I was at a party full of elite, rich Hollywood types tonight. It was a private school fund raiser held at a bowling alley. There were probably 200 people there. The average age was probably 40, and 95% of the women were mothers.
Yet, with the exception of ME, there was virtually no excess flesh in the whole room.
Statistically, looking at these people simply as Americans, that’s almost as unlikely as winning the lottery. We’re a fat country, and the average female in this country is a size 14. The average dress size in this room was probably 6.
All this to ask…what is it that keeps the rich thin? Is it that their social set is so much less tolerant of fat? Is it because they can afford much greater support systems in the form of cooks, personal trainers, classes, etc.
Look at fat famous people…they almost always get thin or at least much thinner, within a few years of becoming rich: Roseanne, Oprah, Rush Limbaugh. Most Americans whoa re fat stay fatter or get even fatter as they get older.
These are all generalizations, take your pick.
[list]
[]Rich men have a better chance of marrying an attractive (thin) woman than the rest of us. []Rich people are usually more educated and are aware of the health problems associated with being overweight. []They have the money to eat good food and go to a gym, hire a personal trainer, etc. []Rich people have more ambition than the rest of us which includes keeping themselves healthy.[]Poor people do not take care of themselves or their possesions.[]The very rich have all the free time they want to exercise.
I would agree that most of jimshep’s generalisations contribute to the answer. Isn’t it ironic that it used to be the other way around – the poor were thin because they couldn’t afford to eat enough, and the rich were fat because they could. In some cultures it is desirable to be fat, because it’s a sign that you’re wealthy and have more than enough food.
On a side note, if you think about it, the same probably goes for white people being tan. I.e. in the past the rich could afford to be indoors all day, while the poor were out in the sun working. Now it’s the rich who have the time to lie on the beach (or in tanning beds), while the poor are indoors working all day.
There are plenty of fat rich people. Most would rather stay home with all their luxuries. Maybe those you saw were the new rich?
When Welfare was around, it would seem that everytime you saw a welfare mother on tv she was fat. I never could figure that out: If they can’t afford food, how can they get so fat?
geez. “Poor people do not take care of themselves or their possesions” :rolleyes:
Ok. So think about some things like: Fresh veggies and fruit can cost more and spoil quicker than canned etc. potatoes, rice, beans etc. pasta all are cheap. ya fill up on those types of things. Cheaper cuts of meat also have more fat content.
access to medical assistance is less - many things are NOT covered by insurance, medicare, medicaid etc (can you say “liposuction”?).
Health clubs and equipment cost $$
etc.
and ** handy**, tv is your source of information on welfare moms?
I think the fact that they were “Hollywood types” is key here. Particularly if they are people who are seen on TV or in the movies, they are under a tremendous amount of pressure regarding their weight. I think that then leads to pressure on everyone associated with them, even those who are not in the spotlight. Our culture is obsessed with appearances and Hollywood especially so.
You were not only looking at a room full of rich people - you said you were at a fund raiser. I would guess that is a bit of a filter also - you’re seeing the rich people who attend fund raisers. I would guess what drives people to such things to be a mixture composed of both altruism and desire to present themselves with the right image. It also screens out the “driven” rich people who are too busy with their careers for such stuff (perhaps their “trophy” wives are there, who would definitely contribute to this observation). As observed in earlier posts, “image” these days includes being thin and fit-seeming, and the rich can hire personal trainers, attend exclusive spas, and may have time for such things as extensive exercise programs and expert makeovers at snooty salons.
I agree to a point with Handy… not saying welfare makes you fat, but it seems all the inexpensive semi-prepared food that seems to be the food of choice is loaded with fat. That brings up another point. I was at a buffet at a hotel in Washington State a couple years back (I am Canadian) and is it me, or do Americans (I use that general term loosly) eat an extraordinary amount of deep/pan fried foods? I would say that more than 2/3 of the buffets foods were battered and fried.
I see lots of fat, rich people. They probably don’t attend Hollywood fund raisers. I suspect those who do stay thin through a combination of genetics, exercise, surgery, anorexia/bulimia and abuse of prescription drugs including amphetamine derivatives and thyroid medications.
As an Upper Canuck (we Canadians call you Americans “Lower Canucks” or “Upper Mexicans”), I think Americans are eat remarkable quantities of unhealthy foods. I recently went to the States and was astonished to learn that two sausage biscuits (we don’t have those in fast food restaurants here) had my entirely daily need of fat and most of my energy needs for the day; thus making it possible to need very little more food after 7:30 am. Not hard to conclude if you don’t conciously decide to eat healthier foods you will gain weight.
I disagree with the sweeping generalization that poor people do not take care of themselves or their possessions. I went to a university where 40% of the students were American and was surprised how many of them automatically correlated wealth with intelligence, charisma, stronger ethics and any other positive attribute; and concluded anyone who lacked wealth also lacked positive attributes.
Of course, poor people may eat fast food more often since they cannot afford to eat at fancier restaurants. Some of them may drink more alcohol, which is 7 kcal/gram. I think many rich people drink lots of alcohol too. And I doubt the rich are all that much skinnier regardless of how fat has become, regrettably, an object of mockery in most social circles. I do not think rich people per se know more about health but agree education is the main factor and cannot deny rich people are more likely to have gone to higher schools and think they are well educated.
I agree with most of the above particularly handys comment about rich fat people stay home. Most of the rest seem to build on my generalizations. But they are just generalizations not all or even any will apply to every case.
I did not say all poor people do not take care of themselves or their possessions, just that it is more likely among the poor. I notice when driving through a poor neighborhood/trailer park that houses are not kept up, lawns not mowed, yard filled with trash. Granted the rich can afford to pay people to take care of their property but in most middle-class working neighborhoods the houses are much better taken care of. I know there are other factors involved but at what point do you say “f**k it, I think I’ll just leave the trash on the lawn”
The poor in the U.S. may be different from the poor in Canada, who don’t usually trash their lawns. I have lived with lots of roommates during my long student years. Sometimes our house was really clean and nicely kept up, sometimes their were kitchen sinks full of moldering dishes. It really depended on the environment – if the place was already clean, it tended to stay that way. As soon as my roomate left dirty dishes around, I also tended to do so too. This could mean I am a slob, but I bet it says something larger about human nature. If you live in a neighbourhood with crap everywhere already, you will be less concerned about throwing your Genessee bottle on the grass… people behave by what they see around them. If you put a poor person in a cleaner neighbourhood, may stay that way too. Just guessing, of course, since I know in my heart what a slob I am.
Faulty memory at work now from an old Vance Packard book.
He did a “fat-observation” of the different classes back in the '50’s (heck, he did a lot of observations of the different social classes back then).
If I remember correctly the amount of fat a person had and it’s relation to social class depended on the person’s sex.
At that time he noticed that working men tended to be thin, but their wives had a tendency to be overweight. As the social class moved up the fat seemed to move, too. Rich men tended to be overweight and their wives…well, I don’t know if the term “trophy wife” had been coined yet.
Remeber that this was 50 years ago and this is a really general subject.
Also, stop the think about “upper-class” and “lower-class” activities. Which group would you expect to see walking a golf course or tennis court? And which group would you expect to see drinking beer in a bowling alley?
A child with wealthy parents is expected to fulfil every ounce of potential they have in order to maintain that wealth. Their parents, siblings, and then later their husbands and wives demand it. That means becoming a lawyer rather than a truckdriver, a financier rather than a hairdresser and a thin person rather than a fat one (if that is society’s ideal). Poorer people are often not aware of their potential. They just don’t see themselves as potential thin people, or rich people. That’s how I increasingly see it.
wring, I have seen many many welfare people in person too at the welfare offices & social services & most are, well fat, but so are those who aren’t on it. I agree tv could show some who look nice now & then.
Another reason rich are thin is they can afford entertainment, Poor people who stay home sitting on the sofa, not getting much exercise, gain weight.
I would say it is a function of diet. Welfare people can’t afford ‘good’ food and have to depend on cheap food like forms of pasta and other refined carbs that goes right to fat.
I’d just like to make one clarification here: Folks are talking about high-fat foods like burgers and TV dinners as being cheaper than healthy food. From personal experience as a grad student, though, I can tell you that that’s generally not true. You’d be hard pressed to find any vegetables as expensive per pound as fast food, and you can construct the equivalent of a TV dinner from healthier ingredients for a fraction of the cost. The advantage of such foods isn’t price, it’s convenience.
Pasta doesn’t all go to fat - complex carbohydrate types made from semolina or whole wheat are part of a healthful diet, especially cardiovascularly speaking. It’s the cream sauces and oil dumped on top that lead primarily to the love handles. Cheap and fattening would be, in my opinion, the potato chips, white bread, bologna, and so on.
I read an article in a fashion magazine not too long ago (I’m sure it was something like W or Bazzar - don’t remember which) that made the best point about rich people being thin - especially rich women. The only thing that’s keeping them that way is good old fashion vanity.
Don’t get me wrong - the rich can afford personal trainers, dietitians and the time and effort to needed to work out for many hours during the week…but vanity is what keeps that resolve to continue doing it. You’d be vain too if you had to squeeze yourself into a sample-size Dior at the drop of a hat.
The Wall Street Journal did a series on this very subject in the past year or two. Their conclusion was that the poor eat a very poor diet, high in fat, sugars, and starches, and that both price and access made them more likely to exist on junkier types of foods, and therefore to be overweight. They looked specifically at the items available in stores in poorer and wealthier neighborhoods.