A Nation of Gluttons

Last week I was consulted on a patient in the hospital with an ear infection. She was a young woman and weighed over 300 pounds easy. I was rounding on her one day and her friend came in who also cleared 300 after just having gone to the cafeteria to bring up something for the two to eat. She brought two enormous slices of strawberry shortcake with mounds of whipped cream on top. They were neither embarrassed by their glutony or had any remorse in devouring these calorie laden snacks.

I have also seen incidences where an obese individual takes food from home and I am curious as to what they are bringing. I have seen one lady bring in granola, fruit, and yogurt every day thinking she must be trying to lose weight. But day after day, month after month there is no change. Now I feel sorry for her if in fact she eats a low calorie diet and cannot lose weight. But I suspect she goes home and gorges on yodels and ring dings. She brings in the healthy stuff to work just for show.

I just do not get it. What goes through these peoples mind as they add more girth to their bods and take years off their life. And don't give me the arguement that they are ignorant of the health effects or that they are so obese that they no longer care. If the fear of a shortened life with disease doesn't incentivize these individuals from restricting their intake then there is NOTHING that will. No government intervention, tax on certain foods, or public education will fix this problem. It is a national crisis and a huge economic burden on the health care system with no solution.

It is an American cultural problem of over consumption without thinking there is a payback. We over consume everything. We overconsume energy to the point of destroying our environment. We overspend and overborrow money to the point of bankrupting ourselves and our children. We overeat ourselves to the point of disease and death. We feel we can do anything to our bodies, our country, and our world because we are entitled. We have lost a sense of humility and self control. We care only about what we can consume at anybody's expense, even our own. We truly have a pathologic culture of conceit and self importance and I see no way to reverse it.

We need a national shrink to redirect our priorities and I think the only one who could do it is the man upstairs. Shana Tova