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Putting Obesity Out of Business
What caught my eye was not just the ashtray sitting forlornly on the yard-sale table. It was the sign that marked it “vintage,’’ as if we needed to label this relic of mid-century America.
Ashtrays that once graced every airline armrest, coffee table, and office have gone the way of spittoons. Today the car’s cigarette lighter is used to juice up the cellphone. Ask any restaurant for the smoking section, and you’ll be shown the doorway.
If I had to pick the year attitudes changed, it would be 1994, when seven CEOs of Big Tobacco came before Congress and swore that nicotine wasn’t addictive. A lobby too big to fail and too powerful to oppose began to lose clout. Smokers are no longer seen as sexy and glamorous but as the addicted dupes.
I don’t know that we will ever have such a dramatic moment in the annals of Big Food. But I have begun to wonder whether this is the summer when the (groaning) tables have turned on the obesity industry.
Now that two-thirds of Americans are overweight, the lethal effects of fat are catching up to those of cigarette smoke. We regularly hear the cha-ching of obesity costs in the healthcare debate. And we are beginning to see that Overweight America is not some collective collapse of national willpower, but a business plan.
A measure of the moment is “Food Inc.,’’ a documentary chronicling the costs to the land, worker, and customer of a food industry that’s more grim factory than sylvan farm. A system that makes it cheaper to buy fast food than fresh food.
A more personal measure is David Kessler’s bestseller, “The End of Overeating,’’ which is both a thinking person’s diet book and an investigation into an industry that wants us to eat more. The former head of the FDA had crusaded against smoking, but found himself helpless before a chocolate chip cookie. So this yo-yo dieter set out to discover what exactly we’re up against.
Kessler is a scientist, not a conspiracy theorist. He takes you to an industry meeting where a food scientist on a panel called “Simply Irresistible’’ offers tips on “spiking’’ the food to make people keep eating.
We eat more when more is on the plate. We eat more when snacks are ubiquitous, when flavors are layered on and marketed as “eatertainment.’’ As one food executive admitted to Kessler, “Everything that has made us successful as a company is the problem.’’
Sometimes it seems that our consumer society sets up the same conflict again and again. Sophisticated marketing campaigns hard-sell everything from sex and cigarettes to the 1,010-calorie Oreo Chocolate Sundae Shake at Burger King. And we’re told to stay abstinent or tobacco-free or skinny by resisting them. We are even promised “Guiltless Grill’’ entrees at Chili’s that can weigh in at almost 750 calories and are only guilt-free when compared with the Texas cheese fries that tip the scales at 1,920 calories.
The analogy between Big Tobacco and Big Food is imperfect. You can’t quit eating or wear a food patch. We are also quite torn between “size acceptance’’ and criticizing fat as a health risk.
But if the campaign against smoking provides a model, it’s in the effort to label restaurant foods and expose the tactics of Big Food. It’s also recasting the folks who bring us bigger food as obesity dealers. As Kessler writes, “The greatest power rests in our ability to change the definition of reasonable behavior. That’s what happened with tobacco - the attitudes that created the social acceptability of smoking shifted.’’ Are we the addicted dupes of the Frappuccino?
The honchos at McDonald’s may never confess how the Big Mac made us bigger, and the food scientists at Frito-Lay may not explain why we “can’t eat just one’’ potato chip. But maybe this will be the year when an entree of chicken quesadillas with bacon, mixed cheese, ranch dressing, and sour cream - 1,750 calories - begins to look just a little bit more like an ashtray.
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45 Comments so far
Show AllThere's a simple solution: Change your eating habits. Don't eat out, and only buy food. I read somewhere food is only food if your great-great-grandmother could recognize it if she were alive. It also helps to eat a good breakfast and a very light dinner. Finally, try walking more often.
"It also helps to eat a good breakfast and a very light dinner."
Excellent advice. It's also important not to snack late in the evening or just before bedtime.
The importance of a good, healthful breakfast cannot be overstated. Oatmeal - not larded up with milk and butter - is as close to a perfect breakfast as you'll find.
q
I beg to differ. Load it up with equal amounts of fat. Whole milk, butter, coconut oil. Fat does not make you fat. It makes you full. Then, you eat less. And if it's oatmeal, make sure it's whole grain oatmeal, none of that instant kind with extra sugar. A big bowl of oat porridge with milk, butter, cinnamon, some flax seeds, maybe a few hemp seeds, and no sugar? That'll keep you full for hours.
". Oatmeal - not larded up with milk and butter - is as close to a perfect breakfast as you'll find."
Rubbish. There is nothing wrong with milk and butter. Despite the claims of people like you, dietary fat does not result in being fat.
Dietary fat, from the butter, gives a feeling of fullness.
As does milk. The fat, and casein protein from milk, both also give a feeling of fullness, because fat and casein protein digest slowly. Much more slowly than carbohydrates. The fat from butter, the fat and protein from milk, can give provide sustained energy throughout the day.
What a sad state of affairs. There is a problem, no doubt, but for every problem there is a solution:
"Reduced caloric intake, increased physical activity."
I'm pretty sure that says it all...
fdoleza,
that's Michael Pollan you're quoting. He also talks about the difference between eating "food" and "food products" (i.e., there are chemicals in it that you can neither pronounce nor recognize).
"Excellent advice. It's also important not to snack late in the evening or just before bedtime."
Absolutely correct. My Dr. once told me he didn't really care what I ate before 6 PM, but to be very careful then. There is no activity to burn those calories.
Ditto on the Oatmeal comment.
I took my folks to Visit their old home town on my last visit. My dad wanted to go see one of his old drinking buddies that he used to work with.
I remember this guy as a kid. He would drink like a fish. I never saw him NOT drunk. He was a two pack a day smoker.
We pull up and no one home and are ready to leave when he drives up in his truck. He hops out with a case of beer and the two old buddies greet each other. He offers us up a beer. Dad quit drinking and refuses. I join in and have a few with him. He pours himself a shot of whiskey and asks if I would like one as well.
His mind sharp as a whip as he details us on neighbours miles around and who kids married who. He mentions he will have to start combining soon and has no interest in retiring.
He chain smokes while I sit there then takes us downstairs to show off his new house and all of his wifes canning.
He mentions he has never seen a Doctor in his life and does not trust them.
He is 95 years old. He eats what he grows. My cousin claims his good health is due to his eating a whole clove of garlic a day.
He eats like a horse but one thing I noticed when he showed my about. No junk food. Very little of the store bought ptocessed crap. The AMOUNT of stuff calorie wise we put into our body is IMHO much less important then the NATURE of the stuff.
Chemical companies control our food supply.
Cool story.
The less TV my wife and I watched, the less junk food both of us fell for. It's no coincidence that TV made it too easy for a nation to enter the obesity epidemic through the ages. Big Food is very clever at churning the money by first spending billions on misleading advertising followed by customers falling for their bait and giving them their super profits. If more people stopped watching television for at least a week, the Big Food stocks would come crashing in a New York minute.
Uncle Sam weighs 687 pounds. No clothes will fit him any longer. So he lies naked on the special steel reinforced jumbo sofa eating Afghan Bitz, Wall Street Whammos and other similar kinds of junk food snacks which now constitute his entire diet. He is unable to get up; so he urinates and defecates where he is and just lies in his own stink and filth. His hair is long, tangled and greasy. His only possessions are the tv which is on 24/7 and the cell phone used to call the grocery store for more snacks. He borrows money from his Chinese neighbors to pay the rent. The house, once a mansion, is falling down around him; it looks like Grey Gardens. Ask him how he is and he replies, "Great! Never better!"
This one should be pretty easy to tackle. There used to be something called personal responsability. Maybe if people rediscover that the world would be a much better place.
Lately I keep hearing: food company made me eat crap and look like a fat pig (even tho if you ask the person they know it's bad), or the bank pushed the loan on me and I can't keep up (simple math and compreension skills would have helped).
Once people start taking responsability for what they do the world will get better. However, in this day and age it's easier to blame everyone else and continue with the bad habits.
"or the bank pushed the loan on me and I can't keep up (simple math and compreension skills would have helped)."
Yes, because banks state their policies clearly. Because banks never attempt to deceive both their customers, and investors.
The only thing simple here is your belief that you understand everyone's motives. Clearly you lead a privileged life, and have never known desperation. Ever had a child or relative that was sick and you needed a second (or third) mortgage on the house to pay for their care?
Furthermore, contracts can be so complex that even the people who supposedly represent you do not understand the contracts fully, or they may be good salespeople and sugarcoat the fine details. True understanding comes at a cost of $500+/hour from an experienced lawyer. Most folk cannot afford this, and rely on the supposed good will of people who have entered similar contracts before.
If we never signed contracts that we don't fully understand all the potential repercussions, we'd all be sleeping in cardboard boxes over city grates. Its that simple.
Where will all the chubby chasers find true love? Could you ever imagine a skinny santa claus, how about a stick figure opera singer? And what about fat albert - no way could there ever be a slim albert... it just would not work. I like heavy people - 9/10 times they are happy and full of joviality. I hate being so rail thin, I look like a praying mantis. all my life I wish I could put a few pounds on my frame. Guys, think about it, a women without curves is like a pizza without cheese. Life is to short not to have an extra scoop of ice cream. Just my two cents.
I beg to differ. I used to be fat and chubby up until a few years ago when I moved from the country side to being a city girl and found myself having to lose weight and thin down to make it out there. Sure, I may feel colder in the winter now that I am slender but I don't find myself unhappy as I did when I was chubby even with a few rough spots in life along with all the political sludge out there. You say that fat people cannot be thin based on some celebrity models but if that were the general case, then why do women have to be slim to be "sexy"? You won't see fat chicks getting into a beauty contest on TV. Note, I have nothing against people of all sizes but my life experience tells me that it's best to remain slender rather than go back to being heavy set.
Anyone really interested in losing some weight and improving their health should really consider vegetarianism. I lost about ten pound in a couple months by taking meat out of my diet, and it wasn't muscle mass. My exercise level stayed the same as did my other activities. I find some people get offended or become incredulous when this is mentioned, as though this is an impossible undertaking. What about protein they say! Even though most people have no idea how much protein they consume in a day or how much they need anyway. (It's not hard to get enough without meat, by the way, as a society we're way over-proteined anyway)
Once meat is cut out it is surprising how much healthier one's diet becomes almost automatically. No more greasy fast food burgers, no more oversized steaks and high calorie mystery meat sandwiches, no more heavily refined microwave dinners, etc. Granted some of the high calorie foods stick around, I'm still a sucker for a big greasy cheese pizza, but even then the fat and calorie content tends to be way lower. Plus you get the peace of mind no animals had to die for you to fill up on crap, the environment gets to breathe a little easier, and you can sleep at night knowing you didn't support the wage suppressing, dehumanizeg crap food industry too. For anyone that's not already, consider cutting out meat or curtailing it, you might like the results.
For protein, try lentils especially Indian lentils. There's also hemp and flax which are supposed to contain protein. In all 3 cases, the plant protein is digestible and easily absorbed by the blood stream compared to animal protein. I'm with you on the experience. I used to get bald and fat as a meat eater but once my wife pulled me out of my meat eating habits and introduced me to Indian lentils, my health improved and in 5 years my balding reversed and I reduced the fat.
Anyone interested in losing some weight and improving their health should really consider omnivorism. I went vegan a few years back and put on 60lbs. Even being a vegetarian only made me stabilise at that weight and impossible to lose. It wasn't until I went omnivore (with more of an emphasis on pescatarian, eating organic, free-range meats 3-4 times a week) that I'm starting to lose that weight. WITHOUT ANY CHANGE IN MY EXERCISE PATTERNS on either my being a vegan or omnivore. In fact, I was a soccer player when I was a vegan and now I'm a bicycle rider and casual tennis player. So I was doing more exercise when I was a vegan and still gaining.
Just goes to show that what works for one will not work for another. Some people do better on an omnivore diet. I'm one of them. My body cannot tolerate such a large grain-bean-legume-pulse diet. Not only did it make me fat, but my immune system was shot, I was getting 15+ colds a year, and I had digestive issues all the time.
Well said, COSMIC. I went totally vegan. One of the best things I've ever done.
Many people including vegetarians are economically challenged.They may have to chose between thier rent,prescription drugs,childrens clothes, and quality food when they pay thier bills.They may rely on food pantries or other largess,after the food stamps(if they qualify)run out.Not everyone has garden space or access to a roof top or balcony for container growing.Sure it is easy to get high quality protein by combining various beans legumes and pulses but many don't know how.Cheap carbs and high calorie foods also ,like sugar fill various receptor cells in the brain and give one a feeling of comfort and satiety.One should not blame the Obese for thier condition untill you know the reasons,and many times the reasons are poverty. peas in
Financial reasons, are to me, one more reason to cut meat out of a diet. My lunch that I am currently eating consists of a can of beans ($0.87) and a couple flatbreads (16 for $7). Compared to eating out or purchasing meat I find my diet to be far less expensive. I live in an apartment with no chance of a garden in a city of 80,000 where there are two or three communitty gardens that are far from my place.
Education is the key of course, as with virutally every other problem we are facing. I was recently down south visiting my bro in Vancouver. He does not grocery shop at all and buys a lunch every day for work, amounting to about $150 a month. When I told him he could be spending that kind of cash at a grocery store and have way better lunches he was surprised, and he's 28. A lot of people really have no idea about nutrition or how to prepare a meal which is exactly what the food industry likes, but in my opinion that's not a great excuse. We have public libraries to learn at, we have the internet to learn from, etc.
I'm not trying to say that vegetarianism is the panacea for all of our food problems. As a Pysc major I have a pretty good handle on eating disorders, motivation, biology and behaviour. I realize that obesity is a multifaceted problem stemming from sociological issues, family dynamics and self esteem issuses among others. But I also realize that a lot of people in our very priveliged society have access to better eating habits and resouces to change their consumption trends but don't simply because it's really easy to stop at McGeneric's Meat Emporium and grab a so-called Angus bung burger. Unfortunately, I also don't expect that to change. Not in my lifetime anyway.
Exactly this. The reason I got fat was because I didn't have enough money to spend on food. So I bought and eat chiefly pasta and breads. There were a few veggies, but not really. Have you seen the cost of organic vegetables lately?! Who can afford that! I'm eating more now since I got food stamps, which helps, but eating well and the right foods?
It's something only the rich can afford to do. That's why only rich people are thin people.
Todays western relationship between money and our concept of the ideal body shape is polar opposite to western fashion in the 18th and 19th centuries, when it was considered chic to be fat, and only the wealthy land/factory owners could afford to eat the fat and calorie rich refined foods of the day.
Why are Asians generally thin and Americans generally fat?
1. There are obese Asians. 2. As for the non-obese Asians: probably evolution.
Actually, obesity IS increasingly becoming a problem as Asian countries become more wealthy, and Asian populations increasingly work in sedentary jobs. So called "lifestyle" diseases, such as adult onset diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, are increasingly becoming problems in the fast growing Asian economies.
Asians typically have a smaller frame and become obese at a lower absolute weight than Caucasians. Obesity is increasing in US Asians as they adopt a Western diet.
Traditional Asian diets focus on rice, legumes and fish with some chicken and pork. Red meat is rarely consumed.
I am exactly at the weight I am supposed to be. I eat meat, fish, and eggs. To hell with vegetarians.
I am sure that overeating and wrong eating can result in obesity but these are not the only causes. It has long been suspected and is now scientifically established that exercise preferably outdoors during the first 20 years of life is crucial. Two modern inventions have mightily contributed to U.S. obesity: cars and TV. Huge numbers of kids have become car potatoes and couch potatoes. Is it conceivable that inaction (especially boredom) produces yearning for food?
I never had homework in elementary school and only little in high school hence I played nearly every day outdoors after school was out and in the evening after dinner.
Stupid? Forget it. I've become a Professor of Geology (now retired)at a reputable US university because I did not overload my brain. Can worrying about grades result in yearning for food?
Have you ever seen an obese worker on a construction site or mowing the lawns or working as a field hand?
I have a weird hypothesis namely that using one's brains burns a considerable number of calories hence keeps the body weight down. In the course of my work I have visited many graduate departments of universities in the US. It is remarkable how few obese graduate students there are and I am speaking of European-Americans, not Asian-Americans. Why?
"I have a weird hypothesis namely that using one's brains burns a considerable number of calories hence keeps the body weight down."
Using one's brains does NOT burn much calories. It does however, require lots of glycogen, which causes a craving for sugar / carbohydrate laden items. In other words, it results in a yearning for food. The "problem" is that while there is a yearning for food, there is no "need" for a lot of it, since brain use does not burn much calories, unlike intense construction work, or farm work. With the result that people in sedentary jobs that require a lot of brain power, end up eating more (fast digesting) calories than they need.
Goodman in wrong in comparing smoking and obesity. lThe campaign against smoking was a rather cruel and misdirected effort. While all the evidence indicates that smoking results from nicotine addiction, smokers were vilified as having character defects (as are the obese) and forced into humiliating situations (standing outside in the rain trying to satisfy their addictions). Europeans had a much more humane approach to this problem than Americans.
Increased taxes on tobacco were (and still are) used to fund various goals. The goals may be worthy, but these are highly regressive taxes because smokers tend to be relatively poor. When you dramatically drive up the price on something a person is addicted to, in the case of poor people their nutrition will suffer elsewhere.
Since smoking is an addiction, research indicates that the best way to stop is to gradually wean oneself using a patch or other device. Unfortunately, for most people the patches are more expensive than the cigarettes, and so many will honestly say they can't afford to quit.
In addition, the instructions and dosages for patches leave a lot to be desired: (e.g., they expect complete withdrawal in 3 months when 12 months would be more effective, and nothing is said about cutting the patches down in size (with scissors) to afford a more gradual withdrawal. Then there's the pharmaceutical industry pushing an expensive anti-depressant (Wellbutrin), based on very limited evidence of efficacy in stopping smoking.
So the campaign against smoking would make a terrible model for obesity. Besides, even given the fact that corporate interests are at fault, there's still genetic components involved that play a huge role in one's weight.
I think there's a genetic component that plays a huge role in addiction to nicotine and other substances as well.
It's not a good idea to cut into any sort of transdermal patch, whether it's nicotine or morphine--it allows too large a dose to enter the body. My doctor told me that nicotine in itself, aside from its addictive properties, is relatively harmless, so there's no reason you can't use the lowest dosage patch for a year if you need it as long as you can afford it.
My sister stopped smoking with the aid of nicotine gum, which she used for about 10 years. She was recently advised by her doctor to quit using the gum, not because the nicotine is harming her but because all that chewing has worn the enamel off her teeth.
Although I am not obese, and do not smoke, I think stigmatizing any health problem is unfair and counterproductive. My friends who smoke seem to actually overcompensate, and are afraid to smoke in the presence of others. I think this goes too far. And by the way, they still smoke!
Given the American core value of "freedom to screw up," the only measure the government should promote is truth-in-labeling for restaurants and groceries. Nothing is banned, nothing is taxed, no food Nazis. It is only required that eaters be informed about calories, fat, sodium, and sugar. Add to that an educational campaign that starts in kindergarten and most people will make wise choices.
i'm interested in maxpaynes lentil diet. If you can prove that eating lentils has reversed your balding then you have got one hell of a winner. Let me be your "Billy Mays". I can sell ice to an eskimo -so to speak.
When my husband was in the Peace Corp., he noticed the phenomenon of a certain number of very fat poor people in the Philippines. It turns out that these poverty-stricken people were too poor to afford much protein. In order to get enough protein, they had to eat a LOT of rice. I think this phenomenon might be happening here, but the difference is that instead of being short of protein, the poor people might be short of omega-3 fatty acids, or magnesium, or various other vitamins or minerals.
The food industry is just as predatory as the banking and tobacco industries in America, it wants you submissive and dependent. A personal story: I've lost 42 pounds since freeing myself from the tentacles of the food (and diet) industries last February, with 14 more to go. I'm now under 200 pounds. No pills or gimmicks, stapling of the stomach, etc. Just old-fashioned fruits and veggies, lots of jogging and stretching. I eat all types of raw meat and boiled eggs for protein.
I found out that bad carbohydrates like refined sugar, bread, pasta and better ones like rice, beans and potatoes, and especially processed food were what made me put on 60 pounds since 1989, they year I moved to America. Alcohol is also bad but I don't give that up (or coffee). Bad carbohydrates are addictive and make your body crave for more bad carbohydrates. But the worst are the chemicals and preservatives in processed food: tomato sauce, Tropicana orange juice, franks, cookies, commercial bread, etc. Your body doesn't know what to do with them, so it stores them. Cancer starts here. The sooner you stop eating processed food, the sooner you'll be cancer free, healthy, slim and HOT.
I now have more energy than know what to do with it and look great, and all because I freed myself from the predatory practices of the food (and diet) industries. Every person has the power to do the same, even if you're 300 pounds overweight.
If you aren't already, start eating quinoa. It's loaded with both protein and fiber, can be eaten hot or cold, and can be mixed with a variety of other foods and requires no salt to make it taste good. It's delicious.
An important staple of my vegan diet.
Ray Berthiaume
There's only one store in Memphis that sell quinoa. Why don't the chains, like Kroger, sell it?
I'm surprised they don't. Kroger is the parent company of King Soopers (out here in Colorado), and King Soopers carries it. I get mine in bulk from the another store, so I can't remember the brand name of the boxes of it I see in King Soopers. But I know they have it. You might check around again or ask.
I don't understand why people are fat. I see fat people and wonder why they are fat. It's unhealthy and I doubt a person can be happy looking that way so why don't they stop eating so much and exercise. People have always commented on my discipline and work ethic maybe I just can't relate to the inability to discipline yourself. I also don't understand drug addicts and alcoholics. Not to mention, racists, conservatives etc... I especially don't understand racist, fat, alcoholic conservatives, so needless to say when I find myself in the South it is pretty disturbing. I also don't understand why people in the South dress like they shop at Gap Kids. All these fat Jesus-loving dumb-looking drunken ignorant big full-grown adults walking around in bright-colored polo shirts and khaki shorts and sneakers. Like big fat overgrown toddlers. They support anything the military does without question and then call themselves anti-big federal government. I just got back from the South and needed to get that out, thanks for listening, it was kind of off the subject, I think I'll go get another organic carrot from the fridge...
Thanks for the laugh! I wish your post was satire and not truth. Don't forget that these folks also have to be kept in strict temperature controlled, bacteria free, and allergen free environments decorated in soothing beige patterns of rectangles all with parallel edges. Don’t even try to ignore, or omit the electric perfume thingy that reeks like a chemical factory when you plug it in. No, get a case, these folks are whiffy, considering the size of their south forties. They require constant entertainment in the form of NASCAR and Fox News. They also require transportation vehicles made to the same standards as their god-awful, stifling living rooms, with all the same vices, I mean comforts. Their cars must be able to accelerate to 80 miles per hour in five seconds or less, and be larger and more expensive than what the neighbors have. They must also be very macho and intimidating. No French foo-foo bubble cars for Bubba and Bubbette. They also have to live three hundred miles by twelve lane freeway from their work, which is, you guessed it, also made in the form of a structure of soothing beige rectangles, flashing video screens, and damp, fat shapeless asses molding on five wheeled chairs rated for a ton of weight. No one really does anything there, by the way, except e-mail each other and complain when the network goes down. Sharpen a pencil? What’s a pencil? Produce a product? Doesn’t everything come from Wal-Mart? Here, have some Olestra. Sure, it causes anal leakage, but who will notice with a stink bomb plugged into every free outlet and Rush Limbaugh blasting from every computer speaker? Knee deep in your own dung? Who cares?
I think self-righteousness is a much bigger social problem than being fat.