Thursday, August 16, 2012

America is getting fatter

When I lived in Arkansas many years ago, Arkansans had a saying: “Thank God for Mississippi.” For as long as I remember, Arkansas has been near the bottom in terms of education, poverty rates and just about every other economic measure. But Mississippi has always been just a little bit lower on the economic totem pole, which gave at least a little comfort to the folks in Arkansas.

Now, there are reasons for everybody to say “Thank God for Mississippi.” But it’s not a laughing matter. According to a recent story by Reuters, Mississippi has the highest adult obesity rate in America at 34.9 percent. Think about that. More than one in three people in Mississippi are classified as obese. It’s a good bet that diabetes rates are on the rise as well.

According to the story, Mississippi heads 12 states with adult obesity rates of more than 30 percent, trailed by Louisiana and West Virginia, according to the report by the Trust for America's Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Twenty-six of the 30 states with the highest obesity rates are in the Midwest and South, it said. Colorado had the lowest obesity rate at 20.7 percent, ahead of Hawaii and Massachusetts.

For Idaho, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that the Gem State does not crack the top 10 of states with the highest adult obesity rates. The bad news is that Idaho is not in the bottom 10, either – which puts Idaho’s rate somewhere between 20 and 30 percent.

The takeaway message here is that America is getting fatter, and there are some long term implications from that trend. Reuters quoted Jeffrey Levy, executive director of Trust for America Health. But the quotation could come from just about any doctor, or health expert.

"Obesity has contributed to a stunning rise in chronic disease rates and health care costs. It is one of the biggest health crises the country has ever faced," Levy said.

According to Reuters, the analysis was based on state obesity figures provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Obesity is measured using the body mass index (BMI), a number calculated from a person's weight and height. Obesity is defined as a BMI greater than or equal to 30.

The top 10 states for obesity and their BMI percentages:

1. Mississippi 34.9
2. Louisiana 33.4
3. West Virginia 32.4
4. Alabama 32.0
5. Michigan 31.3
6. Oklahoma 31.1
7. Arkansas 30.9
8. Indiana (tie) 30.8
8. South Carolina 30.8
10. Kentucky (tie) 30.4
10. Texas 30.4

The bottom 10 states for obesity and their BMI percentages:

1. Colorado 20.7
2. Hawaii 21.8
3. Massachusetts 22.7
4. New Jersey (tie) 23.7
4. District of Columbia 23.7
5. California 23.8
6. Utah 24.4
7. New York (tie) 24.5
7. Connecticut 24.5
7. Nevada 24.5

Friday, August 10, 2012

Killing Themselves with Knives and Forks

People aren’t stupid. They are very well aware that being overweight is a sure ticket to diabetes, heart attacks or death. Doing something about it is another thing, as I found out in recent contact with three friends.

One of my friends (I’ll call him Tom) weighs more than 300 pounds, and has diabetes. He loves to play golf, but lately golf has not loved him. He’s in constant pain, especially in his knees and shoulders – which are important areas in golf.

There’s a solution to Tom’s misery: Lose 100 pounds. It might not cure all of problems, but it would help. If you don’t believe it, put nine bowling balls in a bag and carry it over your shoulders. Then you’d know what Tom is going through in everyday life. Another benefit to losing weight is better control of diabetes.

Tom realizes he needs to lose weight, but he just can’t push himself away from the table. And he has no interest in weight-reduction plans. It’s sad, because Tom’s a great guy.

Another friend of mine, I’ll call him Robert, carries about 260 pounds on his 5-7 frame. He looks like a bowling ball.

Robert, who over the years has had various problems with his knees, will be the first to acknowledge that he needs to take off some pounds. The problem is that his 20-something daughter recently moved back home and is now in charge of cooking family dinners. Robert tells me she does a wonderful job.

“I have no control over it,” he said. “She’s in charge of the dinners, and that’s it.”

I wonder what it would take for Robert to gain control over what he eats. Maybe it will take a heart attack, or a week of intensive care. Robert either is running away from the problem, or denying it exists. But his body is a ticking time bomb.

Another friend, Sherman, is a big, muscular guy in his 30s – too young to be thinking about death, heart attacks, diabetes and those sorts of things. Or so he thinks. I’m guessing that he weighs 270 pounds, which is way too much.

Sherman has gone through some rough times after his wife left him and his two kids a few years ago. A couple of years ago, he married a wonderful stay-at-home mom who loves to cook big delicious meals and Sherman loves to eat them.

“I’m comfortable with my weight and how I look,” he said. “I like my life as it is.”

I can’t blame him. But if he stays at this pace, the kids will be without a daddy and his wife won’t have a husband to cook for.

I pass along these stories, not to make fun of my friends. I was in the same boat about 25 years ago when I weighed 235 pounds, and I didn’t feel the urgency to take action.

Then I contracted diabetes, and my world changed forever. I only hope that my friends make changes before something awful like that happens.

Friday, August 3, 2012

Is diabetes the new "normal"?

You've heard the expression, "Sixty is the new 40".  I used that line a lot-when I was 60.  It doesn't work so well at age 62, and my wife told me to come up with something new.

We can laugh about those sorts of things, but I have a couple of alternative lines that are not so funny.  Ho about this?

  • Food is rapidly becoming the new cigarettes of this generation.
  • Diabetes is well on its way to becoming the new normal.

There are signs we are heading that direction.  Just  15 years ago, not a single state had an obesity rate of more than 15 per cent.  Now all states are are above 15%, and Idaho is sitting at 25 %.  Obesity rates over the last 15 years have doubled or nearly doubled in 17 states.

If this ugly trend continues-and there is no reason to believe that it won't-kids today won't live to be 60.  Forty will be considered "old".  In today's "Man vs. Food" world, food is replacing cigarettes as a leading threat to America's health.  Let's be honest-if you are overweight, you are a train wreck waiting to happen.  If you are overweight and have diabetes or high blood pressure, the train wreck has already happened and you need a lifeline.

Well, it's one thing for an old geezer like me to be ranting about diabetes and high blood pressure.  What I worry about are the increasing number of 10-year-old couch potatoes.  I worry about the explosion of restaurants that offer delicious foods and encourage people to gorge themselves until their stomachs are about to explode.

When I was growing up in North Idaho's Silver Valley in the 1960s, we didn't have a McDonald's or even a pizza restaurant.  We had a '50s style drive-in just a few houses up the road, but that was mostly off limits.  I remember once-and only once-when circumstances forced me to have a burger and fries at that place.  Today, that's lunch and dinner in some households.

In my day, kids fought boredom by playing baseball throwing around a football, or riding their bikes from one end of town to the next.  Today, too many kids spend their time texting, toying with "smart" phones, or playing video games.  What compounds the problem is they eat like lineman for the Green Bay Packers.

We cannot let this trend continue, and we cannot count on a government program to keep America healthy.  Change must start at home, and parents need to take the lead.