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Worries doctors – and food producers
The obesity epidemic has doctors in the western world worried, but perhaps less worried than the producers of our favourite foods - that’s processed food, not the fruit, vegetables, grains and pulses that do us good - about the growing media scrutiny of the crisis.
Dr Marion Nestle, a nutritionist and author of the book, Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health, noted that America seems to be in denial over what constitutes a reasonable portion. Soft drinks come in 64-ounce (1,8 litre) sizes, delivering 800 calories in one go.
Couch potato culture to blame
The other culprit is America’s couch potato culture: one survey suggests that one in four Americans does no exercise at all.
In his book Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser writes that in 1991, only four American states had obesity rates over 15 percent: “Today at least 37 do”. A US government survey in 2000 found that 30 percent of Americans were considered overweight and 30 percent obese. And the pattern seems to be continuing to the present day.
Obesity second biggest killer in the US
Schlosser writes that obesity and the conditions it causes – heart disease, cancer in the colon, stomach and breast, strokes, diabetes, arthritis, high blood pressure - is now second only to smoking as a killer in the US, killing about 280 000 Americans each year.
This is not counting the cost in terms of low self-esteem and anguish, nor the $240 billion in health care costs that obesity incurs each year, nor the $33 billion spent on weight loss schemes, many of them spurious.
Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) noted: “Rarely do chronic conditions such as obesity spread with the speed and dispersion characteristic of a communicable disease epidemic”.
With the collapse of the USSR, the only obstacle to the spread of American culture - and especially fast food culture - was gone. Much of the rest of the world’s people are starting to look like Americans, in terms of the clothes, their taste in music, and their waistlines.
In the face of rising concern about the effects of junk food, sedentary lifestyles and weight gain, the big corporations rev up their spin.
Food producers blame inactivity
Rather than accepting at least some culpability for the obesity epidemic, the big food producers are blaming it solely on inactivity among consumers.
In an edition of New Scientist, Claire Wilson writes that this echoes the US congressional hearings in the 1990s, when tobacco executives scoffed at the idea that nicotine was addictive and that tobacco causes lung cancer. In the same way, the food advertisers claim that their campaigns don’t encourage children to eat more, but merely encourage brand loyalty.
“For the past few decades the tobacco industry has trotted out exactly the same defence of the right to advertise its products,” writes Wilson.
How to avoid supersizing yourself
But what does this global calamity mean to the average bloke trying to live a healthy lifestyle, trying to keep his belly flat when those of many of his peers appear to be trying to swallow their genitals? How can you avoid supersizing yourself?
Beware of what you develop a taste for. In the face of a groundswell of concerns among consumers and health professionals, a number of fast food chains have introduced healthier alternatives to their fat-soaked bestsellers. The low-fat lines seldom do well. That’s because what you develop a taste for as a youngster is difficult to give up or cut down on later in life. McNuggets, for instance, are a firm favourite of American children. At the time that Schlosser wrote Fast Food Nation, the nuggets contained more fat per ounce than McDonald’s hamburger meat.
Watch your portions. Grazing through the day will keep your blood sugar levels constant and obviate the urge for a quick fix, like a carbonated soft drink. Something like a wholewheat sandwich with a slice of turkey and some lettuce and tomato is filling enough to hold your stomach walls apart. Also, it contains some protein, a forgiveable amount of fat and plenty of dietary fibre. Compare this to say, a supersized portion of MacDonald’s fries, which contains enough fat to turn any food pyramid on its head.
Watch the fat. In the course of a generation, the McDonald’s Super Size Fries have tripled in size – much like the people who eat them. The average portion may now contain up to 29 grams of fat.
Watch what you spoil yourself with. This ties in to the first point. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with a large draught beer or a pizza, it’s when you associate the food that’s so patently bad for you with rewards that it risks becoming comfort food. So cultivate a love of healthy foods. There has yet to be a hamburger made that beats, say, the taste of freshly sliced, cold mango eaten with low-fat plain yoghurt. Keep telling yourself that.
Don’t believe in miracles. Home shopping advertisements will show you a man in a white coat with a certificate on the wall behind him. When he speaks with utter conviction of a new breakthrough in weight loss, requiring no amendment of diet or activity level, roll your eyes and change channels. Better still, switch off the TV, grab an apple and your dog and go for a walk.
It’s never too late. America and the devotees to its food around the world will need a major lifestyle change to lose weight. For individual guys, it’s a little easier. Get active each day. Start walking up the stairs at work. If you work on the 16th floor, start by getting out one floor earlier each week. In 16 weeks you’ll be doing more exercise than most of the people in your office combined. Don’t do anything radical. Just start. Get out at lunchtime. If you’re pushed for time during your workout, start with your most demanding exercise and do it properly. On non-workout days, a brisk walk around the block keeps the blood flowing. Exercise in the morning to kickstart your metabolism.
Remember that you keep burning fat after your workout’s over. Just keep going. You don’t have to become a powerlifter, but get your heart rate up. Grab some audio books and a Walkman and fill your lungs with fresh air and fresh ideas. If you’ve grown accustomed to your remote control, X-box or PC’s computer games, picture yourself in 10 years time, a sad, flabby geek with a high score in Doom and no scoring anywhere else. No one else is going to change that for you.
(William Smook)
