Poolside in the Age of Obesity: The Body of Evidence

There can't be too many worse spots to park your butt than poolside at a family resort on a hot summer day in the U.S.. There are so many people falling out, bulging, protruding, and pouring over the sides of the little clothing they have on that it's enough to make a person just stop eating for a month. Not that I will.

Looking around it doesn't take long to see where America's obesity problem comes from: Watching big parents graze and feed their 2 and 3 year olds from bags of chips and snack mix, you start to get the picture. Watching plus size men and women walk around in the pool with their big aluminum bottles of Bud and Miller Light in hand, you start to get the picture. Watching people sit around the pool eating oversized portions of sandwiches and wraps mid-afternoon, you start to get the picture. It doesn't take long to realize that America's obesity problem is not a "glandular disorder."

I have no idea how this epidemic of overeating and under-exercising is ever going to be eliminated-- let alone get under control. I can't imagine how the amount of money that is made making people fat and lazy will ever be exceeded by making people trim and fit. And that, unfortunately, is the key. As long as industry profits and advertising link overeating, high fat food and snacks, soft drinks, and alcohol beverages to personal success, happiness, and relaxation, all the FDA and President's Council on Physical Fitness public service and educational efforts are about as useless as a plate of carrots and celery at a swim-up bar.

Having a healthy and active lifestyle-- and by that I mean one where you eat well and burn a lot of calories every day-- is not easy. It requires you have the time to burn those calories and it requires you take-in the right kind of calories in the first place. It takes an effort. Actually, as things stand, to some degree it takes money as well. Sitting around a family resort pool on a hot summer afternoon I see the money, I just don't see the effort. I'd like to think I'm just seeing people on vacation eating and drinking a carefree vacationer's diet.  The bodies of evidence suggests otherwise.