Obesity and Money

NPR had an interesting piece this morning on how income is related to obesity rates.  Obesity historically was seen as a mark of wealth until fairly recently.  It probably still is in some poorer areas.  This was because only the wealthy had enough money to consume enough calories to become obese.  This notion, of course, has been turned on its head recently because food is so plentiful.

Being overweight now doesn’t carry any specific class identity, but it is shifting more and more, and it may yet be associated mostly with those who are poor and/or uneducated.  Although I do think that underserved segments of our society are not offered the choices that those of us who are fortunate are, I think it’s much more complex than simple dollars and sense.

First of all, there’s the cultural aspect to this.  There is a mentality in this country to have immediate gratification.  That gets mixed in with a sense of choice and a tradition of bounty that has yielded the famed “all-you-can-eat” restaurant.  Despite healthfulness becoming a huge mantra of some camps within the society, I think it is still looked at derisively by many, especially the poor and uneducated.  They have a hard enough time just getting by, why should they have to sacrifice on taste and fullness?

If one tries, one can eat in a healthy way on almost any budget.  I think what really becomes the differentiating factor is not so much money but time, or convenience.  It takes time to learn about what food is healthy for you, where to find it for the cheapest price, and then how to prepare it.   And that is another big expenditure.  You can get fresh produce that is not that expensive, but then you have to spend time actually making it.  Compare this to just walking into a fast food restaurant and walking out a minute later with a “satisfying” meal and no wonder many people opt for the latter.

What I think is important to stress here is that everyone’s life and health is worth the added time AND expense for eating well.  The French, I read once I can’t remember where, devote a significant percentage of their income to eating.  To them it is one of life’s main pleasures.  For the U.S. it is fuel, and the cheaper the better for a lot of people.  Of course our rates of heart diseases and the like are significantly higher than the French and almost all other countries save perhaps India and some Scandinavian countries.  Although this isn’t all due to food, it’s part of the equation.  Julia Child, who died last week, introduced this country to French cuisine and the idea that food was something worth slaving over.  Over the past 40 years or so we have seen the market for gourmet, specialty, and diet foods grow enormously, but we have also seen an equally impressive move towards fast/convenience food restaurants and highly processed food, be they easily recognized “junk” or highly processed foods that have been depleted of their fats, carbs, etc. masquerading as “health foods.”  If we can provide choices to people that involve fresh, healthy foods (lean meats, fish, fresh veggies and fruit) and make these as palatable as the French can, then maybe even the extra cost of the ingredients and labor involved in making them on the spot will encourage everyone to choose them as opposed to the flash-frozen-then-nuked mass-production of the cheapest ingredients possible, which when doused in sugar and salt yield something titillating enough to our overstimulated taste buds that we would want to eat it.

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