The recent press about United Airlines joining the ranks of other major carriers in establishing a tough policy about seating obese passengers brings up the larger issue of what we can do to stop the epidemic of obesity in this country.
As a preventive cardiologist in Miami Beach and the author of The South Beach Diet Supercharged, I see the consequences of the obesity epidemic every day in my practice. Not only am I treating patients with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, metabolic syndrome, prediabetes, diabetes, and advanced heart disease, but also patients with related ailments like sleep apnea, joint issues, and depression.
Today an unbelievable two-thirds (66.5 percent) of Americans are either overweight or obese and that number appears to be growing, not shrinking.
3 Steps to Preventing Obesity
I firmly believe that the first step in stopping this epidemic lies with the insurance system, which currently pays more for doctors to perform procedures than to listen to and educate patients. Today primary-care doctors often find themselves having trouble meeting overhead and so they try to see more people in less time, leaving the patients feeling rushed and neglected. Doctors have little time to practice preventive medicine--to teach obese patients, for example, about the value of a proper diet and exercise program or to get to the root cause of a person's weight problem. This simply can't be done in a typical 10-minute doctor visit. Until incentives for prevention can be built into our health-care system, until doctors can afford the time they'd like to spend with patients, the problem of obesity and so many other chronic diseases will continue to persist in this country.
The second step in halting the obesity epidemic lies with getting rid of our fast-food, supersized-is-better mentality. Do I need to say more?
The third step lies with families themselves. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that by 2020 a third of all children in this country will be overweight or obese. As we know, fat children often become fat adults. In fact, a child who is overweight during adolescence stands a 70 percent chance of being overweight as an adult and an 80 percent chance of being overweight if his or her mom or dad is. There is no question that our empty-calorie, sedentary lifestyle (kids not only need to eat right, but they also need to also exercise on school playgrounds and in the park, not on video games) may be trumping medical advances in the prevention and treatment of coronary disease, and that this generation of kids may have more heart disease and die earlier than their parents--unless sustained changes are made.
Overfed Yet Undernourished
I often say that our children are overfed yet undernourished. That's because most children are not getting the foods they need to thrive. Like their parents, these children are eating a steady diet of nutrient-deficient, highly processed foods that are high in sugar and saturated and trans fats and very low in fiber. And they're washing it all down with a glass or two of sugary soda. If we are to stop the epidemic of obesity in this country, parents must take a good look at what kids have on their plates.
Regardless of a person's age, an optimal diet is one that contains whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, lean protein, good fats, and plenty of fiber. I am not advocating that an already overworked parent needs to prepare a special meal for every member of the household, but no extra work is required to make a sandwich with whole-wheat bread instead of refined white bread, or to make spaghetti using whole-wheat pasta instead of refined white pasta, or to offer a piece of fresh fruit instead of chocolate cake for dessert. The point is--good nutrition begins at home. Our President is leading by example by establishing a vegetable garden on the White House grounds.
But while parents can begin to work on this problem now, changing our health-care system and weaning ourselves off of fast food are clearly going to take some time. In the meantime, we need to support, not discriminate against, the obese in this country and we need to urge our government to provide the incentives to stop this health crisis in its tracks.
Talking about airline seats and big passengers (which the article touched on) brings me to my own particular bete noir. Why weigh the bags and not weigh the passengers?? Where's the logic - or the fairness - in charging me for a couple of extra pounds of baggage, when together with my bag I weigh less than the fat guy next to me who is seeping into my seat?
So, I had baratric surgery. That was over 16 years ago. 15 years ago, I became an alcoholic. Today, I am glad to say that after almost dying from bulimia, dehydration, and oh, by the way alcoholism, I am in recovery for alcoholism. But I am also in recovery from severe food addition. Yes, I look "thin". But ultimately, it's how I feel that's important. Thin me was very, very unhappy until I dealt with the issues of why I use a substance to calm me rather than face my demons.
Our society is very cruel to people who they can "see" have a problem. Those of us who hide their problems are far more accepted, but probably worse off.
I think that the diet industry only cares about making a buck. Having been a yo-yo dieter for over 30 years, I can attest to the fact that diets do not work. What works is making life style changes forever. What works is trying to find out why I eat significantly more food than my body needs.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/janice-taylor/united-airlines-double-yo_b_188848.html
United Airlines: Double Your Fat, Double Their Pleasure.
Thank you.
Spread the word ... NOT the icing!
Janice Taylor
I would like if my wt. and that of my luggage could be combined. After all, for safety, it's all about the total wt. of the plane and contents.
the author of this post made good and obvious points..but did NOT address the current issue....a person who cannot, due to girth, occupy just one seat.... there was another similar post..that airline should offer fruit instead of pretzels...okay...good idea..BUT...that will cost more since shelf life of fruit...not quite that of a bag of pretzels...see my point..until then...as sad as it is...an obsese person should have to purchase two seats or upgrade (two seats in coach would be cheaper)...THEN..we can work on changing the eating habits of 60% of America...
What makes NO sense is TV ads for cigs are outlawed (fine)..but Carl's Jr can show a surgeon chowing down on a bourbon burger (probably 1500 fat calories)..in between surgeries...and damn..if he doesn't make it look delicious....just like cigs looked cool way back inthe 60's...
And diets don't work. None of them. Calories in vs calories out (expended). Simple.
Same goes for smoking. Surely by now everyone has been educated in the perils of smoking and yet still the habit continues.
Perhaps a better education goal would be on the subject of entitlement. We live in an age where Wall-Street three-piecers (You use this term ?) feel entitled to their millions (or billions). Where those that litter expect that someone else will pick up their garbage.Where those that abuse their health (and the health of others) expect society to fix the problem.
Perhaps we should have education that reinforces the idea of contribution to society rather than what we can get out of it.
Gastic bypass surgery kills.
No subject is full of so many lies and so little hope.
Read about adenovirus-36
There are things WE can do - http://healthhabits.wordpress.com/2009/03/04/a-better-way-to-health-and-weight-loss/