32. The Overfat Epidemic
Weight loss is a primary concern of most people. Trillions of dol-
lars have been spend on it without real success. Millions of dollars are
spent each year to research the problem of being overweight. The
result is a threatening of the industrialized world with an epidemic of
overfat people. We can discuss how much body fat is too much, the
definitions of obesity and other commonly discussed issues, but the
fact is, too much body fat is unhealthy. Rather than dancing around
the issues of percent body fat and the latest definitions of obesity, let’s
just call the problem what it is: overfat.
By 2015, scientists say, 75 percent of Americans will be overfat,
with the rest of the world not far behind. In the U.S., women 20-34
years old are the fastest growing group of overfat people. And in
some populations — individuals with darker skin — the numbers of
overfat people are generally much worse. For example, more than 80
percent of black women are overfat. At one time the overfat problem
affected adults almost exclusively. But today, overfat children are
everywhere.
The primary problem is simple; for most people it’s the overcon-
sumption of sugar and refined carbohydrates. It’s not necessarily the
overconsumption of calories of these foods, but even so-called low-
calorie sugar foods can overproduce insulin with the result of storing
more of this low-fat food as body fat. Companies creating these foods,
and those selling them, are the next targets of government and
lawyers — much like the attack on cigarette companies of recent
decades.
Most of the issues about being overweight fail to address the
problem. It’s not about weight, it’s about being overfat. Excess body
fat is unhealthy for two reasons. First, it’s unhealthy because of the
reason it accumulated in the first place — for most, it’s unhealthy eat-