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There was an article in the Naples Daily News on October 16 about obesity costing twice as much as had been previously estimated. Is anything being done to stop the epidemic of obesity?
There has been recent research suggesting that the cost of obesity is almost 17 percent of all medical costs. The new study says about $168 billion is being spent on obesity related illness. This research was done by John Cawley of Cornell University and Chad Meyerhoefer of Lehigh University.
In the recent issue of "Good Medicine", a magazine put out by Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, there is an article dealing with obesity in children titled "Pediatricians vs. Junk Food Giants". In the article, there are 4 pediatricians telling their stories about dealing with obesity in children.
Dr. Rina Shah tells about a boy who weighs 100 pounds at age 6 when he should weigh about half that amount. She says that many children are struggling with eating healthfully and getting enough exercise.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention there are more than 12 million children and adolescents in the United States who are obese. One in three children born since the year 2000 will develop diabetes at some point in their lives.
Sadly, we are at the mercy of a handful of mega-corporations who monopolize the mainstream food supply and manipulate the ingredients so that the addictive centers of the brain are stimulated. The only way to detach from this vicious cycle is to get away from processed foods as much as possible. Eating a high raw diet is an incredible alternative. Sound difficult but not hard once you get started and the way you feel is worth it!. Thanks, Dr. Hyman for another great article!
author of “Raw Fusion: Better Living Through Living Foods” (release December 2010)
I bet most this sugar is actually HFCS, which is far far worse. I have found actual cane sugar relatively benign, especially tubinado, but I can only speak for myself.
Someday we will accept the fact that major industries do not want to be regulated, and are the cause of all of our problems.
Deregulate the oil industry and get the Gulf disaster.
Deregulate banking and get the economic disaster.
Deregulate mining standards and get the mining disaster.
Let the DOD get out of control and get the needless and eternal war disasters.
We should demand that every TV food ad be followed by a short clip/report/warning/factual evidence, etc., about the obesity problem.
How about list of all of the diseases caused by obesity (thats a long list) to go along with every TV food ad? How about a warning for people not to watch TV, because sitting on your butt makes you fat?
The military, oil, drug, food, broadcast, etc. industries are profit hungry and are destroying the nation.
Excellent article! Finally, someone addresses the bigger picture regarding obesity. However, I believe its also important to recognize the psychological issues that drive people to become addicted to food and other substances. A very high percentage of people who are obese have a history of trauma. In particular, sexual trauma in childhood. The measures Dr. Hyman suggests will only be helpful if we address the underlying, emotional causes of why people eat to the point of being obese.
“…a giant bowel of apple slices.” and then the wrong use of to for too….this guy is a real doctor?
Industrial food is just another wonderful concept brought to you by the “Self regulating Capitalist folks.”
Problem is our epigenetic markers..we have already doomed our grandkids to having metabolic disorders by eating junk food ourselves.
Half of dieting is up to what you buy at the grocery store. Another big part of it, at least for me, is walking about 30 minutes a day. Smaller portions are part of the diet success too.
I have never lost weight unless I walked 30 minutes a day and limited my fats and sugar.
My mother put corn syrup in my bottle formula when I was a baby. I dont think it hurt me.
A year ago I removed all high fructose corn syrup from my diet. For the first week I felt terrible, upset stomach, headaches, general badness. Much like kicking a real drug. After getting over this hump, I found my appetite rapidly changed. I was amazed at how much less I actually “wanted” to eat. I have lost 90 lbs in the last year by doing this one thing. I didnt exercise more, I didnt remove cane sugar from my diet. Of coarse this is just my personal experience, but I am convinced that , at least for me, HFCS sends my appetite into overdrive. And the thing is, its in EVERYTHING. It takes some real effort to avoid the stuff.
I would request that you be more specific…when the vast majority of an individuals caloric intake is TRANS fats and sugar…then yes, weight gain and a host of other issues may ensue. The rise in obesity parallels quite a number of things in our society, and this is only one of them.
http://winningtheobesitybattle.wordpress.com/
Just because you are an addict doesnt mean that everyone else is too…no offense intended. Sure, some people are addicted to all sorts of things, but I do get very tired of all these articles trying to reduce the obesity issue to a single glib soundbite.
http://winningtheobesitybattle.wordpress.com/
I have pointed out many times that sugar is a drug like cocaine, and other commenters would dispute it.
Also, that a certain percentage of people are naturally deficient in the neurotransmitters that make them feel like living. These folks will crave substances that raise those transmitter levels. For that, they are chastised for self-medicating.
I have observed that most adults either drink alcohol, use opiates or cannabis, or they eat sugar. All of which have the same effect of elevating transmitter levels. Luckily for the sugar and alcohol addicts, their junk is still legal, while the rest have to suffer the threat of jail for trying to feel human.
My theory is that people whose ancestors consumed lots of alcohol are most at risk for the type of metabolic disorders that result in deficient neuroreceptor sites, and neurotransmitter levels. Or maybe it was cultivating grains, and making them the basis for our diet. Whatever. We need a more humane approach to dealing with people who are addicted to anything, not the old punitive approach.
Nothing happens for me unless I increase my activity level. Walk a lot more, try to get my heartrate up for a half hour or so four or five times a week. Especially if youre older, diet alone may not result in lost weight –at least not in the shorter term.
When my husband and I go out to eat, we generally split a salad and an entree. We still have plenty to eat.
I have always felt that sugar could be addictive. Whenever I indulge in eating donuts, cheese cake, etc., I start craving more and more. Then, I have to go through “de-tox”. It takes about a week for the craving to stop, and during that time, I cant be anywhere near sweets. I have kept my weight at a normal level, but its a constant struggle. Now I make sure that I dont reward my grandchildren with cookies and ice cream.
In 99.99999% percent of cases, the only way somebody would throw up after eating a super-sized meal at McDonalds would be to fake it. There is absolutely nothing about a super-sized meal that would make somebody throw up.
This anti-McDonalds routine is freaking stupid.
I once got deathly ill after eating a salad from a gourmet eatery in Dallas. Its sort of famous – Highland Parkers flock to the place morning, noon, and night. Guess what? With a gun at my head, you could not drag me back to that fresh-food palace. That is how people who have puked their guts out feel about the place that caused them to puke their guts out.
Now, go look at a McDonalds at breakfast, lunch, and diner. See the freakin lines? Those are all people who eat there constantly and have never puked as a result. The truth: McDonalds food does not make people sick. No scientists could prove otherwise. Peoples choices? Thats another matter.
McDonalds food is no different than any other. Its food. You can easily eat an exceptionally healthy diet at McDonalds.
Occasionally I buy one of those 99 cent bags of chips, and my husband and I will split it. When its gone, its gone, no chance to overeat. I might do that 3 times in a year.
Its absolutely an addiction. As a person who has had to stop smoking and problem drinking, I assure you the withdrawal symptoms from cutting out sugar, fat, and salt, are exactly the same as withdrawing from cigarettes and alcohol. And almost worse to overcome, because junk food is so cheap, easy to obtain, and its EVERYWHERE in the media.
Once youve done it, however, you begin to crave the healthy things, and the junk food doesnt even look good anymore. Honest!
I think most people would love to have more access to fresh foods over the food that is either processed or simply trucked in from some other state. Food portions are also another enemy we face here in the states that simply gets stronger every year. *Burger King breakfast platter says Hi* I think it will take alot of discipline and a strong commitment to exercise and driving alternatives before that 70% will start to go down.
Thank you for putting in this article the information I suspected to be true.
Where I fall off the wagon is not with respect to my own eating, but with my 15-year old son. He is naturally very skinny, so I tend to let him “get away” with eating more junk food even though I know I shouldnt. I know I need to direct more attention to finding and making healthier meals and snacks so when he gets older and his metabolism slows down hell have some good eating habits to fall back on. Its so-o-o hard sometimes, though. This article has given me new conviction to try harder!
Ive noticed some ads recently trying to persuade people that theres nothing wrong with high fructose corn syrup. Youre up against too much money.
Im probably like many people. If its in the house I tend to binge eat (e.g., half gallon of ice cream, large bag of kettle corn or potato chips). My solution is to not to have large portions of the snacks in the house and to treat myself to smaller portions when out. For example, have an ice cream or frozen yogurt cone.
Very well made points, doctor. As a recovering addict myself, I see a lot of people in 12-step fellowships who also battle an addiction with food, so when I see people outside of my 12-step life who are obviously incredibly uncomfortable due to their weight, I try to look at them through the lens of compassion: they are addicts, just like me, only they have no idea. I truly believe there are chemicals in most of this “food” that makes people want to eat more and more, and whether that is intentional or not is a matter for the history books.
Its no secret that our rise in obesity parallels the rise in super-sized fast food meals and prepared foods. When the vast majority of an individuals caloric intake is fat and sugar in huge meals, they are going to be obese.
In some cases i tend to agree with many points in this article. However i think, personally, the larger culprit is ease of laziness afforded by our lifestyles further compounded by a lack of venue to excersize. I had a talk with my kids pediatrician the other day. She is a transplanet from california, we have that in common, we now live in tennessee – land of no sidewalks. We both agreed on this point and she went to further explain to me that the lack of sidewalks alone contributes ridiculously to the obesity problem in our area. I know thats subjective and local but if it happens here it surely must happen across the country. “Id go for a walk but…. dodging traffic/driving 10 miles to the nearest park is such a hassle. tends to be the thought patterns at work around here.
Was definately a good read, though, im trying to do my part for myself and my kids by promoting fresh produce and pushing fruits and vegetables as hard as i can. Which can be tough, my wife doesnt eat vegetables…. which makes me want to tear my freaking hair out.
“a giant bowel of apple slices” sounds very uncomfortable.
Gross, too much food.
Game changers like Michel Nischan, who founded Wholesome Wave, are starting to make some impact across the country to make fresh food more available in food deserts. Youre right, everyone should have the same access to healthy options. Food pantries are filled with processed foods; what if they were filled with fruits and vegetables instead. What do supermarkets do with all the produce that are just slightly blemished?
I used to live on a farm. It was common knowledge that if you added a little cottonseed meal to the cows feed they would eat more. Apparently it was an appetite stimulant.
I sometimes wonder if there are ingredients that stimulate our appetite in our food.
I have at times thought maybe it was the cows getting hormone shots that caused weight gain. I quit milk and didnt lose a pound.
I became almost a vegetarian, but I didnt lose weight. I quit soda pop diet and not diet and still didnt lose weight.
I have noticed that the longer I am on a diet the cravings get less and less strong.
Correction needed please: 3rd paragraph….giant BOWEL of apple slices? Cant read anymore. Gr0ss.
As usual, Dr. Hyman has some really great points and useful information. However, I really could have done without being asked to imagine a “giant bowel of apple slices”