I remember hearing on the
radio a few weeks ago that obesity has grown to become a bigger health crisis
than hunger. This initially seemed like a shock (especially given the fact that
I was in the midst of organizing a food drive to help fight hunger over the
holidays), but when I took a minute to ponder, it really wasn’t such a
surprise. In fact, when I investigated
further, I found that some countries have seen as much as a 100% increase in
obesity rates over the past 20 years, and that the global increase in this time
period has been 82%!
This made me think about
various strategies to promote healthy lifestyle and healthy eating. At an event Friday night I was reminded of a
September post (“Calorie Counts”) where I discussed the new McDonald’s menus in the U.S.,
which highlight the caloric content of items.
A friend mentioned that on a road trip, she felt extreme guilt while
ordering when the calories in her potential meal were staring her right in the
face. Now this single recollection might not be
reflective of the mass effect of this effort, but I couldn’t help but think
that regardless of how big or small or local or global, strategies to fight
this obesity crisis should be welcomed. Experts had projected that the McDonald's campaign wouldn’t be effective, but even
affecting one person is an accomplishment in my eyes.
Here’s an article on the obesity
health crisis if you’re interested: http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/13/health/global-burden-report/index.html
