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See No Fat! Hear No Fat! Eat No Fat!
See no fat! Hear no fat! Eat no fat?
Written by: By Phil Lempert
Web Site: Phil's Fat Diaries
Many of us wish it were just that easy to lose weight and get in
shape. With the national elections just about a year away, and
the campaigns heating up, expect more "fat" legislation, more
"fat" lawsuits and more comparisons to the political wars. Fat in
2004 will mean votes. And the candidate that moves from general
healthcare and fighting over Medicare to helping people lose
weight will win. Voters may not agree with Al Sharpton's
politics, or want to emulate his hunger strike in a jail in
Puerto Rico that began his own fat crusade. But everyone agrees
that he looks great and wants to know how he has been able to
keep the fat off.
People are confused and tired about all the conflicting
information that appears on the front page and then disappears:
trans fats, high fructose corn syrup, low carb diets, the PYY
hormone, and of course, the story that never quite disappears is
the one that suggests just who we can blame for making all of us
this fat.
The fast food chains seem to be trying to convince us that
they've changed and we shouldn't blame them. McDonald's has hired
Oprah's trainer, and Wendy's is allowing kids to substitute milk
for soda and fruit for fries. Taco Bell has introduced healthy
alternatives named "Fresco Style" that include Fiesta Salsa as a
substitute for cheese and sauce.
Food brands want to avoid the kind of class action lawsuits and
bad publicity that tobacco companies faced. Kraft, one of
America's largest and best known food companies, is reformulating
their products to get rid of trans fats, reduce portion size and
create a more healthful product profile. Frito-Lay introduced
"Smart Snacks" under the direction of Dr. Kenneth Cooper (best
known for his heart saving work at his Cooper Clinic in Texas)
with a nutritional profile that has no transfats, less than 1.5
grams of fat and less than 120 calories per serving.
School systems throughout the country have been blamed for
accepting money from those companies that have filled their
vending machines with soda, candy and fat laden snacks.
California, always a leader in matters of health and fitness,
once again showed their stuff when last year the Oakland school
district enacted a system-wide ban of all junk food from its
buildings. Governor Gray Davis, amidst sharp criticism and a
recall election, signed SB 677 into law, which limits the sale of
beverages on elementary, middle and junior high school campuses
to milk, juice, water or sports drinks beginning in July 2004.
The bill also prohibits a school district governing board from
entering or renewing a contract with any vendor that sells it
non-nutritious food or beverages, without first notifying parents
about the contract and providing for public comment.
Even the IRS has gotten on the fat bandwagon. In accordance with
the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug
Administration, the Internal Revenue Service now acknowledges
obesity as a disease that in "some" cases requires medical
treatment. However, the law is very specific in stating that
write offs relating to weight loss are only legitimate if ordered
by a physician.
So if we can no longer blame the fast food joints, the food
companies, the schools or the government who can we blame? The
answer is simple. We should blame ourselves.
This past June I made a commitment on air and in print, that I
would no longer use words such as "obese," "large" and
"overweight" to describe our most important health problem .or my
fellow fat Americans. In my opinion, by using these politically
correct terms, the debate changes. Fat is an emotional word -
obese is not. And what we most definitely need these days is a
bit less rhetoric, less miracle foods and certainly less
expensive diet plans and books. What we need is to emotionally
connect fat to people. And I've kept to my word.
On Monday, June 23, 2003, I put my own fat on notice and started
to post (www.philsfatdiaries.com) a daily journal of food,
exercise, water consumption, and stress level along with the
required daily weigh-in. Researchers have proven that people who
keep a food diary and monitor what they eat, actually consume 15%
less food than those do not. And while I haven't reached my
ultimate goal of losing 15 pounds, I'm about halfway there, there
is no doubt I'm eating healthier, drinking more water, reducing
my stress level and feeling very guilty about how little I
actually exercise.
I'm tired of all the talk and television shows trying to scare
America into fitness. This past spring gave us a look into the
crystal ball of Politics 2004. Major "fat" declarations were made
by two of America's highest profile health professionals. U.S.
Surgeon General Richard Carmona termed obesity as "the terror
within" - obviously trying to bring our fear of fat to the same
level of our fear of the Taliban. Julie Gerberding, director of
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), announced
that the Centers has " recalculated the actual causes of death in
the U.S. and we (CDC) did see that obesity moved up very close to
tobacco, and is almost the number one health threat." She also in
her speech at San Francisco's Commonwealth Club used the
terrorism analogy saying that in her stint working in a hospital
ER, "none of my patients were admitted for bioterrorism." Dr.
Phil has turned his healing talk show into the latest iteration
of reality TV: Big Brother Meets the Twinkie!
Losing those extra pounds is more important than you may think.
Two out of three Americans are overweight or obese according to
the Surgeon General, marking a 50 percent increase over the
decadent 90's decade. 15 percent of kids ages six to 17 are
overweight or obese and diabetes is showing up The Centers for
Disease Control report that one in four Americans get absolutely
no exercise. And with a healthcare system that is teetering
anyway, a looming debate continues about just who will pay the
price for all those extra heart diseases, cancers and diabetes
that have been accelerated by those extra pounds.
Losing weight is not about a miracle diet, expensive surgery or
special foods. It is about eating less and exercising more. It's
about taking 5 minutes a day and writing down what you ate and
did the day before. And then looking at it, and really seeing
what you are doing to your body. In working together and offering
support to each other we can show the food and diet world we are
not quite the dupes they think we are, and bust open the $60
billion weight loss market.
For your own free fat diary, log on to www.PhilsFatDiaries.com
Copyright © Philip Lempert
About Philip Lempert
An expert on consumer issues, marketing trends, new products and
food safety, Lempert is a respected analyst with an uncanny
ability to identify and explain trends to both industry and
consumers in a thought provoking and entertaining manner. Known
as the Supermarket Guru®, Lempert is the food trends editor for
NBC News' TODAY Show, founder and editor of SupermarketGuru.com and can be heard weekly as host of the syndicated radio show Shopping Smart®. He's also a correspondent for BBC Radio's 5 Live Program and is the author of several books including Being the Shopper: Understanding the Buyer's Choices, Phil Lempert's Supermarket Shopping & Value Guide. Phil is a member of the Advisory Board to the Partnership for Food Safety Education in Washington DC. For more information, please visit:
www.supermarketguru.com
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