Reversing A Growing Problem

While doing some research on the internet last night for a presentation I'm giving next month, I came across an article that made me do a double take.  The headline read "In 1991 the Fattest U.S. States Were as Thin as the Leanest in 2009."  The article quoted a study published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation which stated that "In 1991, no state had an obesity rate above 20 percent. In 1980, the national average of obese adults was 15 percent.  Today our statistically thinnest state (Colorado) has a 19.1% obesity rate among adults. More than two-thirds of states (38) now have adult obesity rates above 25 percent.  Eight states have rates above 30 percent – Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and West Virginia."  The article went on to note that "you don't have to go back to the 1970s and 1980s to find a country of thinner people; you just have to go back to the early 1990s."

There is plenty of blame to go around and people are pointing fingers in all directions, from the fast-food industry to the dramatic increase in the use of high fructose corn syrup to the lack of activity as people spend more and more time in front of computers, TV and video games.  I won't even try to figure out what percentage of blame should be attributed to these factors, but I do know one thing for sure.

While we're pointing at this reason or that with our index finger, the rest of our fingers are pointing right back at ourselves.  Sure there are societal issues at work here, but as long as we're looking to affix blame in another area, we end up playing the victim, whether we mean to or not.  If we're blaming something or someone else, we aren't really taking responsibility for ourselves.

Society certainly isn't helping, and fast food, etc. has contributed to the obesity epidemic, but we are the ones who've chosen to super-size everything.  We've by-passed the regular hamburger for the jumbo "value meal."  We've not paid attention to hungry/full signals, and we've chosen to deal with the stuff of life by overeating.  We aren't victims - we are full participants in the habits that got us here.

That's really good news - really!  Because if it was ultimately our own choices that got us overweight or obese, then making different choices can turn things around.  We don't have to wait for the fast-food industry to change, we don't have to wait for the food industry to get rid of HFCS - we don't have to wait for anything external (and out of our control) to change.  The power to change things is in our hands right now.  We have the tools we need, we just have to choose to use them.

Choose wisely :-)