The only time you’ll ever see “underfed” and “Americans” written without jest October 28, 2007
Posted by alivelee in Polls and surveys.Tags: IHOP, nutrition, obesity
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Approximately 127 million adults in the U.S. are overweight, 60 million are obese and 9 million are extremely obese, according to the The Endocrine Society, which also hosts obesityinamerica.org, an educational site that aims to curb obesity in America. Currently, an estimated 65 percent of U.S. adults age 20 years and older and 15 percent of children and adolescents are overweight and 30 percent are obese. The fact that we’re fat isn’t surprising. And the fact that some huge conglomerate wants to make money off that problem isn’t surprising either. Healthcare giant Abbott Laboratories in a northern Chicago issued a press release this week announcing its foray into “nutritionals,” or those bland “meals” that are supposed pack the nutrition of a Thanksgiving Day meal in a 5 oz. bar. So, the company hired someone to take a look at how often we Americans eat-on-the-go, and — wait for it — it happens. A lot. We’d prefer to fiddle with our PDAs than sit down for a meal. Behold the precious announcement:
ZonePerfect® Survey Finds Americans Are Overfed on Technology, Underfed at the Dinner Table
These authors clearly haven’t seen a family of four at an IHOP.
The fattening begins at an early age. Mothers, fathers, grandmas and pas, uncles and aunts … we serve as nutritionists to the wee ones in our midst, whether we deserve/want the title or not. We model good and poor eating habits. How can we expect our children to try healthful foods when we bristle at the prospect of desensitizing our own taste buds?
Thinking about my son’s daily whole-grain servings is yet another mind-clogging aspect of parenting for which I was unprepared. But it’s just so basic: What we put into our bodies determines our health or lack thereof. And I’m sure I’ll loosen up a bit, but when I see a mother give her child a hot dog from the “kiddie” menu, I want to scream.
Eating is easy. Nutrition is easy, too, but it requires study. And commitment. And while a 5-ounce bar is a better option than a fast-food fillup, an even better solution would be for Americans to think about their own power source.
Like, um, the kind that comes without a wrapper. Or a bun.