Every trip to the US reminds me that the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the fat are getting fatter. Nowhere is the latter more obvious than in a shopping mall, especially at the food court, where the eating and drinking action is. Think salt, sugar, carbohydrates, and, of course, fat.

Can you find one healthy option in the above photo? (As I’ve mentioned, perhaps even on this hallowed blog, this is one reason why I lose weight whenever I travel to my home country. I also split entrees and eat appetizers as a main meal. When you’re in a US restaurant and the server asks if you’re “still working on it,” you better believe s/he means it, aside from wanting to give you the check so another cu$tomer can take your place.)

Here are some tasty tidbits, figuratively speaking, from the Harvard School of Public Health:

• Roughly two out of three U.S. adults are overweight or obese (69%) and one out of three are obese (36%).
• Obesity rates are higher in non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, and Mexican American adults than in non-Hispanic White adults.
• Non-Hispanic Black women have the highest rates of obesity in the U.S.—nearly 59%, compared to 44% in Mexican American women, 41% in Hispanic women, and 33% in Non-Hispanic White women.
• Though overall obesity rates in the U.S. have stayed steady since 2003, obesity rates have continued to climb in men, Non-Hispanic Black women, and Mexican American women.
• If U.S. trends continue unabated, by 2030, estimates predict that roughly half of all men and women will be obese.

NOTE: The US Centers for Disease Control define obesity as an adult with a BMI of 30 or higher. Children of the same sex and age are considered overweight if their weight is at or above the 85th percentile and lower than the 95th percentile. Those who are above the latter are classified as obese.

19 of the 50 states have adult obesity rates over 35%, up from 16 states last year. Can you guess which states? (Hint: Many are the same red states with a high teenage pregnancy rate, poor academic performance, and large numbers of MAGA supporters.) Here they are… West Virginia, Kentucky, and Alabama have the highest rate of adult obesity at 40.6%, 40.3 percent, and 39.9%, respectively. The District of Columbia, Hawaii, and Colorado have the lowest adult obesity rates at 24.7%, 25%, and 25.1% respectively. To put this in perspective, no state had an adult obesity rate of 35% or higher a decade ago.

Whenever I’m in a US mall, I’m reminded of George Carlin’s observation about US Americans’ favorite pastimes: “shoppin’ and eatin’, especially eatin’, lumbering through the malls like a fleet of interstate buses.’” Sad but true.

Shalom (שלום), MAA