Tasty Thinking

Food for thought and thoughts about food.

1. Rob 06.08.07 / 12am

   Nice post.

   We’ve a real problem with obesity.

   In fact I recently blogged about this exact thing here: http://tinyurl.com/38zvkm

   In short: In May of 2002, the World Health Organization announced a rise in obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Remarkably, this occurred not only in affluent developed nations – but also among developing nations in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean, where malnutrition was once the major dietary issue.

   Obesity in the developing world can be seen as a result of a series of changes in diet, physical activity, health and nutrition, collectively known as the ‘nutrition transition.’ As poor countries become more prosperous, they acquire some of the benefits along with some of the problems of industrialized nations. These include obesity.

   Since urban areas are much further along in the transition than rural ones, they experience higher rates of obesity. Cities offer a greater range of food choices, generally at lower prices. Urban work often demands less physical exertion than rural work. And as more and more women work away from home, they may be too busy to shop for, prepare and cook healthy meals at home. The fact that more people are moving to the city compounds the problem. In 1900, just 10 percent of the world population inhabited cities. Today, that figure is nearly 50 percent.

   Read more here: http://tinyurl.com/2scnhk
2. Conrad 06.08.07 / 3pm

   I’d like to point out that the article doesn’t actually state that obesity is contageous. The contageous comment was made up by newspaper headlines.
3. Rebecca Scritchfield 09.08.07 / 7am

   Hi,

   I think one of the reasons obesity is seen as a “medical issue” is because as a society we are still too focused on reactive disease management and treatment, not prevention. Registered dietitians are not reimbursed by insurance companies unless the person has diabetes (2 visits a year) or end-stage renal disease. If a person develops diabetes they need to learn a whole new way of eating to control blood sugar levels and chances are they will need to take insulin or other medication. I don’t know how people can learn all these changes in just two visits a year with a nutrition professional. We need to change the paradigm of what health care really means in the first place.

   There’s no real solid place to learn about good nutrition. Behaviors are shaped in the home and I believe that is where the nutrition learning needs to take place. People really need to be interested in what it means to have good nutrition behaviors and they need to figure out what that means on their own. Sure there is a small amount of government-funded nutrition education brochures out there, but I don’t think that is going to cut it in this society. If insurance companies reimbursed for preventative visits with a registered dietitian, individuals and families would have access to a nutrition professional that can help them improve or maintain their health and nutrition habits. I believe people would participate because the cost is just a co-pay compared to the out-of-pocket fees they would have to pay.
4. Alex 14.08.07 / 5am

   Hi Rebecca,

   I agree with you, as my mom is a nurse, i know all too well about the power of a preventative approach but financal support for these never seems to be available.

   I would argue that our first place to learn about nutrition is at home. A certain generation of women who were stuck at home had more chances to influence positively (or negatively mind you) a child’s eating landscape and with the reliance on pre-prepared food these days and the microwave, we are less and less in touch with the actual quantities of salt, sugar, whatever that we ingest… something i talked aboutearlier. Encouraging this to be a health issue the government has to take care of or the health system puts less responsability on individuals to take care of themselves, because that is the first measure of prevention. Knowledge is power.
5. Rebecca Scritchfield 16.08.07 / 2pm

   Agree all around… but consumers aren’t going to pay out of pocket for diet therapy if they believe insurance should cover it. What about middle/low income who have insurance but can’t pay out of pocket or under/un-insured?

   I think our government needs to enable people to take control of their own health and pricing professional diet therapy out of affordability doesn’t help anyone. It certainly doesn’t support consumer empowerment and break down the barriers to behavior change.
6. Alex 20.08.07 / 6am

   I guess the problems you outline are very much linked to the US. In Canada where I come from and in the UK, where I now live, because of a government supported medical system, insurance isnt as big an issue. In the UK, coined the “nanny state” the government takes huge measures to do public awareness campaigns about food related issues, something that may be seen as acting on a prevention level. It would be great to see such endeavors in the US.

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