I was just reading this article at lunch that says Type 2 diabetes, the kind you get as an adult because you don’t eat right and don’t exercise enough, is going to double or triple by 2050. People with diabetes are living longer and there are “increasing numbers of higher-risk minority groups in the population” as well as the fact that Americans are overall getting fatter.
Perhaps this is because we are becoming a more sedentary society – more office workers, fewer farmers. Perhaps I am biased since I work in I.T. and spend most of my time in front of a computer.
The article says that “diabetes was the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States in 2007, and is the leading cause of new cases of blindness among adults under age 75, as well as kidney failure, and leg and foot amputations not caused by injury,” and that it cost the U.S. more than $174 billiion in 2007.
Those of you who know me probably have heard my rant about portion control. We keep hearing about the various really bad effects of the increasing obesity rate in this country, and yet what is the government doing about it? If the CDC is as concerned as they say they are, how hard would it be to impose a standard portion size? If they can institute nutrition labels, why not portion sizes? Think about the last time you were in a restaurant like Olive Garden or another chain restaurant. Typically the sizes are all “super-sized” to be gi-normous and are more than someone should eat in even two sittings. Yet we have also been raised with this idea of cleaning our plate. A lot of people go out to eat for social occasions and don’t realize how much they are actually eating. They look down and are surprised they just ate enough for three meals.
My husband and I have both struggled with weight problems for the last few years and have recently joined Weight Watchers. One of the things I am really appreciating is how they teach you to make better choices in what you eat and how when you actually write everything down and measure it out, you get a much better understanding of what a “normal” portion size is. Going back to my idea above, I think if we forced restaurants to serve a set portion size for certain kinds of items it would be an immense help to people. People who want more could still order a second portion, but at least then it would be a conscious choice. Another thing Weight Watchers has taught me is that people will eat the same percentage of food on a plate, no matter the size. So if it’s a large plate, you may eat say two-thirds of it, whereas you would still eat two-thirds of the amount on a smaller plate, because that’s the visual cue your system uses to say when to stop eating. The difference is, of course, that two-thirds of a small plate is less food than two-thirds of a huge plate. I am not saying be drastic and define the size of plates that can be used, but you get the idea.
All of this comes back to the fact that while we as Americans need to take responsibility for our own weight and other problems, we need a little help, and the current knowledge sharing programs out there aren’t enough. Nutrition labels are extremely helpful but they’re not required on everything (go figure out how much fat and fiber a glass of beer has. You can’t because they either don’t have nutrition labels or they only show calories and carbs). I remember last year the government revealed an updated food pyramid that they spent a whole bunch of money on. Well that’s great. What practical use is that to me? It tells me 6-11 servings of bread/grains (or maybe that’s the old number of servings?) but what is a serving? Does that mean 6 slices of bread a day and no other grains that day? Does a bowl of oatmeal count as one serving, or more? The answer probably is, it depends.
Ok, you’re probably bored to death by this whole train of thought. Too bad, it’s my blog! 
My intention was to do a sort of stream of conciousness thing about the process of losing weight (17 pounds so far – woohoo!) and these are the things I think about.