Fat bellies, thin wallets?

The CDC reports today that more than 1/4 of all Americans are obese. And because the survey relies on self-reporting (and who actually gives their REAL weight over the phone!?!?), many believe the numbers from the survey are ... let's call them conservative.

So, 26% of Americans are clinically obese -- not overweight; not chunky, not big boned, not pudgy. Obese. And the rates tend to go up as a states' per capita wealth goes down. That is, Mississippi, the nation's poorest state also has the highest obesity rates in the union, about 30%.

Now, if 1/4 of us are obese -- and the if the situation is worse as poverty levels increase -- wouldn't that suggest that the raising cost of food might be a GOOD thing in the long term?

Bad as it sounds, I'd probably like to think so. 

But the problem is, as my friend Adam Werbach likes to say, too often regular folks are not choosing between  organic carrots and conventional carrots. They are choosing between carrots and twinkies. And picking the latter.

In an article from 2007 New York Times, Michael Pollan explains why that may be.