I have to say as I continue reading Critser's Fatland, that I am getting more and more depressed. It's a relentless onslaught detailing how almost everyone is to blame for America's current corpulence; corporations, government entities both Dem and Republican etc. There is a lot of blame to be thrown around. A good part of it has to be laid at the feet of unlikely culprits like Title 9 and boomer parents. The man did his research and just when I think he has found all the entities to blame, he continues on. More, now than ever, I am sure that Hell is paved with good intentions. Soccer moms be damned - literally. We really have done an awful job of servicing the poor's need for better nutrition and exercise. I would be a firm believer in forced social engineering if the government didn't do it so miserably (inner city projects, anyone? anyone?). As he pointed out in the book, when people start talking about dietary discipline the cries of "anorexia" and "eating disorder" start being screamed by those with more than enough while the folks who have little have never ever had to reason with such ideas. I guess if you have enough money, discipline doesn't need to be an issue and pandering is the way you deal with those who have little. Let them eat cake! And we do. Corporations like Levi Straus and even the record industry (yeah I am looking at you rap) just do what the rest of America is doing, move the goal line closer for those who can't make it there.
There is an interesting experiment that Fatland describes and I found it very interesting. The Dean of British obesity studies, John Garrow, devised an ingenious study where half the participants had to wear a 2mm wide nylon waist cord, one tight enough to make a white - but not red - line when seated. A control group was not fitted with such a band. The group with the band gained no weight over the period while the group without the band gained 1.8kg per person per month over the study. Even after the band was removed, the effects were still evident months later! The control group continued to gain weight while the others stayed almost constant. What we have done in this country, and you can blame clothing manufacturers and, oddly, rap music, for this whole effect. Clothes kept getting bigger, belts were so yesterday. Who did this pander to? The lower classes. Who picked up on the trend later on as they usually do? Suburban white kids.
We have just lost a sense of shame in this country. Shame is becoming more and more of an alien concept. Why do we embrace the Paris Hiltons and Kim Kardashians and Lindsay Lohans of the world to such extremes? It makes people feel a lot better about their own immoral choices. One of which is gluttony. That's part of the reason I hate binge day now. It just feels wrong. I can't really describe it but there is an inherent sense of shame there. I do think that is the beauty of the whole thing though, I have had some real moral reckonings about my old eating habits which will make it harder to go back to being heavier. We even went out Saturday and got me a couple of pair of new jeans, slim fit. Slim fit, by the way, is the equivalent of the regular fit 25 years ago. The relaxed fit? Well that would be what Sears called huskies. As I said in a previous post, husky is a code word for one particular state of physical being: overweight.
A Mission in Life
Sue, turn out the lights
It's time to close up, we're through
Gotta clear it out
So let's drink up, it's past two
Girl, don't push 'em out
They can walk out on their own
How many times I gotta tell you, bob,
You gotta drink up and go home
I don't run a business
Just to talk to you all day
Clear out the backroom, Sue
Stack up the chairs
Who broke this glass?
No one really cares
Go take the trash out
And vacuum the stairs
What do I
Pay you for?
And don't forget to sweep up
The glass off the floor
Once I had plans
To fix up this place
A room where you could go to
And meet people with taste
They'd talk and they'd laugh
And forget the rat race
And I'd be just like one of those guys
With the mustache and face
Hey, help me pick up this case
Hey, I'm really sorry I blew up then
I've had no sleep
I've been up all night with my wife and brother-in-law
You know, Pete.
At times, this world can seem
Just like a cold icy ball
But don't let that discourage you
'cause you're young, take that call
And if it's my wife
Just try and stall
I was just wondering
How you get home
Do you have a boyfriend?
Or do you live alone?
I'm going your way
If you're going mine
No, I feel fine
But before you go
Let me just pass on one thing
You've got a mission in life
To hold out your hand
To help the other guy out
Help your fellow man
That's why I own this bar
They're thirsty outside
I give 'em oceans to drink
Then they drown in the tide
they just drown in the tide
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