I just wanted to say that your Dad sounds like a wonderful man. I wish people would treat overweight as the cultural health problem that it is and not as a sign of lack of self-esteem or sloth. Nobody accuses smokers of lacking self-esteem because they can't resist buying a pack everytime they see them conveniently displayed at the gas station and nobody accuses cocaine addicts of being slothful because they would rather take a drug to feel energized than run a couple miles.
The first "junk food" was consumed by factory workers in Britain during the industrial revolution. In order to deal with the hellish fast-paced grind of factory life, the workers consumed convenience foods that were high in sugar and drank large quantities of tea. It's clear to me as someone who was overweight and overworked that the fact that Americans work too many hours and don't get enough sleep has a lot to do with the obesity epidemic.
When I see an overweight mom, I see someone who is probably giving too much of herself to her family and others and using non-nutritious food as a crutch and a treat to get through her day. Women are told to take care of themselves and maintain a healthy weight, but the subtext is but first go to work, clean the house, care for the children, cook a delicious meal for your husband (don't you dare use tofu), bake some cupcakes for the church bake sale, attend the neighborhood potluck and don't act like a b*tch while doing all these things. If you don't do all these things your children will turn out terribly, your marriage will suffer and all sense of social cohesion and community will cease to exist and it will be your fault. So you eat a donut to help you along until you can collapse from exhaustion in front of the television where you can watch some scary stories about what happens to people who don't work real hard to support society like you do interspersed with ads for even tastier donuts and pills that help you do the work without the donuts as long as you don't mind peeing all the time and passing out in the shower.
"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" - Mary Oliver
