"The authors also estimate that by 2022, about 80 percent of adults may be overweight or obese, and 100 percent could be by 2048. But the prevalence will reach 100 percent in black women by 2034."
I don't believe it. In the real world, trend lines rarely go in straight lines, and end at 100%. They are more likely to level off and plateau.
He made up a shopping list last night (at age 16) and put lettuce and tomatoes on it for his sandwiches, so that is a start.
That's great. Alek still has a major sweet tooth, but he has put his foot down about trans fats. He was reprimanding me for buying cookies with trans fats the other day. I deserved it. I'm usually very good about watching that, but we were in the Asian grocery store and saw some cookies that a student said were really good so I bought a small box so we could try them. It was an impulse buy and it bit me in the butt.
Dawn
"Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You have to set yourself on fire." anonymous
Posts: 4533 | Location: Indianapolis, IN | Registered: March 15, 2004
I intend on being one of the one in ten who are a healthy weight.
Me too.
quote:
I don’t want to work at a job of trying to influence and motive a room of strangers to lose weight. Never mind all of America...
Me too. The best I can do is be a good role model for my family and friends, educate my daughter, and do what I can to influence what's in the circle of my control.
I don't have the answers for anyone other than myself.
The reality is that the vast majority of people know what they're supposed to be doing - eat less, move more. They simply choose not to do it.
Motivation has to come from within. No amount of scary research about obesity can make someone change.
Out of our beliefs are born deeds; out of our deeds we form habits; out of our habits grows our character; and on our character we build our destiny.
Originally posted by cobismom: So what do we do about it?
Hmmmmm...
I intend on being one of the one in ten who are a healthy weight. Althoug in 2030... I'll be... 72... ok... I'll still be alive (I think... statistically I should be alive.).
I HOPE that my kid (who will be 38 in 2030) is a healthy weight, but he is responsible for himself. He made up a shopping list last night (at age 16) and put lettuce and tomatoes on it for his sandwiches, so that is a start.
Part of me feels kind of pessimistic. I’ve had people say to me, “You should be a Weight Watchers leader!”. I really don’t know how much I can influence another person. I nagged my dh for 20 years to take his lunch and not buy lunch out. He said to me a couple of weeks ago, “See! Your nagging DOES work!” My own husband isn’t yet a healthy weight… close… but not there yet. But if I can’t “make” or motivate my own family lose weight, I don’t want to work at a job of trying to influence and motive a room of strangers to lose weight. Never mind all of America...
OTOH. Brian Wansink has this concept of the “Nutritional Gatekeeper”. The Nutritional Gatekeeper of a home influences an estimated 72% of all of the food their family eats. In my family, I am the gatekeeper. (Wasn’t there some sci-fi thriller with a “Gatekeeper” and somebody who droned “I am the Gatekeeper”?) Sometimes it is a subtle influence like buying frozen vegs so that we always have some in the house… and other times it is more like the Food Police and, “No. We are not buying pizza tonight”.
But I'll start by dragging my own self out for a walk right now.
Denise
Posts: 9221 | Location: Silicon Valley, CA | Registered: March 17, 2004
I am a reactive person. I read this and heard it on the news and thought, OKAY, there has to be something we can do to reset the trend...what? As a small community of healthy people what do we do? As a mother, and older mother, what do I do? As the wife of a chef, what do I do?
Ideas?
It's never too late to get it right.
Posts: 3473 | Location: Central USA | Registered: March 11, 2004
In many ways, I'm not surprised. saddened, horrified, but not really surprised. While I've noticed that more and more Americans are plumping up, it really has taken this trip to open my eyes. French people are where Americans were 30 years ago (to some extent, but with better food). There are some trends in the supermarket, etc which are not good, though. There is starting to be a 'fast food' culture, as well as stuff like artificial sweeteners. More American brands on store shelves, more American brands (Starbucks, Subway, Ben and Jerry's) on the street.
Fortunately, some of the French are fighting back. But I am noticing some larger portion sizes, etc in various places (mostly tourist-oriented). It takes being in a culture where most people are slim to notice how chubby the average American has gotten. I thought i was doing ok, until i got here, because in comparison to the average American, I'm slim. In comparison to the average Frenchwoman? Chubby American. That's not saying every Frenchwoman is slim, and every American is chubby, but the heaviest people I see on the streets generally turn out to be Americans. (In Egypt, growing up, it always used to be the Germans).
