The Weight of The Nation

About a week ago I came across HBO's series called The Weight of The Nation, free to download on iTunes, which is also free to download.  GO NOW! Download it. Then come back and finish reading this while it loads.  I will wait.... This is a MUST see docu-series, if that is what you want to call them. Replace an hour a week of whatever else you are doing and watch these films. PLEASE. Especially episodes 1, 2, and 4.

This series is really well done, really well researched, really well supported with intelligent people in high positions at some of the most readily recognizable institutions. Every claim is backed by some study or another. The first episode is a horrific overview of the problem of obesity in America and all of its health implications. The second episode is a closer look into the way our bodies work when we try to lose weight and then how it works to prevent us from successfully keep it off. The third episode is about the growing problem with children. Did you know one in three kids today will develop diabetes? And if that kid is black or latino, it goes up to one in two? But the most shocking episode, the one that made me stop and write this post was the fourth one about food in America. It is mind blowing. One line that sticks with me is that we tend to see obesity as a personal problem--that person isn't trying hard enough, they did this to themselves, etc. But science is actually showing that we are hard wired to eat in unhealthy ways from the way we are raised, the way we are marketed to as kids, and most disgustingly, the way the agriculture business is set up to make the worst foods the cheapest. It is definitely not a personal problem, but a societal problem, and it is one that WILL eventually destroy our country if we don't change. It is sickening to see the data of how food is being produced that is effectively killing us for profit. Less than three percent of US farmland is planted with fruits and vegetables.  And then we wonder why we are obese.

Being here in Thailand has already changed the way I look at food. Seeing how a country with such incredible fresh fruit and vegetable options move more and more every day to western ways of processed foods sold at the thousands of 7Elevens found on virtually every corner makes me sick. Don't do it! Appreciate what you have! Take advantage of of the amazing resources that you have! Don't become like us!

In addition to seeing the way the younger generation of Thais is moving away from the traditional foods, watching these videos (which to be 100% honest, I only downloaded because they were free) has really impacted me!  People don't have to try hard to eat healthy here. Everything grows practically year round, and even the weeds are edible, for cryin' out loud. You can be completely homeless and still live on a healthy diet of natural vegetation. You have to be really lazy to count on the junk food from 7Eleven for your caloric intake, and yet, it certainly seems like that company is thriving over here. Laziness is universal, that is for certain. The difference is the poor people can still eat healthy in Thailand, whereas in the states, you are pretty much f'd if you are poor.