Why-Americans-are-Fat

Why Americans are Fat

Probably many Americans share my dream that the beautiful Obamas will inspire us all to get svelte. Seeing a photo of Barack on the basketball court is enough to send me out for a vigorous walk. Sleeveless Michelle brings out my little pair of weights. However, gazing at the Obamas won't make us thin, any more than the Kennedy Administration's elegant evenings and Jackie's French impelled Americans to learn other languages and stop wearing plaid shirts.

We have all heard the basic lecture: eat less, exercise more. But there are at least six particular fat promoters that, in being so, work against us.

There is too much food around.

It's in vending machines, fast food restaurants, over-large restaurant portions, and grocery stores loaded with products wall to wall and floor to ceiling; well, not quite to the ceiling. But we don't have to eat it all.

Buy a supply of healthy foods you really like. When your cupboard and fridge offer only "punishment foods" (this cod liver oil is good for me), you'll end up ordering pizza. Devise simple recipes for your favorite healthy foods. Boiled eggplant is not appetizing.

Create your own food pyramid. Decide where you're going to get your vegetables, bread, dairy and fats on a given day. As long as ice cream and potato chips are not on your list, you can actually eat quite a lot. Three decent meals a day won’t make you fat.

We use food as a comfort or substitute.

Try to mentally separate food from the issues in your life that need resolving. Be honest about your needs. Muster the energy and perhaps other resources, like friends, to get them satisfied. A package of gooey chocolate won’t get you a better social life or job.

Participate in community-based activities. Shooting hoops or playing a board game with a group, we eat less. Alone at home, we raid the refrigerator. Feeling lonely and unconnected also makes it likely we will turn on the TV for company. And as we all know, watching television goes even better with a piece of pie than with the remote.

We rely too much on passive entertainment.

Since we all love email, we should not blame technology for society’s ills. But passive entertainment is a massive contributor to weight gain. We spend large amounts of time at computers, often just aimlessly surfing.

In the 1950s, television brought about a terrible behavior change. We shifted from doing things to watching other people do things. Dancing competitions are beautiful to watch – but how about getting up and dancing ourselves? It’s joyous, physically healthy and makes our day richer.

Walk, run, bicycle, swim, dance, play tennis, basketball, soccer, softball. Choose your activity. You have to like it or you won’t do it. Make it an almost daily event. Keeping busy and doing things is so satisfying. If you’re going to be a spectator, let it be at your son’s ball park – not in front of the TV.

We either don’t understand certain fundamentals about aging or act like we don’t.

In youth being thin is a natural condition. Later, getting fat is the natural condition. That means we need to consume fewer calories than we did when younger -- just when we feel we have earned a few more! As we age we feel less like exercising – precisely at the time of life when we need to. Decreased energy levels keep us home evenings, where we are more likely to sit and watch TV and eat. Older people are more likely to be depressed, which sends us to the cookie jar while younger people are outside playing touch football. If you’re old and want to be thin, you have to regularly work at neutralizing your calories. A mid-morning donut requires an afternoon walk.

We don’t do enough to change our transportation habits.

A personal automobile is a luxury – almost like a personal spaceship, especially if it’s a newish one. It just doesn’t seem like luxury because we take cars so much for granted. In our culture the car has become an extension of oneself. We feel deprived if we don’t have one. Who can wonder that one’s car is ranked just below food and shelter?

But a car is a problem for anyone who wants to lose weight. A three-block walk to some destination seems a long way because we are accustomed to getting there in a minute or less.

Try the habit of walking anywhere within a mile of your home. A mile is about 12 average city blocks. Walk to the drugstore, post office, hardware store, the mailbox, the park. Once it becomes a habit you will see results, both in appearance and feeling of well being. For longer distances, the car is still there.

We dress badly.

It may not seem related to weight and fitness, but the sloppiness that characterizes today’s dressing conduces to fat. Extra-large T-shirts and sweats can be worn with or without another ten pounds and don’t suggest pride or self-discipline. Dressing well confers a psychological boost and tends to make us adopt more self-respecting behaviors. It also encourages us to stay within a given size -- unless we want to buy a new wardrobe.

All those things encourage us to get fat and stay fat. Each one is a battle. But they are no match for a person who, with a little thought and planning, can find his or her own strategy for winning those battles, and in so doing, win the weight war. And look like the Obamas – well, a little, anyway.