Unsafe at Any Size

Froot Loops are good for you.  See, they’re full of froot!

Great article in the NYT about the new “Smart Choices” food program.  The “Smart Choices” program is an industry-led effort to help consumers buy more junk food make “better choices.”  So why Froot Loops?  According to the article,

Froot Loops qualifies for the label because it meets standards set by the Smart Choices Program for fiber and Vitamins A and C, and because it does not exceed limits on fat, sodium and sugar. It contains the maximum amount of sugar allowed under the program for cereals, 12 grams per serving, which in the case of Froot Loops is 41 percent of the product, measured by weight. That is more sugar than in many popular brands of cookie.

It’s nice that the food industry is noticing that consumers are turned off by food that is blatantly bad for you.  But it’s too bad they’ve created a healthy food credentialing program that has such loose standards it’s laughable.  According to Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, “You could start out with some sawdust, add calcium or Vitamin A and meet the criteria.”  He was originally on the panel to decide the criteria for the program until he quit in disgust.

I suppose Froot Loops is a better choice than, say, lard and sugar mixed together without added vitamins.  But really, if you see a food sporting this logo, what you really know is that you are looking at a food made by a major food company that pays big money to guide your food choices to their nutitionally poor products.

In the meantime, I’m going to crush up a multivitamin and put it into my tub of frosting to make it a smart choice. Nom nom nom!

If it’s hard for adults to eat the right food, imagine how hard it is for kids.  They want to eat what other kids eat and fit in, and don’t have much in the way of impulse control.

Or at least I didn’t.  I guess I had an extended childhood in that I didn’t really develop any impulse control when it came to food until rather recently.

Frank Bruni’s recent article in the New York Times about how parents struggle to educate kids about food resonated with me as a parent trying to find health without turning my kids into diet freaks.  So far, neither of them are showing my early proclivities to eat excessively, but they treat vegetables like toxic waste.

I try to keep my program to myself, but every once in a while my kids will ask me how many points are in something they are eating, or ask me how much weight I’ve lost.

One of the reasons why I started on my journey was because I wanted to tell my kids how to eat and live more healthily, but knew that my actions would speak much more loudly than anything I said.  And I was being a hypocrite if I said they couldn’t have the cookies I bought for myself because I wanted them to be healthy, but wouldn’t do what it took to be healthy myself.

So now we don’t have cookies for anyone.  We do have some desserts, but none of us get desserts unless we eat our vegetables, or, in their case, a vegetable.  You’ve got to take care of business for your body first, before you get extras.

Sometimes, they actually do it and get that ice cream treat.  In fact, Sam waxed so euphoric about the virtues of green beans the other day he told me he would always eat them and never eat dessert.  I was concerned he was going too far the other way, and told him dessert was ok as a treat, but it wasn’t a treat if it was all the time.  I needn’t had worried; he hasn’t touched the green beans since.

But he is drinking orange juice again, so my fears of scurvy are assuaged for now.  And the boys are at least talking about what makes a healthy diet.  I can’t force them to eat anything, but I can provide healthy choices and a healthy example for them to follow if they choose.

A thought-provoking article in the NYT Magazine asks whether organizations should be able to refuse to hire obese workers or to charge them more for health insurance.  At the Cleveland Clinic, they’ve stopped hiring smokers for two years, and heart surgeon/Clinic CEO Delos M. Cosgrove wishes he could legally refuse to hire the obese as well. Or, he suggests, to charge the obese more for health insurance.

The analogy between smoking and obesity is thought provoking.  Both are the result of behaviors, both can have negative impacts on health.  Many of us would characterize our relationship with food to be an addiction.

So why does this analogy offend me?

For one, it’s relatively easy to not become a smoker: don’t start.  But alas, the obese were introduced to their drug of choice when they were mere babes, by their parents no less!  The government, in its wisdom, has restricted cigarette sales to those over 18, but even the smallest kid can buy a candy bar as long as they can hand the money over the counter.  Nobody has to smoke just the right amount every day to live, but those who abstain from food won’t be doing it for long, one way or another.

How much is unhealthy behavior a choice?  And even if it is, do we deny those who make those choices jobs and therefore, in this society, healthcare?

At least if you’re a smoker, you can get a nicotine patch to curb the urge.  If someone invented a food patch, I’d be the first in line to get one.  But wait, what’s that?  Many people smoke to stay thin!  Maybe the Cleveland Clinic, in limiting their hires to non-smokers, is actually selecting a more obesity-inclined workforce.

And really, why stop at smokers and the obese?  There are lots of other groups who have a higher propensity to use health insurance-the reckless, the drinkers… the opportunities for savings are endless!  Get rid of those with heart disease or cancer, too, since even if you have a genetic propensity toward it you should have changed your behavior to avoid those ills.

And once you remove everyone who behaves in a way that may jeopardize their health, you could have a very healthy, virtuous workforce, but it might be rather small.  And those healthcare providers might not have much patience for the rest of us more fallible human beings.

But then, I’m someone who until very recently would be categorized as obese.  What’s your take?

Great article in the NYT about yoga classes for large people.  Megan Garcia, who runs a yoga class for large people in Manhattan, notes

“A lot of plus-size people are very embarrassed about sweating and struggling in front of people,” she said. “They try to be very well groomed and not stand out. Yoga can get very sweaty and awkward, so it’s easier to do when you’re surrounded by people who look like you. You don’t want to be the one sweaty, fat person in class.”

Participants appreciate when the instructor can give modifications for a move.

Another instructor laments that these participants don’t want to join a regular class, and notes the future of yoga is to appeal to everyone, regardless of size or initial fitness level.

I’ve never done yoga (unless you count a few poses on the Wii Fit), but I have participated in exercise sessions for the overweight.  Years ago, at the Albany pool in the Bay Area, they had a swimming session limited to large women called Making Waves.  I felt intimidated at that time to go to a regular pool, and so this sesion was just what I needed.

Once I got comfortable with myself in a bathing suit, I joined water fitness classes through Berkeley and at another club.  My exercise regimine has gotten a lot more intense since then, but I was glad that there was a resource like that for me when I needed it.  It helped me to develop the confidence to be the fattest person in a class, and to realize that everyone is wrapped up in his or her own body drama and isn’t paying much attention to mine.

By the way, I’m STILL the fattest person in my exercise class!  But it’s a boot camp class that strikes fear in everyone who starts it; most don’t keep it up.  I keep up the best I can, and little by little am getting more fit.