It's Not Genetics

I've got bad news, my friends. It's not genetics. Never has been, never will be. How do I know this? Yesterday CNBC.com published a report from America's Health Rankings that listed the states in order of health. According to the article, "America`s Health RankingsTM has tracked the health of the nation for the past 20 years, providing a unique, comprehensive perspective on how the nation - and each state - measures up. The 20th anniversary edition of the Rankings suggests our nation is extremely adept at treating illness and disease. However, Americans are struggling to change unhealthy behaviors such as smoking and obesity, which cause these diseases in the first place."

In my own state, Michigan, the obesity rate grew from 14.1% in 1990 to 29.5% in 2009. In Mississippi, which ranked 50th, from 1990 to 2009 the obesity rate grew from 15.0% to 33.3%. The fact that obesity more than doubled in twenty years in not only these two states, but many others as well, has ZERO to do with genetics and everything to do with lifestyle. There simply could not be enough change in the genetic makeup of the U.S. population in a short twenty years to account for this growing - and I do mean growing - epidemic.

I'm saying this fully aware that obesity often seems to "run" in families, but unless there is an underlying endocrine problem, which is rare, familial obesity is all about lifestyle. That's good news - really it is! This means that even if every other person in your family is obese, you are NOT destined to be obese, too. Our obesity is tied directly to our lifestyle and the choices we make.

My husband and I stopped at a buffet Sunday evening on our way home from Chicago. I'm not a fan of buffets, as there are way too many temptations and limited healthy options, plus the food is generally only OK, not great. At a table sitting near us were three generations of obese females - a woman who looked to be in her 70's, two women in their 30's, and two little girls, one about 10 and the other about 5. The 10 year old was already morbidly obese and her little sister was chubby and most certainly heading down the same path. As I watched all of these gals make trip after trip to the buffet lines and as I saw what they had on their plates, it was clear that the obesity they shared was because of what they were doing with their forks, not what was in their DNA.

It's easy to find other reasons for our struggle with weight, and blaming our genes is an often-used excuse. We may have learned bad habits from our family of origin, but those bad habits aren't hard-wired into our genes. If we are willing to make some fundamental changes, we can not only rewrite our own health future, but we can also help our children and grandchildren to rewrite theirs. We can start a new family pattern, beginning with the choices we make today. Choose wisely :-)