The Obesity Epidemic

The media have labelled it an epidemic; the politicians are calling it a crisis and those in the medical profession are forecasting dire metrics as regards the increase of weight related illnesses in the coming decades. It makes for frightening reading for everyone and is only gaining more and more media attention as we all apparently gain more weight.

Mainstream news networks and sites are reporting as much as two-thirds of the population being classed as overweight and obese. It seems that in men studies men are slightly ahead of women in terms of levels of obesity. While no income group, no age group, no gender, no race, or no person is immune, studies are showing that socio-economic factors are at play with the more deprived areas having higher obesity rates.

Reports are showing overweight parents raising overweight kids and linking fast food diets with higher rates of diabetes and obesity, leading to cardiovascular disease on an unprecedented level.

Heart disease is now the leading cause of death in the United States for both men and women. This is a fact and not debatable, the biggest killer, more than cancer, more than accidents and more than murder.

More worryingly is the increased level of obesity amongst children and young adolescents.

The obesity discussion polarises people and coupled with the continuing momentum of the internet has resulted in large scale online bullying and conversely large communities for ‘fat acceptance’, ‘HAES’ (Healthy at every size). People are demonised for either being overweight or for the views of those overweight. It’s an extremely personal and sensitive issue for a lot of people and has become one of the great debates of this generation.

People can be extremely cruel, and I have witnessed online the storm of insults and bullying people have received online simply posting a picture of themselves if they are in some way overweight. I’ve also seen instances where a person who is not overweight and puts up a picture of themselves is accused of ‘skinny-shaming’ or insulting people who may be struggling with insecurities.

It’s a vicious cycle that seems to be sustaining itself with more things being escalated and judged by the court of public opinion through the theatre of social media. Is this the adolescent mood swings of a generation without a purpose and without a cause or is it something more? Is this a paradigm shift we are witnessing as we become more and more digital in both our daily lives and our jobs?

To date no government, agency, group or people have come up with a solution to the increasing number of deaths from heart disease.

The Facts

Let’s start with what are the facts and we can then progress onto the discussion and point around the obesity crises. I have referenced this Guardian article and re-written some of the text and combined it with my own thoughts.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jun/23/truth-about-obesity-10-shocking-things-need-to-know

There are no countries save those outside of the ‘developed world’ that are not experiencing the obesity epidemic. Studies in the USA, in the UK and across the EU are confirming our fears that we as a generation are the most obese to have ever lived and therefore the majority of the populace is deemed to be overweight while many are considered obese.

Obesity and the related illnesses are shortening the lifespans of the people of this generation. Depending on what scale of obesity you are at e.g., obese, morbidly obese these can cut your lifespan by as much as a decade.

"Obesity is such that this generation of children could be the first in the history of the United States to live less healthful and shorter lives than their parents," said Dr David S Ludwig, director of the obesity programme at the Children's Hospital Boston.

The financial crisis brought many countries to their knees; business ground to a halt, economies shook and groaned under the pressure of financial bailouts and stimulus packages. The nations of the world and their peoples were forced to bail out banks and corporations deemed too big to fail. Fast forward to today and we are still feeling the aftershocks of that period.

Governments have reduced funding for all state bodies and the national health services have suffered greatly. Already the national health services of the world are forecasting that they will not be able to handle the increasing demands brought on by the surging rise of type 2 diabetes, pre-diabetes diagnosis.

Type 2 diabetes is costly in every sense – apart from complications such as blindness and amputation; it makes you five times more likely to have a heart attack or stroke.

The junk food or what is sometimes called the convenience food industry is a corporate powerhouse that is backed by billions in investments, research advertisements and has a footprint in every country and in some cases it’s not uncommon to have the same fast-food franchise have multiple restaurants in the same town. Conversely the health services have been crippled by cuts and don’t have the expertise to do the same kind of slick marketing.

To add to the maelstrom of information you have both traditional celebrities’ and social media celebrities backing different products or viewpoints which are influencing and entire generation on what to think and how to think it without any real medical foundation.

Many of the modern day conveniences we have and take for granted play a part in the decrease in health and fitness and the increase in overweight and obese people. Things like drive throughts, the increased availability of convenience foods, the low cost of these and the lack of any cooking or preparation required.

You can jump in your car and be in your local supermarket in a few minutes and have the ability to buy a myriad of products from all over the world. Never before have we had so much choice and so little knowledge about what we should be choosing.

Snacking or eating between meals was virtually unknown before the second world war, according to Barry Popkin, professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health.

The food and drink industry have marketed many foods as snacks or ‘bites’ to be had between meals. Popkin published a study showing US children were eating almost continuously, with three snacks a day as well as their ordinary meals.

"Our children are moving towards constant eating," he has said.

It’s become good marketing for large corporations in the junk food industry to claim they are using reduced fat this and selling ‘diet’ products. For the most part this is again marketing fluff and they have simply substituted e.g. sugar for some other chemicals. Celebrities frequently endorse products and can be seen consuming them on social media or the news.

Some companies have even gone so far to have scientists and medical professionals sign off on their products

What the Guardian points out is that these scientists and doctors often only look at the micro picture and you’ll often here, ‘as part of a healthy diet’ mentioned or noted at the end of an advertisement. The studies look at a particular product in isolation and don’t factor in the other harmful products being consumed and the cumulative damage that is done.

There are more and more facts and scientifically backed research studies being carried out into the health and fitness of our generation because on the one hand the governments of the various nations are alarmed by this potential spike in healthcare needs and costs whilst the corporations are constantly seeking to drive that bottom line are simply rebranding their products as ‘light’, diet’ or ‘healthy options’.

Realistically how can you trust something that has an ingredient list that you need a chemistry guide book to understand.

The vast majority of that food is detrimental to your health. The problem is that we have people who exist on that type of diet entirely and there scale of what is a healthy food is so obscure and lacking in knowledge that they are scuttled before they even leave the dry dock to improve their health. There is a lack of knowledge in terms of the food groups.

There is a huge generational knowledge gap as regards how to eat and cook healthy. The convenience and affordability of junk food is a severe hindrance to anyone trying to improve their health and fitness lifestyle.

Can you be healthy and overweight?

There is such a cloud of misinformation and social media bickering as well as click bait articles, fad diets, fad foods, fad exercises that it’s a miracle that anyone manages to stay healthy in this day and age.

Those two terms are mutually exclusive, if you are overweight by the very definition of the word you are in excess or over your prescribed weight on a given measure or scale. In the same way you cannot be underweight and healthy. I don’t give much merit to the term over or under weight and instead would base judgement on a persons physicals wellbeing and capabilities.

I don’t believe there is a magic number you need to weigh; as we’ve seen before a 5’10 14 stone fit as a mountain lion rugby player can potentially have an ‘obese’ BMI rating while a person who starves themselves and has very low physical capabilities and general wellbeing can be shown as having a healthy BMI. It’s just one measure where multiple are needed.

We’re coming back again to metrics, the metrics you use to measure your health and wellbeing are crucial in terms of understanding your general health and wellbeing. I have been to my local Doctor and been told to drop a few KG days after finishing second in an endurance event with the military were we competed against some of the fittest men our military had to offer a few days prior. My blood tests all came back fine. That Doctor took one measure as the sum of all parts without consideration for other important metrics.

Now this isn’t a free license to go out and claim you’re fit and healthy because you don’t like the scales being used, you still need to have an honest look at yourself to understand your own wellbeing.

What is crucial here is that you avoid being biased in anyway in favor or against yourself. You must set your own metrics ultimately to determine what is a healthy you. Many people are ignorant to their own wellbeing, they assume that because their weight is X then they are Y healthy or unhealthy. The best measure it your physicals well being and your capability.

Too many people use recurring illnesses as a crutch or claim they are suffering from this that and the other when really the issue is psychological.

People simply don’t like the figure they’ve come up with and seek to protect themselves from that reality by creating excuses. You know yourself how healthy you are, not everyone needs to be able to fireman’s carry someone down a stairs (albeit as useful as that is) however provided you are able bodied you should be physically capable of carrying out work over time. We repeatedly lie to ourselves and pretend we’re ok when we know we’re not.

If you’re excuse for being unfit is because you work in an office that’s a cop-out and your lying to yourself. The reason is you have failed to make the time and effort to manage your physical and dietary well being. Again don’t use your job as an excuse or a crutch. Have the discipline and courage to both acknowledge and address the issue if you’re not looking after your own wellbeing.

Psychological we don’t want to hear it or often think that we are out of shape or unhealthy. It’s too painful for us, being told your fat or overweight is mentally crippling. I was overweight for a long time and I don’t think anyone actually called me fat to my face but I called myself fat and overweight constantly in my own mind and it destroyed my confidence and happiness.

Hearing it from a doctor is no different but you must heed the advise. Life isn’t all sunshine and rainbows and sometimes it takes a shock to set you on the right path.

There is a storm of bullies and brutes out there who get their kicks from putting people down they bully and chastise overweight people. This results in a vicious and painful cycle for that person and can cripple them in a state of depression and sadness that leads to increased consumption and continues the situation. Very few people manage to shake out of this cycle and those that do are both revered and mocked in the court of public opinion.

I also firmly believe that many of the foods being consumed that are highly processed are having a definite and detrimental impact on our mental wellbeing. Something I have always remarked on is how my mental wellbeing improved drastically when I started to eat better and exercise more.

It’s extremely hard to quantify or explain but it was a general sense of better wellbeing and more relaxed. The more healthy I became the more mentally stable I became.

Can you be healthy and overweight as a question is a contradiction in my opinion. The question isn’t valid in the discussion. The real question is what are you capable of and is your body struggling or thriving. You cannot simply say that you are healthy/unhealthy when you’ve no metric to base it on. You also cannot disregard medical advise, there is more and more proven evidence linking obesity with diabetes and various cancers. If your doctor or loved ones come to you about your weight it’s not a personal attack, it’s generally out of care for your wellbeing. Don’t contrive it as something it’s not to feed the problem.

If you keep doing what you are doing for the next ten years will you decrease or increase your chances of getting a major ailment? Be honest with yourself. Is your weight gain or loss out of control? Are you sick all the time or do you feel terrible all the time? Is your physical wellbeing or lack or physical wellbeing effecting your life positively/negatively?

Nobody should be subjected to bullying nobody should be chastised for their shape or size but conversely it’s both ignorant and selfish to assume you know better than everyone when it comes to your health and fitness. A lot of people need to grow up and realsie that they have no knowledge skills or aptitudes as regards eating the right foods or carrying out physical activities. Having a social media presence where people raise you on a plinth for agreeing or disagreeing with this or that opinion is not a basis for being healthy.

It’s high-time to stop the bullying, stop the misinformation and support those who need it, to educate everyone and to stamp out the dogmatic bigots who are spreading dangerous and unfounded information to a generation of kids, teenagers and adults who should know better but don’t.

If you’re obese and you feel your putting your own health and well being or even that of your children at risk through passive habits then the time to act is now. You may have been told you’re incapable of doing this, you may be told this daily, you might have failed time and time again and that’s fine. It stops now. 

No more excuses, no more crutches, no more false idols and lies. Simple good eating, training, working on your physical and mental wellbeing to forge a better you for you and your loved ones too if that’s the case.

I hope you’re hearing me, the facts don’t lie but the fast food industry does in the form of false marketing and propaganda style product placement. It’s time to stand up to the inconvenient truth and get out of the queue for the reassuring lie. No more excuses, no more bitching, no more lying and no more moaning. You can do this, you will do this.

The Generational Blame Game

There is a general tendency amongst both the media and social media to seek to pinpoint a singular root cause for societal issues and current affairs. Obesity is something that is frequently discussed in the news and as I’ve alluded to above is frequently seen on social media from both sides of the spectrum. There are those who would bully and chastise others for their appearance and conversely the groups of people who are looking to defend and speak for the chastised group.

Popular opinion is unfortunately in many cases based on the number of likes and the top comment a subject gets with a strange and somewhat fascinating new set of norms appearing as similar trends and formats appear in the dialogue below a controversial or touchy subject.

What seems to happen is everyone tries to point to that one root cause of the problem e.g., obese people are simply lazy and lack discipline or conversely tries to opine with that one simple solution to the problem, society needs to learn to accept all shapes and sizes and stop oppressing certain people.

Unfortunately, it’s all noise with little relevance to the issues at hand and despite everyone wanting their moment in the spotlight and for their own opinion to be raised upon a plinth of likes or retweets the simple fact is the issue will still persist and the problem is much deeper seethed than the vast majority are aware.

The world is now a great stage upon which celebrities rise and fall based on the latest titbits of gossip or ‘news’, they suffer trial by social media. In section 5 we looked at the psychology behind health and fitness and the false gods and peer pressure people are put under almost 24/7.

It would be a poor sweeping statement to blame the health and fitness issues seen in society on this being a ‘weak generation’ as I’ve seen in certain articles. All-encompassing sweeping statements like that are so misinformed and poorly thought out to be completely irrelevant. Comparing the generations can be fruitful in some regards but this generation above all others has seen such a huge advancement in technology and such a monumental change in how people go about their day-to-day lives that any comparison must be caveated with too many assumptions, again rendering it invalid for this argument.

What we have is a generation who have instant access to the world’s information, who can instantly project themselves on the world stage and who like their parents and generations before them are simply learning and making mistakes.

The fact that it’s on a more visible spectrum is this generation’s new challenge. We don’t need movements, we don’t need social media warriors, we don’t need this and that sides blogs, we don’t need polls or posts or tweets or memes.

What we need is knowledge and experience. People don’t know what’s good for them in terms of health and fitness and they are subject to such a barrage of marketing propaganda that learning takes a huge amount of time and we are the generation that want things now.

People only know what they’re told to know via the media and product sales pitches. By people I mean to generally refer to those who would be deemed unhealthy by way of their physical capabilities, their diet, and their wellbeing. If people only knew just a little bit more about the links between diet and illness, obesity and disease and the dangers they wouldn’t feed their kids what they do.

I have many peers who don’t know how to cook vegetables; many more don’t eat any vegetables and rarely eat fruit as part of their diet. They’re putting their faith and their trust in the fast food they’re consuming day-to-day. This is the very food whereby the ingredients are often provided by the lowest and most efficient sales company.

It’s one thing to eat badly by your own accord and be aware of the consequences but it’s entirely another thing to do that to children. Children don’t know any better and they’ll eat what they’re given. Ignorance of what the food is doing to children is no defence, as an adult it’s up to you to do the research and make the best choices for your kids.

If that means you must get strict and work hard to get them to eat their greens and fruit then so be it, that’s parenthood and the easy option never ends well.

The World Health Organization (WHO) regards childhood obesity as one of the most serious global public health challenges for the 21st century. Obese children and adolescents are at an increased risk of developing various health problems and are also more likely to become obese adults.

The fact that we have increasing rates of obesity related disease among children is extremely disturbing. These same children are subject to the same marketing rubbish as you and I and from a younger age than we were for those around my age bracket of 34 years. Diabetes is a devastating disease that can lead to loss of limbs and an untimely death. We cannot confine our children to this; it is our duty as parents and their guardians to put every effort into securing the best future for them.

This doesn’t require that we change the world, change starts at home and in fact it starts in the shops. Stop putting it into your shopping trolley and it will stop being in your diet. Do the small incremental changes we’ve talked about, get your kids involved have fun trying the new foods, find out what is both delicious and disgusting together. Where necessary you are going to need to make sure they eat good food. The responsibility lies with you to best determine what good food is and it is entirely for the benefit of your kids. They will thank in years to come.

Closing thoughts

Trying to get a bearing in the midst of the media babble as regards health and fitness is extremely difficult. You are constantly exposed to marketing and sensationalist hype and very little contains any worthwhile information. Marketers are experts in designing products that promise seemingly attainable results within a very definitive timeline but of course provided you are consuming a healthy diet. Note that is always stated in the small print as if it’s a small matter when in fact it’s the crux of the issue.

You may also be disillusioned with the online debate and discussions as regards obesity as both sides seem to set on attaining more support as opposed to helping with the issue at hand. Don’t worry you’re not the only one and in fact it’s good that you’re realizing that it is indeed useless babble, talk is cheap whether it’s online or in public.

It’s time for you to get past the distractions and get to the crux of the problem and go forth and try and understand what is really going on so you can do what needs to be done.

To do this, you are going to need to strengthen your resolve and courage so that you can disregard media narratives instead of joining with the masses on either the right, left or centre of an opinion. Instead, you’re going to increase your knowledge, understand what the problem is and how to go about fixing it for you and your dependents.

You’ll need to display significant morale courage to stand up for what you have researched and found to be right but also be willing to entertain that you still don’t know everything and what you know may change.

Decline to be drawn into the collective cynicism and apathy but instead endeavor to be a positive and helpful influence on those you come across in your journey and to yourself.

Look for the facts and ignore the popular opinions especially if they come from social media and have sensationalist tag lines e.g. you won’t believe this one quick trick…  and so forth.

Make the hard but right choices in the everyday little decisions and they will collectively combine to help you achieve your goals. Start today and stop being a slave to the profits of an industry that is slowly killing our family members one burger at a time.