Fat Land: How Americans Became The Fattest People In The World

On one level I found this book to be absolutely enthralling, on another I found it incredibly superficial.

Journalist Greg Critser has written an engaging account of why Americans are the fattest people in the world. Unfortunately the misleading facts start with the title. Americans are actually not the fattest people in the world, the South Sea Islanders are weightier. Because Critser doesnt utilise footnotes, it is difficult to establish the validity of the "facts" he cites and this detracts from his credibility.

What is a fact, is that the US Surgeon General has declared obesity as an epidemic. (This is interesting in itself as an epidemic by definition is a disease... last time I checked being overweight wasnt a disease no matter how life threatening it maybe. But I digress...). According to recent statistics (which of course are always questionable), approximately 61% of Americans are now overweight, 20% are obese and Type 2 diabetes is rampant. According to Critser, the excess being carried by the nation is a direct result of one man - Earl Butz.

Who?

I had never heard of this villian of the highest magnitude prior to reading Fat Land either. As it turns out, Mr Butz was the US Agriculture Secretary back in the 1970s and it was his determination to lower American food prices by ending restrictions on trade that ultimately led to the downfall of the nation. Prior to Earl's reign of terror, about 25% of the American population was overweight. A decade later, the numbers began to spiral upwards and now stand at around 60%. Not only that, but the number of overweight children in the US has doubled in 30 years. Along with Earl Butz, Critser points the finger at parent's reluctance to monitor their children's dietary intake; the marketing tactics of fast-food companies which force us to overeat (like we have no say in what we eat); fad diets and the phasing out of physical education in schools. He also claims that making "plus size" clothing readily available in mainstream stores only encourages people to become fat and to stay fat. I vehemently disagree with that assertion but he is entitled to his opinion...

Critser describes in great detail the physical suffering that come from being overweight. However he doesnt begin to delve into the emotional suffering that accompanies it. In fact Critser believes that our culture "condones obesity". Again, I would vehemently disagree. While Critser alleges he was overweight himself, I find it difficult to believe that he has a true understanding of what it is like to live as an obese person in our society. If he did, he would not be able to say that obesity is condoned. Anyone who has lived as an overweight person knows how false that assertion actually is. Losing weight is not as simple as Mr. Critser seems to believe and his underlying attitude of "obesity is the same as laziness and the culture is just promoting it" is more than apparent in his choice of language.

Fat Land provides no real solutions to the "problem" of obesity. It does provide an interesting account of potentially contributing factors as to why, as a culture, we are this way.