Last night I watched a French-made documentary on SBS called It's a Fat Fat World. I thought I might have seen it all before, but this was a very new perspective - obesity in the developing world. The culprit? For the main part, globalisation, the spread of hypermarkets and fast food (McDonalds and KFC know no national boundaries) and reliance on motorised transport.
In Egypt, apparently 60 percent of adult women are obese! Essentially because of inactivity, because they are confined to the domestic sphere. These women are like walking manifestations of boredom and oppression.
In Mexico, what had been a healthy traditional diet has been adulterated so that now people eat multiple tortillas deep fried in lard, without beans or vegetables. I think they said that one out of every two adults is overweight if not obese in that country.
The dimensions of the problem are quite overwhelming. It was horrible to watch people eating themselves sick, served up a diet of what amounts to poison masquerading as modern luxury. Of course, that's all around us here too. In fact, we went to a child's birthday party today and, feeling sensitised to the issue after watching this program, I couldn't help but see the sheer amounts of food as totally over the top.
[And now I'm off to cook dinner!]
The connections between poverty, food, and obesity are frightening. Between long working hours and the odd pricing mechanisms of processed vs. fresh food (presumably because of spoilage and transport differences), it's no wonder that folks can feed themselves crap for less money in the short run. But the long-run public health implications are staggering.
Posted by: Jody | Sunday, June 18, 2006 at 12:07 AM
I think there's a link to overeating and unhappiness. We are not in a happy world its not surprising that we eat to get what we think or told we can't get from life.
Posted by: Link | Sunday, June 18, 2006 at 10:07 AM
Link, I believe that's so very true. Despite the 'wonderful economic times' we live in, many people seem so desperately unhappy. And what makes it worse is that most of them don't realise it.
Jody, without trying to stereotype people because of their dress, I have noticed that many people at the supermarket who appear to be poor have the most rubbish in their trolleys. This may not only be related to the fact that fresh food is often dearer but also it may come because people are no longer taught 'home economics' by parents who have never taught themselves - similar to the three generations on the dole effect.
Both these comments are generalisations but I think there is some truth in both of them.
Isn't interesting that the govt will ban cigarette advertising because of negative effects on health but will do nothing about food additives, advertising etc which affects the whole population.
Posted by: Ron | Sunday, June 18, 2006 at 03:24 PM
(I think I should have re-read the above a couple of times before posting: sorry about the errors.)
Posted by: Ron | Sunday, June 18, 2006 at 03:26 PM
Where can I watch this documentary? I live in the Philippines and I don't have access to sbs
Posted by: Maureem | Saturday, September 01, 2007 at 06:02 PM