part one...
With our population getting fatter and fatter, with morbid obesity and type II diabetes reportedly in an explosive epidemic state, I can't help but wonder how we came to this sorry state of affairs. Are we Americans really that pathetic? Is there some unique fault in our national character that makes us the butt of ridicule and derision for the rest of the world? Or is it simply a case of, the richest country soon grows to be the fattest country? I suspect that, as usual, the answer is not one answer, but a whole platoon of factors and influences. Maybe we need to step back in time a bit, and get a broader perspective...
Let's go back, I dunno, maybe 700,000 years. Mankind has finally evolved from our chimp-like first cousins (because God designed it that way, OK?). We have come down out of the trees, learned how to bang the rocks together to make useful tools, sharpened some sticks and poked animals with them, and maybe discovered fire - it's barbecue time! Seriously, this was a very big deal in human history. For our early ancestors, the numero uno problem of the day was finding enough food. Early humans ate damn near anything they could get their grubby little mitts on, and it was never really enough, generally speaking, because they could never know when their next feast would occur. They might be forced to endure several months of grabbing bugs, digging for edible roots, and snagging the occasional small furry creature, all the while dodging the faster animals with the big teeth and claws. Times were tough for the vast majority of humanity, for almost all of humanity's history. For several hundred thousand years, the people who survived were the ones who gave up flinging poop at each other and concentrated on finding and eating enough food to make it through the next drought or winter.
Skip forward a few millenia. People have organized themselves into tribal units, nation states, religious affiliations, square-dancing clubs (hey, why not?), and other groupings where like-minded, basically similar-looking people congregated and pooled resources...why? Because that was the best bet for ensuring survival during the next drought/winter/plague of locusts/whatever. Civilization arose from a fundamental need of humanity - finding enough food, and keeping those bastards on the other side of the river from stealing it all. When one group was doing well, they grew and prospered, and became fat and happy. If they weren't doing so well, they were said to be going through some lean times where they had to tighten their belts.
Obviously, I am simplifying things to an absurd degree, but you get the point, right? For almost the entire history of mankind, more food was a good thing, and less food was a bad thing. Not having enough food didn't mean inconvenience or discomfort, it meant your whole tribe died.
Flash forward a few thousand more years. Some smart-ass figured out how to grow food whenever he wanted to, and some other smart-ass learned how to read and write, so he could tell everybody else how to grow as much food as they wanted...and look at the mess those two bastards have brought about! In these modern times, people don't need to run out and poke some critter with a stick and toss it on a fire, while dodging razor claws and flashing teeth. Modern man has evolved his society to the point where food can be had without even getting your fat ass out of your Barca-lounger. Papa John's Delivery, anyone? You can even order food online from your computer, while you are sitting here, reading about ordering food from your computer... Our society is absolutely awash in food, buried under an avalanche of good, safe, nutrient-dense foods of every description, available at all hours, throughout the year...and our bodies are still programmed to tuck away as much food as possible, because ya never know when the next drought is gonna wipe out your whole tribe. Our brains and our evolution are stuck in the way-back-when...
In effect, our modern, industrialized society is sick, poisoned even, by too much food. We have more food than we have ever had in our entire history, yay!
- and it is killing us.
more soon....
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