Carole Carson

Insight of the Day

"A waist is a terrible thing to mind."                                     Jane Caminos

Should Girth Be the Measure of Fitness?

When I began my journey toward fitness, even though I was only 5 feet 2 inches tall, I weighed 183 pounds. You won’t be surprised to learn that, with all that mass, I had a 44-inch waist. (No wonder I had to wear pants with elastic waistbands.) But however troublesome these numbers were to me, no government agent noticed—neither in the state of California, where I live, nor in the federal government in Washington, DC.

Someone should have, though. I had no idea that my waist circumference put me in the 90th percentile for heart disease. As I later learned, studies confirm a strong link between heart disease and a waist of over 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women.

Tim Russert’s premature death dramatically bears out the statistics. Tim’s blood pressure was being managed through medicine, and Tim was exercising daily. But the most significant factor in predicting Tim’s heart disease was the size of his waistline.

Knowing now what I didn’t know then, I could have used a wake-up call, which is exactly what the Japanese government has decided to give its citizens. I wrote about Japan’s program and the possible need for a program for American citizens in an article titled “Wanted: A Fitness Protection Program for the United States.” The blog was posted June 24 on www.basilandspice.com. (If you haven’t visited this site, you are in for a special treat. I love the range of experts who are invited to share their views.)

Two months ago, the Japanese government mandated the measurement of the waistlines of all citizens between the ages of 40 and 74 in an effort to curb medical costs. The government and employers are working in partnership to reduce the growing number of overweight citizens.

The experiment across the sea raises the intriguing question: do Americans need a federal Fitness Protection Program? If so, what will our unique American solution look like? Instead of focusing on blood pressure, cholesterol, pulse and body temperature, do we need to start measuring waistlines? We don’t need a physician for that, do we?

What’s your perspective? Should we pay more attention to the number around our waist and less attention to the number on the scale? For the complete article on this topic, go here.

Insight of the Day

"You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements."                           Norman Douglas

Body Activism Tackles the Impossible Dream

Pick a teenage girl you know. Almost any girl will do. Ask her to describe her body.

Chances are she’ll begin by telling you what’s wrong with it. Maybe her waist is too thick, maybe her eyes are too far apart, or perhaps she feels her belly isn’t flat enough. Maybe she thinks her calves aren’t shapely or her behind is too big.

Odds are good that she will not volunteer what she likes about her body—especially her good health, a feature she may overlook or take for granted. The responses will likely be negative because—sorry to say—our culture values thinness over health. If you doubt me, look at the advertisements targeted at teens and young women in fashion magazines and other media.

Unfortunately, the recitation of her body’s perceived shortcomings isn’t a teenage girl’s isolated response to your question. Indeed, she hears a voice expressing this critical view every time she looks in the mirror, undresses in physical education class or sees an ultra-thin model in a magazine or on television. Constantly comparing herself to the manufactured ideal, she is bound to fall short.

Now multiply this emotional reality by thousands of teenage girls and young women. Recognizing the reality—that this debilitating self-talk is going on all around us—makes the presence of adolescent eating disorders and obesity far more understandable.

The teenager who tries to solve the problem of not being thin enough may adopt strict eating habits, sometimes leading to bingeing and purging, anorexia or other life-threatening eating disorders. The research of Dr. Eric Stice, a research psychologist at the Oregon Research Institute, asserts that the more the girl engages in severe eating restrictions, the more likely she is to gain weight, thereby reinforcing the difficult-to-break cycle.

One disturbing study in Sydney, Australia, found anorexia was being diagnosed in children as young as eight. Closer to home, the statistics are just as worrisome:

• 40-60 percent of high-school girls diet

• 30-40 percent of junior-high girls are concerned about their weight

• 40 percent of 9-year-old girls have dieted

Dr. Stice created the Body Positive program, based on 16 years of research of over a thousand adolescent girls. The results were reported in Endocrine Today.

The eating disorder program—Body Project—utilized four one-hour sessions per week in which participants learned to challenge pressures to be thin to reduce body dissatisfaction and eating disorder symptoms.

Young girls assigned to the Body Project program demonstrated significantly greater decreases in thin-ideal internalization, body dissatisfaction and psychosocial impairments compared with assessment-only controls and expressive writing controls. These girls also showed a 60 percent reduction in risk for eating pathology onset.

I contacted Dr. Stice and shared the details of our local project—the Nevada County Meltdown—during which over a thousand people lost nearly four tons in eight weeks. He responded with further explanation of his intervention models:

I think there are some similarities in what you did and what we do in our intervention, but some differences too. It sounds like both interventions involved taking a public stance on making healthy changes, which makes it much more likely that we will follow through on our behavioral change intentions (e.g., to exercise more). 

This is where doing something at a community level may be much more effective than doing it at an individual level. However, each of our two interventions involved other elements. (We compared two interventions to two control conditions in our trial.) 

In the Healthy Weight program, adolescent girls and young women also committed to healthy improvements to their diets (e.g., eating less high-fat, high-sugar foods and more fruits and vegetables). 

Our other intervention, which is the one you were asking about, gave these young women a chance to think about the costs of pursuing the thin ideal espoused by our mass media. This is where the body activism element comes in, wherein youth do something to challenge the pressures for thinness that are directed at young women in our culture.  

In both programs, the girls were taught to appreciate their bodies, whatever the size or shape.

Dr. Stice’s interventions resonate with me for many reasons, but primarily because in the second model, participants are encouraged to become active interventionists in the lives of others. After the girls have undergone counseling on their self-image to understand how they acquired it and how the media affects their self-perceptions, they are expected to help others avoid the same trap.

In the second model, as Dr. Stice explains, the girls were encouraged to engage in body activism, such as slipping notes in diet books in bookstores or leaving notes on bathroom mirrors encouraging other girls to appreciate their bodies. By engaging in counterculture acts of nonviolent activism, the girls challenge the notion that thinness is the greatest value and simultaneously reinforce their personal commitment to a healthy and fit body.

Unless these girls take this additional step, they risk slipping back into the "thin is beautiful" view and once again becoming critical of their bodies.

That’s the conclusion I came to regarding my own fitness efforts. To simply work on my own personal fitness is not enough. I must go beyond my own needs and help others achieve their fitness goals, which is why I include “recruit or regress” in the seven steps I outline for personal transformation and community programs in From Fat to Fit: Turn Yourself into a Weapon of Mass Reduction. Actively promoting fitness is a wonderful contribution to make to others and a wonderful gift to give ourselves.

 

The intervention model promoting body activism is spreading across colleges and universities. Delta Delta Delta, a national sorority, is introducing the program through its campus network. Sorority leaders estimate that the program, currently operational in 11 chapters, will be available on 20 to 25 college campuses in the 2008-2009 academic year. To learn more about Dr. Eric Stice’s program or to order workbooks and manuals, go here.

Insight of the Day

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."                                                                                                                 Anne Frank

What Is Your Fitness Foodprint?

Unless my memory is playing tricks, choosing what to eat is more complicated than ever. Only yesterday, it seems, arguments focused on which diet was preeminent, and most of the heated discussion involved how best to trigger weight loss.

Was it Dr. Dean Ornish’s low-fat diet or the Atkins limited-sugar-and-carbohydrate diet? Was it the Weight Watchers program or the Zone, a diet that relies on a strict formula balancing fat, carbohydrates and proteins? How effective was the Perricone Prescription diet that focuses on eating foods containing antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids, found in nuts, olive oil and salmon, while avoiding foods high on the glycemic index? Various versions of vegetarianism were also debated, along with lesser-known diets, such as the macrobiotic diet and the raw-food diet.

In retrospect, the heated debates among the proponents of the various diets seem almost irrelevant, as if they belong in a history book where stories of past events are dustily stored. I say that because today’s issues regarding food choices seem far more serious in their implications.

Take safety, for instance. Consumers are now questioning the safety of many foods, both domestic and imported. Are there cancer-causing pesticide residues on our produce? Has the food been genetically modified? Does the fish we eat contain harmful chemicals? Given an outbreak of Salmonella poisoning in 23 states, are fresh tomatoes safe to eat? Does the ground beef contain the deadly E. coli bacteria? In 2006, for example, 200,000 pounds of beef were recalled. The following year, the number jumped to 25 million.

Food choices also raise ethical issues. For example, should we buy coffee that is not fairly traded? Should we buy produce that is brought to market by underpaid field hands working in unsafe and unsanitary conditions? These and other ethical issues are discussed in a position paper originating with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Food as medicine also represents a profound change in how we view eating. For example, we’re encouraged to consume sufficient phytonutrients to maintain our health. What are phytonutrients? The term covers a host of classes of plants, from carotenoids to flavonoids, saponins and terpenes. (Clears that up, right?) To understand these complex issues, you almost need to be a chemist or registered dietitian to be certain you are consuming sufficient phytonutrients.

And speaking of adequacy of food, heated discussions on the nutritional value of organic versus nonorganic food are underway, along with the issue of natural versus bioengineered meat and produce. Yet a more far-reaching issue is just now surfacing—the introduction of nanotechnology into food processing and packaging. Nestle, Altria, H. J. Heinz and Unilever, along with lesser-known companies, are investing millions of dollars to create foods with enhanced flavor and nutrition that carry medicines and vitamin supplements. These companies anticipate that foods incorporating nanotechnology will be more easily produced and less costly.

In the middle of this tidal wave of issues, we are confronted with an even more compelling issue: the impact of food choices on the environment, based on the connection between food production and global warming.

Over the past few years, we have become increasingly aware of the impact of fossil fuels on the changing global environment. Now we are beginning to realize that food consumption choices have an impact equal to or greater than that of fossil fuel. Agriculture is estimated to contribute up to one-third of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, with half of that attributed to livestock production. Consequently, a food choice such as beef contributes significantly to the production of greenhouse gases. The problem is compounded when food is transported from foreign lands and across the country.

Many of us are consciously working to lighten our fitness footprint. We don’t need to become obsessive orthorexics fixated on righteous eating, but we can take steps to lighten our carbon foodprint while getting FIT:

F: Follow the seasons when choosing foods. Find local growers and purchase regional and seasonal foods for your table. Finish eating before you are full—eat less.

I: Incorporate meatless and dairy-free recipes featuring grains and vegetables into your diet. Invent creative ways to use leftovers so food is not wasted. Investigate composting and consider raising your own vegetables and fruit.

T: Tabulate the impact of your current choices. Tackle the challenge of making changes to reduce your foodprint. Teach yourself and others about the importance of making informed food choices and their impact on the environment.

Every bite we eat—or don’t eat—affects not only the bathroom scale but also the environment. We can lighten both by making environment-friendly food choices part of our daily routine. Adopting this approach will lighten our carbon foodprint and help Mother Earth stay fit.

Insight of the Day

"Inspiration is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will."                    George Bernard Shaw

Can Your Crafting Skills Help Make You Fit?

Why not take the same passion you have for your favorite hobby, whether it’s making that gorgeous angora sweater or putting your precious memories into a travel scrapbook, and turn it into losing pounds and staying fit?

Actually, it makes lots of sense. That’s because the aspects of crafting that make a project rewarding can also serve you well in slimming down and getting FIT:

F: Fun. The creative process is intrinsically satisfying. Creating recipes that are enjoyable to eat but don’t pack on pounds is similar to the process used for quilting or scrapbooking. Experimenting with different kinds of exercises, the same way you may experiment with different colors, fabrics and designs, brings the same satisfaction.

I: Individualized. Just as each project is unique, each person is unique. You select just the right fabric or materials, decide when and where to begin and then have patience as you complete the project. You can use a similar approach for your fitness efforts: choose the activities that you want to incorporate into your healthier lifestyle, decide what to do first and then patiently enjoy the process as well as the results.

T: Together. Crafters don’t make projects solely for their own enjoyment. They may create quilts as heirlooms for family members or make doll beds, scarves or bathrobes to give to friends. They are creating a legacy to leave behind. When you take steps to get fit, you become an example of healthy living to those around you, silently promoting fitness wherever you go.

So even when you’re not holding a hot glue gun, you can be creative. Your next project? Crafting a healthy body.

Insight of the Day

"There is no wealth but life."                     John Ruskin

Can You Afford to Be Overweight and Out of Shape?

In the future, our wealth may depend upon our health. That’s because one of the unfortunate by-products of being overweight and out of shape is the risk of increased medical expenses. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the most common medical problems (heart disease, diabetes, stroke and some forms of cancer) are linked with excess weight and lack of fitness.

As the numbers on the scale climb, so do the numbers of medically uninsured people. Today, experts estimate that 47 million adults out of 300 million U.S. citizens lack medical insurance. Moreover, a disproportionate number of the uninsured are young adults (aged 19 to 29). While young adults make up 17 percent of the total population, they represent 30 percent of the uninsured.

According to census data through 2006, nearly 14 million people aged 19 to 29 had no health insurance. This number represents an increase of 400,000 in one year (from 2005 to 2006). By extrapolating the trend through 2009, we can assume that the number of uninsured is approaching or has exceeded 15 million.

While seniors have their advocacy groups and others are sensitive to children’s needs, young adults have no advocates in the healthcare system or in the government. Moreover, we can’t assume that youth protects these young adults from requiring medical care; indeed, their medical needs are not inconsequential. Obesity, which has documented medical consequences, increased by 70 percent in this age group in the last 20 years. Plus, there are 3.5 million pregnancies among females in this age group each year.

Uninsured young adults are living without medical care, including doctor visits, prescriptions and needed treatments. When young adults have to choose between paying the rent and buying food or receiving medical care, medical care is bypassed. Without a regular doctor, young adults don’t receive ongoing medical supervision, and minor problems left untreated become more threatening and expensive to address.

Since I lost weight and renovated my lifestyle, I’ve voluntarily undertaken the task of encouraging everyone—independent of age—to adopt healthy habits. Sometimes I appeal to people’s vanity—I encourage individuals to think how much better they will feel and look if they lose weight and exercise regularly.

Increasingly, though, the economics of healthcare makes the most compelling argument: we can’t afford the option of not being fit. The medical costs associated with disease and illness are simply beyond the reach of millions of us. In the face of that difficult reality, to enhance our wealth, we must preserve our health.