According to the most resent studies, 67% of Americans are overweight, many obese; and though approximately $117 billion a year is spent treating this hefty majority for such conditions as adult-onset diabetes and cholesterol-clogged arteries, over 300,000 people die each year from illnesses directly related to excess weight. Moreover, the 39% of Americans who are health conscious and, thus, maintain a desirable—and healthy—bodyweight are helping to foot the bill through federal and state taxes and ever-increasing insurance premiums; and, believe it or not, the medical costs associated with gluttony (Say it like it is) are much higher than those associated with either smoking or alcohol abuse.

I’ve decided the problem is that we live in an environment where food is offered to us all the time and everywhere we go, much the way cigarettes were once offered prior to the “Great American Smoke Out.” As a result, we Americans are bombarded from all directions with enticements in the form of commercials and advertisements by fast food restaurants, soda companies, and candy and cookie manufacturers to indulge in what has become the “Great American Pig Out.”

Moreover, the foodstuffs these companies are enticing us to buy are, more often than not, not only fattening but also devoid of nutritional value; yet the least of the manufacturers' concerns is the caloric or nutritional content of their products. For them, the bottom line is whether or not a certain product sells and sells well; in other words, it’s all about profit. 

So what is my point? Well, my point is that I believe there is a distinct, even blaringly obvious correlation between our country’s capitalist mentality and our increasing waistlines. 

Let me explain. A capitalist society values consumerism, for isn’t it the nature of the beast? And, as research demonstrates, the majority of Americans are overweight. Ergo, an economy based upon consumerism not only fattens the coffers of greedy corporate America, it also creates an equally rotund citizenry. What? You think the idea preposterous? But wait, doesn’t capitalism encourage people to spend, spend, spend, even above their means; and doesn’t all this spending generate an even greater demand for the products generated by corporate America, which, by the way, includes companies like Burger King, McDonald’s, Hershey’s Chocolate, and Sara Lee?

But what’s wrong with that you ask? Companies make products, they advertise these products, and we, the consumers, all freethinking individuals, choose either to buy or not to buy said products. Well, my reply to that erroneous assumption is that we, my fellow Americans, need to wake up and smell the coffee or, in this case, the bubbling cauldron of animal fat. We are, in fact, being brainwashed from every quarter by propaganda generated by corporate America convincing us that we have to buy their products or else 1) we aren’t part of the in-crowd; 2) we haven’t “come a long way, baby;” 3) we aren’t successful; 4) we don’t love our kids; 5) we don’t love ourselves; 6) we don’t think we deserve the finer things in life; or 7) we are not Good Americans. The problem is that our mental acuity has been dulled by too much sugar and fat and left it impossible for us to recognize the obvious, which is that we are being manipulated.   

Yet, we delude ourselves. We think we are in control. Perhaps we tell ourselves that we want as much as we can get for our hard-earned money, meaning those super-sized portions of fries, hamburgers, soft drinks, candy bars, cream-filled coffee cakes, and powder-sugared doughnuts. We say pooh on salads topped with low-cal dressing, broiled chicken breasts, and bagels with fat-free cream cheese. After all, we are Americans. We can trace our lineage all the way back to the Mayflower. Our ancestors were a hardy stock, and they fought and died so that we could be free to eat real food and to eat it in great quantity. Therefore, when we go out to a restaurant, we want not a plate but a platter, one heaped with mounds and mounds of rich calorie-laden food. And for desert, bring us Death by Chocolate (pun intended) or a triple-fudge sundae. Oh, and don’t forget the before-dinner appetizer. No celery or carrot sticks for us; we want—no, we demand—fried cheese sticks and fried onion rings, stuffed fried mushrooms, and cheese-smothered fried potato skins, a veritable Pike’s Peak of them. No skimpy portions for us. After all, deprivation is so un-American. 

Ultimately, though, what it all boils down to is the fact that we Americans will continue to be overweight and our ranks will continue to grow unless we take control. 

For starters, when we go out to dine, we have to remember that the average restaurant serving is three times the norm for an adult, so we should ask for a go-box and take two-thirds of our meal home to enjoy later, one serving at a time. And no, we don’t have to deny ourselves the occasional decadent dessert; we just can’t partake of it every day of the week. Moreover, when we do overindulge, we should plan to put in some time moving our considerable mass—maybe join a health club or learn to walk again. Finally, where fast food is concerned, we must remember that a double-patty hamburger with cheese, a large order of fries, and a large Coke—America’s favorite lunch-on-the go—provides us with roughly 1,800 additional calories, and that is exactly half the number of calories we will need to burn in order to lose one measly pound of weight. But take heart; the calories we deprive ourselves of will add up, and before long, if we practice a little self-control, we will be on our way to counting ourselves among the minority of Americans who can actually see their feet, as well as free of the strings of the mad puppet-master called capitalism, at least when it comes to what we eat.