The Battle Against Obesity
The battle of the bulge will continue to be lost as long as we continue the improper dietary habits of the American Culture. In the 1940's there were more thin children than overweight children. When I graduated from elementary school, my fellow graduates were svelte and the girls were curvaceous. Most of these neighborhood schools were close to their students and didn’t hesitate to visit parents. We ate all our meals at home and that included breakfast, lunch and supper. We went home for lunch then and returned in time to be herded back into school from the playground. Boys and girls had different entrances and were separated in the playground. I say this to point out differences in the social structure in the 40's. Meals served at home were balanced and fruits and vegetables were still being grown in the backyards of many parents. I loved the fresh tomatoes, celery, green peppers, lettuce and asparagus, amongst others that grew in a plush vegetable garden. I remember watering the vegetables as taught by my father. We had a trellis for delicious black grapes - what a sight to behold! Tomatoes tasted differently then. I couldn’t get enough of them. In the morning, I had Quaker’s Old Fashioned Oatmeal. Salad and a sandwich were usually the meal for lunch with a glass of milk. Mom had the best quality of olive oil and apple-cider vinegar for the dressing. Everyone ate at the same time, except dad who was working.
I grew up tall and strong and learned what foods to eat. We would say that some food agreed with you and others gave you acid indigestion. Bread was only 15 cents then and a quart of milk was 25 cents. We usually had a spaghetti dinner on Thursdays and chicken soup and salad on Sundays with the chicken used to make the soup. We weren’t allowed to drink coffee until we had reached high school and even then, very rarely.
By the time I graduated from college and started my own family, soft-drinks were the favorite drink of youngsters. So much so, that I bought it by the case, not realizing the devastating effects of sugar-laden beverages. Fortunately, neither of my children were overweight and they grew tall and healthy. However, we still ate the main meals together and sometimes the grade-school teacher would stop by. I encouraged my children to play many physical games, swim, ride their bikes and explore the gorges of the Niagara River. We would go sled-riding at Chestnut Ridge and play hockey in the back yard in the winter. They also played in the playground and would participate in baseball, football and even riding mini-bikes (motorcycles). I believed in healthy activities and we read together and even created projects out of wood. I met often with their teachers and sent them to the best high schools we could afford on a teacher’s salary. My wife was a "stay at home" mom until both children were busy in school and she decided to add to the family income. Without this picture, it is hard for children in today’s world to understand the changes that have led to some of the problems we face today.
Our children did not determine what we ate and our meals were balanced along the lines of the way my wife and I were brought up. There were no calls for pizza and we didn’t head out to McDonald’s or Burger King, except on rare occasions. However, times were changing and hot dogs, hamburgers, French fries and pizza were becoming popular. Family picnics were not without plenty of sugary baked goods and chocolate eclairs. We ate salads and grilled chicken, but the eating habits were beginning to evolve and my wife and I both gained weight in excess of 50 pounds more than what we weighed when we were engaged.
What we didn’t know, was that we were entering the age of obesity and that was brought on by the addition of "high-fructose corn syrup," fast-food restaurants and more and more prepared foods with preservatives and new chemical additives. Hydrogenated vegetable oils, high sodium content and sugar substitutes were in the new packages and cereals were getting sweeter and more sugar-coated. Television added to the problem with a captive audience of young children getting toys with their fast foods. Ice cream began to occupy whole aisles in the supermarket. Cold-cuts with mayonnaise, and high fats and sodium grew into super sandwiches. Instead of popcorn, we began eating long rolls (French bread) which were higher than our bite. Eating, while watching TV, took the place of meals around the dinner table and sports venues began selling more and more pizza, sausage, potato chips and larger sugar-laden beverages. Fried foods became the rage and fish fry dinners became a ritual amongst many families. All of this played a part in increasing the problem of obesity. Unlike our grandparents, we were eating cows instead of fish, ice cream instead of fruits, French fries instead of baked potatoes and soft drinks instead of milk. Bread began to be sold in larger loaves and vegetable containers gradually changed from a pound to 14 ounces with 960mg of sodium. Taste-testers had researched the aromas and tastes that people came to love and eat more of. Restaurants began increasing the size of meals and buffets became popular. Fast food restaurants began "super-sizing" meals and pushing the French fries with salt. The more you ate, the thirstier you became and the profits began to soar. There were no nutrition facts on food containers and the hazards of certain ingredients were nowhere to be found. The size of the printed ingredients shrank while the popular words became larger and more prominent. Slowly, we began to find that everyone knew somebody who had by-pass surgery and took cholesterol-lowering drugs and the cost of prescription drugs sky-rocketed. The World Health Organization ranked the U.S. as 37th amongst the industrialized nations of the world and we dropped to 29th in longevity. America was well on its way to health problems of epidemic proportions. The greatest generation is living into their late 80s and even 100+, but their children are lucky to get into their 60s and early 70s without life-threatening diseases.
Organ donations are helping some to hang on a little longer, but we still have problems with alcoholism, sugar and fried foods. Even the affluent are having drastic surgery to reduce the size of their stomachs. Smokers begin to realize that lung-cancer and environmental problems are shortening their lives. Alcoholics began to realize that they look a lot older than those who refrain from addictive eating, drinking, smoking and gambling. We have spent ourselves into debt and are losing the battle for cures and preventative approaches. More and more people are realizing that prescription drugs are not the cure. Garbage in - garbage out has already started a revolution in the way we eat. Living longer, healthier and happier lives takes self-discipline, knowledge and a return to the kitchen where nutrition-filled foods can lead to fewer visits to the doctor, less surgical procedures and fewer organ replacements. More people are having their knees and hips replaced and suffering in their early 50s from retinal detachment. Is it time to go back to the future. Avoiding the take-out windows and preparing healthy food for you and your family will help you to make eating a lifestyle change.
I grew up tall and strong and learned what foods to eat. We would say that some food agreed with you and others gave you acid indigestion. Bread was only 15 cents then and a quart of milk was 25 cents. We usually had a spaghetti dinner on Thursdays and chicken soup and salad on Sundays with the chicken used to make the soup. We weren’t allowed to drink coffee until we had reached high school and even then, very rarely.
By the time I graduated from college and started my own family, soft-drinks were the favorite drink of youngsters. So much so, that I bought it by the case, not realizing the devastating effects of sugar-laden beverages. Fortunately, neither of my children were overweight and they grew tall and healthy. However, we still ate the main meals together and sometimes the grade-school teacher would stop by. I encouraged my children to play many physical games, swim, ride their bikes and explore the gorges of the Niagara River. We would go sled-riding at Chestnut Ridge and play hockey in the back yard in the winter. They also played in the playground and would participate in baseball, football and even riding mini-bikes (motorcycles). I believed in healthy activities and we read together and even created projects out of wood. I met often with their teachers and sent them to the best high schools we could afford on a teacher’s salary. My wife was a "stay at home" mom until both children were busy in school and she decided to add to the family income. Without this picture, it is hard for children in today’s world to understand the changes that have led to some of the problems we face today.
Our children did not determine what we ate and our meals were balanced along the lines of the way my wife and I were brought up. There were no calls for pizza and we didn’t head out to McDonald’s or Burger King, except on rare occasions. However, times were changing and hot dogs, hamburgers, French fries and pizza were becoming popular. Family picnics were not without plenty of sugary baked goods and chocolate eclairs. We ate salads and grilled chicken, but the eating habits were beginning to evolve and my wife and I both gained weight in excess of 50 pounds more than what we weighed when we were engaged.
What we didn’t know, was that we were entering the age of obesity and that was brought on by the addition of "high-fructose corn syrup," fast-food restaurants and more and more prepared foods with preservatives and new chemical additives. Hydrogenated vegetable oils, high sodium content and sugar substitutes were in the new packages and cereals were getting sweeter and more sugar-coated. Television added to the problem with a captive audience of young children getting toys with their fast foods. Ice cream began to occupy whole aisles in the supermarket. Cold-cuts with mayonnaise, and high fats and sodium grew into super sandwiches. Instead of popcorn, we began eating long rolls (French bread) which were higher than our bite. Eating, while watching TV, took the place of meals around the dinner table and sports venues began selling more and more pizza, sausage, potato chips and larger sugar-laden beverages. Fried foods became the rage and fish fry dinners became a ritual amongst many families. All of this played a part in increasing the problem of obesity. Unlike our grandparents, we were eating cows instead of fish, ice cream instead of fruits, French fries instead of baked potatoes and soft drinks instead of milk. Bread began to be sold in larger loaves and vegetable containers gradually changed from a pound to 14 ounces with 960mg of sodium. Taste-testers had researched the aromas and tastes that people came to love and eat more of. Restaurants began increasing the size of meals and buffets became popular. Fast food restaurants began "super-sizing" meals and pushing the French fries with salt. The more you ate, the thirstier you became and the profits began to soar. There were no nutrition facts on food containers and the hazards of certain ingredients were nowhere to be found. The size of the printed ingredients shrank while the popular words became larger and more prominent. Slowly, we began to find that everyone knew somebody who had by-pass surgery and took cholesterol-lowering drugs and the cost of prescription drugs sky-rocketed. The World Health Organization ranked the U.S. as 37th amongst the industrialized nations of the world and we dropped to 29th in longevity. America was well on its way to health problems of epidemic proportions. The greatest generation is living into their late 80s and even 100+, but their children are lucky to get into their 60s and early 70s without life-threatening diseases.
Organ donations are helping some to hang on a little longer, but we still have problems with alcoholism, sugar and fried foods. Even the affluent are having drastic surgery to reduce the size of their stomachs. Smokers begin to realize that lung-cancer and environmental problems are shortening their lives. Alcoholics began to realize that they look a lot older than those who refrain from addictive eating, drinking, smoking and gambling. We have spent ourselves into debt and are losing the battle for cures and preventative approaches. More and more people are realizing that prescription drugs are not the cure. Garbage in - garbage out has already started a revolution in the way we eat. Living longer, healthier and happier lives takes self-discipline, knowledge and a return to the kitchen where nutrition-filled foods can lead to fewer visits to the doctor, less surgical procedures and fewer organ replacements. More people are having their knees and hips replaced and suffering in their early 50s from retinal detachment. Is it time to go back to the future. Avoiding the take-out windows and preparing healthy food for you and your family will help you to make eating a lifestyle change.
posted by Stan Kent at
12:03 AM
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