A new target for modern day ills??

[MS]

Ooooh Spatts, you just took the words right out of my mouth!! Not only that, but in spite of "how many people believe the FDA's food pyramid is OK. ...", there is still an ENORMOUS discrepancy between what the food pyramid recommends and what most people actually eat. Just like there are millions of religiously devoted people who daily break the rules layed down by their religions (at least you catholics recognize this and have 'confession'). It's all part of the package known as Being Human. We are weak, ignorant and very prone to temptation. Nature has ensured our survival by giving us genes to make sweet, fatty and salty foods particularly pleasureable, and it's not really as easy as teaching people about healthy choices. Some people will always be receptive to education and take knowledge on board to their advantage. The majority will not, and good tasting food (ie junk food) and laziness will always be easier than the healthy option unless you provide direct incentives and disincentives for 'good' and 'bad' behaviour. This is kinda like making people pay a deposit on their coke cans and refunding the deposit upon recycling. So I guess you could enforce a tax on processed foods, but you have such a HUGE amount of money being made in the sale of processed foods.....this is a very large power to reckon with. Think about the likes of McDonald's, Coca Cola etc....losing a large chunk of their sales because of sin taxes! You can betcha there will be more than a little resistance to SteelWeaver's social change, and I don't mean at grass roots level! Stiil, there's no harm in trying.....and every little bit helps. I'm like the rest of you in that my mother raised us using books with titles like "Let's Have Healthy Children". Yet I'm the only one of my siblings who got to my teens and decided right then and there that I WILL NOT under any circumstances end up fat like the rest of my family. My other siblings are now obese. So much for teaching them young

 

[SteelWeaver]

I think you just hit the nail on the head, MS. Incentives and disincentives. WHY did you decide you would not be obese?? May I guess at it being fear? Or a kind of fear? Fear of fat? For sure I know I have this - I'm very afraid of becoming fat or obese ... I have no idea why really - except maybe it has something to do with the image (true or not) of a lack of control ...

How come behavioural therapy works? What about NLP? Mass hypnotism? Enough people watch TV, use the internet etc. that a really crafty hacker with some psychology background could do some interesting things with subliminal messages ....

Maybe fear is the key ... I've heard the new Canadian cigarette packs are required to have grossly horrific pics of cancers, rotten teeth, etc etc. on them, and that they've been quite effective in putting people off. How do you make diabetes look scary? Gangrenous limbs?

I vividly remember having to watch movies of rotten teeth and gums as a child at school for oral hygiene. I've never skipped cleaning my teeth since ....

A sugar tax - why the hell not? All those tobacco companies are paying through the nose right now. I guess the main barrier we have to ANY kind of progress in the world is self-interested politicians.

 

[circusgirl]

behaviour therapy could work- when I stopped drinking (had a big problem with boze in my late teens) - I taught myself to associate the feeling of wanting to puke with the thought of drinking. Eventually, the thought of alcohol mae me sick to my stomach ad it became easier to stay away. I stayed away anyway, but this made it easier. I do not miss booze at all now, I just feel ill at the thought of drinking...

Now if I could only feel that way about pizza and cookies lol.

 

[JJFigure]

The female side of my family is somewhat obese too. I'm adopted, which helped me escape the same genetics, but I also see all the problems my Mom has with her health due to her weight, and I refuse to end up like that. I want to be healthy, strong, and lean the rest of my life. Period. I'm not letting myself have any other option.

Unfortunately, most people use food as a way to find pleasure in their life. Enjoy a good meal, and the day or evening turned out to be a success. Family gatherings, social events, a trip to the movies; everything revolves around food. We're lucky we've found other ways to achieve satisfaction or pleasure in our lives. If we could just get the people around us to find pleasure in something else...

 

[circusgirl]

Hmm my motivation for getting in shape started in my final year in undergrad. I was drinking heavily, eating crap, not getting enough sleep, and pissing my life down the toilet.

I joined a gym and went to 4 aerobics class es a week (I know, I know, but it was a start). Made myself eat at least 3 fairly healthy meals a day, bed before midnight, and gave up the booze.

Made a huge difference, and I got the grades and therefore the grad school palce I wanted.

Then my bipolar illness got really bad, had several hospital stays. Nurse said excess energy should be channelled into sports instead of getting worried and worked up over everything. I started doing tkd, and got really into it, still eating loads of crap as well as the healthy stuff though!

Decided diet needed sorting out and weights were a necessity when I got shin splints, had to take 3 months off all sports and was told weight training would protect my joints, and that I was overtraining. During the 3 months I gained SO MUCH fat.... still eating enough cals for daily training,but not DOING the training...

It's taken a LOT to motivate me. Oh, and my gran was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, making her the 5 millionth relative with this particular ailment. And I think I may be insulin resistant. So plenty of motivation there....

If I hadn't been so ill for so long, I would still be a lazy couch potato... I guess a serious illness will make most folks wise up and take stock, but not much else....