Ha! Ha! Ha? March 24, 2008

Face it, humor is what gets us by.  Without it, everyday life would most likely prove to be droll and mundane.  Motions would be repeated as routines set in, with little sparking our interest or putting smiles on our faces.  That’s what has appeared to happened with American eating habits-we view food as either pleasure, routine, or comfort.  Pleasure in enjoying its quality and in sharing a meal with others; routine in the fact we typically consume some quantity of foodstuffs throughout each and every day; and comfort in the fact that many use food to appease some sort of emotional distress-whether it be a control issue or merely a pick-me-up.  However, the substantial number of obese citizens in America is not a small laughing matter.  Weight concerns are compromising our health, taxing an already strained economy, and portrying an image of laziness that is met with disdain by numerous foreign cultures.  Yet despite the obvious need for a call to action, many passively sit by as they gorge themselves on greasy burgers and fries…enticing a sort of ironic humor in the fact that in a society which places such a high value on “decent” food, and even more-so on the unattainable “perfect” body image, that such a society, in turn, is able to eat such crap as a super-sized value meal-which thus inevitably leads to a figure that much resembles the food which they are consuming-lumpy and grotesque-rather than lean and trim.

There is someone laughing however.  Actually, make that two people.  Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin to be exact, and when there’s a punchline, let’s just say the pair is not laughing with you.  Snippy, sarcastic, and clever-both with wordplay (when they’ve ceased calling the reader a “lazy shit”) and advertising-Freedman and Barnouin have masked their animal-rights, vegan campaign under a facade of dietary techniques and a steady stream of criticism and belittlement paraded as humor.  Viewed with an indifferent eye, some of their work is entertaining-the biting edge to their remarks provides a refreshing take on a worn-out subject that sparks interest in their desperate audience.  However, with a society that upholds a rail-thin body image as perfection, and a people willing to literally starve and purge themselves in attempt to attain such a goal, perhaps degrading the self esteem of people who are already body-sensitive isn’t the smartest idea.  Is anyone really laughing now, when they’re the butt of the jokes?

Was it that deep-fried Twinkie? Or the 45 oz Coke? Or the… March 3, 2008

With ever-expanding waistlines, increasing rates of heart disease and Type II diabetes, and people of such mammoth proportions that they literally cannot heave themselves out of bed, America has finally begun to second guess their eating, and overall lifestyle, habits.  Whether of not they actually take corrective measures to reverse the bodily harm they are inflicting upon themselves is yet to be determined.  For now though, we can determine, or at least hypothesize, what exactly it is that is leading to the creation of plus-size sections in department stores and increasingly large airline seats. 

Numerous points can be argued about the causes of outstanding obesity in American society, all with the end effect that the general population is swelling at a constant, and to activists such as Meme Roth, alarming rates.  But this “overnight sensation” has actually been the result of years of super-sized meals, proccesed foods, substitution of video games for exercise, and overall careless self-maintence.  According to the explanation of causal argumentation, I believe that both the causes and effects are yet to be unquestionably defined, but for the sake of simplicity, let’s start with the notion that the result of our actions is that obesity is much more of a commonality today than fifty years agos. 

So what led to our bulging bellies?  “Thunder thighs?” “Cottage cheese legs?” “Cankles?”  As I hinted at previously, I believe a few basic habits are to blame for the majority of this dubbed “obesity epidemic”:

1) The rise of processed foods and the rate at which people consume them in such large quantities, i.e. the “super-size me” menu option

2) People who eat such vast amounts of food, and yet fail to exercise on a consistent basis

3) Gastronomically-sized proportions

4) The mindset that “just a little won’t do me harm,” when these consumers forget that every calorie adds up

Although these four reasons are exceedingly shallow and cannot begin to fully cover the complexity of such a monumental situation, they develop a general impression of what it is that is leading to heavier-set Americans.  These tendencies don’t always begin during adulthood either, when we possess complete control over our lifestyle habits.  Oh no, vending machines stocked with candy, chips, and soda, along with lunch lines offering grease-soaked tater-tots, corn dogs, and brownies are clogging the arteries and increasing the pants sizes of children all across the U.S.  It’s one thing to write off your child’s chubbiness as “baby fat,” soon to ebb away upon a healthy balance of exercise and a good diet, in contrast to a kid with enough rolls to put a bakery out of business.

Once Americans define the factors that are causing the rise in obesity that is “plaguing” our country, can they rewrite the effects they so detest as well…