Fat nation

Last Tuesday BBC World News ran a piece on Steve Vaught, a man who is walking across America to lose weight. Wanting to learn more, I checked out his website, where Vaught is chronicling his journey across America. He describes his reasons for doing it here. This is a great story of a man taking responsibility for his life, one man actually doing something about the faceless problem of obesity that about a third of Americans are now dealing with. Maybe anyone who walks across America is a bit of an extremist, but I also think anyone who makes this type of journey has to be really brave and serious about his cause. I admire Vaught for saying, enough is enough, even if people think I'm crazy, even if it takes a year out of my life, this is worth doing to improve my health.

Though I think Vaught is doing this more for personal reasons and not necessarily as a crusade against obesity in American society, I think it's about time people started taking this issue more seriously. I saw some statistics recently estimating that 71 percent of American men are overweight, and 62 percent of women. Seventy-one percent?! That's close to three out of every four American men being above normal weight. And about one out of three American adults is obese. I'm not one of those radical food police people, but really, that's alarming, don't you think? America is the land of plenty, but we've gone too far. Every day on the news you hear more health risks about being overweight- increases the risk of diabetes, cancer, heart disease, etc.- but it seems to go in one ear and out the other as people just keep getting fatter every year.

I'm not exempting myself from the discussion as a formerly obese person who now toes the line between normal weight and overweight. Yeah, I've definitely had my struggles with this issue. What frustrates me most is how our society seems set up to be conducive to fatness. Wake up, eat some sugary cereal. Go to the snack machines at work, there are about 50 choices, about two or three of them have any nutritional value at all, and all are loaded with carbohydrates. Go out to eat for lunch, at most places you get served a platter of food that could easily feed two or three people. Get home, make a quick microwaveable dinner, watch some TV, get bombarded with more ads for food. And then there's the issue of exercise. Like many if not most people in this country, I have a job that involves sitting in front of a computer for hours. If I didn't make the effort to exercise, the only walking around I'd do is up and down the hallways at work and at home and walking to and from my car. My point with all this is that you really have to swim upstream in this society to maintain a normal weight. And for those who are prone to abuse food, it truly is an addiction, and one that is extremely difficult to break, with temptations everywhere. What's really amazing is how anyone manages to lose weight in America.

This is a problem that is not easily solved. I would agree that controlling your weight is a matter of personal responsibility, but I think it's at a point where it's also a matter of government and corporations taking some responsiblity as well. Sure, it's up to the individual to exercise and to be educated about nutrition to make better choices about food and not bow to the temptation of the world of junk food all around us. But I also think the government should use whatever influence it has to try to change the status quo. Here's one issue I wish President Bush would take more leadership on, especially since he is reported to be such a fitness fanatic. The government should have schools teach kids more about fitness and health and offer healthy snacks and lunches, instead of all the junk food they currently offer. Build more parks. Launch an extensive public education campaign. Give tax incentives for corporations that encourage employees to be healthy. As for businesses, which the government (especially the current one) is incredibly reluctant to regulate, well, I think it's up to people to change what they buy and force food companies to make healthier products. I think companies that sell junk food need to be held accountable the way cigarette companies have, maybe not with lawsuits (a little extreme), but shamed into some form of corporate responsibility by the media and by activist groups.

Anyway, enough lecturing, try watching SuperSize Me if you want more of that. The path to solving this huge problem starts with people like Steve Vaught. According to his website, he has been walking across America for nearly a year and has lost 120 lbs. I applaud this guy for setting out on this journey and accomplishing so much, including raising awareness of obesity as a problem in America. This is one guy who is actually doing something about his problems and not sitting around complaining about them, and that's something a lot of us need to start doing in this country.