Friday, February 5, 2010

A Modest Request

So: Just had a thought. I hope my future offspring are not obese. Why? Not for the unhealthiness of it. Not for the social impediments. Not for the potential for low self-esteem. Not for the difficulty in finding tuxes/dresses that fit for their first high school dance.

But because they'd require a higher caloric intake to fully nourish their bodies. Which would require more food. Which means more money spent on food. And frankly, the way things are going, I just don't know if I'll have the income for it.

Is this sick? Honest? Cheap? Fiscally conservative? Thoughts/insults are welcome.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

nice read. I would love to follow you on twitter. By the way, did you guys learn that some chinese hacker had busted twitter yesterday again.

clarabella said...

really, really, really interesting, i a bit tongue in cheek. you still bring up something wildly debatable. from a public health standpoint, the major problem with obesity is that the number one indicator is SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS. shit food is cheaper and more accessible everywhere. and if you really lived on the poverty line, what is your motivation to spend your foodstamps at the farmer's market foodstamps even if they do accept them.

so, honestly. being fat is easier and cheaper than being thin. as far as public health research has shown. and that's what we have to change.

clarabella said...

really, really, really interesting, i a bit tongue in cheek. you still bring up something wildly debatable. from a public health standpoint, the major problem with obesity is that the number one indicator is SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS. shit food is cheaper and more accessible everywhere. and if you really lived on the poverty line, what is your motivation to spend your foodstamps at the farmer's market foodstamps even if they do accept them.

so, honestly. being fat is easier and cheaper than being thin. as far as public health research has shown. and that's what we have to change.

Lauren said...

As long as they don't spring from the womb fully obese (unlikely, especially since you don't seem particularly prone to obesity yourself), it seems the only way they would be getting obese would be for you to be paying for the food that made them so...which, if you were paying as much attention to your grocery bill as you posit, you would probably stop doing before it was a fait accompli.

Kamal said...

That's not necessarily true, Lauren. A typical school lunch has approximately a thousand calories, amounting to over half of daily caloric intake. In addition, kids can eat out, and also choose portions of things eaten at home.

That, along with a probable tendency to be even more internet-and-chair-bound than us, means obesity is not that crazy of a description for even the skinniest parents' children. Especially since obesity rates went from negligable to almost a third in less than a generation.

Viva la France!

Jon said...

clarabella: Glad you found me. Not sure how, but I'm glad. And you gave me an idea -- "shit food is cheaper and more accessible everywhere" but also delicious! Just got a new product from TastyKake: Cream-filled 'KoffeeKake' cupcakes. Holy cow. So bad it's good, then bad again. And the wheel keeps turning...

Lauren: Aw shucks, you flatterer. I hope you're right and nothing springs from my womb, obese or otherwise.

And Some Dude: It's scary to think how more dependent our kids will be on all this tech than we already are. Now go post some pictures of the First Lady.