Let’s Move! America’s initiative to overcome childhood obesity

What is Let’s Move?

Let’s Move, America’s Move to Raise a Healthier Generation of Kids, is a comprehensive initiative with a goal of overcoming childhood obesity in one generation.  This goal is based on the hope that children born today will grow up making healthy lifestyle choices and reverse the current childhood obesity trends. There are 4 primary objectives of Let’s Move:

1. To help parents make healthy family choices
2. To provide healthy food in schools
3. To improve access to healthy, affordable food
4. To increase Americans’ physical activity levels

Let’s Move was launched in February 2010 by our First Lady, Michelle Obama.

Why is Let’s Move so important?

Over the past 30 years, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled, and today, nearly one out of every three children in the US is overweight or obese. If we don’t solve this problem, one third of all children born in 2000 or later will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lives. Many others will face chronic obesity-related health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and asthma.

How can you get involved?

Let’s Move’s success depends on the involvement of the entire nation, including you!  Making healthy lifestyle choices can improve the health of you, your family, and the nation.  Here are 3 ways you can get involved and make a difference:

1. Eat healthy meals regularly, and as a family.  Parents are their children’s primary role models.  Make mealtimes enjoyable.  Turn off the TV and enjoy conversation.
2. Pledge as an entire family to get active by taking the President’s Challenge.  To meet the challenge you must record your physical activity performed 5 days a week (60 minutes for children and 30 minutes for adults), for six weeks.  Meet the goal, and you earn the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award!  Visit http://www.presidentschallenge.org/challenge/active/index.shtml for more details.
3. Start or join a Let’s Move Meetup in your city.  A meetup group is a way for interested individuals to get together and discuss ways to solve the problem of childhood obesity in their communities.  There are currently Meetup groups in 208 US cities.  Visit http://www.letsmove.gov/lets-move-meetup to learn more.

For more ideas, visit http://www.letsmove.gov/action.

This video highlights the four main goals of the Let’s Move Challenge, and shows some of Michelle Obama’s hopes and goals for our nation:

The End of Overeating: Book Review

David Kessler’s The End of Overeating explores the psychological and biological reasons behind our tendencies to overeat. The main points argued in the book are:

1. Foods unnaturally high in sugar, fat and sodium can be addictive

Processed foods that contain added sugar, fat and salt stimulate the reward centers in our brains. This engages the opioid circuitry, a pathway that can create an addictive response and lead to overeating. Studies show that rats will work almost as hard for hyper-palatable food high in fat and sugar as they will for cocaine.

2. The food industry knows about these addictive properties, and capitalizes on them

Everywhere you go, you can find food companies promoting or selling foods high in sugar, fat and salt. French fries (the most popular “vegetable” in America), are made by taking a potato, deep frying it in fat and sprinkling it with salt. Dip that in ketchup (which contains sugar as a primary ingredient) and you’ve hit all three points: sugar, salt and fat. Many other foods popular foods feature sugar, fat and salt as primary ingredients as well: chocolate, ice cream, hamburgers, cookies, chips, salad dressing, soda, cake, fried chicken, cheese… the list goes on and on.

3. Stop overeating by taking steps to break free of the addiction to hyper-palatable foods

View calorie-dense foods in a new light- as something repulsive and unhealthy rather than desirable. It is possible to train your brain to respond differently to stimuli. Previously, cigarettes were viewed by most people as cool. Today, now that the health risks of tobacco are well-known, the majority of the population views cigarettes as unhealthy and undesirable. Through awareness of the unhealthy and addictive properties of calorie-dense foods, we can begin to view these foods differently as well.

Consciously seek whole foods that are nutritious and not addictive. Whole foods (like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, meat and dairy with minimal processing or unhealthy added ingredients) contain fiber and other nutrients designed to fill you up for fewer calories. With time, your taste-buds will learn to appreciate the subtle, complex flavors of whole foods, and highly processed foods will seem monotone and overdone.

Serve yourself “just right” portions. With practice, we can learn to serve ourselves “just right” portions. A “just right” meal is one that will keep you satisfied for approximately 4 hours. It will typically contain 400-600 calories, on average. A “just right” snack will keep you hunger-free for about 2 hours. It will typically contain 100-300 calories.

At mealtime, serve yourself a “just right” portion, and put the rest of the food away. Mentally tell yourself this is just the right amount for you, and there is no need to go back for seconds. If you find yourself hungry again later, you can always serve yourself a “just right” snack.

Plan ahead, and take steps to avoid temptation. Don’t leave it up to chance or willpower when you’re hungry to refuse hyper-palatable food. Plan ahead by choosing healthy meals and snacks to eat in advance, and keeping them readily available. Take steps to avoid temptation by refusing to buy hyper-palatable foods at the grocery store, and avoiding restaurants or events where you know you will likely give in to temptation.

The one part I disagree with in this book is using negative reinforcement to change behavior.  For example, the author recommends putting an unflattering photo of yourself on the refrigerator as a reminder to make healthy choices.  This practice is likely to do more harm than help.  Positive reinforcement is more effective and better for self-esteem.  Overall, The End of Overeating was a fascinating read, and I would highly recommend it. 

Health at Every Size

I have always been deeply concerned about a particular statistic: 95% of dieters regain their weight.  I recently finished reading Health at Every Size by Linda Bacon, PhD.  Bacon makes some very powerful arguments that promoting weight loss is ineffective in improving health over the long-term.  For example, consider:

• The vast majority of dieters regain their weight. There is no method proven effective for weight loss maintenance.
• Research is emerging showing that fitness, not fatness, is associated more strongly with health and longevity (1,2,3).
• Preoccupation with weight can be psychologically damaging and may lead to disordered eating (4,5).
• People of any size can improve their health and reduce their risk of chronic disease by eating healthfully and being physically active, regardless of whether or not they lose weight (6,7)
• No study has ever shown that weight loss actually prolongs life. (8)

The Health at Every Size (HAES) approach emphasizes:

• Self-acceptance regardless of weight, size, or shape
• Physical activity for enjoyment and enhanced quality of life
• Normalized eating in response to physiologic hunger and fullness cues rather than external guidelines or rules
• An approach to healthy living that does not necessarily involve weight loss for overweight individuals

With the HAES approach, the fundamental principles of nutrition remain the same.  It’s still important to eat a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein and unsaturated fats from mostly unprocessed sources.  It’s still important to eat breakfast and drink water.  If you follow these guidelines and lose weight, that’s fine.  But if you follow these guidelines and don’t lose weight, that just may be fine too.  What are your thoughts on HAES?

For additional information on HAES, check out:

• This Medscape article: Health at Every Size: Toward a New Paradigm of Weight and Health by Jon Robison, PhD, MS
• This USDA article: Health at Every Size: New Hope for Obese Americans?
• Linda Bacon, PhD’s book: Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight

Also check out this short clip by the Surgeon General, emphasizing a Health at Every Size approach:

References:

1. Barlow CE, Kohl HW, Gibbons LW, Blair SN. Physical fitness, mortality and obesity. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 1995;19(suppl4):S41-S44.
2. Church TS, Cheng YJ, Earnest CP, et al. Exercise capacity and body composition as predictors of mortality among men with diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2004;27:83-88. Abstract
3. Katzmarzyk PT, Church TS, Janssen I, Ross R, Blair SN. Metabolic syndrome, obesity, and mortality: impact of cardiorespiratory fitness. Diabetes Care. 2005;28:391-397. Abstract
4. Gaesser GA. Big Fat Lies. Carlsbad, Calif: Gurze Books; 2002.
5. Campos P. The Obesity Myth: Why America’s Obsession With Weight Is Hazardous to Your Health. New York: Gotham Books; 2004.
6. Barnard RJ, Jung T, Inkeles SB. Diet and exercise in the treatment of non insulin dependent diabetes. Diabetes Care. 1994;17:1469-1472. Abstract
7. Tremblay A, Despres JP, Maheux J, et al. Normalization of the metabolic profile in obese women by exercise and a low fat diet. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1991;23:1326-1331. Abstract

Healthiest Nation in One Generation

On behalf of National Public Health Week, I wanted to share the below video.  Enjoy!

Video: Cutting Back on Salt in Your Diet

The average American consumes double the recommended upper limit of sodium.  Excess sodium in your diet can contribute to high blood pressure. Take a look at this 2-minute video clip which give tips to help you cut out some extra sodium in your diet.

Video: A Ridiculously Healthy Meal in Just 2 Minutes

Check out my first video!  Learn how to cook a ridiculously healthy meal in just two minutes. On the menu: grilled salmon and steamed green beans. Bon appétit!

How to Live to Be 100

In this video, Dan Buettner shares the secrets of communities where residents live to be 100+ much more frequently than the rest of the world. The individual stories of people who are still filled with vitality after age 100 are inspiring.

It is definitely worth 20 minutes of your time to watch this video.  But, if you cannot, Garr Reynolds summed up the longevity secrets onto one slide:

Source: http://www.presentationzen.com/

The Real Cost of Cheap Food

Americans spend a lower percentage of income on food than any other nation.  As a result, our food system has shifted to low-quality, calorie-dense foods.  See what it is doing to our health… check out the below 2 minute video.

The Fun Theory

We health professionals are always trying to come up with ways to get people to adopt healthy behaviors. I like this new idea to get people to take the stairs more often:

 

What other ways could we implement “The Fun Theory” to get people to adopt healthy behaviors?  (Note: If you have a really great idea, enter the contest at http://thefuntheory.com/?q=rolighetsstipendiet to win $3700!)