Considering how health and fitness crazy everyone is in comparison to 20 years ago, these numbers surprise me. But then again there is more inequality than 20 years ago and obesity is a symptom of poverty.
This is mostly western phenomenon, though. There is poverty all around the world, and those people are hardly obese. If you consider what resources you need to grow vegetables and what resources you need to get a steak, the vegetable diet with occasional meat that most poor people in the world consume is obviously cheaper then the diet that poor people in the west consume. I would hazard a guess that obesity in the west is not really caused by poverty but by the policies of countries and fast food and food companies.
It's so fucking weird how exercise has turned into a bougie hobby. We've reached the point of capital accumulation, where the expectation (and force) of profit/labour value is so high, things like exercise and homegrown foods like vegetables are for the entitled.
Speaking as someone who managed to pull off a massive body transformation....it doesn't shock me in the least.
Like others have said, poverty and access to nutrition is a factor, but I also find the fitness industry to be an interesting microcosm to many other crisis/contradictions in capitalism.
The problem is that just like any other industry, the fitness industry is built around selling you something to fix the problem. The whole thing is built on finding the magic bullet exercise, or the flavor of the week diet, or the new superfood that you've been missing all along.
Reducing your intake is hard enough as is, and since there isn't really a good way to sell or make money off that....the food and fitness industry through advertising and lobbying have done everything they can to convince people they just need to not be so lazy and exercise more, and that if you buy this product or this food it will make it just a little easier.
Considering how health and fitness crazy everyone is in comparison to 20 years ago, these numbers surprise me. But then again there is more inequality than 20 years ago and obesity is a symptom of poverty.
This is mostly western phenomenon, though. There is poverty all around the world, and those people are hardly obese. If you consider what resources you need to grow vegetables and what resources you need to get a steak, the vegetable diet with occasional meat that most poor people in the world consume is obviously cheaper then the diet that poor people in the west consume. I would hazard a guess that obesity in the west is not really caused by poverty but by the policies of countries and fast food and food companies.
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It's so fucking weird how exercise has turned into a bougie hobby. We've reached the point of capital accumulation, where the expectation (and force) of profit/labour value is so high, things like exercise and homegrown foods like vegetables are for the entitled.
deleted by creator
Speaking as someone who managed to pull off a massive body transformation....it doesn't shock me in the least.
Like others have said, poverty and access to nutrition is a factor, but I also find the fitness industry to be an interesting microcosm to many other crisis/contradictions in capitalism. The problem is that just like any other industry, the fitness industry is built around selling you something to fix the problem. The whole thing is built on finding the magic bullet exercise, or the flavor of the week diet, or the new superfood that you've been missing all along.
Reducing your intake is hard enough as is, and since there isn't really a good way to sell or make money off that....the food and fitness industry through advertising and lobbying have done everything they can to convince people they just need to not be so lazy and exercise more, and that if you buy this product or this food it will make it just a little easier.