Disordered Eating

It's been a few weeks since I promised a discussion about Mika Brzeninski's "Obsessed: America's Food Addiction- And My Own".  On the surface, it's easy to brush off Mika's concern, seeing as she's a beautiful, tall, and slender television personality. Mika knows this, but she also knows that there are millions of people out there who are obsessed with food -- and on both ends of the spectrum. There are those that are driven to eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, and there are also those who overeat and are obese.  The aspect that I appreciated most about this book is that it opens up a conversation and offers suggestions for how we can address our nation's obsession with food.  I think that we need big personalities like Mika or Mayor Michael Bloomberg to open up the debate if we want to see action taken.

Despite the fact that obesity is an epidemic in the U.S. (and recently classified as a disease, I think?), we don't discuss and address it as much as other epidemics because there's agency involved.  When you're diagnosed with cancer, you're probably not going to have people telling you that it's your fault and you could have prevented it (unless it's directly related to smoking or something of the like).  However, with an epidemic like obesity, there is a greater sense of personal responsibility since we are in control of what we put into our bodies. Please do not misread me: I am fully aware of the fact that while yes, there needs to be a sense of accountability for personal health, our nation is one that heavily encourages unhealthy eating in so many ways. It is difficult to be healthy. I think that if we can continue to discuss ways to help one another on small and large scales, we'll be on the right track, though.

Interesting snippets from the book....

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that restaurant portion sizes are more than four times larger now than they were in the 1950s."

"Under [New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg], New York City began requiring chain restaurants with more than fifteen locations to post the calorie counts of their food. At least twenty other cities have followed his example since the law went into effect in 2008. New York also banned trans fat, a solid fat that is a leading cause of heart disease."

"Again, I see a parallel with obesity and the aggressive marketing of fast foods. Still another similarity is that anti-smoking measures began to take hold when we discovered how adversely nonsmokers were affected by secondhand smoke. Likewise, as we recognize how the costs of too much weight affect us all, in higher taxes and inflated health insurance premiums, for example -- we also recognize that everyone has a stake in dealing with the problem."

"Everyone agrees on two things: good eating habits matter, and parents need to model good behavior. 'We use the term junk food as if it's an innocuous thing,' says Dr. David Katz, 'but it is the construction material for the body and the brain of that growing child of yours. We would not countenance building a house out of junk. We would not sanction driving a car built out of junk, and yet we look around every day at children being built out of junk and everybody's okay with it. There's something profoundly wrong with that.'"


My personal thoughts and take-aways.....

-We need to support each other in this endeavor, rather than tearing each other down (unfortunately, this type of criticism is much more common in females than males)

-It's especially important to educate children and young students when it comes to healthy eating habits. I think one of our biggest faults as a country is the lack of nutrition education. I can't tell you how many people are shocked when they see how much (or how little, rather!) a 500 calorie meal consists of....myself included.

-Healthy eating is only one piece of the puzzle -- let's not forget exercise, too!

-Yes, healthy eating and finding time for exercise is hard. However, when you examine statistics in terms of life expectancy, it's well worth putting forth the effort.


Obviously, this is not an issue that's going to cause a health revolution overnight.  However, I do admire Mika for opening up the conversation and encouraging us to work together as we forge the path toward a healthy lifestyle.