Tintin at Sadly, No! takes Charles Lane to the woodshed for a really horrid piece on a survey on domestic food security in these perilous economic times. Of all the awful things in this piece, the relationship between poverty and obesity is misrepresented, again. As we are only a day away from an entire holiday dedicated to food it might be a good idea to clarify some things on this point.
While the survey in question makes it clear that many homes are currently experiencing anxiety related to how much food they have in the house, the effects of economic insecurity on diet can be limned pretty easily. Obesity as a clinical condition is related less to overeating than it is to a combination of poor diet and lack of exercise (there also might be individual variations in metabolism that effect weight). The effects of stress - and economic hardship certainly produces more than its fair share - on metabolism also play a role. Combining a life defined by stress, eating poorly, and insufficient exercise is a recipe for poor health, including obesity. this dynamic, well known among public health officials and researchers for quite some time, has yet to penetrate among some people who see "obesity" as equaling "fat" as equaling, "man, that guy/gal is eating a whole lot." Ironically, as we come upon Thanksgiving, many of us who are in relatively good shape and who eat well are far more likely to be guilty of the traditional sin of gluttony than those we far too often think of when we consider that particular classical "cardinal sin".
Gluttony is a kind of selfishness, a hoarding to oneself of the epicurean delights of life at the expense of those who do not or cannot do so. A glutton may be in wonderful health, eat a balanced diet, and be the picture of well-being; our society is one built upon not only greed - what else lies at the heart of late consumer-based capitalism? - but greed's close kind, gluttony. Lane's column presents an apologia for gluttony as a moral deprecation of those who, through a combination of circumstance and deliberate social policy, face fewer opportunities and are presented with fewer choices in life. The results, far too often, are poor health, including obesity. Rather than see it as a moral failing (much as many still see alcoholism and other addictions), we need to focus on obesity as a health problem, and a health problem directly related to socio-economic conditions.
This is not to make anyone feel guilty for an enjoyable Thanksgiving spread tomorrow. It is only to point out that, among the elite, there are still those who are no better than third-graders, sitting and pointing at the fat kid in the corner. A better society would cultivate public voices that had compassion for those for whom life has left fewer choices; it would also offer solutions deeper than "America is great and people only go hungry because they want to; look at all the poor fat people out there!"
