Diet Welfare Comparison

My boss and friend, a sociology major, is always commenting on the finer details of society. It's motivated me to make this comparison.

She explains that many people on our welfare system are viewed as people who aren't trying hard enough to better themselves and who are just eating out of the system. We place the blame on the individual, rather than the set up of society. We think to ourselves, these people are getting assistance, but if they're so poor, then why do they have those designer jeans and fancy phone? [Could have been a gift or second-hand]. We read into a life we don't know, judging by whatever limited information appears to us, dismissing the barriers that may have played a role. For example, consider the disparity in quality of education for inner city kids versus a rich suburban education in preparing a K-12 child for college. Would the barriers to getting into and staying enrolled in college be the same for both situations? Could be, but probably not.

Do we not do the same thing to overweight people (including to ourselves)?

Let's consider our dieting and medical society. We all know the stats...

     "Percent of adults age 20 years and over who are obese: 35.9% (2009-2010)
      Percent of adults age 20 years and over who are overweight (and not obese): 33.3% (2009-2010)"

Approximately 25% of the population will die from heart diseases, another 23% from cancer.  What about accidents and not diseases? Combined, accidents, suicides, blood poisoning, and homicide only reach 8% of total causes of death. So, the majority of us can expect to die from a disease. Nearly 70% of our population has an issue with weight, and ~90% of us will die from disease (most of them, "diseases of affluence"). And we blame ourselves?

If we look at heart disease, your risks are mainly hereditary and lifestyle choices. Then you're told to limit your fat, eating whole grains, and less sugar - sent home with some cholesterol lowering drugs. The same supposedly heart-healthy diet that helps us lose weight, only we're not losing weight.

They say that being overweight or obese increases our likelihood to have heart disease, diabetes, etc. Do you really believe that 70% of the population has no willpower? Maybe, society has been set up in a way that everything we believe about food and health is actually setting us up for weight gain and disease. Maybe, instead of judging the flabby person eating a large plate of spaghetti, we should question all we think we know about food.