With all the hype about her Oscar's presentation I thought I would talk about the first ladies initiative to reform the nations eating habits. This article speaks about the success of her movement "Let's move!" Although the second half of the article is more about the first lady's presidential life, the first illustrates something new. According to the article there has been a drop in obesity. It seems like maybe a new society change is happening in America, one in which moving and eating better are becoming "in."
My favorite quote from the article is "If we could fry water in Mississippi, we would, we would do that," Roberts, who grew up in Pass Christian, Mississippi, said. "Food is a culture." Although I agree that food is culture (think Italy: spaghetti and pizza, Ireland: potato, and France: croissants), I don't think that this is an excuse to "fry water."
This CDC video explains how the obesity epidemic has expanded and what it can lead to. Obesity has grown for a majority of external reasons. Our environment has changed so much in the past few years, we have much more access to food when ever we want it, and less walking or biking to get there. Almost everyone has a car and if they don't they have ready access to a bus or rail line. It is usually to unsafe to play outside and it is easier to sit in front of a computer screen. Our society has changed and that has led to the rise of this. Our foods are more caloric and fast food, both cheap and fast, is horrible for you.
What is most striking is that there is no real answer to the epidemic It is not something that we can get a vaccine for and Congress cannot pass a bill to prevent it. Each person has to do it themselves. We can try to help by lowering the price of good food and restricting the size of soft drinks (thanks Bloomberg) but there is no real answer without public help.
According to this article, out portions have grown substantially in the past few years. This has led to a huge obesity problem. 120 million Americans are overweight or obese! Due to portion distortion, we could be putting on an extra 10 pounds a year by simply eating all the food on out plate 3 meals a day. Another problem is that we eat all of it. People don't bring extra food home, they try to eat it all. I do this a lot. I don't want to have to lug the food home, and it is never as good re-heated. According to the article there are many ways to manage your plate. I think that the best ones are "slow down" and "share a meal". Slow down is probably my favorite. How many times have you finished eating and realized your stuffed, way beyond the necessary limits. If you eat slower you can avoid this feeling. The other good idea is share a meal. You can get a couple of appetizers and share a meal. Then you will also have extra room for dessert also.
With all the hype about her Oscar's presentation I thought I would talk about the first ladies initiative to reform the nations eating habits. This article speaks about the success of her movement "Let's move!" Although the second half of the article is more about the first lady's presidential life, the first illustrates something new. According to the article there has been a drop in obesity. It seems like maybe a new society change is happening in America, one in which moving and eating better are becoming "in."