14 May I’ve figured out why Americans are so fat…

As a society we’re hugely overweight, with the highest rates of diseases related to obesity (diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes, etc.) in the world, and today I think I discovered a reason why.

I’m waiting on hold today with a major carrier (I won’t tell you which one, but it sounds like ‘Sigma’), and they have little messages with health tips playing instead of mind-numbing muzak (kudos to them for trying to make the hold time a little less aggravating by having something other than muzak, but their plan backfired on them when I waited on hold for 25 minutes, thus listening to the same two clips about 47 times each. Anyway…). One of the clips talked about the benefits of fiber, and how Americans, on average, eat about half as much fiber as they should. It went on to say, “Adding fiber to your diet is easy! Plant-based foods are a good source of dietary fiber. Some examples of plant-based foods are: whole grain bread, whole wheat pasta, and apples”.

Wh-wha-what?! What idiot dietician wrote this? They’re trying to educate people on what a ‘plant-based food’ is, and the first two examples they can come up with are whole grain bread and whole wheat pasta?! Before they thought of apples (or carrots, or bananas, or beans, or nuts, or any other thing that, you know, grew on a plant or tree)?! Processed foods (bread, pasta, ice cream, cheese, etc.) in general are a major cause of our obesity! Yes, the ‘whole grain’ part gives it much more fiber than the ‘normal’ white stuff, but to use bread and pasta as examples of plant-based foods just seems ludicrous.

This is a large company, making health decisions for millions of Americans. Is it any wonder that we’re in such bad shape?