After the turn of the century, it became more evident every year that spending a smaller amount in the present could avoid much larger bills later on. Teenagers were shuffling around looking like pathetic retirees, and once America had become accustomed to the idea that there were not enough physically fit youth to make an army, it quickly became clear that a large part of the national workforce might lose the capacity to perform any work at all, due to physical neglect and a reluctance to acquire better habits.
Over the century’s second decade, it became clearer every day that the obesity train had jumped the track. Dangerous body weight became a common media topic. Percentages and ratios were calculated, and inventive minds conjured ways to impress audiences with shocking conclusions:
Some 40 to 50 percent of food eaten by kids is consumed at school, and school cafeterias, which have to be financially self-sufficient, push unhealthy, packaged food at kids.
The average teenager was daily gulping down four containers of sugar-sweetened beverages, which, as statisticians and journalists warned the public, are…
[…] the equivalent of an entire extra meal in terms of calories… With a 90 percent profit margin on their products, the soft drink industry can spend millions on hyperactive advertising.
Point being, obesity was getting more expensive every day. The Federal Trade Commission banded together with several other distinguished agencies in an attempt to make the food industry adopt a few nutritional guidelines, but this concept was shot down. Dire and unarguable predictions were made:
Americans are doomed to pay even more for the cost of treating obesity-related illness if the weight epidemic is not addressed. And unless we’re willing to respond to the timely wake-up call […] many of us — and many of our children — will pay with their lives.
Those remarks were made in response to the acclaimed four-part TV series, “The Weight of the Nation.” Journalist Molly Creeden compares the obesity alarm response to the time years before when people began to react against the dangers of tobacco smoking. Again, bad habits correlated obviously with huge expenses:
Nearly 69 percent of American adults and 32 percent of children are overweight or obese… The U.S. spends nearly $150 billion on obesity-related healthcare annually, and the affliction costs American businesses $73.1 billion a year.
Ouch!
Those sugar-sweetened beverages were not the only villain. Blame should also be laid at the feet of “conglomerate food companies, whose marketing of unhealthy choices —particularly to children — is painted as merciless.”
Of course, the available food itself is not the only source of blame. There is always a need to look at what inspires a child to eat too much. In various posts, Childhood Obesity News pointed out that sometimes a history of abuse causes a young person to deliberately become obese in order to deflect unwanted and unwelcome physical attention, and this can be true of both girls and boys.
A male child who was bullied in his younger years might grow to a massive size to intimidate hostile others by his sheer bulk. A youth who does not ever want to be inducted into the military might, consciously or subconsciously, decide to become obese to avoid that fate. When psychological depths are plumbed, anything might happen.
A child might feel that layers of fat provide a sort of cushioned armor that can protect her or him from the world’s perils. Sometimes a young girl will discover this on her own. In other unfortunate cases, there may be misbehavior or a threat of assault on the horizon. An anxious, misguided mother who holds the belief that chubbiness will protect her female child from unwanted male attention might purposely overfeed that little girl to provide protection in the only way she knows how.
Many different kinds of mistakes can be made, and they all come with a price attached.
Your responses and feedback are welcome!
Source: “’The Weight of the Nation’ review: Obesity crisis,” SFGate.com, 05/10/12
Source: “American Emergency: HBO’s The Weight of the Nation,” Vogue.com 05/11/12
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