Guts & Giggles
by Mary Dimino
Latest blog entry: 11/2/2009What You Don't Know is Making You Fat
The following are excerpts from Mary Dimino and Doctor Brad Johnson's new book "Scared Skinny"
Face it, as a nation we are getting fatter. There is no mistake about it. The question is why are we getting fatter? The typically weight-biased person would say it is due to laziness, a lack of caring about health or personal appearance, a choice you have made to be fat. If you really cared, you would get your butt off the couch, put down the Twinkie, and get to the gym. Hold on now; let's think about this for a bit. If this was purely the case and these stereotypes are true, then how is it that 66% of Americans are now obese? Could 66% of our country be lazy, unmotivated, and just don't care? The answer is a resounding no. Did you know that cultural factors cause people to become fat, too? In fact, a report released by the Institute of Medicine suggests just that.
Here's exactly what I mean. Our eating habits have evolved from three meals prepared at home, to meals that are now eaten anywhere, any time. We practically have unlimited access to food. Beef jerky at a gas station, potato chips at the Laundromat. I can see a future with solar powered vending machines in the Mohave Dessert waiting to fulfill my Double Stuff Oreo snacking habit while traipsing through the dessert sands. Not only has the availability of food changed our eating habits, but technological advances have also changed our lives. As a culture, we are more sedentary. I can't remember that last time I got up to walk over to the television to change the channel. I think it was 1986 (the last year the Mets won the World Series). And then there are those catchy jingles, like Micky D's "You deserve a break today". How cool is that little ditty? I always tend to agree with it. Why yes, I do deserve a break today. I think I will drive to McDonalds. I think a happy meal should make me very happy. You see, it's all in the presentation, folks. Did you ever wonder how many happy meals they would sell if they called it a Crappy meal.
If you are under the age of 35, you probably can't remember life without processed foods. They began to flood the food market in late 70's and now make up most of the foods that are sold. It is impossible to walk down an aisle of a store without seeing a food product with an ingredient list that covers the entire panel of the box. As opposed to actual food, like an orange for instance. What would that label read? Orange. Processed foods have become such a dominant part of our food industry that there are thousands of new food products introduced each year. This has allowed the food industry to become a multi billion dollar industry. They make their money by selling you products that are convenient, tasty (mainly from fats and sugar) and sadly enough, often geared toward children. Did you know that Sponge Bob Mac is the best selling macaroni product on the market?
The problem is: this isn't really food, but rather food "products", or simply put faux foods. Call it what you like; phony bologna, sham ham, or pseudo menudo, it is artificial food and you've been eating it for decades. There is no Twinkie Tree or TV Dinner farm, no place to find Cheese Doodles growing naturally in the wild. Processed foods have become such an integral part of our diet that we have long since forgotten that they aren't real foods. Interestingly, processed foods have been a staple in our diets since the epidemic rise in obesity began. Why are we fat, America? I don't think its laziness or lack of discipline. Some of the hardest working people I know are overweight. No, we are fat because we're eating fake food and we're feeding our children fake food. Why do we do this? Because that's what is available to us, that's what the food companies have developed for our consumption. To make matters worse, half of all meals are now consumed outside of the home (with 25% of those meals consisting of fast foods). Our lifestyles have changed to a faster pace, so our dining habits have changed to accommodate our need for convenience. Let's not cast blame on the Whopper simply because it exists. We, as a culture, have made processed foods the major source of our die.
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The accessibility of processed foods (particularly snacks) is due to one main ingredient, the god of all sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup. HFCS was developed in the 1970's by Japanese food scientists as a cheaper alternative to sugar. HFSC increases a product's shelf life, allows it to stay fresher longer, and tastes really good. HFSC was a great boon to the food industry. It was an amazing discovery. Everyone loved it and found it a perfect fit for processed foods. HFSC is sweet, young, inexpensive, and lasts long; everything a woman could want in a man… I mean sweetener. And the food industry latched on to its popularity. Today the average American consumes more than 62 pounds of HFCS per year. Scientific studies have shown that the rise of the use of HFCS in the United States mirrors the rapid rise in our culture's obesity. Although HFSC seems so perfect, our body doesn't agree. HFSC cannot be metabolized correctly in the human body. HFCS is digested and absorbed differently than other sugars. It does not affect insulin (which a sugar should since that aids in the regulation of food intake and body weight.) Basically, HFCS can make you fat. Since it is digested differently, it is converted to triglycerides; consequently, HFCS increases fat intake.
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