Wherever we look these days we’re confronted with statistics telling us how fat we are.  We see them in print, on T.V. and online.  We even get them thru tweets. The numbers continue to climb regardless, it seems, of the efforts of health care, the government, and the commercial weight-loss industry. And as of late, the First Lady has jumped on the bandwagon by launching her initiative - Let’s Move - geared toward decreasing childhood obesity thru schools and communities.

On the other side of the fence we hear PhD’s stating that weight isn’t the issue, but rather it’s the lifestyle.  Eat right. Be physically active. Manage your stress. And, regardless of your size or weight, you can be healthy.

Well, who should we believe??

How about we take both approaches and combine them?  I suggest we focus on our lifestyle, and on making positive changes in the foods we eat, our activity levels, as well as our stress levels, with the expectation that we will see the number on the scale drop … to some degree.  However, our weight shouldn’t be the end-all of measures. 

Before attempting to modify your lifestyle, I suggest you make an appointment to see your doctor. (If you don’t have a primary care physician, get one and quick!).  Ask your doctor to order lab work to check your cholesterol, triglycerides, and glucose levels.  Also, make sure your doctor measures your blood pressure (usually standard procedure for a visit to the doctor).  These numbers are good indicators of how healthy or unhealthy you actually are. And, they serve as a starting point. 

If your results are all within the normal range – great! – your unhealthy habits have yet to catch up with you. Your goal now is to keep those numbers in the healthy range thru behavior modification. If your results are outside the healthy/normal range, then there is room for improvement by developing healthier habits.

The benefit to using the aforementioned measures instead of relying solely on weight is that you aren’t able to measure them every day or even every week.  Rather, you’re free to focus on how you feel from day-to-day.  Focus on changes you make in your eating habits. Have you cut down on your soda intake? Have you begun eating more fruits and vegetables? Focus on enjoyable activities you now engage in for pleasure or how active you have become. These are the behaviors that are long lasting – and can improve your health for years to come.

Think of it this way, if diets (Slim Fast, Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig, etc.) were all truly effective, then why do we have a rising number of obese Americans each year?  It is because these are not lifestyle behavior changes that can be sustained (pragmatically or financially – the diet industry generates over $40 billion per year!).

And what do these all focus on – weight loss.

Instead, reap the benefits of behavior changes … a changed life.

With the launch of Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign to address childhood obesity the First Lady doesn’t appear to be afraid to face off with the “big guns”.  At a recent presentation to the Grocery Manufacturer’s Association (GMA) the First Lady made it clear that if America is going to improve the health of its children (realize the current generation of children are expected to be the first generation in 100 years to live shorter lives than their parents!!) they are going to need to change - a lot.

The First Lady expressed concern regarding GMA’s marketing ploys to appeal to children, their creative ways of marketing their foods as "healthy", and challenging them to re-think their products.

Here are some of the excerpts from her speech.

• we need you not just to tweak around the edges, but to entirely rethink the products that you’re offering, the information that you provide about these products, and how you market those products to our children.
• this needs to be a serious industry-wide commitment to providing the healthier foods parents are looking for at prices they can afford.
• what it doesn’t mean is taking out one problematic ingredient, only to replace it with another. While decreasing fat is certainly a good thing, replacing it with sugar and salt isn’t.
• it doesn’t mean compensating for high amounts of problematic ingredients with small amounts of beneficial ones — for example, adding a little bit of Vitamin C to a product with lots of sugar, or a gram of fiber to a product with tons of fat doesn’t suddenly make those products good for our kids.
• This isn’t about finding creative ways to market products as healthy.
• Parents are working hard to provide a healthy diet and to teach healthy habits — and we’d like to know that our efforts won’t be undermined every time our children turn on the TV or see a flashy display in a store.
• what does it mean when so many parents are finding that their best efforts are undermined by an avalanche of advertisements aimed at their kids?
• what are these ads teaching kids about food and nutrition? That it’s good to have salty, sugary food and snacks every day — breakfast, lunch, and dinner? That dessert is an everyday food? That it’s okay to eat unhealthy foods because they’re endorsed by the cartoon characters our children love and the celebrities our teenagers look up to?
• if there is anyone here who can sell food to our kids, it’s you. You know what gets their attention. You know what makes that lasting impression. You know what gets them to drive their parents crazy in the grocery store.
  

No it is just a matter of how much weight is put behind Michelle Obama’s efforts.  Let’s hope this isn’t a lot of lip service.

You have to admit that the creation of the Wii has been an amazing step in the right direction to address a lack of physical activity in America in part due to video games.  The first time I played Wii  my Wii fit age assessed as 64 (I am 32!) while it assessed me father-in-law as a 39 year old (he is not 39).  Safe to say I was a little discouraged and turned off.  Then I proceeded to spend the next few hours trying different games and finding great joy beating my in-laws up in Wii boxing (don't get me wrong, I love them very much!).  The next morning I quickly notice how sore my back was from all the punching.  I started to think maybe there was something to this Wii thing.

More and more games continue to be created which provide people the opportunity to be active while playing video games.  For those who have been completely sedentary this is a great FIRST step.  I just wonder what will happen to recreational sports and activities.  Will we all soon be huddled in our homes, interacting with only our families as we engage in activity in the middle of our living room?

Hopefully the Wii will serve as a stepping stone for people to find alternate ways to be active in inclement weather, or for those who have been completely sedentary.  I would hate for us to come to ignore the great outdoors, the beutiful scenery of nature, and suffer from extreme Vit D deficiencies.

Treat the Wii for what it is.  It is still a video game system.  It can serve as a supplement to a well rounded and balanced life.

It cannot replace a run, a walk with friends, or a family bike ride.
It will never repalce a hike or a picnic in the park.
It cannot replace a game of basketball with your buddies.
It cannot fill the need for socialization.
Nor will it replace expanding your mind thru a good book or puzzle.