The Obesity Crisis

According to my health plan I'm obese. I'm about 30lbs over what I should be for my height which doesn't take into account my incredibly broad rib cage, shoulders or general bone density. This measurement is predicated on the simple fact, for my 6' (5' 11 3/4") I should be x number of lbs. According to this index that's based on a ratio which is derived from the number of health problems of subscribers of a certain age, heigh, weight and state of health, I should be charged an increased monthly premium to offset these 30 lbs as they will lead to greater incurred costs for the insurance company.

At the same time, a coalition in Washington has taken out a huge swath of advertising in numerous newspapers across the country to combat the hype surround obesity. I'm overweight I will offer that, am I obese? Not so certain. Is obesity a problem? Well lets do a very surface pole/test of this, when you think vintage clothing and fashion, how often do you see XXX-Large sizes in vintage stores? The trend would imply that the average american is taking up more space, in similar fashion to the expansion of the universe, our asses seem to have outgrown the alloweable space of the airline coach seat into double reservation prices. Yet, its all hype. The CDC reported that nearly 400K adults die of heart problems related to obesity, and nearly 435K die of smoking related ailments. Obesity is obviously not the problem.

The coalition that has taken out the ad space has said that they ar funded by casual dinning chains. What the hell is a casual dinning chain you ask? Think Applebees, sizzler, Lyon's, Olive Garden. These are the restaraunts most probably to be found in the halls and stalls of your average American strip mall. The notion of casual dinning exists as a marginal seperation between fast food and formal non chain restaurants. Casual dinning is a way to say that what we peddle is a cut above the average burger, but we have that too. The food is naturally rich, full of sugar and the portions are generally more than you might fight recommended by the FDA. When did the act of eating become casual? Was it ever formal? Is it not both at the same time? But Casual Dinning restaraunts... the idea of them tickles my sense of verbal apropriation.

Simultaneously, this morning, on NPR, I heard a report about sheep farmers, guest workers from Argentina that come over to tend flocks of sheep in the coastal foothills. The live in squalid conditions without running water or heat or viable toilets (a shovel suffices). Following a law to set minimum guidelines for the sheltering of these workers, a rancher/importer of immigrant labor said: "we have 70%-80% of workers who fulfilled their 3 year agreement requesting to return. as a matter of fact these men gain weight here." then we must be doing something right by feeding them enough for them to gain weight. Is this a sign that the barest means of subsistence have been met? The additional pounds are the hallmark that all's well and that the status quo has been met: the expansion of the body therefore no other action has to be taken to improve their lives, for they are reaping the rewards and inheritance of casual dinning and fast convenient food, if not for the bare necessities, then most deifnately: comfort.