I always thought I had a pretty good handle on why Americans are the fattest people in the world. We live a soft life. We exercise too little and we eat too much. While this is certainly true on the surface, there are many underlying contributing factors that got us to where we are today. In Greg Critsers “Fat Land” some of these factors will anger, some will disgust, and many will just plain amuse! This book is fascinating, and is a really easy read.
This is all even more alarming now that obesity is skyrocketing amongst our nations children. In the past couple decades, obesity has more than doubled among children. Almost 30% of our children are now considered obese. The health consequences of this are incredible. Type II diebeties, formerly known as “Adult Onset Diebietes” because it only occurred in adults, is now being seen in children as young as 8. Due to a number of factors, children who are overweight will always have a tougher time maintaining their weight, even if they lose weight as adults, and are much more likely to suffer health consequences due to being overweight so early in life.
This book talks about the political mechanisms that went into making the highly saturated palm oil and the “even worse than sugar” high fructose corn syrup, a mainstay of the American diet. From a review in Publishers Weekly: “America about 30 years ago went crazy sowing corn. Determined to satisfy an American public that "wanted what it wanted when it wanted it," agriculture secretary Earl Butz determined to lower American food prices by ending restrictions on trade and growing. The superabundance of cheap corn that resulted inspired Japanese scientists to invent a cheap sweetener called "high fructose corn syrup." This sweetener made food look and taste so great that it soon found its way into everything from bread to soda pop. Researchers ignored the way the stuff seemed to trigger fat storage.”
You’ll learn how “supersizing” increased the average bag of McDonalds fries from 200 calories to 610 calories, and how the average McDonalds meal has increased from 590 calories to 1550 calories. That’s more than most of you need all day! The author talks about cultural influences including the current politically correct acceptance of the overweight (actually a mortal fear of hurting someone's feelings), the popularity of baggy fashions, and even the media fascination with J. Lo's rear.
I read with particular facination the section regarding childhood eating disorders. We are so concerned with not telling our children they’re fat, so as not to cause them to be anorexic, that we blindly ignore the fact that for every 1 anorexic teen there are 100 who will suffer serious health consequences or die from obesity related diseases.
Beyond the facts, figures, and politics, there are also many entertaining stories like the letter from the “Olive Garden” customer who wrote to the company telling them how much he liked their food and how often he patronized their restaraunts, but that he had grown so fat that he could no longer fit into a normal chair at their restaraunts. The response from the CEO? Did it worry him that the “all you can eat” breadsticks and pasta were perhaps killing their customers? No, he ordered thousands of oversized chairs. One for each “Olive Garden” in the USA. Of course Mr. Critser tells the story much better than I do.
The author also talks about gluttony, and how it went from being a sin, to being part of the American lifestyle. He discusses school exercise programs (or lack there of), and school nutrition (fast food in every lunchroom, soda machines serving liquid sugar in every hall way) .
This book is a great read, and I can’t imagine anyone not finding it fascinating. Why has this book not made it to the best seller list? Or even been spotlighted on Oprah? My guess is that it’s just too politically incorrect. I places the blame where it needs to be placed, and it probably makes a lot of people uncomfortable. Yes, he does talk about how American parents have neglected their role in providing proper nutrition and allowing their children to eat whatever they want, so if you have overweight children, you will also be one of the people who are uncomfortable reading this book.
You can purchase it here: Fat
Land