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Thomas Vorce reporting from Grass Valley, CA
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Having been relocated here in the Gila Wilderness the opportunity to deconstruct from the boutique world of Santa Fe is my first priority. But before I do, I must share some observations in regard to the “epidemic” of obesity that seems to stand out from the national trend, here on the fringes of the largest outback in the territorial US.
A playwright friend in a New Mexico border town warned me ahead of time of this occurrence, but it doesn’t take much to see the consequences. Apparently, many slightly impoverished folks have fear that resides in their belly saying that the only way to cheat the devil is to smother him with food. Unemployed, or working for chump change, they side up next to the salad bar and bring back Everest heaps of anything offered with no concern about leaving room for the entre´. And when they eat, they shovel the food in like someone expecting to hibernate in a cave for a year.
Most of them are over weight, and some are as big as a house. There is nothing jolly or bacchanalian about this. Some people are so heavy that their flab is in folds from the chin down. And others are forced to use oxygen just to maintain a metabolism that can support such stress. And the strange thing about this is that they often pass this appetite on to their children, who are already caricatures of their parents.
My wife and I had breakfast at a Denny’s in Deming, New Mexico on a Sunday and the place was packed. Nine out of ten people were grossly overweight. Obviously there is no imago for a bulimic on the range where you are expected to ask for seconds. According to New Mexico health statistics, the obesity rate in the state has doubled since 1990.
Whatever the resonance is of cheap food it seems to be the only way that millions of Americans can self medicate. Nurture has nothing to do with it when parents pay no attention to what is happening to their own children, let alone themselves.
What’s the fix? Just say no? Maybe, but for some people, fast food and lots of it is a life style that could be as dangerous as drugs. No wonder so many people believe that ‘professional’ wrestling is the real thing. The only thing I can think that might help is to ask people to watch less television but that’s a tall order when most folks think that a trade up in life is to buy a bigger screen.
A playwright friend in a New Mexico border town warned me ahead of time of this occurrence, but it doesn’t take much to see the consequences. Apparently, many slightly impoverished folks have fear that resides in their belly saying that the only way to cheat the devil is to smother him with food. Unemployed, or working for chump change, they side up next to the salad bar and bring back Everest heaps of anything offered with no concern about leaving room for the entre´. And when they eat, they shovel the food in like someone expecting to hibernate in a cave for a year.
Most of them are over weight, and some are as big as a house. There is nothing jolly or bacchanalian about this. Some people are so heavy that their flab is in folds from the chin down. And others are forced to use oxygen just to maintain a metabolism that can support such stress. And the strange thing about this is that they often pass this appetite on to their children, who are already caricatures of their parents.
My wife and I had breakfast at a Denny’s in Deming, New Mexico on a Sunday and the place was packed. Nine out of ten people were grossly overweight. Obviously there is no imago for a bulimic on the range where you are expected to ask for seconds. According to New Mexico health statistics, the obesity rate in the state has doubled since 1990.
Whatever the resonance is of cheap food it seems to be the only way that millions of Americans can self medicate. Nurture has nothing to do with it when parents pay no attention to what is happening to their own children, let alone themselves.
What’s the fix? Just say no? Maybe, but for some people, fast food and lots of it is a life style that could be as dangerous as drugs. No wonder so many people believe that ‘professional’ wrestling is the real thing. The only thing I can think that might help is to ask people to watch less television but that’s a tall order when most folks think that a trade up in life is to buy a bigger screen.
