obesity

“If children today are at greater risk for obesity than those of previous generations, it’s not simply because they’re less physically active as a result of being absorbed in TV or computers.  It’s primarily because under ordinary peacetime conditions there has never before been a generation so stressed and so starved of nurturing adult relationships. …  The obesity epidemic demonstrates a psychological and spiritual emptiness at the core of consumer society.  We feel powerless and isolated, so we become passive.  We live harried lives, so we long for escape. …  Food is the universal soother and many are driven to eat themselves into psychological oblivion.”

Gabor Mate, In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts, p.233f