Weight Loss News and Current Events - Can't STOP Obesity

The other day, I went to drop off my brother. There was a STOP sign that had "can't" and "obesity" scribbled on it. It read "Can't stop obesity." I got a good laugh out of it but I started to think:

Can we stop obesity as an epidemic with today's society?

I think it's going to take a major change in how we live in order for the epidemic to come to an end. It's probably going to have to be a grass-roots movement, because no government official is going to promote the curtailing of advertising for foods and activities that support obesity.

How many are willing to turn off their TVs, to stop buying the processed foods that are advertised? There are no more TV advertisements for cigarettes, but people are still smoking.

Georgia

I agree and its too bad that the government does not get involved.Its so hard.Especially raising children and trying to teach them healthy eating in spite of all the advertising.They want what tastes good, and that is unfornately not what is good for them.

How many are willing to turn off their TVs, to stop buying the processed foods that are advertised? There are no more TV advertisements for cigarettes, but people are still smoking.

I was JUST thinking about that in comparison to how obesity can be stopped. It still seems like everbody still smokes but IMO I think that smoking is becoming more and more taboo due to smoking bans, advertisements, taxes, and whatnot. I'm wondering if they will do the same thing for bad foods?

America must be the only country where our poor are fatter than our wealthy. Poor quality foods are cheap.

I don't look to government for solutions. We can't fob off our own willful ignorance because they didn't offer enough free education. There are classes geared toward low income individuals already- if they are willing to go and learn then sacrifice to implement the change. Anyone can access the internet and learn enough to make a difference in their weight. The knowledge is there and free for the taking.

All government can do is remove incentives to eat like crap. If food stamps couldn't be used to buy junk food, it might help. Or not. There's always a way around the system if you choose.

The best teacher will always be action= consequence. Allowing people to feel the consequences of choices instead of swooping in to save them from them is the fastest and most effective teacher. And the one that few people have the stomach for because it involves allowing failure in order to promote success.

I agree that fast foods and junk food should be taxed...it'll just be really difficult to get a standard for "junk food". You can bet producers of these products will lobby to have influence over that definition!

I think we have such a complex way of life in the western world. We spend so many hours working, running errands, and participating in activities that disconnects us from experiencing a meaningful life. Life is so...full. Many don't have/make time to spend creating healthy meals and enjoyable mealtimes.

There are no more home economics courses to teach people how to care for their families and themselves. And Martha Stewart is so busy selling products to make us "feel" like we're living a beautiful life that we're frantically chasing after some ethereal food-centered, possession/acquisition-focused dream, tantamount to some sort of domestic elitism.

(Pardon me, I'll get off my soap box now...sorry!)

Eating healthy does take time and extra effort. We'd have to make so much from scratch in order to have more control over our diets. And some families just don't have that luxury. Perhaps someone needs to develop a "fast food" chain with really healthy meals and snacks. And also, huge advertising campaigns should be developed that shows how awesome it is to feel healthy and strong.

Georgia

I've worked in public health all of my career, and I'd like to add a few thoughts.

-there is a great deal more that government can do. In Quebec it is illegal to advertise high sugar content foods during the hours and during the programs that children are more likely to watch

-a successful approach has been neighborhood gardens in urban area, and communal kitchens in church basements, or anywhere (introduce people to different types of foods and preparation)

-reinstitute home ec. types of courses and make them mandatory for boys and girls

-make gym and physical activity required for boys and girls ALL the way through school

-turn OFF the TV

-remember that there are many places to fall down between knowledge and behavior change..it's not just about education, and education is just the beginning

-one very serious problem is the lack of affordable grocery stores, with good food, in low income areas in urban centers

Above all, it is a complex problem. And, as long as food that is bad for you is cheaper than food that is good for you, we'll have a problem.

By the way, most people have quit smoking. Only about 20% of the population smokes.

-reinstitute home ec. types of courses and make them mandatory for boys and girls
I took a ton of those and what I learned was: how to make cakes and frost like WHOA, make a ton of fattening desserts and entrees. Nothing healthy.

I took a ton of those and what I learned was: how to make cakes and frost like WHOA, make a ton of fattening desserts and entrees. Nothing healthy.

I agree. We made chipped beef on toast, mac & cheese and melted cheese on crackers. They probably didn't have the budget for anything but junk. A lot of grocery stores are starting to label the nutrition data on the shelves. Our local one puts a score on many foods that indicate whether it's a good nutrition bargain or not. They also offer classes where they stroll through the aisles with a dietician and offer advice on reading labels and making smarter choices when shopping. They do charge for the classes but I think it's pretty nominal.

I was JUST thinking about that in comparison to how obesity can be stopped. It still seems like everbody still smokes but IMO I think that smoking is becoming more and more taboo due to smoking bans, advertisements, taxes, and whatnot. I'm wondering if they will do the same thing for bad foods?


I have the opposite belief. I think no one smokes anymore and I'm amazed when someone mentions that they smoke or are trying to quit. No one I personally know smokes but thats me.

As for turning off tvs, I don't have kids so its a slightly different case but I don't watch any commercials because I only watch DVDs these days. It is much easier and affordable to watch DVDs these days as opposed to the early VCR days. I'm actually amazed when I do see commercials as I almost forget what they are like. Although my inlaws have never had cable and never will and they raised 3 kids.

Of course I think schools should be involved in healthy eating but schools have had a long history of taking money from interest groups/companies in order to subsidize school costs. The dairy industry was the first to step into schools and then Coke and other manufacturers tried to step in although I think there has been some push back in some areas.

Physical education has been cut back a lot in schools and it is something that should be encouraged not cut back. Healthy eating classes should be taken with information on how to buy and prepare foods. I do remember home-ec which I took for half a semester in junior high and all I can remember is ruining a batch of chocolate chip cookies.

I think the main cause of the obesity "epidemic" is the total lack of information 95% of Americans have about what causes weight gain and loss. I mean, I sat through countless "Health and Nutrition" classes in junior high and high school, yet it wasn't until I was 24 and signed up for Weight Watchers that I started to get real information about "calories in, calories out" and the actual requirements our bodies need. Adults in our society don't understand how to control their weight (otherwise these crazy "fad" diets wouldn't be so popular), so they can't teach kids how to control their weight either, and the cycle goes on and on.

I do think there's a lot of hope for the future, though. For starters, look at our new First Family! Wow, talk about setting a great example for health and fitness, Michelle is buff! :D And it sounds like there's going to be a real focus on fixing our food and nutrition problems in the new administration. I can't tell you how thrilled I am to see the crazy subsidies for huge corporate farms ending... those subsidies are the reason we have crap like High Fructose Corn Syrup instead of sugar, and Partially Hydrogenated Oil instead of butter. Corn and soy are artificially cheap because the government has been paying these subsidies to keep them that way. If corn and soy have to compete with the rest of the crops on a level playing field, then we're going to start seeing a lot more variety and wholesome foods in our food chain.

I was also really encouraged to see the new nutrition labeling laws in NYC last week! The rule is that anyone selling food that has 15 or more locations nationwide has to display the calorie count of each item in the same font and size as the price. Wow!! So now you have every average Joe who walks into a Dunkin' Donuts considering the difference between a 510 calorie corn muffin and a 270 calorie croissant. That's so incredibly empowering. I could easily see this law, like the smoking ban laws, extending across the country, and I think it's going to have a huge impact on both consumer decision-making and also what the restaurants themselves choose to serve. I bet we're going to see some menu changes at Outback, that's for sure. :)

And finally, I'm super excited about the new technology available for teaching people about their nutritional needs. These BodyBugg/Sensewear/Gowear Fit armbands are really an incredible way to educate people about weight loss and control. I'd absolutely love to see these introduced to those high school Health and Nutrition classes, so kids could get real hands-on data about how their metabolism works, and why it makes such a difference for them to move around more and eat an amount of calories to match their activity level. I think it's one of the things that will really help that "lightbulb" go off for a lot of people in this country, and finally give people the information and feedback they need to take control of their nutrition and return to a healthier weight.

Dang that was long, sorry!! I've just been thinking about this stuff a lot lately. :)

Then, there are the misnomers every knows/use as excuses:
"I have a high metabolism. I'll never get fat."
"I have a slow metabolism."
"I'm big boned and I will always be like this."

I'm super excited about the new technology available for teaching people about their nutritional needs. These BodyBugg/Sensewear/Gowear Fit armbands are really an incredible way to educate people about weight loss and control. I'd absolutely love to see these introduced to those high school Health and Nutrition classes, so kids could get real hands-on data about how their metabolism works, and why it makes such a difference for them to move around more and eat an amount of calories to match their activity level.

Well, that's the first time I ever heard of those. It would definitely make figuring calories in/out much easier. But not everyone has $300+ to spend on that.

I agree that we should all be able to manage our calories and expenditures. That can be done without having to buy the gear. You can Google for TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) to find the equations for that. Once you've established what you need just to maintain your weight, any exercise you do, and any dieting you do register as deficits.

But how to motivate people to include daily activity and to make the healthier choices, there's the real core of the issue. Positive peer pressure, appropriate advertising, education programs, shifting cultural practices...and understanding that we probably won't effect the change entirely in our generation. Because humans tend to go for what's easier.

Georgia

Georgia,

That was my problem, though! Every energy expenditure calculator I've used on the web has told me my base metabolic rate is about 2,500 calories/day. So on and off for years I tried eating 1,500 calories, plus whatever exercise calories I earned, thinking that I was doing what I needed to do to lose about 2 pounds a week. Inevitably, though, a month would go by with barely half a pound a week losses, and I'd get frustrated and give up.

Now I wear this armband, and lo and behold, I find that my actual base metabolic rate is just under 2,000. And of course the exercise calories I was eating before, using online calculators, were also drastically over-estimated. No wonder I was hardly losing any weight, even when I did everything "right".

They are pricey, though (mine was $170), but I'm assuming the price will continue to drop as the technology ages. Maybe the government could even throw some subsidies into making these armbands more accessible! :D That'd be a heck of a lot better than paying farmers to plant more corn. :)

Of course, I wasn't suggesting that we have home ec. courses that teach stupid behavior. I took these courses in high school and learned good cooking skills, good nutrition and how to sew. We don't have to teach the wrong things.

The most reliable predictor of obesity is the income level of the population. The poorest states have the highest levels of obesity. The answer is NOT to blame people but to improve standards of living and increase access to good food.

also, just so you know, we are not good at understanding human behavior or predicting change. Researchers have been intensively studying human motivation since the end of WW ll, and they can still only predict change about 1/2 the time...if they're lucky.

I agree that we should all be able to manage our calories and expenditures. That can be done without having to buy the gear.




I agree. Yes, absolutely, and with no doubt.

And March will be eVen better, we need to stay consistent in eating and especially exercising! WE CAN DO IT!

The government can do a lot -- for example access to good Parks and Recreation depts. make a huge difference for so many kids. Too many kids have both parents working and go from school to the couch - and the schools have cut their P.E. down to nothing, especially in High School.

I really think fast food & junk food is more dangerous than marijuana for kids. Especially since it is pushed by every conceivable media at them, between the TV & radio ads, bill boards and in-store promotions you must get 1000 EAT JUNK messages every day. They just push this poison on kids through cartoons and etc., Joe Camel is one thing but every junky, sugary cereal has a cartoon and every sugary soda a celeb endorser. It's like a wave of propaganda every day with the pizza, hamburgers, soda etc.

Wouldn't a ban on junk food and fast food advertising be awesome?! Do you think any of those companies are asking for a bailout from the government? I don't think they'll have to, ever!

I don't think people are well-schooled on nutrition at all these days. Just today I was at Starbucks and one of the baristas was asking another if Top Ramen was healthy, because she had that and one other item for her meals today. OMG!!! It was all I could do to keep from getting my soap box out again!

Proper home ec and nutrition classes...I wonder if I could start a private company to teach that across the country. It's what I studied in college, a million years ago in the stone age. I could hire out-of-work home economists and nutritionists (aka grandmothers) and we could run classes for school-aged children as well as adults. We could spread our healthy-food propaganda!

Georgia

America must be the only country where our poor are fatter than our wealthy. Poor quality foods are cheap.

I don't look to government for solutions.

Government contributes to the problem right now by hugely subsidizing the industries that contribute to the obesity problem. There is a reason poor quality foods are so cheap compared to high quality and that is because they are subsidized by our tax dollars. It is so bizarre and wrong that processed foods that have a million miles and steps and fossil fuels pumped into converting real foods to fake foods are cheaper than the original real food they started as.

Just today I was at Starbucks and one of the baristas was asking another if Top Ramen was healthy, because she had that and one other item for her meals today. OMG!!! It was all I could do to keep from getting my soap box out again!

I guess you can get bananas at Starbuck's now. 90 cents apiece! :o

While I believe it is valid to look at ways to increase standards of living and access to good food, as well as education and mandatory physical education, etc., I think there's always one thing wrong with many discussions I encounter in the world about the obesity epidemic, which I don't deny exists.

The one thing that some people are afraid to discuss because it seems politically incorrect, in my opinion, is that all of us have a PERSONAL responsibility, despite all these social factors such as poverty, bad food supply, lack of knowledge, lack of access to good food, etc., etc., etc., to somehow get the information and resources we need to manage our weight in a sane manner.

We aren't sheep that have to wait for ideal conditions before we make the decision to take care of ourselves. The information is out there.

We have to make our own decisions regardless.

I agree with Janga. You can't make people do anything that they don't want to do.

It is not one or the other. It is BOTH a public and a private responsibility. There needs to be a deep understanding that individuals live in a context that is often not of their making and is often outside their control, particularly children. We adults can do lots to have more positive influence on the social and physical environment for our children and we don't do it.

Obesity is and will always be a problem because food is just so plentiful and easy to get in the industrialized countries .... it just that simple.

In countries where there are no grocery stores and fast food places there is not much of a problem of mass obesity.

My best friend is Romanian and his father-in-law was visiting from Romania and he lived in a small town called Sebes and they get their produce and meat from the towm market.

When he was here I took him out to lunch. I took him to the buffet at Golden Corral and when he walked in and saw all the food and all the people (mostly obese) eating his jaw almost hit the floor. All he could do was stare at everything for a full 5 minutes and then he said two words (translated by my friend). He simple said "Too much"

I am not sure what the answer is but one thing I am POSITIVE and that is the answer is NOT MORE government thats for sure. Remember it was the goverment that started handing out those humongus blocks of cheese to combat poverty?

I am not sure we can ever solve this problem. Food is just too easy to get.

I loved what George Carlin said... he said the United States is one of the few places where the poor people are fat!

There are a lot of factors that contribute to obesity, and treatment/prevention needs to be just as multi-faceted. We were watching a show the other night, and I commented to my husband on how many "labor-saving" devices had been advertised during just the one program, including an electric knife.

I remember reading a study in college of weight gain in secretaries in offices when electric typewriters replaced manual typewriters. Some (mostly women at the time) gained no weight, but very few. Most had gained a significant amount of weight in that year.

Every year, it seems we find a way to do less physically. It's engrained in our society that "labor saving" is a good thing.

That's obviously only one tiny example, of all of the thousands of factors that affect eating, exercising, and activity habits. It doesn't mean that anyone is blameless (or single-handedly to blame, either). It does mean that we need to be aware, and share the information regarding all of those factors that have an impact.

I think that weight loss and health needs to be less of a taboo subject, and the various superstitions and myths need to be addressed too. I think that education and positive messages are generally more effective than punishments (from a behavioral perspective, punishment is almost always less effective a behavior changer than is reinforcements - punishment tends to temporarily suppress behavior rather than eliminate it).

Fixing the problem isn't going to be fast or easy (not only as a nation, but even in individual efforts - I think the main reason my current success has overshadowed any previous success is finally seeing the "bigger picture," not trying to lose weight as fast as I can, without plans in place for maintenance - instead, working from the "back end" and deciding what changes I am willing to make for a lifetime and then putting them in to practice and taking any weight loss as "reward" for the effort, not judging it the effort itself).

Humans have a tendency towards procrastination and favoring short-term rewards over long-term ones. The instant-gratification society we've created, makes that even more true. Learning to look to the future is a skill that needs to be directly taught.

Actually, studies of domestic labor show that "labor saving" devices do not save labor at all. Standards merely increase and people (women) spend MORE time cleaning house, etc.

Actually, studies of domestic labor show that "labor saving" devices do not save labor at all. Standards merely increase and people (women) spend MORE time cleaning house, etc.

So true, but we've become "efficiency" experts (at least physically). We work harder and longer, and yet burn fewer calories doing it. The mental stress and exhaustion of working long, hard hours are still present, but the physical benefits of physical labor are absent. We've thrown the baby out with the bathwater.

We work longer, worry more and sleep less, yet we eat more and burn fewer calories than our predecessors.

We can do it if the government got behind changing out lifestyles.

For instance, if roads and car travel weren't so subsidized, people wouldn't be so fat.

There are just so many levels on which to affect this. Stop subsidizing corn, invest in public transit, etc.

Every American knows that a bowl of steamed veggies is healthier than a plate of greasy fries.
So the question is why do we choose the fries every time?
America has turned in to a lazy, greedy society.
Any government involvement or intervention won't change that fact.

America has turned in to a lazy, greedy society.

Sadly, the cause of the obesity epidemic is not that simple. It involves a number of factors that interact with each other to produce a perfect storm, a highly obesogenic environment that works against making healthy choices, rather than facilitating them.

I worked for a company that tracked the same smokers over a five year period who said they were committed to quitting smoking. We interviewed them, asking what their motivations for quitting would be and how they foresaw this change affecting their lives in the end.

Most started out saying it was their children, grandchildren, or other loved ones that made them want to quit. Others stated their health. And a few had miscellaneous reasons such as the cost of purchase.

After the five years was up, guess who the largest majority of maintainers were? The ones who cited cost as their reason for wanting to quit.

So I think we really need to raise the prices on unhealthy foods and decrease the prices on the healthy ones as much as we can. The governments also need to start providing tax breaks for fitness memberships and other activities that get people (especially children) moving.

Also, just to add .... when I was a kid, gym class was held every other day. It may not have been extraordinarily athletic, but it was movement. And sports teams were a big deal, as was track and field. I mean I hated gym, but the truth is I never had a weight problem until I was an adult. My siblings are all fit and healthy, I am the only overweight one in my family.

Yet, when I go to the mall or resteraunts, I cannot help but notice how fat our children have gotten. And it isn't the odd child, it's the whole family. I think it's a shame that the school systems have torn down the activities in schools, because kids should be active. I mean, that was the best part of being a kid, right???

I think lack of PE class is less of a factor than the trend that kids don't run all over tarnation until dark after school any more. My sister's kids are pretty active because they have a large yard with a hill and a ravine. But I don't know too many parents these days who will let their kids run all over the neighborhood or town alone for hours and hours.

I agree with all the technology(videos games are even in cell phones and itouches), kiddos don't ride their bikes, play catch or even do the hide and go seek thing. They sit at the dinner table texting with friends and are oblivious to the world around them.

"Can we stop obesity as an epidemic with today's society?"

To be honest, I'm not sure that we can. There are many contributing factors, but I think one of the biggest problems is that most families have both parents working full time jobs, often with long commutes, and they just don't have the time to dedicate to everything. As an example: Mommy puts in a full day, get's home at 6 and has to try to get meal on the table (and of course if short on time - fast foods to the rescue), do laundry, make sure kids do homework, clean the house, get kids bathed and in bed, etc. I'm not sure if there's any time left for anything other than just the basics of getting to the next day! Weekends are usually a mad rush to try to get everything done that couldn't be done during the week.

I think our society is overwhelmed and people just don't know how to make things happen even if they know what should be done.