My two oldest daughters graduated college in the spring, one from the University of Vermont, the other from the University of Michigan. One now has a bachelor's degree in sociology and is interested in variations on the theme of social work, helping the down-trodden and disenfranchised (she's a very good kid!). The other now has degrees in both English and film studies and is interested in socially conscious documentary film-making (another good kid).
Both are looking for work.
They are making a bit of money in the interim with part-time jobs, but several months after graduation, they are still looking for the real deal.
My daughters are not lazy, and they aren't irresponsible. And they certainly are a long way from stupid. Oh, no. Famously, it's the economy, stupid!
It surely can't be the fault of my daughters to have graduated college right on schedule, only to be thrown into the worst economy in a century. We can agree it will nonetheless be their responsibility to do the best they can with what they've got. But the circumstances are not their fault. And if they are, to some degree, victims of circumstances they can't overcome, it seems a stretch to pin that on them as well.
This is not about my daughters. In the grand scheme of things, they are children of privilege, as am I. There are better times and worse times, but we have never really had to worry about the price of bread. I've always had parents of established means willing to back me up when I stumbled. My daughters are secure in the knowledge of the same (I haven't changed the locks!).
This is not about my daughters. They are at the very tip of an iceberg of ill-timed disadvantage. And just as the bulk of an iceberg is submerged while the tip sees daylight, the masses most affected by the dismal economy are drowning in its consequences.
We heard this week that poverty levels in the U.S. have reached a level not seen in decades. The percent of households relying on SNAP (aka, food stamps) is at a level all but unprecedented. And in the very midst of the tussle over health care reform, we learn that more Americans now lack health insurance than ever.
There is a bigger message here than the obvious. The obvious is that a bad economy is bad for people.
The bigger message is that despite the popular railing about bootstraps and personal responsibility, we are subject to forces larger than ourselves. We have millions more uninsured, unemployed neighbors, friends and relatives than we had a year or three or five ago. Do we think these people succumbed to a contagion that siphons off personal responsibility? Did a virus devour their determination? Has some new plague agent ravaged willpower, self-control or work ethic?
All nonsense, of course. Personal responsibility, willpower and work ethic are the same as they ever were. Human character has not undergone a wholesale metamorphosis in the past year, or three, or five (or, for that matter, 500). To reiterate: It's the economy, stupid. It is a force larger than any individual victim's control.
We all know that with great power comes great responsibility. There is an overlooked corollary: We can't expect people to take responsibility when they are disempowered.
Larger forces can disempower us. A dismal economy is one such larger force.
So, too, is an obesigenic environment -- the topic more intimately tethered to my daily work than economics.
Millions of our fellow citizens would -- only too gladly! -- be working and solvent in a decent economy who are now unemployed and indigent in this economy. So, too, would tens of millions who are now overweight or obese be thin and healthier in a world that made it less arduous to get there from here.
You may have heard this from me before: Throughout most of human history, calories were relatively scarce and hard to get, and physical activity was unavoidable (it was called survival). We now find ourselves in a modern world in which physical activity is scarce and hard to get, and calories are all but unavoidable. We have no native defenses against such forces, and so an overwhelming majority of us are succumbing to them. No character flaw required.
Just timing. All that is required is to be a citizen of the modern world. To live in a world awash in highly processed, hyper-palatable, designed-to-be-irresistible (betcha' can't eat just one!) foods. A world awash in marketing dollars promoting the over-consumption of calories. A world deluged with devices that do all the things muscles used to do.
And the plot thickens, because the bigger and malevolent forces to which we are subject can intermingle. Poverty increases the risk of obesity and attendant chronic disease. Those who can least afford to succumb to the obesigenic, morbidigenic elements of modern society are most vulnerable to them.
Don't get me wrong. I believe in personal responsibility, with regard to eating, exercise and employment alike. I expect my daughters to work hard to find work -- and eventually succeed. At the end of the day, each of us must accept responsibility for how we choose to use our feet and our forks.
But the choices available to us are not necessarily under our control. We can share in responsibility for the solution without being to blame for the problem. We can take responsibility only when we are empowered.
So if you look out at rampant unemployment and epidemic obesity and see some inexplicable contagion of irresponsible, stupid, lazy gluttony for which there is no scientific evidence, I encourage you to wipe your lens. You are missing the forest for the trees. There are bigger forces in play.
-fin
Dr. David L. Katz; www.davidkatzmd.com
www.turnthetidefoundation.org
Follow David Katz, M.D. on Twitter: www.twitter.com/DrDavidKatz
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The cause of obesity is quite simple: excess calories.
The factors influencing the lifestyle choices people make that can lead to their obesity are much more complex.
"poor nutrition" is a general simply reflecting an inadequate diet. "Poor nutrition" can result in a great multitude of physiological pathologies depending on the nature of the nutritional deficiency.
To suggest that obesity is simply the result of "poor nutrition" and is unrelated to excess calories demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of both nutrition and physiology - not exactly a ringing endorsement of Taubes' as a resource.
Certainly the challenge of unemployment is one that we can only have so much influence over - it's resolution depends in large part on the actions of others. However, when it comes to one's health and weight we have a great degree of control and influence on the lifestyle choices and priorities that we make.
William Anderson, LMHC
Author of 'The Anderson Method - Secrets of Permanent Weight Loss'
www.TheAndersonMethod.com
In non-modern America and on Earth in general, poor people were thin, only the rich could afford to be fat. So being poor doesn't make you fat.
Obesity is caused by an imbalance in caloric intake vs expenditure. Whether those excess calories come from fruit and veggies or fat and carbs - the difference is just that carbs are a more efficient source of calories and therefor easier to eat in excess.
But fundamentally, if you exercise enough (or restrict your caloric intake) you will not be obese.
Of course, just because you're not obese doesn't mean that you are healthy. As I already pointed out, an unhealthy diet can contribute to many healthy problems besides obesity.
Unemployment is far more complex a phenom that has to do with the economy, one's chosen filed, one's attitude and self image.
Yes, *some* people have factors out of their control but it's not millions. We have over a hundred million fat people in America, it's time we stopped making excuses for it.
Medical conditions that cause obesity are very rare - and certainly can't account for the astronomically high rates of obesity in this country. Likewise, those medical conditions that can result in simple weight gain are also insufficient to account for the demographics.
Furthermore, while some medical conditions and treatments CAN result in weight gain, it is not inevitable. The weight gain can usually be prevented by making appropriate changes to one's lifestyle.
The problem is that people don't modify their lifestyle to adapt to their changing physiology - whether those changes are the result of age, medication, or a medical condition.
But no one is naturally obese.
Just go back to Ancel Keys, George McGovern, and the faulty lipid hypothesis to see where things went horribly wrong.
Just becuase his book has 60 pages of citations doesn't make it unbiased - particularly when the author simply chooses pages of citations that support his argument, while ignoring all the literature that doesnt.
You might find this review enlightening:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/books/review/Kolata-t.html
Oh, not to mention steel-cut oats on sale just yesterday at $.99 a pound - shoot I'm just bought 5 pounds and I'm set for the next 4 to 6 months.
Why didn't I leave earlier? Good question. I have realized that abusers have all kinds of the 'tricks of the trade' to hook someone- flowers at the right time, "I'm so sorry," "Thank you for putting up with me," etc. All of which are forms of manipulation designed to control another human being.
There never has been any scientific basis for their dietary recommendatioons, and the only reason that whole grains are such a large part of the "food plate" is that farmers are better organized and have more money than ranchers.