Michelle Obama and her war against childhood obesity is in the news again.

In the article that she has written an article for this week’s edition of Newsweek, the First Lady outlines her plan to transform America’s youth from fat to fit within the span of a single generation.

Here is a link to the article.

Why I Am Fighting Childhood Obesity

We can solve this problem in one generation

.

And while I personally believe that big social programs such as these are more effective at spending money than affecting any sort of meaningful change, I want to know what you think.

And I made it easy with this handy-dandy Poll Daddy poll.

So, make your selection and then send send this link to all of your Facebook friends, Twitter followers, etc…

.

(I have also included the entire article in the post – see below)

.

Michelle on a Mission

How we can empower parents, schools, and the community to battle childhood obesity.

By Michelle Obama | NEWSWEEK

Published Mar 14, 2010

From the magazine issue dated Mar 22, 2010

For years, we’ve known about the epidemic of childhood obesity in America. We’ve heard the statistics—how one third of all kids in this country are either overweight or obese. We’ve seen the effects on how our kids feel, and how they feel about themselves. And we know the risks to their health and to our economy—the billions of dollars we spend each year treating obesity-related conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

But we also know that it wasn’t always like this. Back when many of us were growing up, we led lives that kept most of us at a pretty healthy weight. We walked to school every day, ran around at recess and gym and for hours before dinner, and ate home-cooked meals that always seemed to have a vegetable on the plate.

For many kids today, those walks to school have been replaced by car and bus rides. Afternoons playing outside have been replaced with afternoons inside with TV, videogames, and the Internet. And with many parents working longer hours, or multiple jobs, they don’t have time for family meals around the table anymore.

It’s now clear that between the pressures of today’s economy and the breakneck pace of modern life, the well-being of our kids has too often gotten lost in the shuffle.

And let’s be honest with ourselves: our kids didn’t do this to themselves. Our kids don’t decide what’s served in the school cafeteria or whether there’s time for gym class or recess. Our kids don’t choose to make food products with tons of sugar and sodium in supersize portions, and then have those products marketed to them everywhere they turn. And no matter how much they beg for fast food and candy, our kids shouldn’t be the ones calling the shots at dinnertime. We’re in charge. We make these decisions.

That’s actually the good news—that we can decide to solve this problem. That’s why we started Let’s Move, a nationwide campaign with a single goal: to solve the problem of childhood obesity in a generation, so that children born today can reach adulthood at a healthy weight.

Let’s Move is not about trying to turn back the clock to when we were kids, or cooking five-course meals from scratch every night. No one has time for that. And it’s not about saying no to everything either. There’s a place for cookies and ice cream, burgers and fries—that’s part of the fun of childhood.

Instead, Let’s Move is about families making manageable changes that fit with their schedules, their budgets, and their needs and tastes. It’s about giving parents the tools they need to keep their families healthy and fit, and getting more nutritious food—more fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and less sugar, fat, and salt—into our nation’s schools. It’s about helping grocery stores serve communities that don’t have access to fresh foods, and finding new ways to help our kids stay physically active in school and at home.

Achieving all this won’t be easy. This isn’t something we can fix with a bill in Congress or an executive order from the president. I’ve spoken with many experts about this issue, and not a single one has said that the solution to childhood obesity is to have the government tell people what to do.

Instead, it’s about what all of us can do to help our kids lead active, healthy lives: parents making healthier choices for their families; mayors and governors doing their part to build healthier cities and states; and the private sector doing its part as well—from food manufacturers offering healthier options to retailers understanding that what’s good for kids and families can be good for businesses too.

That’s why I’ve been traveling the country, speaking to groups ranging from PTAs to food manufacturers, to elected officials, to school food-service employees, asking all of them to be a part of Let’s Move. And since this campaign began, several major school suppliers have already agreed to improve the quality of their food, doubling the amount of fresh produce they serve to our children. The nation’s largest beverage companies have agreed to provide clearly visible information about calories on the front of their products, as well as on vending machines and soda fountains. The American Academy of Pediatrics has begun urging its members to screen children for obesity and to actually write out prescriptions for parents detailing how to address it. And we’ve started a Web site—LetsMove.gov—with tips on eating well and staying fit.

Changes like these are only the beginning—and we’ve got a long way to go to reach our goals. But I’m confident that if we each do our part, and all work together, we can ensure that our kids have not just the opportunities they need to succeed, but the strength and endurance to seize those opportunities: to excel in school, pursue the careers of their dreams, keep up with their own kids, and live to see their grandkids grow up—maybe even their great-grandkids too. That is the goal of Let’s Move, and that is my mission as first lady.

Find this article at http://www.newsweek.com/id/234885

© 2010

I read an interesting study the other day.

In this study, the researchers argued that when it comes to Metabolic Syndrome (hypertension, dyslipidaemia, glucose intolerance, hyperinsulinemia, central adiposity {big belly}, high blood sugar) obesity may actually be a good thing.

Here’s why.

• Metabolic Syndrome is a result of our Standard American Diet
• The S.A.D. combination of too many calories and the over-consumption of sugar + fat-centric meals causes…
• An increase in the secretion of insulin. When this happens on a regular basis, we end up with…
• hyperinsulinemia, which…
• Causes the expression of the lipogenic transcription factor SREBP-1c and its target enzymes and so on and so on and so on until we end up with Metabolic Syndrome and all of the wonderful ailments I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Sounds pretty grim, doesn’t it?

And the first thing that your doctor is going to tell you if she suspects you have Metabolic Syndrome is to lose weight.

As if obesity is the cause of Metabolic Syndrome.

But, it ain’t.

We know that our bodies respond to our Standard American Diet by increasing the amount of circulating insulin.

This leads to an increase in body-fat.

Common sense tells us that this is bad.

These researchers disagree.

They propose that this new body-fat delays, rather than causes, the metabolic syndrome induced by chronic caloric surplus.

They argue that subcutaneous fat in general exerts a positive effect on insulin sensitivity. Subcutaneous fat is the body-fat that exists between your muscles and your skin – we’re not talking that solid “beer belly” kind of fat.

This “healthy” type of adipose tissue is genetically determined and has a strong sexually dimorphic component as well. Females, at any given body mass index, are protected against insulin resistance more than males.

And if we prevent insulin resistance…we prevent Metabolic Syndrome.

To test this hypothesis further, the researchers bred obesity resistance mice with with db/db mice, which normally become obese and develop severe metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) by the age of 8–10 weeks.

Sucks to be a db/db mouse.

They ended up with some mice who stayed lean despite their voracious appetites.

Unfortunately, these mice developed Metabolic Syndrome in 4 weeks instead of the typical 8-10 weeks.

The researchers concluded that body-fat is a normal response designed to permit stockpiling of fuels while simultaneously protecting our lipid-intolerant organs.

Metabolic syndrome appears only after the storage capacity of the adipocyte compartment has reached a maximum, at which point a gradual accumulation of ectopic fatty acids begins.

Ectopic means “not where it’s supposed to be”. It accumulates in the abdominal region (beer belly), the liver, muscle tissue including the heart, the pancreas, and perhaps in lipid-rich deposits in the arteries.

Obesity should therefore not be regarded as a pathology or disease, but rather as the normal, physiologic response to sustained caloric surplus without which the advent of metabolic syndrome is accelerated.

Conclusions

• Obesity isn’t a disease
• It’s a symptom of another disease – Metabolic Syndrome
• It’s better to have squishy, subcutaneous fat than the big, hard beer belly kind of fat

My Suggestion

Stop thinking of obesity as a health issue unto itself.

If obesity is a result of something else, you need to know what that cause is and then take action to reverse the problem.

You can start by dumping the Standard American Diet and replace it with something more Mediterranean or Asian or Paleo.

.

And, if you like what you see here, click here for updates or Share this Post with the rest of the world.

.

Related Posts

• The Health Habits Diet – Part 1
• The Health Habits Diet – Part 2
• The Making of the Health Habits Diet
• Diet Compliance Chart
  
• Caveman Diet
• Paleo Recipe Resource Page
  
• What Kind of Paleo are You?
• Is Paleo Eating the Cure for Diabetes?
• News Flash! Caveman Diet Good…Your Diet Bad
• Peri-Workout Nutrition

Matt McClain - Rocky Mountain News

Gluttonicide

1 [Latin gluttonicidium, from glutton- + -cidium -cide] : the act or an instance of taking one’s own life voluntarily and intentionally by means of habitual eating to excess

.
2 : one that commits or attempts gluttonicide

.

I discovered this amazing new word while skimming some new studies online.

You are not going to believe the research I am going to share with you tomorrow.

Jeff Garlin’s new book (my footprint) is the best & worst diet book I have ever read.

The worst because…. it’s not really a diet book.

There’s none of the eat this and don’t eat this that all diet books are supposed to have.

There are no promises of rapid and permanent weight loss.

There are no recipes.

The cover doesn’t feature an image of a person with taut muscles and a rippling six pack.

It features Jeff…and his still too big belly…walking on a treadmill….in the middle of a forest.

Not exactly the prototypical diet industry role model.

But that’s okay.

It’s okay because Jeff has written a book that should be read by:

1. People who find themselves unable to stop themselves from eating
2. People who identify themselves as food addicts
3. People who have to eat when they feel angry, sad, anxious, happy, etc..
4. People who eat when they are already full
5. People who eat to the point of nausea
6. People who eat past the point of nausea
7. People who hide their eating habits from others
8. People who are ashamed of how they eat
9. People who love and care for people who eat like Jeff Garlin

Now onto the book…

Jeff Garlin provided the voice for the overweight spaceship captain in the movie WALL-E.

If you haven’t seen the movie, you really should. Even if you don’t like animation – but, I digress.

Back to the book.

After attending the closing night of WALL-E at a movie theater in Hollywood, Jeff realized (not for the first time), that for years, he has been telling himself that he’s going to finally lose the weight and get in shape. But he never does.

On that fateful night, after watching the captain experience his own epiphany, Jeff realizes that it’s finally time for him to stop talking about losing weight and to finally do something about it.

“If not now, then when”?

And as his lies in bed that night, Jeff is struck by an idea – he’ll write about his attempt to lose weight.

And just like his character in WALL-E, he decides to add an environmental transformation to his physical one.

Jeff has decided to lower his carbon footprint as he simultaneously lowers his personal footprint.

Jeff’s Weight Loss Journey

The first thing you’re going to notice about this book is that it reads like a series of diary entries. Chronologically we read about Jeff’s day to day struggles to overcome his food addiction and drop a ton of weight (while simultaneously lightening his environmental impact upon the earth).

The second thing that you’re going to notice is that Jeff is funny. Seriously funny. For those people who are already fans of Curb Your Enthusiasm, this will come as no surprise. But for those people who have never watched Curb, let’s just say that as I read this book (in public – coffee shop, chiropractor’s office) I couldn’t stop myself from laughing out loud.

Yes – I was that strange person laughing to himself in a room full of people.

What I Loved About Jeff’s Message

Jeff made two points that struck me as terribly important.

1.     He is a food addict.

This is a very controversial statement.

Most weight loss experts (and the general) population that weight loss is as simple as eating less & moving more.

They are wrong.

People like Jeff know that in addition to the chemistry and biology of human metabolism, many of us have to deal with powerful mental & emotional obstacles that drive us to eat and eat and eat.

Just like the alcoholic, compulsive gambler or drug addict, our thoughts and emotions can have a profound effect upon our hormones, brain chemistry and ultimately our actions.

Food addiction is real.

2.     Weight Loss is hard work.

Unlike other “food addicts” Jeff doesn’t take the position that his addiction makes it impossible to lose weight. He doesn’t assume the role of victim.

Jeff is eager to spread the message that:

• Weight loss is possible
• But it is going to be really hard

There are no magic solutions.

There are going to be good days and there are going to be bad days.

Weight loss is hard work.

End of story.

.

Click here if you want to buy the book.

This is a joke….right?

A really, really, really bad joke….but still a joke.

How can a kid not know what a tomato looks like?

How can an “adult” think that pre-fab chicken is a healthy food choice?

Last night on The Daily Show, John Stewart interviewed comedian Jeff Garlin.

.
Garlin was on the show to flog his new book, My Footprint.

The book is all about Garlin’s attempt to reduce both his physical and environmental footprints….and I almost choked from laughing so hard.

Who knew food addiction and morbid obesity could be so damn funny?

Apparently Jeff Garlin did…

Even his interview with 20/20 was pretty funny.

…except for that part about the stroke.
.
So, maybe food addiction and morbid obesity isn’t 100% funny.

Heck, even Jeff Garlin finally took it seriously…dropping down from 300+ pounds to around 260 (and still losing).
.
I haven’t read the book yet, so I can’t give you a review, but I love the idea of this weight loss book because it’s…

• Written by an actual fat person
• Who is still struggling with the process
• And has a wicked sense of humor

If anyone has read the book, shoot me a mini review in the comments.