The Economist featured a report on food and obesity in its December 13th issue. I finally had a chance to read it on the train last night and personally, I think it couldn't come at a better time.

While in the US during Christmas, I was shocked at the severe obesity I kept seeing. Not "She doesn't look like Kate Moss", but "How can she fit in a car?" obesity. One of the main issues the Economist addresses is the health consequences related to obesity and its cost to society. The "Fat Tax", like additional taxes on tobacco and alcohol seemed a bit extreme, but "credits" on your health insurance seems like an excellent incentive to slim down.

If individuals could pay a lower insurance rate for being inside their recommended band for weight, blood-pressure and cholesterol, this would give many Americans an real incentive to take better care of themselves. And by checking multiple metrics- blood-pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, etc. one couldn't cheat right before their check-up because it would show up in one of other indicators- even if they had lost weight their blood-sugar would be sky-high, for example.

But eating habits are very hard to change once established- and many are ingrained in society without realizing in many cases why or where the traditions came from. Take canned corn or canned green beans for example. One of my favorite dishes is green bean casserole. I read over Christmas that canned food after the second world war represented luxury and modern convenience- and thus was incorporated into the American diet. Now, I look at it as a poor substitute for fresh vegetables (aside from being an ingredient in one of my favorite Christmas dinner dishes).

Also, obesity isn't just an American problem- Spain ranks #3, which comes as little surprise. Children eat very poorly here- the "mediterranean diet" that Spaniards are so proud of has all but disappeared- filling themselves on potato chips, Twinkies (Bollycao in Spain) and McDonald's instead of Paella, fresh salads with olive oil and vinegar and grilled asparagus.

In some cases "fresh food" may not even be good for you...plus the difference in taste between a "fresh" orange in the US (that has been grown very quickly using special fertilizers and herbicides and then frozen before it reaches supermarket shelves) and a fresh orange that comes out of my in-laws' orange groves in Valencia is unbelievable. Its like listening to AM radio your whole life and thinking it's really great...and then hearing Digital Surround Sound and realizing what you've been missing all this time....

Read the article if you can (print version at your local library or online if you are an Economist subscriber) and make your own conclusions.