What can be done to reverse the obesity trend?
People are eating more of bad calories and getting less exercise than in the past. This combination has led us to an obesity epidemic that can be reversed, says HealthMaker Harvey Fineberg, MD. Watch as he explains the changes we need to make.
Transcript
Look what happened in New York City when there was an attempt to limit the sale of any one soft drink to, what, 32 ounces?
It's an amazing phenomenon how rapidly, in historic terms, the problem of obesity
has blossomed in the United States over a period of just a few decades. So this cannot be a result of genetic evolution or change
in the makeup of individuals. It's a change in the combination of our environment and our behavior, and the two have been mutually reinforcing.
Our diet has certainly changed. When I was a child, a Coke that you bought in the store was six and a half ounces.
What's a Coke today that you buy in a store? And look what happened in New York City when there was an attempt to limit the sale of any one
soft drink to, what, 32 ounces? We've changed the way in which we expose ourselves to calories
and have access to low value foods that are nevertheless high in calories.
In addition, our behavior has changed individually. We get less exercise than we did in an earlier era
and so we're burning fewer calories. We're consuming more calories. We're eating different kinds of calories.
And there's no question that a combination of individual behavior and choice
and the environment in which we live and work has created the conditions that have
led to the obesity epidemic in the United States. Importantly, we can reverse those conditions
just as we created them. We can change the environment in which food is available. We can provide information-- more information-- to people.
We can make it easier and cheaper to get healthier foods. We can provide more food of higher quality in the food
supplement programs that are now a main source of nutrition for millions of Americans.
So there are things that we can and should be doing to help reverse the obesity epidemic.
It is an individual responsibility, it is a community responsibility, it's both.
health care
Browse videos by topic categories
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
ALL