Quote:
Originally posted by bilmore
She's mad that Medicare won't pay for nutritionists.
The irony?
"Ms. Minch jumps out of her seat for a quick tour of her office art collection: a few pieces by her daughter, Melaine; an AIDS-centric commentary by Keith Haring; and colorful works by Angel Botello, bought on visits to San Juan. "If I won the lottery" she fantasizes. "But his paintings start at $40,000. So I settle for posters."
She's railing against not getting enough money to send her clients, on the government nickel, to nutritionists, (she went to one, on her own funds, and the result was that she switched from potato chips to pretzels) and says they're gonna die because of that, but she, in her own life, recognizes that resources determine realistic expectations. Why not give her clients books and pamphlets on proper nutrition? Do we really have to publicly fund nutritionist visits for all of the overweight people?
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What I find the most interesting about the whole debate is that this is largely an American problem. It is borne of wealth. Even our poor people have problems with weight.
So, what are the real causes? A culture based on consumerism and consumption? The combination of the instant gratification of consuming and our own self-hatred? We hold thin people above all others in this country while we push ourselves to consume, consume, consume as much as possible.
We've always been fatter than everyone else. But it seems like the problem has exploded. It seems to track nicely with what we now consume, doesn't it? We buy things that keep us in sedentary lifestyles like computers and video games and tickets to movies. We crave things that taste good and are made as fast as possible, as cheaply as possible and as flavorful as possible.
We are a nation of consumers, service providers and capitalists. We build huge corporations whose success is based on getting people to spend as much money as often as possible on food. Most of the new jobs that are created are in the service industry -- specifically, the food service industry. Vast amounts of money are used to brain wash people into thinking they need soda and cookies and cake and burgers all the time, now now now. Then we turn around and point our finger at the product of those efforts and label them stupid and lazy and irresponsible.
TM
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