Making Americans trim again
A challenge to change your life
On the way home from the mall, did you swing into the drive-thru for a quick pick-me-up or a bucket of dinner for your family? Seemed harmless enough. After all, you tell yourself, you got tacos that are kinda healthy (see that lettuce and tomato?), or chicken is supposed to be better for you than beef. Sure, your doctor has suggested that you lose five to 10 per cent of your body weight to help get your Type 2 diabetes under control but you didn’t have time for lunch and you were starving. You can have a few extra quickie calories, right? You’ll have a diet soda.
Millions of times a day, people in the U.S. talk themselves into the OKness of fast food and miss the opportunity to upgrade their health. Maybe you have, too — after all, American fast-food restaurants serve 50 million customers daily. But that comes at a price: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at the relationship of weight and fast-food consumption and found that in every age group, obese people consumed the most fast food. Another study found that eating fast foods two or more times a week doubles the incidence of insulin resistance — a precursor to Type 2 diabetes. Research indicates this is a result of huge portion sizes leading to excess calorie consumption, as well as the prevalence of foods with low nutritional levels and high glycemic loads, saturated fats, unhealthy chemicals like emulsifiers and added syrups and sugars (even in the burger buns).
Obesity is swamping the globe, and the U.S. is leading the way — at home and through export of its fast-food empires to countries with burgeoning obesity rates, including Brazil, Indonesia, China, Mexico, India and Ghana.
From 1980 to 2015, the per cent of the U.S. population (kids and adults) who were obese jumped 16 per cent — to 26.5 per cent. That is the largest percentile rise over those years of any country in the world, according to a study published July 2017 in the New England Journal of Medicine titled “Health Effects of Overweight and Obesity in 195 Countries Over 25 Years.”
And if you’re still hoping to find some way to rationalize that slippery slider and side of cheese fries, sorry. In countries around the world that had no fast foods and very little obesity, the arrival of fast foods is right in step with the arrival of obesity. Take Ghana: in a remarkable series of articles looking at obesity and fast food around the world, The New York Times points out that Ghana’s obesity rates have surged more than 650 per cent since 1980, from less than two per cent of the population to 13.6 per cent. And that, say researchers, parallels the arrival of Westernstyle foods and fast foods.
Just as alarming: no country has reduced overweight or obesity levels. There hasn’t been an organized health initiative that has tackled this problem effectively.
So let’s take the challenge, America. Now. With your next bite. For your health. For your kids’ health. For the future. Just say, “No.” Make this vow today: “I’ll make breakfast at home; pack a lunch for work; cook dinner tonight. I can do it.”
In the morning? Steel-cut oats with soy milk and blueberries (add one tablespoon maple syrup if you want). Then a great lunch: a fresh spinach, pear, avocado salad with a dressing made from extra-virgin olive oil, a dash of lemon juice, salt and pepper, and Dijon mustard. Add some water-packed canned tuna or sliced fresh turkey breast. Dinner? Grill some salmon or skinless chicken. Make quinoa with fresh herbs and sauteed mushrooms, a side of steamed garlic/ olive oil/lemon broccoli. Reward yourself with one ounce of 70 per cent cacao dark chocolate and a bowl of fresh fruit.
It’s the least you can do. In the 1960s, 10 per cent of the U.S. population was obese; now almost 30 per cent is. Let’s work together to Make America Trim Again.