Why We're Fat
When three-quarters of Americans are overweight, the problem is bigger than our habits.
Several years ago, I taught a pre-GED class for adults seeking to get their high-school equivalency diplomas. Most of the time, volunteers were left to come up with our own lesson plans and teaching materials, but there was one exception. Each semester, organizers would instruct us to teach a class on nutrition and fitness, providing us with bright flyers and fact sheets extolling the virtues of fruits and vegetables.
I gladly complied, assigning my students to write essays on the benefits of healthy eating. In return, I received many well-reasoned arguments about how, yes, they understood that salmon and broccoli are healthy. But they were working two jobs, taking care of kids, and trying to get their GED. Fast food, they wrote, is cheap, easy and tasty. So thanks for the helpful tips, but we’ll still be downing Whoppers on the way to class!
As a women’s magazine writer, I had produced countless reported pieces on the benefits of whole grains and le…