America’s Obesity Epidemic: Bringing Sideshow Freaks Into The Discussion

1. I’m surprised the alcohol culture of the USA wasn’t delved into. It’s a large neighboring topic but it’s obviously closely related to weight gain. The early part of last summer was the first “thin period” I’ve had since sophomore year in high school (I’m 24 now) and while I did smoke a few cigarettes every day I rarely drank and spent a lot more of my time exercising and cycling around Philadelphia. Now I’m back to consuming a lot of beer and haven’t really been able to recover from the “holiday binge-eating” that starts with Thanksgiving and continues on through Easter and into the BBQ season of late spring/early summer. But back to the point: we’re socialized into thinking that consuming alcohol not only in large quantities but in rapid fashion is normal behavior. The beer gut is everywhere and for a lot of people I see walking on the streets (of all socio-ec walks) the issue is definitely in the gut–it’s the only thing making them “overweight” or “obese.” And look at the young gentrifiers–they don’t have a lot of money for food or booze and yet they probably spend a good deal on the latter for their social avenues, and there’s a lot of calories in your beer–especially your microbrewed stouts that are heavier than eating bread solo–but it’s in how you nurse it. So yeah, most cultures have great drinking problems, but it’s the different between seeing seeing folks over in Paris or Budapest partying until 4 in the morning with their wine and Unicum, contrasted with the American college dorm paradise where the parties also go to to 4 in the morning but also consist of cases and cases of the worst beer. The piss water, as they say. And that’s the freshman fifteen, as they say. It’s like a proving ground into the normalcy of obesity that will sit there for the next thirty-fifty years. Until you get so old your liver can’t handle that much booze. Or you get in a drunk driving accident and swear off the sauce until the cows come home.

2. Cigarettes: numerous essays I read in college when I had to write a paper on obesity in Canada described those who quit the tobacco as often experiencing a quick transition into obesity world. I quit smoking again about five weeks ago, and it’s been fine; however, I think maybe it hasn’t. I’m snusing now. About two a day (the Swedish kind, not the American shit), and yet I think the oral fixation of the cigarette was linked to hunger patterns. If I were to completely quit tobacco, I’d also get the metabolic disruptions too, which tobacco has so often been praised for, and I’m sure I’d gain some more weight. The reason I’m bringing this up at all is that the USA has this booming industry (tobacco) as it has had for so long, and it works through the addiction of both the nicotine and the marketing campaigns of the heralding companies; yet at the same time that industry’s always yelled at by the government and people are consistently told to “quit smoking.” NO SMOKING. The warning labels. The laws. Maybe smoking’s going down. But maybe it’s a ploy to aid the food industry. Maybe we’re going through so much stress that we bounce between the two. I know my stress is relieved most effectively through a) a cigarette; b) a shot or a beer or both; and/or c) a basket of fries with ketchup, mayo, and bbq sauce. So which addiction would you like? The industries may not necessarily be conscious of their effects but the systems do work, and if you can get the addicted personalities of all the viral-marketing-infected populous to be so confused and befuddled that they have no idea what’s happening but in reality are bouncing back and forth through so many addictions (addictions aided by the aids themselves, like the diet programs and the therapies and the support groups), well, now you’ve got some obese individuals. Obese in stress, repression, and maybe some extra fat content.

3. I’ve been to a few countries in my 24 years through trips and travels and the white/middle class privilege so I do understand that people not living in the USA will immediately see the weight issues in the USA. I know what it’s like to walk through Tokyo and experience a sea of very healthy, not-fat individuals. Or Galway. Or Toronto. Or Prague. Whatever. I think that what’s hard is to get Americans to look at how other cultures act. I can’t speak for any of the other national cultures out there, as I live here, and have always lived here, in the US, however, there are places that often get looked at as utopic or ideal. Regarding the issue of obesity and social issues, I turn to Sweden (I think it was already mentioned in this strand of comments). In the USA folks are often too ready or gullible and let themselves be led by the hand. They don’t make an effort to seek out the answers themselves because they’re being streamlined by whatever the latest is from the screen that’s in front of them. Television’s one thing, and it’s still a hugely subconscious tool that will be important as long as Sports exist in this country. Don’t let the Internet overshadow television. But yes, sites like Facebook/Myspace/Twitter created this faux individuality and control, this idea that you are the ruler of your universe, that you can play Mafia Wars when you want to, or put up your gallery of images and wrap it around you when you go to sleep at night. But really we’re just in control of the spectacle. We can arrange events and let everyone know we’re in control of who we have a relationship status with, but look beyond that. Go back to Sweden. Or France. Or Peru. Or Vietnam. Places where people exist but they go into their communities and get the answers because they have this capability to break free of the leash mentality. Even if it’s a love for a state, it’s an autonomous love. There’s the idea of being responsible for yourself. Even with all the messages that float around in the US that try to empower individuals into thinking with community in mind (look at the green movement, Whole Foods, et cetera, or even alcohol ads that talk about drinking responsibly), more leashes, leashes, everywhere. Cattle being herded. A great slave population. I’m sure that exists everywhere. You can take a place and sociologically deconstruct how the people are being controlled, but I think some societal states are more conscious and encouraging of freedom and knowledge building than others. Even calories are becoming the language of marketing here. Go into a McDonalds and you’ll see calorie numbers listed next to every item on the menu. What does it mean to the average person who goes to McDonalds? Do you think that the person who buys a Big Mac every day is going to stop buying a Big Mac when she/he sees the huge number next to it? Probably not. Well what about the next generation, the one that’s born into the calorie numbers listed, who thinks its normal? Do you think they even know or do you think it’s just part of the language of the people who put it up there? We’re shoving information down people’s throat but we’re not educating them, we’re not giving them the chance to develop their own tongue because the tongue doesn’t even have to exist with this model.