The Age of Obesity
In fifty to one hundred years, when a history text book the current era is written, I would like to propose that, instead of naming it the blindingly obvious title, The Age of the Internet, we could alternately call it The Age of Obesity. While the changes wrought by Cyberspace are truly remarkable, an argument could be made that, in the US, at least, the obesity epidemic that has run rampant since the early 1980’s to the present has been at least as consequential to quality of life as the creation of the internet.
If we ever manage to overcome this scourge and discover the key to healthy eating, people in the future will gape in horror and incomprehension at archival photographs of the plethora of people who have not managed to bring their weight down below 200, 300, or 400 pounds, in spite of their best efforts. They will also be shocked by the fact that, during this entire time, the central tenets of mainstream medical and nutritional experts, not only led to an exacerbation this problem, but may actually be the origin of it.
To be continued….
