The Obesity Epidemic and The Food Revolution

[this is only temporary]

Right on topic here, Big Gulps are being made illegal in New York!

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/04/controversy-fizzing-over-bloombergs-soda-ban/?hpt=hp_t3

I quite enjoyed this quote. Had to laugh:

Sucking down a large, movie theater-sized soda on his show, Stewart sarcastically said he loves Bloomberg's plan.
"It combines the draconian overreach people love with the probable lack of results they expect," Stewart said.

...and this one as well, because it points out the emotional aspect of overeating:

“Whenever people feel like they’re being restricted they begin to resist. And that creates a real headwind for a policy like this,” David Just, a professor and food marketing specialist at Cornell University told the Times.

So.
Personally? I don't drink much soda myself, only once in a while. They have unsweetened iced tea and water available, that's what I usually drink most of the time.

There is no way I would keep soda at home and give it to my children, though (yeah, call me a hypocrite, I need the caffeine, they don't.) My general anti-soda stance is not only because of the health issues, but because that much sugar and caffeine would turn my children into hyperactive little spawns of satan. Who on earth gives their children soda anyway? Are they nuts? I've heard there are people who do that, and then they wonder why their children are hyper and have so much trouble sleeping, or are overweight. I just don't get it.

But still... it's not like anyone is forcing you to put Coke in your child's sippy cup, or to drink a big gulp yourself, you know? Also, there are plenty of healthy choices available in western grocery stores, though I admit the Asian stores or Whole Foods offer better produce and a much wider variety. Still... we really need laws for this sort of thing? Really? I suppose so. shrug.

Politics aside, I'm so glad people are paying attention to eating healthier, because there is a mind-body connection. Healthier = happier, generally speaking.

What I object to wholeheartedly is the shame and guilt and general holier-than-thou attitude aimed at what is a very personal and complex issue. Everyone who drinks a big gulp is not going to wind up fat and miserable, and health issues like being overweight should be treated with compassion as well as honesty. Also, there is a fine line between being honest as in: "you might want to lay off the big gulps and funyuns, for your own good" And being a complete jerk and saying "there is only one way to be good and beautiful, and you are not it, you fat slob." that carries with it such moral judgement. I dislike the second approach and think it does more harm than good. Also makes people want to eat fried chicken.

 

[AKM]

I've been down this road before and I've been on this path and while I do agree with a lot of your post I don't listen to personal trainers, nutritionists or dieticians when it comes to solving problems like obesity as I think it is entirely an emotional issue. I really do. I would listen to a psychiatrist or a psychologist but never a personal trainer. You can't fix an emotional problem with chicken breast and organic brown rice and spinach. It just doesn't work that way and the problem will never be solved because they are looking in the wrong place. I think the problem is more the western "lifestyle" and state of mind, but I don't have very much time to type much more right now, maybe later.

Obesity, mental issues, and nutrition are absolutely intertwined. When I get depressed I tend to eat more food that is less nutritious. When I am eating properly, I do not get depressed. If I decide to eat junk food at a gathering or because someone (even me) found something that I "can" eat (allergy wise) I notice my mood shifting more and more if I don't get right back on eating properly. (This is not to say that ALL mental issues can be solved by nutrition, I just know for a fact (and have a doctor's note to prove it) that mine are. Someone who isn't educated in proper nutrition will eat what they are used to eating, and if that's the SAD (Standard American Diet) then they will gain weight not only for the quantity and quality of the food, but for the mental repercussions of eating that food. (I hope I'm making sense...I'm trying to explain this without writing a book...) So, it is a loop that can be very difficult to break.

 

[Honey]

I want to refer you to some videos by Jamie Oliver, a famous chef, that reformed Great Britian’s food system. You can watch them all here, last night I stayed up until 5am watching them, they’re that good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7eaHytpJWQ

He has not reformed Britain's food system at all. Obesity is a growing problem in Britain and the children have mostly rejected the school dinners that Jamie Oliver instituted. Also, Jamie Oliver is also now fat himself and I think that there are real no experts on obesity.

I agree with the others who have said that it is often a mental health issue and possibly spiritual issue. However, I also feel that the problem will get even worst because humans seem to be programmed to eat as much fat and carbohydrates as possible when it is available because of our history of food shortages. Now in modern times with food (fats/carbs) available in excess, most people still seem to have the desire/programming to eat as much as possible in preparation for the famine conditions that existed through most of human history. That kind of programming is hard to undo and might take centuries to be overcome.

I have worked in a facility where obesity surgery is conducted and the obese people there... even the very intelligent and/or generally happy ones will speak to you of the most amazing compulsion to eat as much as possible and at all times and the way that food and acquiring food seems to obsessively dominate nearly their every waking thought. I have learnt from these people that they do know what sorts of foods are generally healthy but they just are not that attracted to those foods (healthy foods tend to be low on the preferred carb/fat combo) and that is why people like Jamie Oliver will fail always and just end up making a ton of money off the desperately obese but not really bringing about any long terms lasting results for those people.

 

[Apone]

The article: http://www.japanprobe.com/2010/03/06/japanese-women-getting-thinner-as-american-women-become-fatter/

They chalk it up to 'media pressures', which I think is kind of off because it's not like fat is regarded as appealing in the west either... at least not in the past 100 years or so.

I suppose the pressure isn't as severe for westerners, however... because the west is much more of an individualistic culture where everyone is supposed to have the right to look, think and behave however they want. There's actually this sort of bizarre nationalism that Americans have that I would suspect somehow equates being fat with being free. Added to that is the fact that fat people are definitely more accommodated in the west-- simply telling someone that they're fat can be called an insult. The fact that being fat is so common is probably another part of the problem... there's less pressure to change yourself if everyone around you is the same way. The fact that the food is horrible just helps it all along.

I guess in a way it's not really anyone's concern if someone wants to kill themselves with food, but at the same time I don't think that things like alcoholism or heroin addiction get anywhere near the same amount of social acceptance.

 

[manatee]

There are FOUR year olds who are obese in America, millions of them. It’s a very sad place to be in right now.

well, actually five percent of them are and that number won't change, because BMI for children is defined relatively

 

[Quiet]

I just watched the Foreign Correspondent doco 'Globesity'. To say that i am furious and my blood is boiling would be a fair understatement.

trailer
[video=youtube_share;PqZArkSnrz0]http://youtu.be/PqZArkSnrz0[/video]

We all have a lot to answer for. Time to start making our goverments and communities accountable. Time to start taking responsiblities for our actions, choices and purchases. We are what we eat.
Die food corporations. How upsettingly unironic that health and life does not factor in to a capitalistic economy. Hard to price these things

 

[Sriracha]

http://epirev.oxfordjournals.org/content/29/1/6.full

 

[Tin Man]

God damn it, all you hippies want to do is coddle those fatties. They should be shamed and flogged in public. My dad did it to me and now I'm in great shape. I do have crippling anxiety issues and a desire to murder fat people but f*** it, I'm thin.