More than one in four adults are obese in at least 31 states, according to a new report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. But, this is not news. We all know Americans are fat. Disastrously fat. Go to your local hardware store and try to sidle through the bellies in the aisles. You have to be thin to get anywhere in America. Only thin people can serpentine through those aisles.

What is infuriating about the non-stop stream of fatness updates is how consistently they ignore the cause of America’s increased body mass. The spectacular ballooning of bodies parallels the exit of women from the home. The greatest contributing factor to weight gain is a reliance on processed or restaurant-made foods.

I can often tell whether a man’s wife works by the size of his paunch. But, what does the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, with its millions in research dollars, recommend as a cure? Free health care, as well as nutrition and exercise programs, also presumably government-funded. Gimme a break. Americans are over-eating and will continue to over-eat until they get something satisfying. It’s not just food they want, but soul food. Soul food is homemade.

The average American male

Caryl Johnston writes:

You have a very nice site, very well designed and intelligent content. But why no comments?

Concerning the fatness issue, it seems to me that the amount Americans drive has a lot to do with it. Lack of walkability is related to the loss of wife in the home – everyone’s commuting to their jobs. The arts of life have suffered, such as preparing meals at home. The larger issue is cheap energy, which has enabled massive entropy, lack of discipline, carelessness in the way we live, lack of intelligent design of cities and living spaces, and massive waste of resources and land. When oil gets to $100+ a barrel and stays there you will find that people will develop an aversion to such forms of  heedlessness.

Laura writes:

Thank you.

Regarding comments, I find it difficult as a reader to navigate open comments’ threads. I prefer a moderated discussion. Readers are welcome to write directly to me and I will post their comments.

I’m sure the lack of walkability has contributed to the obesity problem. But, while an even greater increase in energy prices might precipitate some soul-searching and lead to change, I don’t believe cheap energy is the source of our problems.  Charming downtowns and walkable streets alone won’t cure what ails us. Europe has many walkable towns. Yet, it is undergoing pervasive decline. The birth rate is lower than ours despite all our stultifying sprawl. The real source of our problem is the failure to see our civilization as worth defending.

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