footnote on food

Frances Bolton (PHI) fbolton at chuma.cas.usf.edu
Thu Aug 20 16:30:17 PDT 1998


On Thu, 20 Aug 1998, Greg Nowell wrote:


> Curiously today on the local NPR there was a show on
> obesity as a function of income. The lower the income
> the higher the propensity to consume...
And so on...

We would have to look both ways to account for the difference in obesity--the food choices and possiblities of the very poor, but also the lifestyles and food choices of the well-off. Fitness is now a status marker,as we see with the proliferation of health clubs and so on (Rollerblading yuppies, anyone?) Being fit is a sign of discipline and breeding. Health has become a virtue. Barbara Ehrenreich suggests post 60s cynicism led to this focus on fitness--"we can't change the world, but we can change our bodies...

Frances



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