I follow Dr. Barabara Berkely on this blog: http://refusetoregain.com/refusetoregain/ and she is on committee at hospital to change what they serve in their cafeteria and coming up against a lot of resistance to not offering junk food.
Years ago I noticed working in hospitals that were "the only game in town" that I could only make some pretty good choices but if I was working in a hospital in a city that had multiple hospitals to choose from they offered more junk food including fast food franchises as one of the counters in their cafeterias. Apparently part of their marketing plan to attract more patient families, employees who could choose another hospital?
I just got home from our state's flagship hospital. On the floor where they see people for colonoscopies, there is a snack bar. First of all, I think it's poor taste to have a snack bar practically in the waiting room where people have been fasting for a test for hours (or days!). But even more than that, the food available! Donuts, nachos, stuffed pretzels, hot dogs (for breakfast?)
We are a country in denial. Of the top seven killers of Americans, 4 are related to obesity. And yet public hospitals sell nachos* for breakfast.
Do I think more laws are the answer? I don't think it is too much to ask food manufacturers and restaurants to provide honest nutrition information to consumers, or for schools to be legislated and funded to provide real food to our kids. But going back to uber's uber-post, health care providers really should know better and do better.
* I believe nachos can be healthy. I make mine using ground turkey, beans, spinach, tomatoes, salsa and avocado and some crushed tortlilla chips for crunch. So they're nacho-ish.
You guys are all so right in so many ways. I personally blame the obesity epidemic on the following (with no scientific data to back this up, just personal opinion):
1) Computers. As a professional software developer I probably shouldn't be the one to complain since they pay for my food and shelter, but over the past 50 years more and more people have moved to desk jobs. Activities that used to require doing something physically (like giving copies of a document to people) now are done from the comfort of your desk chair. The more people sit at their computers, the fewer calories they burn. Even active jobs are less active than before. Consider slaughterhouses for example. It used to be that a butcher was someone who did every step of the slaughtering, and it was tough physical work. Now slaughterhouses are full of employees who stand in one spot and make the same single cut over and over and over as the meat moves by on a conveyor belt.
2) Portion sizes. Portion sizes in restaurants in the US are ridiculous, and if you travel to other countries you'll see that their portions are much smaller. Portion sizes of prepared foods at the grocery store are ridiculous. ****, even PRODUCE is bigger now than it used to be. You can't buy an apple at the store that weighs less than a pound. A bell pepper produces at least 2 cups chopped. PLATES are bigger than they used to be (visit any antique store to verify this one), and we fill them up accordingly. Starbucks just introduced their new "Trenta" size which is 31 ounces. That's like drinking half of a 2 liter bottle of soda in ONE SERVING.
3) Calorie dense food is widely available and cheap with a minimum work required to get it. It used to be, way back in the day, that if you wanted a piece of bread, you had to bake some bread. Baking bread requires mixing and kneading and various other physical activities. It used to be that things like sugar and beef were too expensive to eat every day. I think the increase of cheap calorie-dense food coincides somewhat with the movement toward desk jobs. Eating a supersized McDonald's meal every day is no big deal if you spend your day building barns with your bare hands.
Also I think nowadays we get rewarded with food a lot at work because it is way cheaper for them to buy us a free lunch than to give us a bonus. Personally I'd rather have the $5 they spent on my food than the lunch.
You've all said it well. Now that I'm retired, I eat a lot less snacks - they're simply not available in my home. If I want something between meals, I have fruit and veggies - and in desperate moments peanut butter, but even that's better than donuts and mega-muffins! And I now use smaller plates for every meal. My dinner plates gather dust unless I have company.
And we all know how huge restaurant portions have become (in fact, many of us feel gypped if we pay the same for a sensible portion), but to continue Jessica's views, have you noticed the size of boneless/skinless chicken breasts lately! Yikes! We always used to split one between us, but now I cut it in 3rds or even 4ths! Yet, if I didn't weigh my food, I see the recommendation for a chicken breast as a portion, and end up eating 2-3 times the amount I should.
I don't frequent vending machines, mostly because I'm cheap, but on occasion if I find myself starving I'll take a look. I usually don't find a thing that I want to eat and when I do have something, it ends up being a waste of money and calories.
Holidays, birthdays, anniversaries - yes, celebrate. When I worked in a large office, we celebrated birthdays once a month, with one cake. Everyone had a reasonable size piece, not a huge ol' wedge loaded with frosting. Now it seems everyone gets his/her own party, with sometimes more than one cake or other sugar/fat bomb.
I think a majority of people have a tough time dealing with food. If they want to celebrate with food, why not better food? Instead of the food that is known to contribute to obesity. Say like "We are celebrating with broccoli and fish. Yay!"
I totally understand this situation though. When something good happens at work in rolls the candy basket, which I steer clear of. People will ask me if I got any candy yet and I tell them I don't want it and they look at me like I'm crazy. I just have to suck it up and move on and get the candy thoughts out of my head. At the end of the day, I am still responsible for my own obesity but I do wish that establishments would take more responsibility for employees/clients/patients when it comes to "celebrating".
Pat, YES! I like to buy pastured chicken from local growers, and there is a HUGE difference in size. In fact, the grower who sells at my local farmer's market actually has handouts to make sure people don't overcook the chicken, because it is smaller and leaner than grocery store chicken and cooks much faster.
Speaking of chicken the big thing I've been on the lookout for is the saline injections. Did you know that most grocery store chicken has been injected with saltwater to plump it up and make it taste jucier? It's written on the package ("contains xx% saline solution" or something like that). That can really wreak havoc on a low salt diet.
Totally agree with this. Anymore we "celebrate" everything -- especially where I work. It's Friday! Yay! Donuts! It's Monday...Boo! Chocolates to make us feel better. Got that project done....pizza!
I'm constantly talked about at work (there's only three of us - I've heard them talk) because I don't join in the celebrations when they do. And it's a weekly thing, or more. Everything is about food, food, food.
Yes, this is exactly what I'm talking about!! It's not like I'm suggesting that we ban food celebrations entirely, but we have food celebrations practically every day of the week, and the amount and types of food are completely off the charts. We don't smoke at work, we no longer have 3 martini lunches, but cake and pizza seem to appear at the drop of a hat.
At the end of the day, I am still responsible for my own obesity but I do wish that establishments would take more responsibility for employees/clients/patients when it comes to "celebrating".
