Shrinking Economy, Expanding Waistlines

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/20/earlyshow/health/main4619978.shtml

Two-Thirds of Americans are already considered to be overweight. But as the economy continues to rollercoaster, dieticians anticipate an increase in this number. The reasons? Finances and emotional eating. Prices at the grocery store have risen, and healthier foods are even more expensive. Who's gunna spend $10 on produce to make a few salads when you can buy Celeste frozen pizzas for a dollar each? What some people get for three salads, others get ten. Who cares about the nutritional benefits? "For instance, McDonald's recently reported strong third quarter sales, but nutrition experts worry more consumption of fast food in general may lead to more weight gain and resulting health problems." This is also going to be a financial burden on the economy. The increase in the need for medical attention is going to strain hospitals, medicare, medicaid, let alone the economy. Stress eating is only going to cripple our already disabled economy. Another factor: people have begun to transfer their feelings into food. The more stress, the more emotional eating. People are leaning on food for emotional comfort. Just the depressing news can trigger emotional eating. Many people can't distinguish the relationship between their friends Ben and Jerry and their increasing waistline. The saddest part: everyone blames the stress from the economy.
So what is our society to do? We have no personal responsibily and blame our issues on the government. Many of us are not self-efficient enough either to take care of our health. We'd rather deal with the consequences later. But is this obesity epidemic going to stiffle our economy for the next fifty years because of health care demands? We need to address the issue now and fix it quickly.

The Family That Eats Together is Healthier Together

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/family/11/07/cl.family.meals/index.html

Everyone uses Thanksgiving as a day to indugle ourselves on traditional foods and spend the day with family watching football. Who knew that spending the dreaded time with your family could actually benefit your health? Eating dinner with your family will not only help you eat better but it can also inprove your psychological being. "Families who eat together have healthier, more balanced diets," says Dawn Jackson Blatner, R.D., L.D.N., a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. "Making family mealtime a priority not only improves everyone's physical health, but it also contributes to their overall well-being and mental health." A study conducted at Harvard showed that by having "more meals prepared and eaten together means better nutrition, more control over what's eaten, and less weight gain for the whole family." (Unless you are Polish) I believe this is because kids have meals prepared for them, so they are opted to make healthier decisions. The average college kid lives off of Ramen and cereal not only because they are cheap but because they are also very easy to make. No college student ever wants to come back from a day of classes with research papers to do and prepare a gormet meal for one.
A study at Comlumbia University shows that family dinners are on the rise again, and not only are the number of meals eaten with other family members rising, but teenagers and adolescents are eating more and more meals with their parents. I found this interesting because most adolescents spend their teenage years avoiding their parents, let alone forced conversation over a dinner with them. I also based this opinion on personal experience. In high school, i avoided talking to my parents about life like the plague and only looked forward to Christmas, which I get to spend in the presence of my cousins who are my age. However, things have changed since I came to college. I've grown a much closer relationship with my parents and I am overzealous to spend Thanksgiving with my family. I found this excerpt to be very interesting and factual as well:
"Sitting down to a meal together provides an opportunity to connect and talk with your kids and find out what's going on in their lives," says Neumark-Sztainer. Almost half the teens participating in the Columbia study felt that dinner was the best time to talk with parents about important issues. "Because it's at the end of the day, dinner provides a special opportunity," Rockett says. "That's when we're not running off to go to school, work, or the next event, so we can really enjoy each other's company." If more childrean eat dinner with their families, are they less likely to get into trouble and avoid putting themselves in irresponsible situations? Only more research and time will be able to show the effects of eating dinner with your family. The moral of this blog? Suck it up and enjoy the time you may feel forced to spend with your families at the holidays.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Activity Level Decreases with Age :(

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/diet.fitness/07/15/teen.fitness.ap/index.html

We all know as you get older, our lives become busier and busier and we have less time in our days to do extra things. But a recent study shows that not only do adults exercise less as they get older, but kids are exercising less and less as they prgoress through their teenage years. At age nine, about 90 percent of kids get about two hours of exercise everyday, whether it's from sports or simply playing tag with other children from their neighborhood. However, fewer than three percent of fifteen year-olds get such a level of activity. The saddest statistic: fewer than one third of teens actaully get the minimum recommended amount of exercise by the government. Boys were found to be more active than girls, and more physical activity was done on the weekends.
"People don't recognize this as the crisis that it is," said lead author Dr. Philip Nader, a pediatrician and professor emeritus at the University of California at San Diego. Inactivity is linked with greater risks for many health problems, including heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes," according to the arcticle. If exercise becomes less and less of a priority, many people are going to rely more on medical procedures or sources to help them out of this inactivity epidemic. Not only doesn't it strain one's health, but it also puts a hold on our economy.
This was a very shocking article to me. I knew kids were exercising less, but I had no idea how little they're exercising. I understand that a social life is important, but so is exercise. Middle school appears to be the age range where exercise takes the greatest drop, and so many changes in life factor in. But we need to encourage kids to stay active, whether it's from sports or walking with friends. Otherwise, this obesity and inactivity epidemic is going to consume more innocent children and we're going to be seeing a more useless America.