up with the times — it’s NBA Live 2009 ya old fart!
Excellent post. I completely agree.
I’d like to add an interesting observation I have concerning our culture, which I’m sure many others have picked up on. That is, we used to exercise without even “exercising.” When I was growing up video games and computers weren’t in every household. Children and adults used to entertain themselves by playing sports, hiking, walking or running aimlessly outside, etc. It wasn’t too long ago that parents would tire out their hyperactive kids by taking them out to the playground and letting them run themselves ragged – now they just plop them in front of a television set until they become zombified.
Kids used to watch sports and then go outside to play them and emulate their favorite player. I remember running around in my driveway throwing up “buzzer beating” three pointers like I was Larry Bird, now kids fire up their Playstation and play NBA Live 2008. Even the types of sports we watch and appreciate are different. Nascar, UFC, etc. These are spectator sports and children aren’t encouraged to go outside and race on the roads or beat up their neighbor.
Today we have gyms cropping up all over the place so that people can “exercise.” People crying for laws to ban “trans fat.” There’s nothing wrong with that per se, but I find it strange that in the past we did just fine without them.