Fatties

Fatties and how they get that way

I have this theory about fat in North America – the U.S. in particular (yes, I have a bias) - and how being fat is related to abundance.

North Americans are so very spoiled by the abundance there is in our countries. There is literally no way to get to the end of – to consume – everything consumable.

Couple that with the reality that there is little to challenge us, either intellectually or physically, unless we make an effort to participate in those pursuits and one can see that there's not a ton else to do but try and eat our way out of boredom.

In comparison, look at countries where the food supply is not guaranteed. One might presume that people would eat as much as they could in order that they have fat on in defense of perhaps not having food in future. That is not the case. There is no such thing as 60% of the people in those places being overweight and of that 60%, 30% being morbidly (at least 100lbs over normal weight) obese.

There's no way that 60% of people from the US are related enough to share the "fat" gene. There is a way, however, that a lot of those people have no self control and no idea what a proper portion size is.

In Canada and the US, there is very little possibility that the food supply will be interrupted for any significant amount of time. How is it then, that in these countries where food is assured, people are huge?

What is even more appalling is the growing acceptance of fat. I don't mean that 10 or 15lbs over a perfect weight. I mean gross, bulging fat. Lately I've noticed more and more that people seem to take it ever so much in stride. Worse, there are all sorts of articles, websites, books, 'psycologists' who toute the 'it isn't your fault' mantra.

About two weeks ago, we watched a TLC program called "The 1000Lb Man." It goes without saying he was huge, so much so that his skin was seeping fluids from being so tightly streched. The man eats non-stop crap and TONS of it. He eats in a day what my family of 5 eats in a week!

His wife noted that, when they'd married, he hadn't seemed that big: he was 750lbs at the time! She was also very fat, I think tipping in at around 290 but she completely clued out about obvious connection between his state and her potential state and how eating so much garbage got them both where they were. It was weird. Or the woman who was so fat she became grafted to her couch! That has NOTHING to do with a fat gene.

What strikes me is that in the US and increasingly often in Canada, people are simply bored, unchallened, unmotivated, apathetic and on some weird trajectory to consume and consume and consume in a futile, subconcious desperation to find THE END; to eat their way through all the CNN/FOX/COMMEDY NETWORK crap and mind numbing news on the war in Iraq/Palistine/Israel (how is it news when these conflicts have been stewing for 1000s of years?).

Anyway, if anyone puts a "It isn't my fault I'm fat" comment on here, I'm gonna blow. Unless some masochist has you tied down and has been stuffing you with food 24/7, against your will, for 10 years, you're solely responsible for what you choose to eat - and how much of it. If a person picks it up, puts it in their mouth, chews it and swallows it to the point where they're 100lbs overweight, they have nobody to blame but themselves. Ok. Maybe Fox News too.