Frightening and Promising: The Obesity Crisis
January 8th, 2010
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by Scott Tousignant · Filed Under: Fat Loss Motivation
All that I can say is WOW! You must take the next 7 minutes to watch this incredible report from CBS News. It’s absolutely frightening to watch how the obesity crisis is affecting our children physically and emotionally. But the time to watch is over. It is now time to ACT!
What are your thoughts after watching this video? What were some of the comments that really stood out to you?
Here are some of the things that really jumped out at me…
The comment that shocked and infuriated me was, “The personal responsibility approach is a fine place to start, but we’ve been doing it for over 40 years now and we’re losing the battle with obesity. That’s been an experiment that has failed.”
REALLY???
Personal responsibility an experiment? Are you serious?
In my humble opinion that’s one of the most irresponsible comments that I’ve ever heard. I would love to hear how this gentleman has experimented with personal responsibility himself.
Personal responsibility is not an experiment. It’s not something that you try or dabble with. It’s something that you continue to improve upon for life. It’s your own personal freedom. It’s EMPOWERMENT at it’s best.
One of the more shocking images was of the young boy who actually didn’t appear to be much overweight yet the ultrasound revealed the damage that had already begun as a result of the poor quality of food that has been consumed and a less active lifestyle.
My heart absolutely sunk when I watched the two young teenage women and the emotional impact that they have been going through.
To hear how guilty one of them felt because she didn’t start sooner really made me feel sad. She should be celebrating the fact that she did take action. She’s giving herself a chance for a brighter future. She’s becoming a powerful role model for so many incredible young girls out there who may be feeling hopeless. That’s something to be proud about.
To hear the other young woman say that she just wants to have fun really hit me. It’s amazing what excess weight really robs from us. You don’t need to be 400 pounds in order to feel the effect of being robbed of the life that you deserve.
I totally applaud them on taking action now. Frankly, I believe that they can be even greater teachers than I ever could because of what they’ve gone through and what they are discovering on this new path that they have made the CHOICE to follow. With that choice they just exercised personal responsibility and it’s working!
Another thing that stood out from the video was the amazing things that can be accomplished when a group of people work together for the greater good. Community and support can absolutely move mountains. You never have to feel alone. There is always someone out there to support you and encourage you to become the best that you can be.
It was very interesting to see how no new fast food joints have been allowed to open up in their town. That certainly sounds like a better option than the Taco Bell Drive Thru Diet Menu that we discussed yesterday.
This community took it even further by making healthier foods more readily available. Now that’s the right kind of action. Replacing a bad habit with a new positive one. This was the promising part of the news report. It’s great that CBS showed both the frightening and the promising sides of the obesity crisis.
One of the points that was brought up in the report was how junk food is cheaper than healthy food. I can agree with that statement to a certain degree, but if you are a smart shopper it can actually be cheaper to eat healthy.
I wrote a post and created a video a little while ago showing the difference in price between healthy food and junk food. You can check that out here: Does Eating Healthy Cost More?
We always stock up on chicken breasts when they are on sale. We can usually get 6 chicken breasts for $10. We consume foods such as lentils, oatmeal, and eggs which are very inexpensive. When frozen fruit and veggies go on sale we fill our freezer with them. For the past month our local grocery stores have had incredible deals on frozen fruit and veggies.
One of the ’solutions’ that has been presented is a tax on junk food. I’d love to hear your thoughts on that. I’d personally prefer to see the government come up with solutions to help lower the price of healthy foods. Our Canadian government gives tax breaks for families who put their kids in sports, maybe they could give tax breaks if they see your grocery bill contains mostly healthy foods?
Marketing to children is definitely a problem as stated in the video. Obviously the governments pressure on these companies to reduce this form of advertising is not working as good as it could. More definitely needs to be done on this level.
Distorting science is always a problem. Junk food companies may do it in an effort to try and prove that their product isn’t as bad for you as portrayed in the media. But it’s also a problem in the fitness and diet industry. Distorting science in an effort to sell a book or program is a practice that is way too common in my opinion and it’s something that I would love to see something done about.
One of the topics that I will be covering in the next few days is about having a “Powerful Why“. It’s a phrase that has been used much too loosely in my opinion and I believe that it’s losing it’s impact. I’ll get more into that later, but what I want to know from you right now is…
Was seeing this video enough of a reason to take action towards your healthy goals right now? Or will it be forgotten by the end of the day?
Is seeing our children suffering like this enough of a reason “WHY” to become a better role model for them?
I’d love to hear your thoughts. Let’s have another lively discussion on this very important topic.
Keeping It Real,
Scott Tousignant
So much to comment on, but I wanted to speak to one thing in particular. The “junk food tax”/”healthy food rebate” idea. It is a very complex issue and it would have a really hard time finding federal support because most of the food production companies are in the government’s pockets-DEEP!! Also, what constitutes “healthy food” varies from one person to the next. For example, you may say that apples are healthy, but your neighbor thinks that only organically, locally grown apples are healthy. If you’ve seen food, inc, then you’ll recognize the same dilemma as it relates to sources of meat and dairy. Is lean chicken healthy? How about if it contains HUGE amounts of Salmonella and must be bleached to decrease bacterial levels to an acceptable level….. just something to think about. thanks for the soapbox:)
Great points Chrystin and thanks for joining in on the soapbox
What is healthy food? Now that’s food for thought. Even I can’t give you the absolute best answer if you are getting down to how a product is grown or raised. But what I do know is a fillet of salmon is healthier than a Big Mac.
When it comes to nutrition I find it incredibly frustrating how we are over-complicating it when most people can’t even master the basic fundamentals.
Once the fundamentals are mastered we can move onto deeper issues. Right now I feel the debate about how chicken is raised or fruit and vegetables are grown really doesn’t matter too much because many people aren’t even eating those foods. They are eating manufactured stuff and flocking to the fast food joints. Of course… that’s just my opinion
I certainly care about the deeper issues and they do need to be addressed, but as I said, lets focus on the basics.
I agree with you Scott on mastering the basic fundamentals first. Without the basic fundamentals mastered first how can you try to build on an unsteady foundation?
I can relate to this kind of concern, what is really healthy? For me, the point thas Scott is trying to make in his response hit me when I realized that I was not taking action at all, just making excuses to feed my procastinating mind. Taking action now toimprove your health and being a role model for children is what’s important. We want our kids to be happy and worry-free, not ashamed and concerned about their health and weight. Today I’m taking action to better myself and hopefully leave an impact on my little step brother and sister.
Thank you Vania. I believe that one of the greatest gifts that you can give someone, especially young children, is to be a positive role model yourself.
Way to take action and way to go on realizing the impact that you can have on not only yourself, but on the people who you care about the most. You ROCK and I’m mighty proud of you.
No, I agree with the importance of the “basics”. The stores are 98% processed junk. They are packaged for convenience and taste and profit. How do you fight that? My point is how do you draw the line between healthy and not healthy when even the same category of products has such a variation in healthfulness (and price, of course), People think I’m crazy to spend over $1 for a greek yogurt when you can buy HFCS yogurt for 40 cents- and you’d be just as well off drinking hershey’s syrup straight from the bottle in my opinion. The difference in nutrition is huge. But the parent who sent her kid in to school with “gogurt” in my son’s class probably thought she was making a healthy choice for her child. Fortunately, my son straightened her out. This child had been out of school sick for a few days, so my son had instructed her that she should get healthier yogurt so that she wouldn’t get sick again. I felt a strange mix of pride and mortification.
I totally hear you Chrystin and applaud you for being a great role model for your child. It’s great to see how it’s rubbed off.
My mind really goes spinning in circles when talking about quality of foods because there is just so much contradicting information out there. As the video mentions there is a lot of science that is being distorted. Even so-called health foods distort science to make sales.
I do a fair amount of research and feel overwhelmed. I can’t imagine how the general public feels. We need more truthful information being put out about just how much healthier foods are.
And you’re right with that question… how do we define what’s healthy?
You’re input has been awesome and greatly appreciated. Thanks for contributing to this awesome discussion!
Thanks, Scott. I WISH that I could drive to the grocery store and see NO fast food places. There are just no good options there. And that the store would be free of any processed food, short of minimally processed grains and such. That would be awesome!!
It is indeed scary how fast this is happening. And most of the people don’t even seem to care. :/
I wish my entire family cared. Sometimes I swear it’s just me and it’s frustrating. Most of the times one of them decides to take action but quickly stops it. -.-’
Thank you very much for your comment Sofia. You’ve touched on a very important point. Do people care? On the surface it may seem as though they don’t care. They may brag to their friends about how many beers they had or how they got their meal for free because they took the 5 pound burger challenge and scarfed it back…
But then they have to face themselves in the mirror each day or feel the discomfort of their cloths getting tighter, or even finding it tough to breath when tying their shoes.
I bet the girls in the video hid their emotional pain well. On the surface it may not have seemed as though they cared, but deep down I’m sure they did. At the time maybe they didn’t care enough… now that I believe is an issue. I think people in general do care, but they don’t care enough.
Yeah, but unfortunately as the old saying goes – you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink it.
How do we make people start caring enough? By not quitting on them and not hiding the fact that we care! Some of us hold back our comments and stuff thinking that we will be ridiculed. Trust me I face it a lot of times with my significant other but then when he sees how serious I am and the facts that I bring to his face and he checks around for himself, he in time starts to care and makes changes that he needs.
That’s why I said not quitting on people. Like another saying goes – evil thrives when good men do nothing.
Even if it is just 1 person, hey that’s one less unhealthy obese person!
You shared some powerful words with us Marylin that are worth repeating…
“How do we make people start caring enough? By not quitting on them and not hiding the fact that we care! Some of us hold back our comments and stuff thinking that we will be ridiculed.”
I certainly hope that each of you realize how much I sincerely care about you and refuse to give up in my efforts to help you become the best you that you can be.
I also want each of you to know just how much your thoughts and opinions mean to me. All opinions are welcome here. It doesn’t matter if I don’t agree with them. I’m not always right… just ask Angie
If your thoughts go against the common views of the previous comments I want to hear from you. Your thoughts can have a big impact on the people who read your comment. Please do not hold back.
I think the anchor nailed it when she said that junk food and no P.E. is a recipe for disaster. I also think that’s what the expert meant when he said that the “personal responsibility approach wasn’t working”. He wasn’t meaning that people shouldn’t be personally responsible for what happens to them but that the problem is bigger than any one person and that we need to work to make sure that economic incentives, education, etc are in place to make it easier for people to to what is right.
We managed to get people to stop smoking (easier than stop eating…) through creating economic and social incentives not to smoke. Eating is more complicated (you need to eat – most diet plans even recommend cheat days — which you would never hear recommended in AA or a smoking cessation program). In New Mexico, they managed to lower the number DUI deaths through enacting really tough laws, good treatment programs and a lot of public education. The combination works. And, no, I don’t want to pay $5 for my diet coke – but I would gladly do it (and probably drink less of the evil stuff) if I knew that the extra went toward education programs.
The issue is economic – yes, you can eat well inexpensively – but you need to know how. People are are struggling just to make ends meet don’t think it is worth the time to learn to cook well. If you don’t cook, there really isn’t much inexpensive healthy food out there. Junk food is cheap. Education is a huge part of this (and it has to reach people who aren’t looking for it…)
I envy the children’s sports tax break in Canada
Thank you for this fantastic comment Meredith! What a great comparison between diets, smoking, and alcohol. Very great points!
The expert mentioned that personal responsibility is a start but has failed us. You’re right, the problem is bigger than one individual. The obesity crisis is impacting health care, health care insurance, businesses, and so much more. I can’t believe that we even have to have discussions about the sizes of seats on airplanes, but it is something that we are unfortunately faced with.
Even though the problem is bigger than one individual, if most of us exercised personal responsibility would we have to rely on the government to step in?
Many of the big changes began with one individual followed by a positive domino effect. Rather than rely on government to step in I believe that it does begin with the individual.
I love the song and video by music artist Kat Edmonson called Be The Change http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RyS3NasuRk
I’m not waiting for the government to step in. I’m taking action now to do what I can to become a part of the solution. Governments act slow. We can’t wait for them.
With that being said, I do agree that a combination of the two is what will work best, but it has to start with individuals.
Of course… but it is a little bit of a chicken and egg situation… People won’t make the choice unless they have the education to know how crucial it is — and to elevate health and self care to the top of their lists.
Glad you posted that, Scott.
One thing about that “personal responsibility” statement.
Re-read Plato’s Myth of the cave.
You can’t make a choice that you don’t know exists.
Self-responsibility, critical thinking, problem-solving and rational decision-making are all skills that have to be taught, and become habit by regular use.
Our schools don’t teach that.
In fact, they teach pretty much the opposite.
It’s a cheap shot to intellectually hamstring kids, infantalize them, isolate them from the world, bombard them with incessant corporate propaganda, slip fattening and addictive substances like high-fructose corn syrup and MSG into EVERYTHING they eat, and then say that they’re obese because they weren’t “self-responsible!”
Jesus, talk about blaming the victim.
It takes a hell of a lot of courage to go against the mainstream, even to save your own life.
I agree with you that anybody who does that, especially a kid, is worthy of respect.
Next 4th of July, maybe we should go into the stores, take all that junk-food poison and toss it into Boston Harbor, along with the corporate pushers and the politicians playing footsie with them.
Just my opinion, of course.
Liberty & Justice,
sj
SJ you touched on a great point which was totally on my mind immediately after I heard the comment that “personal responsibility has failed”.
We haven’t ‘experimented’ with personal responsibility for 40 years as he stated. As you mention, it’s rarely taught. I would love to see more teachings on how to become more personally responsible.
I believe that a big part of it comes down to personal values and a true love for ones self. If you had a real deep love for yourself and really cared about yourself why would you rob yourself of the quality and quantity of life that you deserve?
We are so caught up in this rat race society that we don’t take the time to seriously think about the harm that we are doing to our bodies and what we can do to improve ourselves.
Why do subsidize the corn industry?? Of course their lobby owns our congressmen. The only way I see is somehow get term limits so they can’t make politics a career. Good luck to all of that.
I feel for the kids today. Not only are they eating poorly, but the lack of exercise is frightening. How many kids do you see outside today just kicking a ball around? How many kids to you see just going for a walk? Do you see very many kids outside at all? Most are inside their homes, glued to the TV playing videoo games or on the computer or cell phones chatting. I applauded the new video system that came on the market (won’t say the name) that requires the player to get up and move to interact with the game. At least, this is a start.
I live in a small community where the streets are filled with kids immediately after school. They are all playing basketball, road hockey, or just running around. Sure they play some video games… even I enjoy to do that, but for the most part they are active and it shows.
I’ll be filming a video in my backyard, probably later today. We’ve got an icerink back there now and the kids can’t get enough of it. It’s awesome to hear the laughter and joy that goes on back there.
When we venture out or go on vacations I’m absolutely floored at how big today’s youth have become.
First – Personal responsibility an experiment that has failed! What is he an IDIOT! Come on! Personal responsibility is something that you have and that you learn and hopefully pass it on to your children! It’s something that you continue to work on and improve as you go through your life! If you don’t even begin to try to instill this into your children, how can you expect the future generation to even know or comprehend what personal responsibility is!
Secondly – It totally broke my heart to see the children. That poor boy’s blood pressure was so dangerously high. I don’t even have high blood pressure and I am currently 70 lbs overweight and a grown woman. The poor teenage girls – One feels guilty because she didn’t start sooner and the other one wants to have fun and have friends! People wake up! What does this say about us! I wish I could get in touch with both of those girls and let them know, for the one girl – there’s nothing to feel guilty about – you started on a plan, you lost 20 lbs and still on it – That’s totally awesome and rocks. For the other poor girl just to let her know – Hey you are not alone and you have a WORLDWIDE community of FRIENDS not only at your side and backing you up but rooting for you to go on.
Thirdly – you’re right community and support can move mountains! We have to get physical education back in the schools. Make it a required program like it was before. Get some more physical ed type of after school programs and sports programs going on! My girls are now grown or at least 2 of them. I have a 26 year old, 24 year old and a 15 year old. They are super super lucky in that they have their dad’s genes and metabolism. Chinese/Vietnamese and Cuban/Italian combo. They are one of the lucky few that can eat what they want but again if they eat too much they get too skinny. I have always had them in sports and fitness in one form or another. I got the shock of my life when I found out from my 2 oldest daughters when they were in middle school that PE was an elective. It was only mandatory for ½ the school year. In high school, completely an elective. You don’t know how I am fighting this. Still to this day I am e-mailing and sending letters to have this changed. How can we expect our children to learn to love fitness and healthy eating when in the schools they don’t have PE and they don’t get shown that healthy eating is also very delicious! I’ve had to resort to having all three of my girls taking their lunches because they didn’t have healthy lunches.
Now I am not putting it off on the school. The education and the instilling of these healthy habits begins at the home. You have no idea how much fighting and arguing I have with parents from all walks of life, that having an obese child is not healthy! It isn’t cute and it isn’t funny! You are robbing them of life. You are starting them on the wrong foot and making everything soo much more difficult for them than they have to be. It isn’t cute to see an obese kid that can’t play with the other kids cause he gets too winded or all the taunting they go through because of how much they eat and the way they look. We have to start educating the parents and instilling this in all of our kids. Show them how empowering and fun fitness and nutrition can be.
Last but not least Scott, I agree wholeheartedly about what you said about instead of the taxing of junk food, I’d like to see the government come up with solutions to help lower the price of healthy foods. I am very lucky and fortunate that I have a small farmers market so to speak near enough that I can buy my produce but when you look at the prices of healthier cuts of meats and poultry that are actually grown organically with no hormones, etc. it’s a small fortune.
Case in point, my poor sister, just found out she has a bacteria in her stomach that has been linked to causing cancer if left untreated for a long period of time which she is taking medication to take care of. It’s been giving her stomach problems (nausea, some vomiting, dizzy spells, pain, heartburn every day). The first thing he told her was he wanted her to start eating chicken that are grown organically, free range, etc. She started crying at first cause the price of that chicken is sky high. Between that and her medication she is finding it hard to budget. She really isn’t much of a meat eater. She really loves chicken and turkey. Of course money is tight for her as it is for many of us. Luckily she has myself and my other sister and we pool some of our money to help out with medicines but how many people can say they have that kind of support?
The government really has to start doing something to make all of this healthy food a lot more affordable for everyone. Not a luxury.
Years ago and I’m talking when I was a little girl and I used to go out to various farms and ranches with my grandfather, I heard them tell my grandfather that some of them were actually paid not too grow vegetables and stuff on their farms. Same with the dairy farmers and ranchers. I’ve never understood that. Some old timers would say it’s too keep the demand high and prices high! Give me a break.
Well enough ranting now. Thanks Scott for letting me rant on this!
Wow Marylin. Thanks for pouring your thoughts out on this topic. Fantastic response!
It certainly would help to have the support of the government and our schools in the battle of obesity, and you are totally right Marylin, healthy habits begin in the home.
This isn’t always easy. It’s tough when you have kids that are picky eaters and have a hectic schedule, but the effort is always worth it when you instill healthy habits to your children.
What really cracks me up is the man who stated that “personal responsibility is not working” looks to be overweight himself. I guess he is giving himself an excuse. I believe personal responsibility is the only way. The last thing we want is for the gov’t to step in and monitor what we eat. If people stop eating junk………fast food places will be forced to close or change. Supply and demand. If you think that what you do won’t make a difference, you’re wrong. We can change this epidemic one person at a time but it has to start with yourself. The other problem is………most people who need to see this info, aren’t signed up to your blog. They are in line at the drive thru at Mickey D’s.
Well put Karen… well put!
I love that you said, “I guess he is giving himself an excuse.” What a brilliant insight
Thank you for your positive statements and words of encouragement in regards to individuals having the power to make a difference.
You ROCK!
I also thought it ironic that the obesity expert was obese. I think the personal responsibility comment speaks to the fact that it is really a struggle in this society to avoid all the garbage out there. I do eat fast food occasionally but always get the grilled chicken where ever I go. It is almost 2 times more expensive than the fried (why?) and then they want to supersize fries and a drink which would make it cheaper not more expensive. How many adults have the willpower to turn that down much less children.
I also think as far as children go parents today are guilty about the time away from their kids and reward them with stuff including food to compensate. It is really hard to say no to kids when you work all day and don’t see them or are divorced and competeing with an ex spouse who might give in on everthing. I am not afraid to say no to my son and I don’t work but sometimes it is really hard. And he is thin but if I gave in to all the garbage he asked for that would not last long.
There are no easy answers but changing the way society portrays food and eating would help a lot of people.
we here in the UK are a little behind the USA on the obeisity problem but we are catching up fast. All your fast food joints are over here opening later and advanced advertising techniches catching the kids at an early age! Education for parents and children is the only way, but this must be funded and backed by the governments. You cant take away peoples right to choose! but you can give them the choice through education! In our UK state run schools we spend 37p (50 cents) per child to provide lunch, we spend more on feeding our criminals in prison!!! When a famous chef tried to improve the unhealthy foods in our schools, he went into a school kitchen and re-educate the staff, kids, parents etc… it improved concentration, kids calmed down, less fighting, grades went up etc… but the un-educated parents started taking junk food to the school and handing out over the fence!! If parents and governments dont care how do we expect the children to care!!
I was struck by the irony of the guy studying obesity, being obese himself. He never mentions it here, but it was kind of “the elephant in the room.”
The stat that says we eat 530 more calories than we used to seems crazy, but if you’ve ever counted calories accurately on yourself, you know how easy that is to accumulate. I work in an office where I’m surrounded by people, mostly women, who are overweight and really don’t care. There’s always some fattening junk around, which they bring in trying to be nice. A doughnut and a bagel per day, or a few of their big cookies, and you’re doing that extra 500 calories without even thinking.
Btw, I have to brag on myself for a sec — I did the cardio dumbell-squat challenge again after a few days rest, and the second time I pounded it out in 4:30. Five sets of 20. I was coughing up a little gunk by the end, but I felt okay in a few minutes. It’s a great exercise!
I have to agree that the comment on ‘personal responsibility is a good start’ was the most assinine comment I have ever heard!!! Everything that goes in your mouth is a CHOICE. The problem children have is that they don’t have a choice. Unless they are going off on their parents about the food choices that are made in the household, they are STUCK eating what the parents buy. How bout more penalties for the parents who put their children in this position to start with?
I don’t believe a tax on junk food will do the trick. Like cigarettes, people are still going to go for it. Again, how bout making some of the healthier options cheaper? I remember when I was a child, chicken was cheap. Once the health benefits were discovered, the price hit the roof. I couldn’t believe it!
I was floored by the 400 lb teenager. She looked older than I am, and that is stunning! I do applaud them for taking action, which is the first step.
But it all comes back to one thing: taking responsibility for what you eat. If your cash flow is low, then work around it. Not easy, but doable. Your body will thank you in the long run!
I first came to the US in 1980 at age 29 and that was the first time I went to a fast food restaurant, I quickly gained 20lb’s. To this day even though I no longer go to fast food joints I am still struggling to remove/keep those extra lb’s off.
I agree that personal responsibility is a major part of the cure. I have to want to do better.
But it’s so hard when we are bombarded with unhealthy food ads and we have no support from our piers.
I used personal responsibility, and I was fat, I was unhealthy, I couldn’t make a flight of stairs without thinking I was dying. Now I see people like me and think, oh, it’s so easy to change, just decide and get a plan, get support (community) and do it. Commit to it, but excuses tend to over ride that….like personal responsibility isn’t working, or my favorite “I’ve tried and nothing seems to work” I’ve heard that while watching people order 2 meals from a menu…literally.
Thanks again for a great post.
Ryan