This Is Your Body On TV

According to a study published in the Journal of the American Diatetic Association if Americans ate only what was advertised on TV we would all end up looking like the guy to the far right above, or worse.

Results suggest that a diet consisting of observed food items would provide 2,560% of the recommended daily servings for sugars, 2,080% of the recommended daily servings for fat, 40% of the recommended daily servings for vegetables, 32% of the recommended daily servings for dairy, and 27% of the recommended daily servings for fruits.

The really scary part is that ads during Saturday morning cartoons figured prominently in the study. Is it any wonder that there is a rapidly growing obesity problem among kids?

We all know kids watch way to much TV, not to mention that Phys Ed. is becoming a rarity in schools.  That all adds up to serious health concerns such as type II diabetes becoming more common even among teens, something unheard of a couple decades ago.

Among adults the health concerns are of course no less dangerous. Diabetes, heart disease, and any number of potentially fatal issues are associated with obesity.

People are naturally influenced by what is pitched to us on TV. Advertising firms are full of very smart people that do nothing but figure out how to exploit our brains in order to get us to want what they sell.
Therefore the best option is to not watch TV. Or at least channels that do a lot of this sort of advertising.

It's funny how many people I hear say they don't have time to get in 3 hours of physical activity a week, yet can give you all the details on any number of TV shows.

The way I deal with this is to say fine, pick a few shows you like to watch but stretch or get on the foam roller while watching, and don't snack.  And that they MUST schedule regular times to exercise, as this is the only way it's likely to get done - much the same as people know when their favorite shows are on, know ahead of time when it's your time to focus on your health.

Pretty soon I notice those clients begin to like exercising more, have less stress, and of course become more fit. Funny how that works.

Fat Nation

I'm back from a week vacationing with family up in the Sonoma area of Northern California, and man what a beautiful place. I could spend years exploring the roads and mountains via bike and foot. And though I saw quite a few people biking around those stunningly gorgeous valleys I honestly thought there would be more out enjoying the sights. But judging by the amount of overweight people driving up to the wineries and in the mineral pools, alot of those people aren't doing much exercise ever. I honestly think it would be hard to be overweight in such an environment, but that's not reality.

That brings me to an article in the latest issue of the Atlantic Journal called "Fat Nation" by Mark Ambinder. It's a fairly long article, but very well written, so please click the link and go read it.

Ambinder's approach is interesting in that he takes a macro view of the obesity issue, tying it not only to fast food, increased caloric intake, and the dubious corporate food industry, but also to how it is now more accepted than ever to be fat., and how this affects us.

At once encouraging (the author lost some 90 pounds) and dark: "At the current rate of increase it will take less than 30 years for all black women to become overweight or obese."

Wrap your mind around that for a minute.

Ambinder does a great job at digging into problems involved high up in the corporate and political stratosphere. Basically the food industry discovered that it could make mountains of cash by making Americans want to eat more and more crap. It's a hard nut to crack, as we are constantly bombarded by commercials and displays in grocery stores encouraging unhealthy choices. But it can be overcome.

Personally, my wife and I don't shop at Ralphs or any other store full of processed junk. We buy most of our food at Trader Joe's and farmer's markets. And even though Trader Joe's does sell some unhealthy items, by and large it's easier to buy food of better quality.

Neither do we eat at any fast food places, nor Applebees, Pizza Hut etc... I'd much rather eat someplace that I know takes pride in the quality of their food, not just the profit in serving up frozen processed junk. And we certainly don't miss any of those foods at all.

Lest you think I'm a paleo or vegan nazi, I'll readily throw down some carbs, grains, and milk. My parents, their parents, and their parents did just fine eating bread and drinking milk.

And besides, most people are not going to be able to stick to a restrictive diet. Why not just use common sense in choosing the freshest possible food?

Born to Run

I'm back from a couple of weeks in Japan traveling with family. Needless to say we had a great time visiting a historic pottery town, marveling at Kyoto's temples, and eating fantastic food.

Once again we were struck by how many people you see in Japan outside being active, and how few obese people there are. Could be some connection there...

While traveling I read Christopher McDougall's book Born To Run. I had seen McDougall interviewed on the Daily Show and heard good things so picked it up at the airport. Part ethnography, part research on running, part one man's search for meaning, Born To Run is an engrossing tale of some lost souls finding each other among the Tarahumara peoples of Northern Mexico.

Of course I'm a sucker for ethnographies, having a grad degree in ethnomusicology, but relevant to this blog McDougall drew upon a growing body of research showing that our "high tech" shoes are breaking us down. I admit I'm already sold on this point, having seen first hand many times how training barefoot, or close to it (Nike Free, Vibram Five Fingers) does much to improve foot, knee, and back health.

McDougall points out that no American has won the Olympic or New York marathon's ever since our footwear got high tech (arch support, fat heels, orthotics etc...), but that many who have one, namely the Kenyans seldom ever wore shoes until in their late teens.

Further, the main subjects of the book, the Tarahumara people, are known as the best ultra-endurance runners on the planet, but they wear nothing more than flat sandals made of rubber and leather. And they seldom, if ever, get injured.

Meanwhile injury statistics among American runners show that 8 in 10 runners will deal with injuries each year. McDougall for one claims his injuries have vanished since ditching his expensive running shoes and going barefoot.

OK, enough of that - go check out the book. It's a great read.

However I will say that Born To Run portrays ultra-endurance runners as uber-athletes. But watching youtube videos of them I'm struck by the skinny-fat physiques and poor posture, which is why I'm adamant that people need to do some sort of exercise that uses the whole body.

And it's not just for looks. This research demonstrates links between lack of muscle strength and increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease:

The strongest patients had 61 per cent less chance of developing the disease than the weakest. No reason for the association has yet been foung, but it could involve energy production in the body or other hidden health problems, the scientists believe.

Alzheimer's disease – the most common form of dementia – causes a progressive loss of memory and thinking ability. However, it is also known to be associated with symptoms such as an impaired gait, depression and a weakened grip.

Researchers at Rush University Medical Centre, in Chicago, studied 970 adults with an average age of about 80 who did not initially have Alzheimer's.

Each participant was rated for mental function and given a physical strength score derived from testing 11 muscle groups. At least one further evaluation was carried out over an average follow-up period of 3.6 years. Of the total, 138 participants (14.2 per cent) went on to develop Alzheimer's.

Muscle strength scores ranged from minus 1.6 to 3.3 units. Every unit increase in initial muscle strength correlated with a 43 per cent reduction in the risk of developing Alzheimer's during the study period, the researchers found.

Participants in the top 10 per cent of scores for muscular strength were almost two-thirds (61 per cent) less likely to develop less at risk of Alzheimer's than those who were in the bottom 10 per cent.

In other words go get stronger. Only good can come of it.