We’ve been blaming a lot of our troubles on India and China, with their rising populations and middle classes creating more demand for food and gas. India is striking back! Here’s the article, in case you don’t want to just take my word for it. No, it’s not their fault that there are so many more of them these days, and what could we do about it anyway? (See previous post for solution coming in 2012) The problem is that Americans eat too much! If we would all slim down and quit wasting food, everyone could eat. Alas, they are right. The article touches on some of our nation’s idiocy (the money spent in the United States on liposuction to get rid of fat from excess consumption could be funneled to feed famine victims), but it doesn’t give America the tongue-lashing we deserve.
When the world still has people starving to death, how is anyone overeating themselves into an early grave without an extremely guilty conscience? It is repulsive to me to think how much effort has gone into taking nutrition OUT of food so that we can stuff more of it into our gullets. Artifical sweeteners are the biggest offenders to me. The entire process involves paying more to consume fewer calories and cause extra damage to our kidneys, all so that we can eat more sweets.
And let’s talk about the surgical interventions we have for fatness. I can’t really say obesity, because liposuction isn’t for obesity, just that “stubborn fat”. Of course, we do have lots of surgeries available for obesity. There are myriad ways to make your stomach smaller, or inhibit your body’s ability to take in nutrition. And once you have those surgeries, you’ll probably want to have that extra skin removed. These surgeries EACH cost tens of thousands of dollars. Imagine if everyone who wanted these surgeries was offered an alternative – take the recovery time from the surgery to travel in a third world country, with the money you’d have spent on the surgery in your pocket. Every time you see someone who looks hungry, give them a meal. Eat like the local people do – in substance and in amount. See how much weight you lose. Keep it up at home.
