When Did Rich People Become Skinny and the Poor Get Fat?

I assume I am talking about my strange country. In much of my travel, I have not observed such a trend. But, there is something counter-intuitive happening in the good old US of A. Here in Marin County California and certainly in many other places which suffer from affluenza, the women especially, tend to be rail thin. Often the kids are also which looks weird to me. Kids should be round and strong and have rosy cheeks and scuffed knees, right?

And as I go about my day, I pass exercise places, then yoga studios, then gyms, then pilates studios, then hair and nail places, then plastic surgeries, then hair removal places, then clothes places selling thinning, tightening pants, then shops selling no fat ice cream! No fat almost anything. And no sweeteners! And it costs more, much more, to have less of everything. Is this not strange?

Think about it. In a poor country many of the folks spend all day getting enough to eat. Most people do a lot of walking. Often work is physically demanding. Fat is not a problem. A lot of places with affluence have traditional foods which are relatively balanced. Fat is not a problem. Skinny often means ill or starved and signals some big problem.

In some countries I can eat a whole meal without anyone commenting on the amount of salt or carbs or protein or trans fat or whatever is in the meal. I can often enjoy a big dinner without having anyone remark that they are 'bad' if they eat butter or dessert. And I can enjoy being with people who enjoy their food.

We have tons of real food issues in this country, like GMOs and pink slime in hamburgers, but I suspect that we might get healthier if our ideal were something other than starved, tucked, hairless, dyed, pinched, over muscled, heroin models. I think it is the moral duty of the very rich to get fatter. I really do. They are setting a bad example which is causing an incredible imbalance in the natural order of things.