NPR: We're an Overweight Nation of Skinny Celebrities

We're an Overweight Nation of Skinny Celebrities

Wow. As a nation, we are really packing on the pounds.

A new report by the Trust for America's Health said obesity rates climbed in 31 states last year. They did not decline anywhere. Mississippi's population has the highest percentage of obesity — more than 30 percent of residents fall into that category. Washington, D.C., has the highest rate of overweight kids.

And all this despite the warnings we've received from health officials about how all this extra weight will kill us, the efforts by food manufacturers to cut back on trans fats and sugars in food and the endless infomercials pitching weight-loss programs, exercise equipment and weight-reducing pills.

I think Brenda Wilson's report on Morning Edition today caught the real problem. It included a question from a reporter in Mississippi who wondered if making kids exercise more will change the culture of a state where people eat "fried catfish five times a week" and the last official in charge of the state's health department weighed 300 pounds.

Poverty is part of the problem. When you don't have the income, it's harder to buy the foods that have higher nutritional value. But as the report shows, obesity is a problem in states with high and low average incomes. I keep thinking of the speech Bruce Willis' raccoon character gives in the animated film Over the Hedge, describing how people worship food.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times recently wrote about how the problem of women celebrities being too thin is getting worse, not better. There is even an acronym for these waifs: MAWs (for "model, actress, whatever"). They have taken the idea of "you can't be too thin" to ridiculous extremes.

We seem to be truly a messed-up nation when it comes to weight. From one extreme to the other.

2:48 PM ET | 08-28-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

I take issue with your comment that poverty is part of the problem with obesity because it is harder to get foods that have a higher nutritional value. That may be true for PROCESSED foods, but a very nutrious and economical diet can be built on inexpensive cuts of meat and fish, eggs, dairy products (milk, cheese, yogurt), potatoes, legumes (beans, peas, etc.), and fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables, supplemented by canned fruits and vegetable in the off seasons. I know -- that's how I save money groceries, and the oncological dietician that supervises my diet tells me that it is very healthy as well.

Sent by Ken | 3:18 PM ET | 08-28-2007

I agree that poverty is a big part of the problem of nutritious, lower calorie eating. The previous comment assumes that the person eating nutritious, whole, unprocessed foods has a home/apt. and it being a home where there is a stove, kettles, and all the extras to cook an egg, beans, etc. Presuming that there is a refrigerator to keep foods in, electricity or gas that is hooked up, things like condiments, even simple veg. oil or salt is not always accurate. All these things take money, and especially money that comes in regularly in order to pay the utilities or rent, which allows one to begin to think of cooking from scratch rather than eating poorly but expensively at the risk of health.

Sent by Beth Nygaard | 4:03 PM ET | 08-28-2007

While there is much truth to what you say, Ken, I find that such a diet is unrealistic and unavailable for our country's poor--and not even embraced by a majority of our country's prosperous.

Show me the grocery stores stocked with a cornucopia of fresh, inexpensive vegetables in the slums where the indigent must often inhabit.

Show me the farmers' markets in ghettoes lined with fast-food joints that target the 'captive audience' of the impoverished.

Show me the poor man or woman who has the time and energy after a third-shift, low-paying job to cook up the healthiest meal available to him.

Show me the destitutes' oncological dieticians.

Even organic foods are politicized, given their high costs. Who can buy them but those established well above the poverty line? (I support organic farming, and it is unfortunate that industrial farming ruins our health and environment. Nevertheless, I don't see people buying organic food on food stamps.)

Being able to cultivate the healthiest diet possible is also politicized, as only those with the luxury of time and money can truly afford to do so.

Obesity is a cultural phenomenon in which the cheapness and immediate accessibility of food everywhere supercedes healthy diets.

We just don't have the climate and desire for truly healthy lifestyles--which CAN be inexpensive--in the United States of Waist Size 40.

Sent by JK | 4:15 PM ET | 08-28-2007

My neighbors are on food stamps. They're a good group of kids, the oldest is 22. They eat crap food, maybe have A meal a day. None of them are "overweight" (whatever overweight might actually mean) In fact they are downright emaciated. Probably has more to do with their biology than their diet.

There are people in the ghetto, who live off of government cheese for god sakes. Not just bad for the health, but detrimental to the brain.

Now, I for one still hold that the "obesity epidemic" is mostly bullhockey, but eating crap food because you're dirt poor can only be detrimental to your health.

I'm 300+ pounds, and live on a pretty spartan diet. Lots of grains, a little dairy, a little meat, and whatever amount of fresh vegetables I can get.

Sent by JS | 9:01 PM ET | 08-28-2007

I absolutely agree that nutiritional foods are hard to come by when you're poor. I am always disappointed by the sale pages from my local grocery stores that are constantly offering 2 for 1 deals on chocolate syrup, ice cream, potato chips, and frozen pizzas.
When I look for sales on fresh meat, vegetables, fruits, and multigrain breads I almost never see any offerings, or if I do, it's almost always more expensive than the less healthful stuff's regular price.
You spend more money or an apple, than you do on it's equivilent volume in cookies or potato chips.

Sent by Leslie | 1:35 PM ET | 08-29-2007

The way we have cut back on food spending is by becoming vegan. But I do have to say vegan food(whole plants and vegetables with soy and beans) can be pricey...but if you don't buy meat and dairy...it's doable. We have one income and three eating boys.....and one good job..not minimum wage however.

Sent by Bryn | 11:17 AM ET | 08-30-2007

I worked at a health and dental clinic for uninsured, low income people this summer. There were so many people with out of control diabetes, mainly because they could not afford to follow a diabetic diet while on food stamps or with limited food dollars. Food stamps for one person cover about $21 dollars of food per week. Trying to make that amount of money cover even a moderately healthy diet for seven days is impossible.

Sent by Rebekah Sims | 2:38 PM ET | 09-01-2007

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