This seems like a no-brainer. If we know–as this latest study says we now do–people tend to eat more (cookies, candy, etc.) and buy more (unnecessary spending) when they’ve seen something that reminds them of death, how could Americans not tend toward fat when everywhere you turn the news is about death and danger–fire, stabbing, rape, murder, and so on?
Add to that the fact that when people don’t feel good about themselves, this tendency to eat and spend more when faced with death thoughts is even more pronounced, and you’ve got a recipe for an overweight society. Here it is in a nutshell:
- We idolize thinness. (see earlier posts on self-image and beauty)
- We have easy access to unlimited quantities of unhealthy but appetizing food choices.
- We eat more when faced with thoughts of death.
- We are exposed to death on a daily, sometimes an hourly, basis in our news coverage.
- We feel depressed that we aren’t thin enough.
- We eat more to compensate for the death and the depression.
- We get fat. And then the news does stories about how fat America is–and how it’s leading to more death.
- We eat more because we’re depressed about dying from eating too much.
- And round and round.
And so goes the unending death spiral (bad pun intended).