Pigging Out Is All Too Human

Be careful what you wish for, the saying goes, because you just might get it. So what is so bad about wishing for food? Can't survive without it, right? Throughout human history survival meant successfully finding food--and packing it in when you finally found it. Days of gluttony would get you through weeks or months of scarcity. You became adept at identifying and favoring energy-dense foods. At the end of the day, you burned enough calories hunting and foraging that you never worried about crushing your bathroom scale.

But that was then. Or maybe now, just not here. In 21st-century America a huge caloric imbalance has come to exist, with more energy consumed than expended. And the imbalance is killing us. Two-thirds of American adults are at least 20% over their ideal body weight, an ominous statistic since obesity is a risk factor for diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. What's worse, their kids are being groomed to follow along. "This generation of children," says Yale Psychologist Kelly Brownell, "may be the first in American history to live shorter lives than their parents."

Blaming folks for a lack of willpower, according to Brownell, misses the point. He argues that we are genetically programmed to prefer dense diets. Our bodies still think scarcity even though we live in an age of abundance. Add to that an economic system that strives for surplus and capitalizes on consumption, and you have a recipe for excess. Brownell suggests that we address the problem of overeating the same way we do tobacco consumption: regulate product advertising (especially to children), raise student awareness in public schools, and tax empty calories.

Some may think that a public-policy approach may be too heavy-handed. But if we are looking for ways to share or socialize the costs of healthcare, then we also must make a collective commitment to manage risk. Let me say it another way. If you want society to pay your medical bills, then you have to do your part by adopting a healthy lifestyle. Of course you are free to choose prehistoric pig-outs. Just don't ask the rest of us to pay for the consequences. "Eat less and exercise more," says Arthur Frank, medical director of the George Washington University Weight Management Program. "You cannot violate the laws of thermodynamics."

For more on Kelly Brownells' work, check out:
The Belly of the Beast