You might think the article was referring to the 80 percent of Americans who are obese or overweight--our "gross national product" as some say. But no. It referred to the eating disorder of "anorexia nervosa"--self-starvation--completely omitting the eating disorder of overeating which has shaped most of the US populace, pun intended.
How bad is US obesity? The fat-related type 2 diabetes, hypertension, high LDL, coronary heart disease, stroke, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, multiple myeloma and colorectal, uterine corpus, kidney and pancreatic cancers are all booming. Hip and knee replacements have become a veritable right of passage for the overweight--along with the new GLP-1 agonist diet drugs.
Observing passersby at Chicago's Art Institute on Michigan Avenue in the summer, a reporter did not see one normal sized person in more than half an hour.
Almost a third of young people between 17 and 24 are too fat to join the US military says the CDC.
Some of us have never seen an anorexic but see fat people all day long. It has become the new normal.
Medical Revisionism
The Wall Street Journal article is not alone in ignoring the eating disorder of overeating while focusing on anorexia. Major medical outlets also comply.
"The most common eating disorders are anorexia, bulimia and binge-eating disorder," says the Mayo Clinic, ignoring our gross national product.
If you have an eating disorder, "you may count calories or limit how much and what types of foods you eat" echoes the Cleveland Clinic. You may "throw up after eating."
And what are the medical risks from the non-epidemic of self-starvation? Malnutrition say the WSJ article, Mayo and Cleveland clinics! Not the 13 fat-related conditions cited above which raise everyone's health care costs and lead overeaters to an early grave.
Is Big Food funding behind the medical pass given obesity not to mention the "fat acceptance" movement and Big Pharma's diet drug Wall Street gold rush? Conspiracists might wonder.
"Fatfluencers" on TikTok and Social Media
In an astute article titled "Overweight and Overentitled" on Medium, author Norm DeBloemm notes the voluntary victimhood and self-aggrandizement of the body positivity movement--fat people "complaining that airlines are fatphobic because they can't fit in the seats or walk down the aisle or use the bathroom comfortably."
In a "news flash," DeBloemm continues: "The size of the seat is not the reason you don't fit into it, the fact that you never stop eating is the reason. If the tray table doesn't open because of your belly, that's not the airline's fault." Ouch.
Nor is fat healthy, DeBloemm notes, another news flash. You don't "need to read a single scientific study" to see the fate of the fat he says. "Just do a YouTube search for videos that list the number of 'fatfluencers' who have died in the last few years. It's not a short list, and none of these poor souls reached what any of us would consider old before they expired."
The Elephant in the Room-- Literally
Thanks to fast food availability and marketing, most of the US has the manufactured eating disorder of overeating--not anorexia or malnutrition. The growing girth has led to the creation of special-sized ambulances, operating tables and coffins as well as bigger seats on planes and trains.
Raised by fat parents, a third of US children are fat and 84 percent of parents believe the kids are at a healthy weight.
The answer to the fat epidemic is NOT the new and better diet drugs and the fat acceptance movement. Nor is it the medical establishment pretending that anorexia is the primary US eating disorder. A good start is looking at the ingredients, marketing and availability of junk food. Or, as some Europeans said when seeing Americans eating French Fries at 10:45 am in a mall food court, "What meal is that?"
(Article changed on May 01, 2025 at 2:26 PM EDT)
(Article changed on May 04, 2025 at 4:38 PM EDT)
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