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President Trump and the Obesity Epidemic
Cultures change and that includes how we perceive success and wealth. This goes into how we eat, and what we do to get exercise. This is about signaling to others in the social group we belong on our well being and status in society. This is clear from artwork, as well as our comments around health, food, and fitness.
When Chris Christie decided to run for president, immediately people started to speak about his obesity. It is obvious that he was big, but most of the conversation did not revolve around health issues, but rather his weight as a moral failure. Let’s be clear about this, there was a time when an overweight president was not that much of a problem. Howard Taft came in at 300 pounds, perhaps more. In his case, there were conversations but mostly because allegedly he got stuck in the White House bathtub. People did make fun of that, and he decided that perhaps he needed to lose weight. His struggles to both lose weight, and keep it off, would be familiar to any modern dieter.
The diet that the president went on was quite modern, with concepts familiar to any modern-day combatant in the battle of the mid-section. According to the New York Times:
Meals were to be eaten at certain times and meats were to be weighed. Taft was to eat a small portion of lean meat or fish at every meal, cooked vegetables at lunch and…