HBO's 'Weight of the Nation' examines the obesity epidemic

A compelling four-part documentary delving into the obesity epidemic sweeping the country is being aired on HBO and can be watched free by clicking here. A reporter wanting to write a series of stories on the issue would find "weight of the Nation" a good reference.

The program is divided into four parts. The first segment, "Consequences," looks at the scope of the epidemic and the ramifications of being overweight or obese. "Choices" looks at the science behind how to lose weight, how to maintain weight loss and prevent weight gain. The third part, "Children in Crisis," looks at how the problem is affecting American children, exploring the decline of physical activity, school lunch, the demise of school recess and how marketing of unhealthy food targets children. The final segment, "Challenges," looks at the major forces driving obesity, including agriculture, economics, evolutionary biology, food marketing, racial and socioeconomic disparities, physical inactivity, American food culture, and the influence of the food and beverage industries.

The documentary is on a detailed website that answers questions that range from "What is obesity?" to "How do I know if I'm overweight or obese?"

The project is a presentation of HBO and the Institute of Medicine in association with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, with support from the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation and health insurer Kaiser Permanente.

Healthy food is less expensive than junk food, study finds

Though it's widely believed that healthy food is more expensive than junk food, a new government analysis shows that does not have to be the case.

"In fact, carrots, onions, pinto beans, lettuce, mashed potatoes, bananas and orange juice are all less expensive per portion than soft drinks, ice cream, chocolate candy, French fries, sweet rolls and deep-fat fried chicken patties," reports Nanci Hellmich for USA Today.

"We have all heard that eating a healthy diet is expensive, and people have used that as an excuse for not eating a healthy diet . . . but healthy foods do not necessarily cost more than less healthy foods," said Andrea Carlson, an economist and co-author of the report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service. "The price of potato chips is nearly twice as expensive as the price of carrots by portion size."

Carlson and colleague Elizabeth Frazão analyzed national pricing data on more than 4,000 foods and ranked them according to price based on calories, weight and portion size. The foods were placed in five food groups: grains, dairy, protein, fruit and vegetables. Another category was added for unhealthy items, which did not fall into any of the other calories or were high in sugar, sodium and/or saturated fat such as cookies, desserts, granola bars and many cereals. They found:

• Given portion size, the ranking from least expensive to most expensive is: grains, dairy, vegetables, fruit, protein and less healthy foods. Protein and less healthy foods cost nearly the same.

• Meat, chicken and fish are the most expensive sources of protein but there are low-cost options like eggs and beans.

• Fruit and vegetables are lower in cost overall than unhealthy foods.

• Grains, such as bread, oatmeal, pasta and rice, are the cheapest foods no matter how the portion is measured. (Read more)

Lessons in battling obesity can be learned from the anti-tobacco movement, but there are big differences

To make real headway in battling the obesity epidemic, lessons can be learned from the war on smoking — though the two public-health issues have certain unique challenges. Judith Graham, reporting for Kaiser Health News in collaboration with USA Today, delves into the similarities and differences.

Her piece deserves to be read in its entirety, which can be done by clicking here, but here's a summary of her analysis:

Children are central. The majority of people start using tobacco as teenagers, with one-third of kids who smoke daily set to die prematurely of tobacco-related illnesses. Likewise, overweight children are at a greater risk of a vast array of health problems, including diabetes, liver disease and obesity in adulthood.

Protecting children as at the heart of both the anti-tobacco and anti-obesity efforts. "First let's protect our children," said Dr. David Ludwig, a child-obesity expert at Harvard Medical School. 

Changing social norms is the goal. While smoking in a hospital or airplane has become inconceivable, the same shift in social norms is required to fight childhood obesity. "Our (eating and physical activity) tastes, our preferences and our behaviors are learned and can be changed," said Dr. Jeffrey Koplan, former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and vice president for global health at Emory University in Atlanta. It won't be easy, but at least "we're dealing with a population that would like to be thinner and that works in our favor."

We can't "just say no" to food. "Tobacco we can get rid of entirely," said Dr. David Katz, director of Yale University's Prevention Research Center. "But we have to eat to live and make terms with food as the enemy."

That makes fighting childhood obesity much more difficult, since the message can't be "stop, don't do this." It has to instead be "make good choices, set boundaries," which is more difficult to convey and adhere to, Graham reports.

Our biology works against us. "While smoking is highly addictive, the biological responses attached to eating food are even more deeply rooted in human evolution," Graham reports. Evolutionarily speaking, humans are "built" to eat food when it's available and "we're very good at storing calories and defending calories once we've got them," said Dr. Stephen Daniels, chair of the department of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. 

Shame and denial are greater among the obese. A person's self-image is tightly tied to his or her body weight in a way that isn't true of smoking. That can provide a compelling reason to stop over-eating, but people don't tend to think of themselves as obese. "Obesity is seen as a pejorative term that people don't connect with," said Dr. William Dietz, director of the division of nutrition, physical activity and obesity at the CDC. "They think, 'I'm just 30 or 40 pounds overweight, but I'm not obese.'"

There are more food products available. "Tobacco is a single substance," Graham reports. "By contrast, the food and beverage industry is enormous and makes a huge array of goods that extend into every home, restaurant, convenience store, and grocery store in America."

There is no second-hand smoke equivalent. "The notion that my behavior as a smoker can have an effect on you and can make you sick was critically important in accelerating people's intolerance of smoking and their willingness to see the government take action," said Michael Eriksen, director of the Institute of Public Health at Georgia State University. "Your being obese does not affect me in the same direct way."

The role of the food industry is less clear. While Big Tobacco was able to be demonized, "with obesity (as compared to tobacco) there's a much more nuanced relationship with industry," said Dr. James S. Marks, director of the health group at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Webinar on local food projects is set for 2 p.m. Wednesday

An online tool that features the local and regional food projects in the works across the country, as well as case studies that show successful partnerships between producers, businesses and communities, will be unveiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in a webinar at 2 p.m. tomorrow.

The "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food" compass is an interactive document and map. During the webinar, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan will discuss the instrument, as well as how local and regional food systems make money for local farmers, ranchers and food entrepreneurs. They will also discuss how responsible food systems increase the number of farms in the country and expand access to healthy food.

Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food was launched in September 2009. The initiative is meant to coordinate USDA resources and expertise on locally grown food.

To watch the webinar via live streaming, click here. Participate live by asking questions on Twitter to @usda and using the hash tag #KYF2. (Read more)

Convenience, not expense, is making us avoid eating fruits, vegetables and other non-processed foods

A lack of convenience, not a high price, is the major obstacle to getting people to eat more fruit and vegetables, a study published in the journal Public Health Nutrition has found. The study analyzed the fruit and vegetable consumption in six low-income, mostly minority neighborhoods in Chicago.

"Participants who agreed that they had 'convenient access to quality' produce were more than twice as likely to eat the FDA-recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables," Sarah Kliff reports for The Washington Post. "Those who reported high cost as a barrier to the consumption of produce ended up eating just as much as those who didn't." (Post photo above by Barbara Damrosch)

The study seems to support New York Times columnist Mark Bittman's assertion that Americans are skipping nutritious food because it takes much more work to prepare, not because it's too expensive. "It's cooking that's the real challenge," he writes in a September 2011 column. "The core problem is that cooking is defined as work, and fast food is both a pleasure and a crutch." (Times photo by Daniel Borris)

Contributing to the problem, Bittman argues, is the addictive qualities of fast food and processed food: physically addictive, as a study by the Scripps Research Institute shows, and mentally addictive. Bittman cites David A. Kessler, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and author of The End of Overeating, who said manufacturers created food that was "energy-dense, highly stimulating and went down easy. They put it on every street corner and made it mobile, and they made it socially acceptable to eat anytime and anyplace. They created a food carnival, and that's where we live. And if you're used to self-stimulation every 15 minutes, well, you can't run into the kitchen to satisfy that urge."

The answer is in changing mindsets, Bittman writes, and getting "people to see cooking as a joy rather than a burden, or at least as part of a normal life." That takes education and changing the environment, which, he points out, has been done with tobacco. Cultural change can happen by celebrating whole foods, he writes. Political action would mean limiting "the marketing of junk; forcing its makers to pay the true costs of production; recognizing that advertising for fast food is not the exercise of free speech but behavior manipulation of addictive substances; and making certain that real food is affordable and available to everyone. The political challenge is the more difficult one, but it cannot be ignored." (Read more)

Tips for maintaining your weight this holiday season

The average American gains five to seven pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, but maintaining healthful eating habits can help them avoid packing on the weight, diabetes nutrition educator Sheri Setser-Legg, right, writes in the Lexington Herald-Leader.

In the face of overwhelming cheese balls, eggnog and shortbread, she advises you:

• Be realistic. "Don't expect to lose weight during the holiday season," Setser-Legg writes. "Simply maintaining your weight is a sign of success."

• Build in time for exercise, which can also help reduce stress. "Chances are that you have time off work, so develop a regular exercise program or pick up the pace of your current exercise schedule."

• Incorporate healthy dishes into your holiday meal.

• Don't skip meals. "For parties, don't starve yourself in anticipation. You'll likely arrive ravenous and eat everything ... By eating regularly, you are less likely to overindulge."

• Eat only until you are satisfied, not stuffed.

• Have a healthy snack before you attend a holiday party, and keep healthy snacks like fruit, vegetables and cereal bars handy.

• Watch alcohol intake. "Alcohol contains many empty calories and lowers inhibitions, leading to overeating."

• Tell your friends and family you are trying to stay healthy when pressed to try their dishes.

Ultimately, the time is now to start "working toward a happy, healthy 2012," Setser-Legg concludes. (Read more)

Funds awarded to educate East End Lexingtonians about food, health

Getting community elders to talk to youth about gardening and cooking is one of the missions to be accomplished in Lexington's East End neighborhood from a $52,000 grant.

The funds will create a virtual center where community members can go to learn about food and health. "Our goal is to improve decision making about food through information," said Steve Austin, vice president of the Blue Grass Community Foundation, which was awarded the money by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

"Residents will have the opportunity to talk about what they need to make better food choices," the Lexington Herald-Leader reports. "A digital food information center will then be created so people can go online and learn about all things related to food." Printed information will also be available.

Adults and children living in the neighborhood will interview older members of the community about gardening, food preparation, cooking methods and entrepreneurship. "If we succeed here, we can do it across the city," Austin said. "We can transform Lexington, no matter where people live, to make better decisions about food." (Read more)

Some school districts say they can't afford new federal program to give free meals to all students

Many school districts are reportedly opting out of a new federal pilot program that provides free breakfast and lunch to all students attending schools where poverty rates are high. They say budget constraints, fear of losing other federal benefits, and the possiblity of having to raise taxes to maintain the program are keeping them from participating. Kentucky, Tennessee and Illinois were the three states chosen to implement the program first.

When the U. S. Department of Agriculture announced the Community Eligibility Program in March, officials called it a way to eliminate red tape for school districts and "make it easier for low-income students to receive meals in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast program." Districts would provide free meals to all students for four years, then claim reimbursement for them, as they do for students who already receive free or reduced meals, reports Heather Webb of the Salyersville Independent.

Webb reports that officials of the Magoffin County Schools officials said they are not participating because they want "see how the program works in the districts that do participate." The reimbursement rate outlined in the program is less than normal rates, and in the county, it would cause the current rate of 86 percent to drop to 47 percent.

Of Kentucky's 174 school districts, 102 are eligible for the program. However, only 18 of those eligible districts are participating, The Licking Valley Courier (which is not online) reported in its Aug. 11 edition. It said the Morgan County Schools declined to take part because they would have to pay 25 percent of the cost and feared they might have to raise taxes to cover that.

Bailey Richards of the Hazard Herald reported that schools who do not have more than 60 percent of their students receiving free or reduced lunch can still participate in the program, but the respective school boards will have to pay the difference to cover all students. Perry County Schools Food Service Coordinator Linda Campbell told Richards her district could not afford to pay that difference, which would amount to about $300,000 a year out of its general fund.

Hazard Independent Schools Supt. Sandra Johnson told the Herald that she feared her district would lose funding from other government programs, like Title I and Family Resource Centers, which depend on the exact number of students receiving free meals, if they could no longer keep track of those numbers.

Access to healthy food: A local angle is available on a national event tomorrow, and here's a Kentucky example

Update, July 21: First Lady Michelle Obama announced Wal-Mart and other retailers plan to open or expand 1,500 stores in the next five years in areas that do not have access to fresh fruit, vegetables and other healthy foods. "Make no mistake about it. This is a big deal. It is a really big deal," Obama said. Nearly 24 million people, including 6.5 million children, live in these areas, which have been coined food deserts. Wal-Mart plans to open 275 to 300 stores in urban and rural areas by 2016 and expand "food options in more than 700 food deserts," The Huffington Post reports.

The White House says First Lady Michelle Obama will make a major announcement tomorrow afternoon about her Task Force on Childhood Obesity's recommendations to make healthy, affordable food more accessible to all Americans. Using the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Desert Locator, community journalists can localize this story.

A food desert is a low-income census tract where a substantial number or share of residents have low access to a supermarket or large grocery store. Many rural areas are considered food deserts, and the USDA locator not only has data that can inform a story, but maps that can illustrate it. Reporter Tonya S. Grace of the Todd County Standard used it to localize the Healthy Food Initiative, a partnership between the U.S. Treasury, the USDA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. To read her article, click here.