While the exact figures vary from study to study and estimate to estimate, about 30% of adult Americans are only overweight and about 43% are obese. Obesity is also a problem worldwide, but obviously not in places where there are food shortages. There is the question of why the United States faces this problem while also facing a crisis of nutrition.
One causal factor is American food tends to be calorie dense while being nutrient low. Americans are getting more calories per bite than in the past, which can contribute to weight gain. This creates situations in which people can be obese and malnourished. We are often told to make better food choices: select high nutrient and lower calorie foods over those that are high calorie and low nutrient. While this is good advice, good food is more expensive than the inferior alternatives.
A second factor is that food portions have scaled upward. People often think that getting more is good-even when it is more than one needs. ‘”Super-size” nicely sums up this volume problem. One of my friends has started ordering the children’s meals at fast food places, which is one solution. Another is to save food for later—although I was told as a kid to clean my plate, a habit that is hard to break.
A third factor is technology. We spend too much time in front of screens and many screen activities, like gaming, encourage idle snacking. Experts tell us, correctly, that we should reduce screen time and idle snacking; although this puts us up against technology designed to capture our attention and snacks engineered to keep us snacking.
A fourth factor is the dominance of fast food and convenience stores. While they make it easy to get food…well…fast, they mostly provide high calorie and low nutrient foods. While there have been some efforts to get these places to improve food quality, it is usually best to avoid these places—the obvious problem is that they are fast and everywhere. While I do make my own meals, I have the luxury of time and income that being an old professor affords. While meal prep can help, this also requires having the time and resources to do so regularly—something that is a challenge in the economy the billionaires and our elected “leaders” have inflicted on us. Speaking of politics, this is also a factor.
Certain high calorie foods (like corn) are heavily subsidized with our money, and this is why such foods (or foods containing them) tend to be cheaper than more nutritious fare. As most Americans are struggling financially and our “leaders” are mostly focused on enriching themselves and the other wealthy elites, these cheaper options are all too often the only choice. One way to address this problem is to shift the farm socialism we have now so that it supports healthier foods. A better way is for businesses to pay employees better wages so they can buy better food. True, there is always the concern that higher wages can increase food prices, but this argument is often made in bad faith as a lazy defense of the status quo.
As would be excepted economic class (which is strongly tied with race in America) is a factor. Poorer areas of the United States tend to have fast food places and convenience stores rather than grocery stores. It can, of course, be argued that grocery stores avoid such areas because the people living there cannot afford to shop at a grocery store. But this is a condemnation of the United States class system rather than a good argument in favor of food deserts.
While people can take extra time and effort to travel to the grocery store, this is not always a practical option. When I was in graduate school, I did not own a car and walked a few miles to the nearest grocery store, carrying my food. It was a challenge, even though I was running 2:45 marathons at the time. So, I can attest how difficult it is to deal with a food desert if you don’t have a vehicle. I also had a grad student’s income, so I had to buy cheap, low-quality food.
A reasonable solution would be for businesses to pay better wages and for better benefits from social programs. While some will complain about building a culture of dependency or about people being takers rather than makers, helping people get adequate food is a morally superior option relative to funneling taxpayer money to corporations and billionaires like Musk. As has been often said, spending money to feed hungry Americans is morally superior to dropping that money in the form of bombs and missiles in stupid wars of choice.
A final factor is that people seem less inclined to be active, although there are some notable exceptions. Part of this is, obviously enough, the impact of technology. Social changes are also probably a factor, such as the tendency to drive even when something is within reasonable walking distance. But driving has been made into a rational response to the design of our cities and vehicles. Our cities are often designed to be actively hostile to biking and walking while the giant American vehicle seems almost designed to kill everyone outside of that vehicle. Anecdotally, I’ve had countless near-death experiences while running, walking and biking. After a SUV crushed my bike, I gave up on biking and when I run, I remain hypervigilant—I have even encountered cars and motorcycles driving the forest trails of parks.
While some American cities are trying to become walkable, the right has made this another stupid fight in their eternal manufactured culture wars. It reached a peak of craziness when Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy vowed to end support for “DEI bike lanes” and oversaw the removal of bike-related safety materials form the Federal Highway Administration’s website. As the Trump regime is devoted to the fossil fuel industry, this can be seen as making ideological sense—if people cannot bike, they will need to use gas.
In closing, while there is individual responsibility for making good food choices, these choices are high constrained by social, economic and technological factors—as well as by the interests of America’s ruling class. But I will give Trump due credit for his love of McDonalds—he shows his solidarity by eating like he is trapped in a food desert.
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