Articles

The unholy trinity: fat, food and age

Fat people die young.

—HIPPOCRATES

THE GREAT AMERICAN PIG-OUT

Well, we've finally done it. That is, at least 80 per cent of us have done it. We're living in hog heaven. That's right. We've moved in and brought our friends, our spouses and even our kids along. Used to be kind of a quiet neighbourhood, but not anymore. Hog heaven is getting mighty crowded these days.

THE FAT STATS

There is a ten-year game plan set out by the American surgeon general called Healthy People 2000. The goal was to have a nation of healthy, slender Americans all toasting in a new century with bubbly carrot juice cocktails. Well, it doesn't look like it's going to happen. In fact, we are going backwards. More towards the Unhealthy People 2000. Instead of lean, mean fighting machines, more and more of us are soft, mushy fatsos—64 per cent of all of us—that's 98 million from sea to shining sea. (Some studies show fewer chubbies, some show more, but the bottom line is our bottoms are widening as well as our tops.) How many is 98 mil lion? Well, it's pretty much everybody in New York and California an< most places in between. (I think there may be some lean and healthy people in Montana and I know there's a couple more in South Dakota, but they are going to get sucked in soon.) In fact, some are even predicting that by the new century every adult in America will be overweight.

The percentage of overweight Americans was 8 per cent more in 1995 than in 1985. Guess who's winning the fat contest? Women.

Not a day goes by without some new study or other warning us about; the danger of being overweight or obese. Even gaining as few as eleven pounds puts us at a much greater risk for life-shortening diseases. One-third of all cancer deaths and more than one-half of all cardiovascular deaths are the direct result of overweight. But we don't hear any of these lifesaving warnings. Why? Because the sound of crunching potato crisps is drowning out the messages.

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