Based upon what I read not too long ago, although I can’t recall where—perhaps it was in my newspaper of choice, The Advocate—approximately 67% of Americans are overweight, many obese; and though billions of dollars a year are spent treating this hefty majority for such conditions as adult-onset diabetes and cholesterol-clogged arteries, approximately 300,000 people die each year from illnesses directly related to excess weight. Moreover, the 33% 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 rapidly becoming much higher than those associated with either smoking or alcohol abuse, (which is something else I read but can’t recall where). 

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 manufacturer’s 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. 

In other words, 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 you, the consumer, a freethinking individual, 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 a Good American. 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.   

Whoops, sorry, I think I’m raging against the establishment here. Flashback. Okay, let me return to the subject of America’s expanding waistline.

Perhaps our argument is simply 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 the numbers will continue to grow unless we take control of our eating habits.

It works like this: 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 everyday 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 the mad puppet-master called capitalism, at least when it comes to what we eat.