Expanding America

You would be hard pressed to find a person in this country that does not agree that obesity has become a (no pun intended) large problem. It is also evident that we at least appear to be fighting the spread of obesity. Yet, even with all the preventative measures, incidents of diabetes and other health problem continue to rise.

Dr. Seigal's Cookie Diet. Really, the diet claims that by just eating these special (i.e. expensive) cookies, you too can lose all the weight you want.Well of course you can, this entire idea is nothing new. This is just the new incarnation of Slim Fast. The problem with these products is greed. The easiest way to make a fast buck in the US is to ship out some new miracle weight loss product. These not only fail to set up good habits, resulting in weight gain as soon as a person stops using them, they also can be quite dangerous.

Sin taxes have been in the news a lot lately. The idea behind these being that if we tax full calorie pop more than other products, people will consume less of it. Although this sounds like a good idea in theory, it doesn't appear to be working in practice. Arkansas and West Virginia both have extra taxes on sugary drinks, yet Arkansas still has some of the highest rates in the country for obesity and diabetes.

New York City has a law in place that requires chain restaurants to post calorie content next to the products on the menu. To me this seems like a good idea, at least if it stops people from ordering that 600 calorie frappucino every morning. The problem with posting nutritional information is that a large percentage of the public either doesn't care or doesn't truly understand what all the information means to them.

Convienicne food also plays a large role in our growing waistlines. Once food is frozen, it tends to lose flavor. To counteract this, companies pump their food full of unnecessary sugars and fats which don't add any nutritional benefit. The addition of High Fructose Corn Syrup doesn't help things out either. HFCS is metabolized faster that normal sugar, thus leading to a blood sugar spike followed by a low. This in turn leads to more frequent hunger, which often leads to the consumption of more convenience food.

These all seem like good solutions, but the US will more than likely continue this downward spiral until we as a whole change our habits. Traditional diets tend to influence us too much in today's age of modernization. Growing up in the Midwest, I saw this everyday. Years ago, farmers would work from sunrise to sunset and would actually need large meals to get them through the day. Now, some Kansas City office worker probably doesn't need all those pancakes and sausage to file an expense report or walk over to the copy machine.

In the end, all the government intervention in the world wont change people's minds. We eat what we want to eat. The problem lies in the fact that, in a world where everything is automatic, we just don't need to move anymore. This not only takes a toll on us physically, but mentally as well. We happen to have some of the mos beautiful land in the world in out backyard, but it's just easier to watch a show about it. In my experience, hiking in The Smoky Mountains is far more rewarding than any tv show or movie. America as a whole needs to put down the chips and take a step outside. This seems like a far better solution that more bureaucratic red tape and ad campaigns.

Cody Dey