No Fat Left Behind

As a rich society, we are well fed, spoilt and overweight. There is a strong link between American culture and the fact that America is the most overweight country in the world.

America's system of capitalism has spawned an abundance of wealth that feeds the very mouth of obesity.

As the richest nation in the world, we have a prosperous population that lives much differently than just fifty years ago. In the last fifty years, changes have allowed Americans to give up wage earning labor in exchange for productive yet sedentary lives. As Americans, we make more money and enjoy a higher standard of living. In some parts of the world like Mexico and India, an average workers daily wages are equivalent to a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

Incomparable prosperity has bred an abundance of food, products, and services that offer an explosion of choices for the American consumer. Product choices, from vacuum cleaners to cars, have multiplied with each generation. Just thirty years ago, the average home had one television. Many homes now have one television for every room in the house. Fifty years ago not every household had a telephone. Now most every adult has a personal cell phone.

Food has been no exception. Food producers, dissatisfied with the limitation of Mother Nature's product line, engineer new processed foods daily. Without hesitation, these companies attack their own product lines with the same quest for quantity. Brands have been diluted in the interest of more. More variety, more shelf space, more sales, more profit.

Modern conveniences and prosperity have increased the average American's free time. There are a growing abundance of home entertainment choices. Just fifty years ago there were but four television stations. Now there are hundreds. Entertainment choices have multiplied. Videos, CDs, DVDs, video games, I-pods, Satellite and Cable TV, cell phones, calculators, computers, digital cameras, video cameras, global positioning systems, and the Internet. Most of these devices provide great entertainment and save time, but also lead to sedentary activity and further physical disconnection from one's body.

We are eating too much fast food. As Americans have become more prosperous with an almost endless array of entertainment and leisure time activities, the personal economic cost of fast food has become cheap.

Grocery shopping and cooking for one or two people is not always as economical as fast food or even dining out. Americans now eat more food prepared outside their home than in. When food is not the quick fix, it is a social event.

It's time we took a step back and analyzed our lives. Eat less fast food, enjoy natural, healthy foods and become more physically active. America needs to start enjoying food and activity once again, and the change begins with you.