DanMargarita.com

The dangers that go along with being obese include strokes, diabetes and heart disease. A recent conference of health experts in Australia heard that the world’s hungriest people are now outnumbered by the number of obese of the world, according to several news reports. This message was delivered by University of North Carolina Professor Barry Popkin (suspiciously close to “popcorn”).

The fact that Americans are obese came as no surprise but the revelation that Australians share with us the dubious distinction of also having among the world’s highest rate of obesity was unexpected to these ears. Although, that’s probably a good thing if you think about it. Due to the two countries location on the earth, they perfectly offset each other so that one overweight country doesn’t put the Earth on a lopsided orbit and thus spinning out into the solar system.

The conference pointed to “sedentary lifestyles combined with major shifts in eating habits have contributed towards an obesity epidemic that means some 1.4 billion people worldwide are overweight, while 800 million are under-fed.”

China was listed as a major example of how lifestyle changes had led to obesity. The country’s transition from a cereal-based diet to one of animal products and vegetable oils, along with more auto transportation and TV watching, have been contributing factors. For years the West has been trying to get China to become more like our capitalist society, and it seems they’ve succeeded. One would’ve thought that the Chinese’ diet would have consisted largely of “Chinese food.”

Japan ranks among the lowest rate of obesity which Prof. Popkin attributes to a combination of diet and walking, as the Japanese rely heavily (no pun intended) on public transportation. On average, a Japanese man walks around four miles a day compared to an American man who walks about 1,000-3,000 steps per day, or about one mile. Worse, he often walks that mile for a Camel cigarette (a reference that only 40 + readers might get). Whereas, the Japanese seem to put most of their weight into a few select people. See: Sumo Wrestlers.

All this didn’t occur to Tennessee Tuxedo and Chumley when they went to visit Phineas J. Whoopee, “The World’s Smartest Man” (another over-40 reference) who explained in one particular cartoon episode that man invented gadgets with the idea of saving time to provide himself with more leisure time. What Mr. Whoopee didn’t realize was that the activities that were eliminated also served to keep humans in shape in their everyday lives. Now, many people spend that leisure time paying money to go to a gym to get in the shape that we got out of as a result of eliminating those physical chores of yesteryear.

With the obese now outnumbering (and of course, outweighing) the under-fed, there surely must be a way to balance the two problems. If those that are eating more than they should, no matter how unhealthy, could send a little of that food to those that need it, both sides could become a little healthier.

If not, the hungry may just get desperate enough to come and find the obese who could either give the hungry some food, or have themselves become a little something to nosh on.