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I cannot hope to explain it all anywhere near as well as Critser does in this book. To me, it seems like a big part of why certain additives are in so many foods now, and why things are “Supersized”, has to do with money. People who owned companies and businesses wanted to make more money, so they used ingrediants that were less costly to get, and put that into the food.
What’s even more nefarious is that these same companies also decided to study ways to convince people to buy and eat more, without any concern about what this does to people’s health. People don’t want to buy two boxes of popcorn, or they seem like a glutton. Same with two bags of french fries. Solution? Supersize it, sell more, for a bit more money! Want customers who stay with your brand for life? Make advertizing targeting children, especially during hours when the cartoons are on the tv, oh, and put your fast food or candy’s brand name into the school, where the children are, as much as possible!
Its really frightening what can happen to one’s body once an adult becomes obese. Its absolutely terrifying what can happen to a child’s body when the child becomes obese at age 9 or 10! The book explains the health problems, the social problems (or lack thereof), and the likelyhood that fat kids will grow up to be fat adults, who have fat children. And those kids are at much higher risk to become fatter at even younger ages.
It makes me angry that the best and easiest way to help kids from becoming overweight is if that kid comes from a family with a lot of money. If you have money, you live in a nicer area, and can walk on actual sidewalks, or play in a nearby park for exercise, without having to worry as much about safety. If you have a bigger house, then you might have a yard your kids can run around in. If you have money, then when the schools cut out the Physical Education programs and extracurricular sports programs in your kids school, no problem! You can afford to sign them up for a private sports team, possibly in the very same gym you have paid for membership at! (Not to mention you also probally have time to go to the practices). The kids born into the poor families seemed doomed to become fat, or so it seems when you read this book.
It also makes me angry that we Americans have gone so far into worrying about people’s (especially children’s) self-esteem, that we are willing to sit by and do nothing to prevent bad health! Critser talks about how lack of social stigma about being overweight, as well as the looser baggier clothing styles of today are making it more acceptable to be fat. Its still not fun, but the obese child of today has a very different experience from the fat kid of the 1960′s.
It seems, from reading this book, that there really is an obesity epidemic in America today. And everyone will have to pay for it, no matter what their own weight, as the cost of health care soars. Critser details how obesity can lead to diabetes, and how much health insurance dollars are going towards the care of that. It seems that kids today are much fatter now, and at much earlier ages, than kids of previous generations. Its scary to me what will happen to them, and to our country if nothing changes. As I said before, this book is a scary read! Everyone should read this book.
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