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A review by dreesreads
Stuffed: An Insider's Look at Who's (Really) Making America Fat by Doug Garr, Hank Cardello
1.0
Oh where to begin. The first half of this book is actually fairly interesting--through about chapter 9. The earlier chapters are the most interesting (or I may have given up in disgust!). Chapters 11-13 are horrible. Actually, they are frightening.
Essentially (without complete and total spoilers as to his arguments, which I find weak anyway), Cardello feels Americans are fat because marketers must be greedy (as per what their job is) and regular people are stupid. Regular people can't be expected to stand up to marketing geniuses and say "No! Don't Supersize my meal!" or to think "I am full now, so I will stop even though I have half a bag left." Regular people can't be expected to NOT order a Monster Thickburger with giant fries and drink because they are so yummy! Regular people are lemmings.
Because Americans are stupid and companies must make money, his solution is what he calls "Stealth Health"--corporations should be sneaking omega 3s into hot dogs and better oils into french fries and vitamins into soda. And Americans shouldn't be told about it. Just like cookbooks that advocate sneaking veggies into your kids in muffins and marinara. I don't believe in tricking my kids--and they LIKE veggies (some more than others). I want them to be adults who can happily eat veggies too, and not never eat them without someone pureeing spinach into chocolate muffins.
Even better, he advocates artificial sweeteners. Yes, the man thinks chemicals are the answer. Because Americans should be able to eat and drink however much of whatever they want whenever they want! But fabulous new low-cal artificial sweeteners and formulated oils that don't absorb will keep people healthy!
What a weirdo.
Personally, I think Americans are fat because 1) Americans are greedy. We are drowning in credit card debt, having homes foreclosed on because we cashed out to buy a boat or fabulous vacations or gambled on ARMs (and now want the gov't to "fix" it--are we going to bail out losers in Vegas too?), and are fat. It's all about greed. We want more than is good for our waistlines, more home than we can afford, and anything we see. We are all greedy--not just the marketers. All of us. And, 2) just like Americans don't understand compounding interest, don't get what rolling the rest of an old car loan into a new one means, don't get how when you supersize a meal, you aren't "saving" 40 cents, you are SPENDING 50 cents you weren't going to spend. It's NOT a great deal if you didn't need it (and no one does, unless you are actually splitting it in half with someone else--or maybe even 2 others).
All of this should be taught in 8th or 9th grade. Compounding interest, how credit cards work, how ARMs work, how marketers get us to spend extra money and make us think we're saving, how serving size is manipulated on packaging. Basic math. The math everyone needs way more than calculus.
On top of the content, the writing is odd (and he had a writer!). Reading this book is like reading a keynote address.
The best part of the book? The image on the cover. It's awesome.
Essentially (without complete and total spoilers as to his arguments, which I find weak anyway), Cardello feels Americans are fat because marketers must be greedy (as per what their job is) and regular people are stupid. Regular people can't be expected to stand up to marketing geniuses and say "No! Don't Supersize my meal!" or to think "I am full now, so I will stop even though I have half a bag left." Regular people can't be expected to NOT order a Monster Thickburger with giant fries and drink because they are so yummy! Regular people are lemmings.
Because Americans are stupid and companies must make money, his solution is what he calls "Stealth Health"--corporations should be sneaking omega 3s into hot dogs and better oils into french fries and vitamins into soda. And Americans shouldn't be told about it. Just like cookbooks that advocate sneaking veggies into your kids in muffins and marinara. I don't believe in tricking my kids--and they LIKE veggies (some more than others). I want them to be adults who can happily eat veggies too, and not never eat them without someone pureeing spinach into chocolate muffins.
Even better, he advocates artificial sweeteners. Yes, the man thinks chemicals are the answer. Because Americans should be able to eat and drink however much of whatever they want whenever they want! But fabulous new low-cal artificial sweeteners and formulated oils that don't absorb will keep people healthy!
What a weirdo.
Personally, I think Americans are fat because 1) Americans are greedy. We are drowning in credit card debt, having homes foreclosed on because we cashed out to buy a boat or fabulous vacations or gambled on ARMs (and now want the gov't to "fix" it--are we going to bail out losers in Vegas too?), and are fat. It's all about greed. We want more than is good for our waistlines, more home than we can afford, and anything we see. We are all greedy--not just the marketers. All of us. And, 2) just like Americans don't understand compounding interest, don't get what rolling the rest of an old car loan into a new one means, don't get how when you supersize a meal, you aren't "saving" 40 cents, you are SPENDING 50 cents you weren't going to spend. It's NOT a great deal if you didn't need it (and no one does, unless you are actually splitting it in half with someone else--or maybe even 2 others).
All of this should be taught in 8th or 9th grade. Compounding interest, how credit cards work, how ARMs work, how marketers get us to spend extra money and make us think we're saving, how serving size is manipulated on packaging. Basic math. The math everyone needs way more than calculus.
On top of the content, the writing is odd (and he had a writer!). Reading this book is like reading a keynote address.
The best part of the book? The image on the cover. It's awesome.