Fitter or Fatter

There are two trends pulling the very fabric of Philippine society in opposite directions. One is the new fitness boom that has led to an explosion of badminton courts, flag football games and wall-climbing contests. The other is the more insidious trend of increased fast food eating, tv watching and internet consumption.

As most of our cultural trends begin in the United States that is where our health decline starts. One of the biggest trends begun with demands to lower the prices of meat all over the United States back in the 1960’s.

The discovery of corn oil and palm oil led to longer shelf life for meat products. This created an opening for fast food manufacturers to spread into new markets.

But the biggest blow to our health came when parents who were forced to eat healthy when they were children decided not to do the same to their kids. This led to more relaxed rules on eating at home. As a result those who grew up in the 60’s and the 70’s never developed the discipline or awareness to eat what was good for them.

In the 1970 the US Department of Agriculture noted that more and more families started eating outside the house. More of, at that time, the average American spent only 25 percent of his food budget away from home. By 1985, that increased to 35 percent. By 1996, Americans were spending more than 40 percent of their food budget away from home. Because of this, fat consumption grew from 19 percent in 1987 to 38 percent in 1995, in short, people were eating twice as much.

On the same time, the traditional role of the wife as home-maker had changed. By the late 1970’s more and more women were working, and spending less time planning meals. This left millions of children and billions of meals and trillions of calories in the hand of burger chains and pizza parlors and we all know that their prime goal is to get people to simply eat more.

Also, since both parents would work, they considered eating out a treat. Strangely, it became more and more regular to consume fast food. Families lost control of their calories. On top of all this, books were published that promoted freedom of choice over education about diet. Books like Fit for Life, Are you hungry? and other, less credible books, pushed people to eat whatever they wanted without guilt. Never mind that they are putting on weight.

The biggest organizational problem took place when budgets for school cafeterias were slashed in the early 1980’s. As a result, schools could not upgrade their cafeteria equipment to feed the greater number of students entering schools. Now, they had to look for sources outside.

This development gave multi-national fast food chains the big opportunity to penetrate schools by offering discounts, kitchen equipment, and assistance with school fund-raising projects, companies like Pizza Hut and McDonald’s forged strong relationships with thousands of schools across America.

Coincidentally, companies like those were also increasing the size of their servings. In the beginning, an ordinary school pizza had 375 calories. Later, that climbed to double that amount. Schools also lost control of their calories.

Of course, when you eat, you drink. Softdrink manufacturers also jumped in, and millions of school children were gulping down massive amounts of empty calories.

On Monday, we track the decline of physical education in the United States.

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Don’t miss this week’s episode of The Basketball Show on IBC-13 at 4 p.m.