Chubby nation

When it comes to the question “Why are Canadians so fat?”, I know there is more than one reason for the increase in our muffin tops, dunlop bellies, thunder thighs, man boobs, back fat, back boobs, chin wiggles and upper arm jiggles. Quite possibly on the same day we became possessed and enamoured by the ease, the immediacy, the saltiness, the greasiness, the carbrushiness of takeaway food, we also realized we had a lot more time on our hands. All the time we would have spent washing, slicing, marinating, grilling and baking was now being spent doing things less physically demanding.

We seem to like sitting in our cars, often in heavy traffic whilst tucking away the junk. Often we’ve tricked ourselves by saying, “I’m in a hurry and it is a MILKshake. Fries are vegetables. A cheeseburger, deconstructed, covers almost all of the food groups, right?” And, seriously, everyone knows it is darn near impossible to cook a healthy meal, toss a salad or work out and while texting or driving. However, we have discovered, when we aren’t driving, we can eat and text and, since we aren’t cooking, we’ve got oodles of time to do it.

And when we aren’t texting or sitting in our cars, we’ve learned to make time for sitting on the couch and consuming a soupcon of “reality” television. Reality television shows are usually about people who are, well, just like us. We seem to love, love, love watching overweight brides-to-be try to shed those “last 10 pounds.” We’re thrilled to see a guy lumber across the stage to get weighed on the MTO commercial-grade Toledo, only to find out he hasn’t broken the 300 pound mark. We smugly watch former gridiron stars, built like brick outhouses, push a whiny gal to the breaking point as she grunts, stretches, lifts, runs and stretches her way to a size double zero. And, as if four weeks of physical torment and diet deprivation aren’t enough, we go positively bonkers when a petite co-host raids the kitchen cabinets and the fridge dumping the Twinkies, Mars Bars, Cheetos and greasy takeaway containers into a bin, pronouncing them “off-limits.” There’s nothing like an hour or three watching malnourished, dysmorphic chubsters to make us feel all better about ourselves. We couldn’t possibly be that pathetic, could we be? Thank goodness for commercial breaks so we can rush to get something to eat, say a Twinkie or a bag of Cheetos or maybe the last slice of the stuffed crust with three cheeses and pepperoni.

According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation, 60 per cent of adult Canadians are overweight or obese. “Canada is one of the fattest countries in the world.” says Richard Béliveau, chair for cancer prevention and treatment at the University of Quebec at Montreal. According to Béliveau, being overweight or obese is the common thread in sufferers of all chronic diseases. Imagine that. The common thread is fat, brought on by bad food choices and inactivity. Hey, hey, hey! Canada is one of the fattest countries in the world! Can’t be. Aren’t we hardy, out-of-doors, roughing in the woods kind of people? That’s the picture we very obviously paint in our private thoughts and publish in our public destination marketing campaigns. We are fresh-faced, rosy-cheeked pictures of health, inviting the rest of the world to visit our pristine beaches, to bring their gear and take part in our cycling and running events, to camp under the stars, climb a rock face, ride a horse in the surf, fish in the rapids, hike and swim in our parks and fill reusable grocery bags with all kinds of fresh from-thefarm- to-the-table products.

As Canadians, we have padded and protected our puffy psyches by telling ourselves, “Maybe we are fat, but it isn’t our fault. There must be some additive in the foods we love that makes us fat.” And, of course, there is. It’s called fat. (And sodium and sugars.) So, we’ve demanded and received “food labelling” to help us make healthy choices and now, most food products are “labelled.”

I must check the statistics on Canada’s reading and comprehension. We might be one of the “thickest” countries in the world.

Editor’s note: The Canada Food Guide provides a wealth of knowledge and information based upon the most current evidence and insights. The Canada Food Guide is updated regularly and may be obtained on the Health Canada website.

theresa@wellingtontimes.ca