Fat Land by Greg CritserFAT LAND is a novel that focuses on the American crisis of obesity. As Critser blatantly points out, "American's are the fattest people in the world," and he explicitly lists all the factors to obesity in this piece. A former "fatso" who decided to shed the weight not after his wife and physician told him to do so, but when a rude stranger told him to watch out and used derogatory words refering to his weight. The author exposes the sly marketing of companies by using super sizes to give the consumer "more bang for their buck" and to avoid looking like they were gorging by buying numerous smaller products as apposed to one. Critser looks into many aspects of American life, including youth and schools, where lack of funding caused cheap yet unhealthy foods to be sold and the need to enforce physical education in schools. His in depth discussion and examination of American obesity portrays a very clear image in the viewers head of how serious the epidemic is.FAT LAND is a very descriptive book written in a well manner. It uses painfully truthful statements that are eye opening. Something that stood out in this piece is the author's extensively detailed facts, using percentages, data, and scientific information to support himself. The book is overwhelming yet interesting.Although the book is very eye opening and factual, there are some short comings. The medical and scientific jargon is at some points incomprehensible. This takes away from the piece because without being able to understand some portions of the book, the reader is confused. Also, sometimes the use of information was overbearing and superfluous for that section.This book really allowed me to further look into obesity and the causes of it. I am not usually interested in books like this but I am glad I picked it. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in health.
The author is trying to answer the question "Why are Americans so fat"? The answer is multifaceted and all the facets add up to a "perfect storm" of obesity. The factors include, the use of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and palm oil (promoted as government policy), the lack of money for school PE programs, heavy promotion by McDonald's and other fast food chains, lack of recreational opportunities for poor youth, increased time in front of the television (and video games), and bogus advice on diet and exercise given to people by government agencies afraid to upset the food industry.More interesting is the unwillingness of anyone in authority to tell people to stop eating so much. Gluttony is a sin in Christian teaching, one all but ignored by most churches these days. The government refuses to do it because it would offend powerful interests. Academics will not do it because it might hurt people's self-esteem.The subtext that runs through all of it is that a lot of people have made and are making a lot of money from Americans' weight problems. Fast food chains and restaurants in general, drug companies selling obesity medications and diabetes treatments, weight loss programs like Jenny Craig and the like, farmers and food processors from HFCS and other unhealthy products, beverage companies, etc.The book discusses diabetes. How much it costs. How many people it affects. The trend of increasing prevalence, etc. Diseases like diabetes are much more common in the poor and lower classes. It all adds up to a scary picture. One that is not likely to improve soon without some serious soul-searching and restructuring of our culture.
Do You like book Fat Land (2004)?
The idea of the book was great; explore all of the myriad reasons why Americans have become morbidly obese as a whole and possibly what could be done to prevent this from further damaging future generations. By the time that I got about 100 pages into it the only aspects of the issue that the book had covered were advertising, advertising in schools and school funding. I kept picking the book up and then putting it back down after about five pages when I finally decided to give it up and mail it to the person I promised it to months ago.
—Kaila
Over a decade old now, Critser's book may have some dated statistics, but he does a good job of pulling together the threads of our culture, our economy, and our desires to explain why we've gotten this fat. Aside from critiquing similar publications of the era like a favorite of mine, Eat Fat, there's not many surprises in this book for those familiar with the problem, but I managed to learn a few new things. For instance, palm oil is the HFCS of the fat additives at 45% saturated fat with lard only having 38% saturated fat, so avoid that at ALL costs! The durian is an incredibly weird, smelly fruit popular in Malaysia. The original Presidential Physical Fitness tests were based on military abilities and included tasks like throwing a softball. And finally, wearing slightly tight clothing, especially around the middle, might be the best simple weight-loss solution of all because it helps you know when you're full.
—dejah_thoris
This book was written over a decade ago but it remains just as pertinent now as in 2003. Just take a look around you when you have a spare moment. Look at the people passing on the streets, sitting in restaurants or coffee shops. Check out some of the neighborhoods with lower-income residents. You’ll see it’s true. America has become a nation of overweight hogs.But this book isn’t a diet book. It digs deep into our history to find the sources of our obsession with weight, both weight loss and weight gain, and turns up a lot of disturbing information. Weight is more than just a personal issue; whether people are fat or thin has been of concern to everyone from diet gurus to the politicos in office.All sorts of topics are related to obesity: consumerism, medicine, sex, politics, religion, society, psychology, science and scholastics, to name a few. This book is excellent on giving the skinny (sorry, couldn’t resist) on their significance and their relevance to the title issue. It also includes a short story about a very scary future that lies in wait if matters aren't brought under control.In short, this is an excellent book about a very old problem, providing insight in easy-to-understand language. Whether or not you’ve had difficulties bringing your weight to a manageable level, it’s a book any concerned American should read.
—Marsha
