French Women DO Get Fat

I read recently in The Atlantic Monthly that in Europe they use a different Body Mass Index (BMI) to determine obesity. If you use either the European or North American BMI you realize that per capita, they have the same amount of fat people in France or anywhere else in Europe as we do in the United States. So, to wit, French women do not get fat because they are already are.

I think that we have an obesity problem in the United States; anyone who has been to Kentucky knows this is true. Kentucky is the fattest state in the Republic and if we are the fattest place on Earth then Kentucky is the largest jurisdiction. No kidding, when I was visiting my parents at My Old Kentucky Home we went to Dairy Queen and there was a family of five taking up five booths because they could not fit in one.

The fault for the problem with obesity in America lies with Lane Bryant. Back in the day you could not get good looking clothing for fat people, or clothes that were stylish for the larger segment of the population. I had an aunt who was so fat that she had to make her own clothing. Now, with fashionable options for the super sized, there is no reason to lose weight. We make it too easy to be overweight and even acceptable.

I am not saying we should shame people into shape, but if we really cared about people would we allow them to wallow in unhealthiness? As someone who is overweight and was much more so, I know that it is not easy to lose weight but it is also not impossible. I think the worst thing we do for people at unhealthy weights is to facilitate and accept their problem.

In other news, Kipp and I have not won the lottery yet and we are already abusing the help.