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on obesity, the media, food conglomerates and choices
Posted on | July 28, 2008 | 15 Comments
Carrie recently posted about obesity issues and rather than hijack her comment section with my own ramblings, I’m posting here. Carrie posed the question: Can people expect there to be consequences to the choices they make regarding what type of food they eat and the presence of exercise in their daily life. Do you eat cheesecake or do you eat vegetables? Do you veg on the couch or do you walk take a brisk walk around the neighborhood?
Carrie compared those who smoke and those who are overweight. Unlike smoking, which is generally accepted as harmful and a very difficult addiction to break, obesity is viewed as a character flaw. But I think there are other factors to consider.
There are consequences to our actions and our choices, whether it be smoking or eating poorly. Did you know that RJ Reynolds owns Kraft Foods? Did you know that the weight increase in America began shortly after the food industry began adding high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated soybean oil to virtually all processed foods? It’s a vicious cycle: we eat bad-for-you foods that our bodies aren’t genetically engineered to process, this leads to a general feeling of malaise, which makes us even less likely to exercise. What we need is for the government to crack down on food companies who provide all this JUNK and insist that they (the government) educate society and promote healthy food choices. Starting with our schools – get rid of the soft drinks and the 20 oz. bottles of Gatordade sold in elementary school lunch rooms! I mean, c’mon, I can’t bring cupcakes to school for my son’s birthday (not that I would now anyway, that would be SO uncool in 7th grade!) but he can purchase a 20 oz. Gatorade at lunch? What’s the difference between that and a cupcake?
What is really, truly sad about the state of America’s diet is that the people who suffer most are the poor, those who can’t afford to buy fresh because they live in extended stay hotel rooms without proper refrigeration or cooking appliances. Or they’re working two or three jobs just to have that roof over their head and they don’t have the time or energy necessary to prepare a healthy meal. If you’re interested in reading more about the connection between income and obesity, I recommend Nickle and Dimed: On Not Getting By in America. It is cheaper, faster and easier to eat nutrient-poor food than to prepare a healthy meal for your family. (I say “you” in the general sense, btw).
Funny thing is, we FEEL so much better when we eat healthy! Yes, we can still have ice cream. But not every day. Eating an apple and an ounce of cheddar cheese as a midmorning snack provides energy AND nutrients – the same calories from the vending machine just makes us sicker and hungry again an hour later. Weight and exercise are huge issues to me right now, and having just returned from the beach, I can tell you I’ve never seen so many obese children. We are setting ourselves up for a life of diabetes and obesity and even if that’s a decision we make with every spoonful of food we put into our mouths, the food industry and the government aren’t making it any easier.
And then we’re made to feel bad about it! Did you notice that the “large” model in the IK Fall preview was photographed in both the kitchen and the dining room? None of the other models were. I seem to recall that IK published an apron pattern not too long ago and even that model was photographed outdoors – for an APRON PATTERN! Why on earth would IK do the average-sized model photo shoot in the kitchen? Do they think average women will relate to her more if she’s in the kitchen? If so, is that because average women (the model’s bust size was 40″ btw, hardly what I consider obese) EAT more than their size 2 counterparts do? Studies have shown that they likely eat less. It’s WHAT they eat that’s the problem. So, yes, you’re damned if you’re fat. Society as a whole (because of the media and advertising) tell us that fat people are lazy and lack willpower, yet virtually all readily-available food (fast food, frozen meals – even those purporting to be “healthy choices” – boxed dinners) are made of highly processed carbohydrates which raise our insulin levels and provide very little nutrients for our bodies. We may as well sit down with a spoon and the sugar bowl. Same result.
Now, I don’t really think that IK had ulterior motives in photographing the model in the kitchen – I’m simply stating a fact that I found curious, given the current mindset about obesity. And I don’t have any answers other than widespread promotion of healthy food choices. I know that most of you are very aware of what you put into your mouths and even where it comes from. I’m trying to be aware of that myself, and eat as much label-free food and whole grains as I possibly can. I don’t even know that I really have an overall point to this other than to answer Carrie – yes, there are consequences to our choices and actions, but I think there’s more to consider here than what we put in our mouths and how we spend our free time. Daily choices are key and where individual responsibility begins and ends, but in my opinion, the real problem with obesity is the way in which it’s promoted by the food industry and then vilified by society at large.
Comments
15 Responses to “on obesity, the media, food conglomerates and choices”
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July 28th, 2008 @ 12:26 pm
Interesting take. I remember reading Kelly’s update from the Flylady once, and she was talking about preparing a healthy meal. She said one night she whined and moaned and wanted to go out, but sucked it up and made homemade spaghetti sauce, pasta, salad and all the fixin’s. She said she was astounded to realize that, including cleanup, it took her 14 minutes. So there’s no real reason for boxed dinners and prepared foods as a regular occurrence.
And you brought up another point that’s also tangent to my rant – our society has a skewed view of size. I indicated that, in the absence of health problems, anyone can lose weight. NOT that anyone can be Hollywood-thin. Anyone can be fit. NOT anyone can be Lance Armstrong. In a lot of our current mainstream society, weight is more tied to social issues and popularity than it is to health. We have such a skewed attachment to food, weight and self-worth that it’s hard to separate it all.
Apparently *I* am not shy about hijacking YOUR blog comments. XOXO
July 28th, 2008 @ 12:28 pm
i knew that about high fructose corn syrup, but not about the soybean oil. and had not noticed the IK model in the kitchen and dining room. very interesting. it’s good that you are so aware of what you’re eating. if only all of us were so aware…
July 28th, 2008 @ 12:53 pm
Amen Sistah!
“What we need is for the government to crack down on food companies who provide all this JUNK and insist that they (the government) educate society and promote healthy food choices.”
I totally agree – I also read the same book a few years ago and just remembering it gives me a stomachache.
It’s criminal that it costs so much to eat healthily when it costs so little to provide in comparison to the highly processed foods – it is the same here in Canada. It is far cheaper to go for prefab food than food you need to prepare yourself.
I haven’t seen the new IK – interesting point. I know when I was knitting the Laura Tee in BGK every slim person who saw the pattern took exception to the fact that the model was shown with cake.
I was so used to the bias I hadn’t noticed (though in the book there are girls walking outdoors etc – so it’s not all bad!)
It just goes to show how ingrained our societal view of ‘larger’ women/men is.
I know this morning I just commented on seeing a beautiful woman smoking that I can’t believe people still smoke despite all we know about cigarettes. Then I sighed and looked down at myself — probably she can’t believe that people are fat given all we know about health concerns re: obesity.
The battle continues.
July 28th, 2008 @ 12:55 pm
The corn syrup thing is scary and really needs to end. I believe it’s all about finding balance between eating, exercising and making choices. We can’t take personal responsibility for things if we don’t know about them and all the different choices aren’t available to all the different people.
July 28th, 2008 @ 12:57 pm
Amen.
July 28th, 2008 @ 2:12 pm
You might be interested in the book Fatland: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World
http://www.amazon.com/Fat-Land-Americans-Became-Fattest/dp/0618380604/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_k2a_2_txt?pf_rd_p=304485601&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-2&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0618164723&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0KPAHK2XXEK6Q6HB87PR
July 28th, 2008 @ 2:43 pm
Great post! Interesting point on the new IK.
It makes me NUTS that the school district here is trying to promote healthier foods in the elementary lunch line (ha! it is still mostly oven-fried style, carb-heavy, little anything else) but yet the elementary school (teachers, librarians, counselors, etc) use CANDY as rewards! WTF?!?! Don’t even get me started that the middle school thinks that both POP TARTS and RAMEN are the acceptable “lunch line alternative” foods to sell at the student bookstore. Again, WTF?!?!
And on a related note, have you seen the BMI set at flickr?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77367764@N00/sets/72157602199008819/detail/
VERY interesting to see how the BMI scale looks on people.
July 28th, 2008 @ 2:55 pm
It’s a very scary trend. I’ve been reading a lot about it lately, since I work on contract for the Sajai Foundation, which is developing curriculum for kids to learn about nutrition and health and activity. Frightening stuff is going on out there.
July 28th, 2008 @ 3:00 pm
Good post. Those IK shots were probably not even a conscious choice; I think that’s one of the most frustrating and frightening things to me about these societal/media expectations, how deeply ingrained they are in our psyche. Oh, and also how damn hard it can be to find out how bad something really is for you. You have to want to know (or actually, first you have to suspect that there’s something fishy about this line we’re being fed before you would ever think to look into it – not something you may have time for if you’re more worried about how you’re going to put gas in your car to keep going to work to keep a roof over your head). And you have to have the energy to track it down and try to find out. And then you have to care enough about yourself to steer the boat and make better choices – also hard to do when there’s no living up to the portrayal of what we’re supposed to look like/behave like/etc. See, I can’t even write a post like this, I’d come off as some big wackjob conspiracy theorist ;) So anyway – Great post, thanks for sharing your thoughts.
July 28th, 2008 @ 6:36 pm
Great post. Really makes me think that I need to look at what I am eating. I had not even noticed the IK photos either.
July 28th, 2008 @ 11:47 pm
you go girl!
July 29th, 2008 @ 7:56 am
I agree with everything except for one statement, and that is that society does, in fact, view smoking as a character flaw – Trust me. After 24 years of having had people look down on me, I feel pretty confident in smokers do not get a free pass just because the chemical addiction is acknowledged. (If anyone thinks sugar/processed food is not a tough chemical to beat as well, then they’re living in a dream world!)
July 29th, 2008 @ 12:14 pm
I’ll be surprised if the government mandates anything in regards to healthier foods — yes, the amount of corn in our foods (not just the high fructose corn syrup!) is a huge problem. A problem caused in large measure by the government’s really really wierd food incentives, that have led to massive production of food corn, and a commensurate need to find a way to use it in our food supplies (The Omnivore’s Dilemma has a wonderfully interesting section on corn).
For what it is worth — Kraft Foods was owned by Philip Morris (not RJ Reynolds) as was Nabisco (merged with Kraft several years ago), but Kraft was partially spun off 3 or 4 years ago, and fully so a year back, so is now completely independent again. (Or as independent as a company can be, when beholden to its shareholders).
July 30th, 2008 @ 7:50 am
Very thought provoking post. That fine print can be very scary. I will have to check out the IK too.
July 30th, 2008 @ 9:26 am
I totally agree with everything you’ve said.
I’d like to add that as someone who never eats fast food and who cooks dinner (from scratch) 5-6 nights/week, I am tired of being punished with higher food costs then if I just drove through a Burger King or Taco Bell.
About 90% of my family is obese and I am personally fighting my genetics tooth and nail and I still have about 30-40 lbs to lose to be fit and healthy. I buy local, organic, whole grain, unprocessed foods (for the most part) that are free of High fructose anything and it is bloody expensive! If I bought chicken nuggets and french fries for dinner every night, I’d save so much money.
They tax cigarettes but they don’t tax junk foods.
Sigh. Sorry. Had to join in the rant there. I find the whole thing very frustrating sometimes.