Moving the Goalposts
Chances are slim to none that the U.S. will meet its public health goal of sharply reducing the number of obese adults by this year, according to federal health officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Since the Healthy People 2010 objective was to reduce the obesity rate to 15%, this may rank as the understatement of the year. As the CDC noted in an August press release, the situation has gotten considerably worse since the “Healthy People 2010” initiative began in 2000.
The number of states with an obesity prevalence of 30 percent or more has tripled in two years to nine states in 2009, according to a CDC Vital Signs report. In 2000, no state had an obesity prevalence of 30 percent or more. The report, “State-Specific Obesity Prevalence Among Adults – United States, 2009,” also finds no state met the nation’s Healthy People 2010 goal to lower obesity prevalence to 15 percent.
So what’s the CDC’s answer? Move the goalposts!
The rising tide of obesity “has all but ruled out” the chances that the U.S. will meet its Healthy People 2010 goals, they add, noting that public health officials are now at work on developing new goals for Healthy People 2020.
Sorry… call me cynical, but given the stunning lack of success between 2000 and 2010, I’m not real hopeful that very much will be accomplished between 2010 and 2020. It’s not as if state and local governments have a whole lot of money for programs or infrastructure, after all. If something real does get accomplished, it’s more likely to be through grass roots efforts, and not through top-down initiatives.
September 27, 2010
Moving the Goalposts – http://blog.ultimatefatburner.com/2010/0…
September 27, 2010
Moving the Goalposts – http://blog.ultimatefatburner.com/2010/0…
September 28, 2010
This really is a terrible problem. The obesity rates are getting higher all the time. I have seen no action from the CDC to slow the rate down.
Very typical to just change the time frame because you have failed miserably so far.
I do feel that they are fighting a very uphill battle. Americans are, for the most part, lazy people who want their fast food and video games.
Out of the over 30 people in my family, there are only 3 of us that exercise regularly. I also think for the most part I am the only one who really eats a healthy diet.
I don’t know what the answer is to try to “fix” this, but I hope for our sakes someone comes up with one.
September 28, 2010
The problem is structural: people are obese because society is obesegenic, and – if you don’t want to be obese/overweight – the trends have to be actively fought. I don’t think modern Americans are any lazier or unmotivated than they used to be… they’re simply adapting to the environment they live in, as they always have. Very few people in – say, 1915 – cared about diet or exercise (save a few religious groups and/or health cultists like John Harvey Kellogg and Horace Fletcher). But they remained relatively lean because they had to be much more active; and cheap, junky, calorie-dense food wasn’t readily at hand. In fact, the whole idea of “exercise” as a leisure activity was viewed as rather nutty – it was the sort of thing only athletes and rich, entitled eccentric people did. The person who quipped “Whenever I get the urge to exercise, I lie down until the feeling passes away,” wasn’t some comedian from the 1980’s – it was Robert Maynard Hutchins, the influential President of the University of Chicago from 1929 – 1945.
But the times have changed… and our propensity to simply “go with the flow” is now working against us. We live in car-centric, unwalkable neighborhoods; work in high-stress, low-activity jobs; and – yes – have a number of sedentary distractions. And the pattern starts early: paranoid parents in our litigious society no longer allow their children to wander freely or play in empty lots (for example, one of our favorite places to play was a huge, long-abandoned trench, which was originally dug for the foundation of an apartment building. Today, such a thing would be considered a public hazard). Today, kids don’t play pick up games of softball or touch football… they play in competitive leagues strictly supervised by adults. Unsupervised children are considered at risk for crime… either as victims or potential perpetrators.
So simply throwing a little public money at the problem is no answer… there’s too much of an economic and social investment in the status quo.
September 28, 2010
I challenged nearly 400 of my Friends to participate in the ‘Hundred Pushups’ challenge program with me… 4 signed on. Most joked about not being able to do more than ONE… and then one complained about an airline demanding she purchase 2 seats for her 300-lb butt.
Many folks WANT to be in better shape – they’re just not willing to do what it takes to get this way. It’s easier/quicker to drive through McD’s than to make a lean hamburger & home-cut fries at home. I feel sad for my unfit friends… and have absolutely no pity for them when they have to wait 30 minutes for a crowded elevator, and I can run up 15 flights of stairs.
All we can do is be good role models, and try to encourage them to do better for themselves. And I don’t think the government is going to be much help with that – hey, here’s an idea: how about letting us deduct our Gym dues from our taxes!!! (stupid government…)
September 29, 2010
I’d love to deduct my gym membership from my taxes!
But I agree… the government can set all the goals it wants, but it’s not going to be government action (at least of the kind we’re used to seeing) that will get things turned around, I’m afraid.