I don't know why, but I'm obsessed with weight loss. I think unpacking this obsession is going to take more than one post, so lets think of this as the first chapter in a continuing discussion. Personally... I guess I've always been attracted to a challenge. As a kid I wanted to get addicted to cigarettes just so I could be strong and show everyone that I could quit (I swear I truly remember having these thoughts on a regular basis). I still see a lot of evidence of this attraction to challenges in my life right now. For example, unlike many women I find myself slightly more attracted to men whom I have to chase. I'm turned off when men are too easily "won." But anyway, I'm aware of this romanticized idea I have of challenging situations... which can easily be applied to weight loss. My first instinct is that successful weight loss is a result of perseverance, willpower, and strength of character... and I'm well aware that the flip side of this statement involves blaming unsuccessful weight loss on weakness and a few other undesirable characteristics. I need to examine this, however, because there are a variety of factors that influence this view.
Personally... I have always been thin but in the last year I have lost about 20 pounds and am keeping it off quite easily (I actually lost a few more pounds accidentally since becoming a vegetarian... oops). But, I am proud of my body and my health; I feel like it is something I have worked for and accomplished. I don't want anyone to look down on that accomplishment as nothing special just because I had "thin / active" genes to start with. This is an initial, almost defensive reaction. On the other hand, I have no idea what it's like to really struggle with my weight. (My 20 pound weight loss brought me from 137 to 117... both of which are well within the healthy range for my 5'6 frame). My parents and my brother are all thin, healthy, and quite active. I can look around me and confidently say that the chances of me ever being overweight are slim to none. The moral of my personal story is that I don't want choices, will-power, and strength of character to be written off as contributing to health or obesity... but I also have no clue how much of my personal experience can be related to what others experience.
The inspiration for this reflection came from a television program that I taped the other night (because... as I said... I'm obsessed with weight loss) called I can make you thin. This show featured a British man named Paul McKenna who continually boasted that he had the golden rules for simple, permanent weight loss. I did like the rules that McKenna suggested because they seemed to be encouraging people to eat more consciously and enjoy their eating experience more. I believe that both of these are very important in order to have a healthy relationship with food. The thing that kept getting to me was how he reiterated how easy his program would be. He also told the audience over and over again that it was not their fault they were overweight. Is this the most productive way to think of the obesity epidemic? There's a quick fix out there and individuals really don't play any role in the epidemic... everyone is just a victim? I don't know.
Where's the line between crazy Mississipi legislation that makes it ok to discriminate against people to encourage them to loose weight (ultimately trying to emphasize personal responsibility for weight loss) and telling people who are overweight that they are not at fault and have just been innocent victims for years? Neither seem to be productive approaches to me, but where's the happy medium?
Showing posts with label Obesity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obesity. Show all posts
Monday, March 17, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
The convenience factor
Well... I took a few minutes and wrote the last post about shopping for the girls' track team. I did eventually find a grocery store that accepted the credit card I had and I got so excited to run around the store and fill my cart with lots of good things. I was able to pick up a ton of fruit as well as wheat bread, peanut butter, jelly, and granola bars. I really felt accomplished and felt as thought I was doing something positive for the students in a variety of different ways. First, they would be able to compete better because their stomachs wouldn't be filled with greasy burgers. Second, in a community that is so hard hit by the obesity / diabetes epidemic, I feel as though even the smallest opportunities to model and teach healthy habits are helpful. Plus, of course, healthy food is something I'm passionate about and sharing that feels great.
The kids seemed generally appreciative of the food choices. Especially the fruit. The girls loved the grapes, the apples and the oranges disappeared pretty quickly, and there were a few mumblings about a lack of bananas... good to know... I'll add them to the list. The sandwiches, however, were not a hit. Everyone liked the idea of peanut butter and jelly (some liked the idea of one without the other, you know how it goes...) but because they actually had to assemble their own sandwiches... NOBODY ATE ANYTHING! I was pretty shocked. There were kids who were really hungry by the end of the day and I guarantee that if there had been a cooler full of pre-made PB&J everyone would have gone to town on it. Instead they didn't eat any of it... too much work to make their own sandwich.
I guess I shouldn't have been that surprised, I did just finish reading Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink. Clearly, the choices that people make are not always rational, but how do you combat those choices? For example, one could argue that to truly feed yourself a healthy diet, you need to cook. Cooking involves time, work, energy, and... doing the dishes (EEK!). But people are lazy and the many will make their choices based on convenience rather than logic. Does that mean that the new single serving, microwaveable veggies are the best way to convince people to eat healthier? Would a fast food restaraunt that serves "rabbit food" in a quick, convenient way profit and improve America's health?
I don't know. Next time I'm going to recruit some of the free manual labor that I have at my disposal (aka my students) to make up sandwiches in advance.
The kids seemed generally appreciative of the food choices. Especially the fruit. The girls loved the grapes, the apples and the oranges disappeared pretty quickly, and there were a few mumblings about a lack of bananas... good to know... I'll add them to the list. The sandwiches, however, were not a hit. Everyone liked the idea of peanut butter and jelly (some liked the idea of one without the other, you know how it goes...) but because they actually had to assemble their own sandwiches... NOBODY ATE ANYTHING! I was pretty shocked. There were kids who were really hungry by the end of the day and I guarantee that if there had been a cooler full of pre-made PB&J everyone would have gone to town on it. Instead they didn't eat any of it... too much work to make their own sandwich.
I guess I shouldn't have been that surprised, I did just finish reading Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink. Clearly, the choices that people make are not always rational, but how do you combat those choices? For example, one could argue that to truly feed yourself a healthy diet, you need to cook. Cooking involves time, work, energy, and... doing the dishes (EEK!). But people are lazy and the many will make their choices based on convenience rather than logic. Does that mean that the new single serving, microwaveable veggies are the best way to convince people to eat healthier? Would a fast food restaraunt that serves "rabbit food" in a quick, convenient way profit and improve America's health?
I don't know. Next time I'm going to recruit some of the free manual labor that I have at my disposal (aka my students) to make up sandwiches in advance.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Venture into Academic Literature
After a year and a half in the "real world", I have returned to the journal pages that occupied so much of my time not too long ago. I have been reading books written on the subjects of food and nutrition, but have realized that these are not enough. After coming across "Behavioral Economics, Food Assistance, and Obesity" by David Just (a professor at Cornell), I figured this was a good place to start.
As the title suggests, Just starts by acknowledging the prevalence of obesity among low-income sections of the population and, therefore, the high percentage of obese men and women who rely on food assistance programs. He discusses the difficulties in addressing this situation using standard economic solutions (a fat tax or restrictions on what can or can't be purchased) and advocates that policy makers need to consider the contributions that behavioral economics can make to address such problems. After presenting a variety of examples from behavioral economic and food psychology studies, Just argues that food choices are not always rational and need to be treated as such. Just goes on to discuss a few changes that can be made in the school lunch program, food stamp program, or the WIC program that will encourage participants to spend the assistance money in a way to increase overall health and decrease caloric consumption - thereby addressing the high rates of obesity.
This article provided a very different perspective than a lot of the literature I have been reading about food recently. While Michael Pollan alludes to the variety of contributions food makes to our lives (nutritional, communal, spiritual, ect.), Just views food as something that simply sustains us. As a way to help the school lunch program effectively address childhood obesity he suggests that students eat in very small groups and eat quickly because these conditions encourage eaters to consume fewer calories. Ok, this is definitely logical, but what about that great sense of satisfaction and community that comes from sharing meals with others. Do we have to give that up in order to eat less? Another policy recommendation Just has for improving the efficacy of the food stamp program is to encourage producers to make more individual sized portions and make ready-to-eat meals in smaller portions eligible food items. This, too, encourages people to eat fewer calories, yes, but does not promote a communal enjoyment of food. (The excess packaging is of course an environmental issue as well...)
The prescriptions made by David Just in this article make a lot of sense. They address the issues of overeating in a way that takes an individual's proclivity for being irrational into account. Because of this I believe that his policies have the potential to be effective if implemented correctly. I do, however, find this outlook on food slightly depressing. I love food. I love shopping and cooking and eating and sharing these things with others. I wish others could view food in this manner. The thing is, it's easy for me to say this because I don't have a problem with overeating whereas many people in the US do. This just leads me to wonder, is there a way to fit the enjoyment of the process of eating into an economic analysis of food, food assistance, and obesity? If we could encourage a greater pleasure and connection to what we eat, would that provide people with an incentive to eat better and become healthier?
Just, David R. “Behavioral Economics, Food Assistance, and Obesity.” Agricultural and Resource Economics Review. Vol. 35, No. 2 (October 2006): 1–10.
As the title suggests, Just starts by acknowledging the prevalence of obesity among low-income sections of the population and, therefore, the high percentage of obese men and women who rely on food assistance programs. He discusses the difficulties in addressing this situation using standard economic solutions (a fat tax or restrictions on what can or can't be purchased) and advocates that policy makers need to consider the contributions that behavioral economics can make to address such problems. After presenting a variety of examples from behavioral economic and food psychology studies, Just argues that food choices are not always rational and need to be treated as such. Just goes on to discuss a few changes that can be made in the school lunch program, food stamp program, or the WIC program that will encourage participants to spend the assistance money in a way to increase overall health and decrease caloric consumption - thereby addressing the high rates of obesity.
This article provided a very different perspective than a lot of the literature I have been reading about food recently. While Michael Pollan alludes to the variety of contributions food makes to our lives (nutritional, communal, spiritual, ect.), Just views food as something that simply sustains us. As a way to help the school lunch program effectively address childhood obesity he suggests that students eat in very small groups and eat quickly because these conditions encourage eaters to consume fewer calories. Ok, this is definitely logical, but what about that great sense of satisfaction and community that comes from sharing meals with others. Do we have to give that up in order to eat less? Another policy recommendation Just has for improving the efficacy of the food stamp program is to encourage producers to make more individual sized portions and make ready-to-eat meals in smaller portions eligible food items. This, too, encourages people to eat fewer calories, yes, but does not promote a communal enjoyment of food. (The excess packaging is of course an environmental issue as well...)
The prescriptions made by David Just in this article make a lot of sense. They address the issues of overeating in a way that takes an individual's proclivity for being irrational into account. Because of this I believe that his policies have the potential to be effective if implemented correctly. I do, however, find this outlook on food slightly depressing. I love food. I love shopping and cooking and eating and sharing these things with others. I wish others could view food in this manner. The thing is, it's easy for me to say this because I don't have a problem with overeating whereas many people in the US do. This just leads me to wonder, is there a way to fit the enjoyment of the process of eating into an economic analysis of food, food assistance, and obesity? If we could encourage a greater pleasure and connection to what we eat, would that provide people with an incentive to eat better and become healthier?
Just, David R. “Behavioral Economics, Food Assistance, and Obesity.” Agricultural and Resource Economics Review. Vol. 35, No. 2 (October 2006): 1–10.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
The Trenches vs. The Ivory Tower
There is clearly an obesity problem in the United States. As a country, we are poisoning ourselves on a daily basis. We have no idea of how to feed ourselves in a way that optimizes our physical potential. Advertising and corporations make seemingly simple food choices unbelievably complicated when examined closely. I believe that this situation needs to be addressed.
While I am still in the early stages of this romantic relationship, I love food. I take great pleasure in preparing meals both for myself and for others. I feel as though I enter some sort of time warp in super markets because hours pass quickly before I tire from reading labels, health claims, and examining unfamiliar products. I read about food, nutrition, and health constantly. This just may be my passion and this just may be the way in which I can contribute to this world. Unfortunately... at the age of 23, passion just leads one to even more questions.
What is the best way to address the eating disorder that America is suffering from? What is the best way for me to share my love and passion of food with others who could benefit from my perspective? Option A: Find a job with WIC or some similar organization that offers advice and counsels the populations who are most in need. Work in the trenches and know that I will influence lives on a daily basis. Option B: Pursue higher education by becoming a Nutritionist or getting a PhD in Applied Economics or something very similar. Talk, think, teach and write about these issues for the rest of my life and hope that my words don't fall on deaf ears.
Both options have benefits, both have drawbacks. What do you think, the trenches of the ivory tower?
While I am still in the early stages of this romantic relationship, I love food. I take great pleasure in preparing meals both for myself and for others. I feel as though I enter some sort of time warp in super markets because hours pass quickly before I tire from reading labels, health claims, and examining unfamiliar products. I read about food, nutrition, and health constantly. This just may be my passion and this just may be the way in which I can contribute to this world. Unfortunately... at the age of 23, passion just leads one to even more questions.
What is the best way to address the eating disorder that America is suffering from? What is the best way for me to share my love and passion of food with others who could benefit from my perspective? Option A: Find a job with WIC or some similar organization that offers advice and counsels the populations who are most in need. Work in the trenches and know that I will influence lives on a daily basis. Option B: Pursue higher education by becoming a Nutritionist or getting a PhD in Applied Economics or something very similar. Talk, think, teach and write about these issues for the rest of my life and hope that my words don't fall on deaf ears.
Both options have benefits, both have drawbacks. What do you think, the trenches of the ivory tower?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
