So, Nick and I started watching the HBO series “The Weight
of the Nation.” If you know us personally, you know we get a kick out of this
stuff. We’ve watched Junk Food Nation,
Food Inc. and Nick’s read almost every book under the sun by Michael Pollan and
various other authors toting healthy eating ideas. (I start the books, but
never seem to finish them. Nick usually fills me in, but I’m bound and
determined to read one book to completion – I’m more of a fiction kind of
girl.)
Back to the topic, we watched the first two episodes in the
series and the numbers the researchers are throwing out are astounding. I
believe they said 68.8% of adults in the US are overweight or obese. Serioulsy,
68.85%?! That’s a BIG number (no pun-intended), how did we get to this
ridiculous number? Processed foods. High
dependence on “fast-food.” Lack of
exercise. What’s even scarier is the percentage of CHILDREN that are overweight
or obese. Researchers are predicting that today’s children will not live as
long as their parents. That’s just sad.
I don’t have children, yet, but I plan to be that picky
parent who won’t let their kids eat just anything. Yes, I understand they will
get treats at school and their friends’ houses, but under my roof I plan to be
pretty stringent with their eating habits. There just seems to be no control.
(And now I’m off my soapbox.)
Fortunately, programs like HBO’s series are great ways to
get people to start to pay attention to what they are putting in their mouths
as well as their children’s. I’m looking
forward to wrapping up the series.
I’m also focusing more on my eating habits. I know I get
lazy and rely on boxed meals (aka pizza) at least once a week, and I really
need to nip that tendency in the bud. I’m
planning to start a food diary for the month of June and really analyze what I
eat. I’m planning to post it too!
