A friend of mine posted a video link today on Facebook that kind of set me off. Basically it focused on how obesity was a shameful epidemic plaguing society today. Starting off by evoking images of war and terrorism, the video was definitely sensationalistic in tone (including the scary background music). My off-the-cuff reply was:

I could have done without all the shaming and blaming — esp. the headless photos of fat people or the weeping overweight kids. The people who should be ashamed are the CEOs of the agribusiness, food processing and fast-food vending companies that are promoting this epidemic. As a formerly obese person and a Weight Watcher leader, what I know works is not just education, but a range of positive incentives to modify behavior that leads towards eating nutritious, healthy food. The media gets off on making fat people look stupid, lazy and victimized. The truth is complex and less black & white. I accept responsibility for maintaining my own weight, but I think we are participants in an economy that is addicted to selling nutritionless, calorie-laden crap.

Phew, I almost sprained my ankle getting off my high horse after that one!

Reflecting, more calmly, on the video, I should say that I do think it’s a subject worth exploring. I was reading just today that the military is modifying it’s boot camp program because so many new recruits are overweight and unfit that they need extra attention getting up to the military’s standards for being combat-ready.

At the same time, I’m increasingly convinced that the anti-government, anti-regulatory economic policies of the past 50 years have left us with a society in which the profit-motive is the ultimate moral arbiter of corporate/societal behavior. So if selling toxic simulated food-like products to people is profitable (and, boy, IS it), then it’s the right and good thing to do.

The people who are eating (and, tragically, feeding their kids) this food are not bad, uneducated, stupid, incoherent or lame. They are our sisters, brothers, coworkers, friends, neighbors, politicians, etc. etc. You’d be hard pressed NOT to find people in your circle who are aware of how bad it is to eat the way they do and yet are still extremely overweight.

The problem, as I see it, there aren’t a whole lot of viable economic, social or political models out there for us to choose from when it comes to fixing the problem of obesity. It’s unlikely that the government or religion or non-profit organizations can wean us off of junk calories by mandating behavior change. And if McDonalds suddenly began serving healthy, low-calorie, nutritionally dense meals, I’m guessing they’d go out of business fast.

I’m stuck with “consumer education” and “support groups” as a default solution, even though I don’t think either of those is super effective. Unless we start treating high fructose corn syrup and fat the way we do nicoteine and alcohol, I just can’t imagine people cutting back.

Any other ideas??