The Obesity Myth

Today I want to talk about the biggest myths of the national obesity epidemic. The biggest myth is that if you're obese or overweight, it's your fault. Today, three quarters of American adults are obese or overweight, including 40 percent of American teenagers. Back when I was growing up, childhood obesity was almost unheard of. You don't need statistics to know that something has changed. Look at the photographs of beaches or state fairs from the 1950s. Something has changed, and it isn't human nature. We haven't suddenly become lazy or gluttonous. What has changed is our food system, our diets, and the hormone-disrupting chemicals in our food, in our water, in our soil. We are being mass poisoned. Today they tell you that you have obesity, like it was some kind of contagious disease. They treat it as if your body malfunctioned, and they give you a shot to control it. Or they make it about your lack of self-control. Well, that's an insult to anyone who has tried and struggled to lose weight. So what are they ignoring when they make it all about you and your body and your willpower and your character, and the solution is always a shot or a pill that somebody is going to cash in on? What they're ignoring is a food supply that's loaded with high fructose corn syrup and seed oils and hundreds of artificial additives and flavors and processed carbohydrates that don't exist in nature and that are banned in other countries. They ignore a skewed system of subsidies that make these unnatural, ultra-processed foods cheap. They ignore chemical contamination from pesticides that is wreaking havoc on our body. Now, let me tell you what we're going to do about it. We're going to change the subsidy so that everyone can afford safe, wholesome food. We're going to get industry money out of government so that consumers and doctors can actually trust our agencies again. We're going to make school lunches nutritious again. We're going to ban harmful chemicals from the food supply. We're not going to force or coerce or shame anyone. We're going to lower the costs and lower the barriers and get rid of the perverse incentives and clean out the chemicals so that the American people won't be swimming upstream anymore through a soup of toxic substances just to be healthy.