Junk Food: America’s Drug of Choice
This is a re-post of a blog I wrote January 15th, 2019 on one of my other websites, Kinetic Chaos, about America’s love affair with junk food. This will be part of many articles I will write about the battle we, and especially me, fight against food.
We are inundated nearly 24 hours a day, 365 days a year by junk food. Everywhere we turn, shop, drive, talk, and live we are told how “good” nutritionally-void is; we see it on billboards, commercials, sponsored posts in our feeds, and more. The fact is, it is terrible for us in all matters of our five senses, but it’s also inescapable.
Clemson at The White House
Yesterday, I read that the Clemson Football team went to the White House to celebrate their recent victory in the NCAA National Championship game. They were “treated” to a meal of garbage. Photos floated around social media of the President looking proud to serve these athletic machines hamburgers, french fries, and pizzas. Politics aside, one would imagine a trip to the White House may include food that’s a little more presidential, but with cooks furloughed, these gridiron titans were presented with food they can find on every street corner. Hopefully the NCAA doesn’t find a rules violation in the players receiving the 2 Big Craps for $5 deal I’m sure the Commander In Chief took advantage of (*throws flag for targeting*).
Why am I so down on what we’ve all been told is such a joyful, fun, dare-we-say “happy” meal? Well, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians, obesity is an epidemic in the United States. Their stats show that 39.6 percent of adults and 18.5 percent of children in the U.S. qualified as obese. This is based upon the most recent data compiled from 2015-2016, according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Despite the overwhelming evidence of how bad fast food is for humans, we’re surrounded by it. The carelessness with which junk food is marketed to us on a nearly minute-by-minute basis is sad. Obesity-related illness costs the U.S. $190 BILLION per year. Yeah, billion.
That’s more than smoking. Even eating it only twice per week can have a profound effect on your health. And let us not forget exactly how junk food works on our brains (almost exactly like cocaine). I wish I was joking, but I’m not. It’s all about the almighty dopamine.
Moderation And Responsibility
It should be known that I’m not some total stick in the mud that only eats kale and spinach. I’m no skinny-minnie, but I work hard to be as healthy as I can. Avoiding the pitfalls of junk food is a battle I fight daily. I love to have a cheat meal and sometimes I even enjoy a Burgerville chicken sandwich on a gluten-free bun and some fries. Hell, I love ice cream and occasionally enjoy some Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia. This isn’t about that, this is about the highest office in the land having an opportunity to set a positive example with respect to the food we put in our mouths. Saying things like, “You guys don’t eat salads,” only perpetuates the myth that big people don’t eat healthy and that it’s totally fine to stuff your pie hole with fake food.
If you know me, have read this website, listened to my podcasts or met me IRL, you probably know that I’ve struggled with my weight my entire life. A couple of years ago I recorded an entire podcast about my battle with my weight and food. You can find that show at the bottom of this post. It’s something I’m more than happy to discuss with others. I hope I can help them overcome an addiction and affliction that is incredibly difficult to beat. We all must be aware of this, since it affects so many people. Drugs are a horrible scourge in our country, but to think food isn’t a drug as well is naive.
Set A Good Example
By the President telling these kids (I’m old enough now that anyone under 25 is a kid; don’t @ me), and the nation, that this is “American food” and “what you guys eat,” is careless at best, and in my opinion, irresponsible. We don’t round up 100 kilos of Colombian bam-bam and slap it on a table and act like it’s alright, so why do we do this with fast food?
I’m really not trying to ride around on some nutritional high horse. But, it’s our responsibility as parents to set a good example for the next generation. We can’t reinforce negative paradigms because we think it makes us look cool in the eyes of your kids or the guests in the White House. We can do better, we can talk openly about obesity and most importantly, we can beat fat and the pain it causes so many of us.