This document discusses how obesity has changed over time. Originally, only the wealthy could afford to be obese as food, especially calorie-dense foods, was expensive. However, new technologies increased food supply and availability, making obesity more common. Within 20 years, obesity rates doubled in many states as calorie-dense foods became cheaper and more accessible than ever before. The document also notes that being overweight is scientifically proven to have negative health impacts and even cause death.

4.  We’ve known that obesity is bad for a very long
time.
 For thousands of years, obesity was usually a
disease affecting only the most affluent.
 Food especially the delicious, calorie-dense stuff
was simply too expensive for the average person
to obtain.
 Few could afford to be fat, and thus being so was
often considered a way to display one’s prosperity.

5.  Then a great technological shift happened, much like
the one that we faced in the second half of the
twentieth century.
 New technology and new techniques increased our
food supply.
 The food supply became more abundant, and access to
it improved.

7.  In 20 years the obesity rate no higher than 14%
in any state to an obesity rate no lower than
20% in any state, and an obesity rate higher
than 25% in most states.
 The calorie-dense foods are now less expensive
and more readily available than ever.

9.  We know beyond any scientific doubt that being fat
kills.
 For more than a century and a half, the medical
community has known that sugars and carbohydrates
make us fat.
 Imagery of being perfectly shaped and skinny trumps
being healthy and happy, and as a result, scores of
people suffer and die from eating disorders.

10.  ‘In the diet aisle, our relationship to food can take on
social, political, and environmental significance. A
healthy diet mustn’t just include the right number of
calories and the right interaction of nutritional
elements. It must also produce the least amount of
carbon, and be as natural as possible. It’s no longer
good enough to eat reasonable portions of lean meat;
the meat must come from a cow that could roam free
and eat grass.’