In the US there is such an abundance of fast and convenient food. Just as quickly as this food was being introduced, the obesity rate in the US was rising. Greg Critser began investigating the rise of obesity when he himself was ordered to lose weight by his doctor. Sometime funny, other times hard t digest, Fat Land leads the reader on a journey from the beginning to a hopeful future that people will start to com to terms that high fat food products are more dangerous than originally thought.

Critser introduces Earl Butz, who in the 1970’s made it his mission to lower the prices of food but doing away with trade regulations to other countries. There was such an abundance of cheap corn that Japanese scientists came up with high fructose corn syrup, (HFCS) which made everything taste better. The problem was that this corn syrup- along with the palm oil made gaining weight a whole hell of a lot easier. The body had a harder time burning off these oils and syrups, something the FDA acknowledged, but it didn’t stop companies from including higher doses of these additives. Why? Because it made their products taste better and that is what counted, never mind that it added to the calorie and sugar count for these products.

So first, lets just stop right there.

I actually went into my cupboard and looked through the items that have palm oil and high fructose corn syrup in them. Almost every snack, cereal, and juice had high doses of HFCS. Look at your cupboards and notice the same.

Critser alleges that these cheap fats are what are making 61% of American overweight and are causing more children to be obese everyday. The review of the development of High Fructose Corn Syrup is fascinating as well as the information of what HFCS does to the body (believe me, its not pretty.) He then discusses how adults and children obtain these types of food. For children it's is fairly easy to understand because in the early 1990’s fast food companies made a play for elementary and junior high schools all over the nation. These corporations were allowed there initially because of the education funding cuts and it happened to coincide with the fact that physical education funding wasn’t as a priority as it was before. Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and McDonald’s decided the one way to increase profits would be to sell on school campus. Soon schools began ordering individual items and made these available to students to buy at lunch. This was a revelation for me who in junior high had access to Pizza hut pizza and taco bell burritos, items that were priced close to the regular school lunches, but tasted 10 times better. Critser also includes Coke and Pepsi contracts with schools to exclusively sell their brand, making these empty calorie drinks widely available throughout campuses.

Critser then discusses how easy it was to justify consuming fatty foods, and the rise of snacking among children in the 1980’s. More people began to think that eating three times a day was “unnatural” and began letting their children snack when they wanted to. This was dubbed grazing and the snack industry boomed, making snacks more affordable and convenient for parents to stock their kitchen with. Obesity began rising among everyone, however the working class and the poor seemed to have higher rates of obesity than the upper class.

In addition to regular snacks, fast food became easier to obtain and the amount consumed began to swiftly rise. Researchers noticed that people were digging down into the paper holders trying to get the last morsel, but refusing to buy another order for fear of people thinking them as “piggish” Soon individual items became bigger, and hence super sizing was born. It was an easy concept. Any consumer could get a full meal (burger, fries and a soda) for a low price. They could then get bigger versions of the small meal for $.75 more; it was economically feasible however the fat and calorie counts are even more detrimental to the body. Critser adds some statistics for example a regular serving of McDonald's french fries contained 200 calories in 1960; presently it has 610. This doesn’t even take in account a super sized portion, just a regular serving although super sized portions of McDonalds fries are most popular among McDonald’s consumers.

My Thoughts

It’s true that Fat Land is filled with all sorts of statistics and numbers but Critser does a good job of integrating worthwhile stories into each chapter. While I’m not sure that I can completely buy into the fact that obesity treatment is sabotaged by the rich white people in the US, I feel that his arguments regarding the fact that physical education funding are right on target. One of the more interesting tidbits in the book is the Arnold Schwarzenegger story of when he was attempting to install fitness programs into some of the states education plans and was completely stood up by Bill Clinton when he was the governor of Arkansas. Fitness and healthy programs for children just weren’t that important, and only now are we starting to see the effects of minimum activity and high calorie ingestion in our youth.

One of my problems with Fat Land is his support of the notion that eating disorders aren’t a wide spread disease that they only get attention because it effect upper class non-minority women. As a recovering anorectic, I find it hard to believe that there are more programs for eating disorder victims tan there are for people who suffer from obesity. The two issues are more alike than Crister thinks. Both rear their ugly heads more often than not because of other issues, usually emotional, they just take the form of physical conditions. I think the eating disorder problem in the US is just as important and should be taken as seriously as the obesity epidemic. I also find it hard to believe that eating disorder issues get more attention than the obesity epidemic in the media.

Another issue is the fact that Critser rarely mentions that people ought to be having self-control when they consume food. Critser argues that it’s more of a class issue, that food consumption is part of a bigger picture that includes how the lack of government programs has made obesity a common occurrence in Americans. I don’t buy that there is some huge conspiracy to make minorities fat, but I also acknowledge that the upper class have more money to combat obesity- which they do.

Fat Land succeeds at showing that the problem lies in that what consumers originally though was harmless convenient food was actually a ticking time bomb. The rise of diabetes and obesity related health issues are a serious problem. Critser touches on almost everything from excessive snacking, television watching, apparel corporation altering pant sizes and all of this combines with the strategies of fast food corporations have made obesity a common occurrence in the United States. After reading this book, I changed the way I made decisions about food. I had already stopped eating fast food a while ago, but now I took a serious look at the snacks and cereals I had in my cabinets. HFCS is my enemy and it’s scary just how much of this stuff is in the food I consume. Fat Land is a wake up call to parents who let their children gorge on fast food and don’t put enough exercise into their lives. Critser’s blunt presentation with the facts and statistics to back it up is what makes this book worth the read.

©2003
Tiffy0380

Recommended: Yes