The Politics of Obesity

Fast Food Isn't Healthy, But It's All Some People Can Afford

The New York Times has reported that while many experts and officials are calling out fast food establishments and other food vendors for making unhealthy food that promotes obesity, others explain that until we make healthy alternatives affordable, those in poverty will also be more likely to be obese.

“Hunger and obesity are often flip sides to the same malnutrition coin,” said Joel Berg, executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger. “Hunger is certainly almost an exclusive symptom of poverty. And extra obesity is one of the symptoms of poverty.”

To read the full article, please visit The Obesity-Hunger Paradox.

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Obesity Leads to Poorer Quality of Sperm

A recent study published in the Fertility and Serility journal, stated that men who are extremely overweight or obese may have sperm of a lower quality then average or healthy weight men who are of the same age. While researchers have debated whether or not obesity has affected fertility, this study took 155 obese men and studied their sperm counts.

They found that the obese men had a lower sperm count than their average weight counterparts, and of that sperm, it was less motile (the ability to move spontaneously and actively) than the average man's sperm.

To read the full article published by Reuters, please visit Obesity Tied to Poorer Sperm Quality.

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Kevin Smith Removed From Southwest Flight for Being Too Overweight

Image courtesy of article.

Kevin Smith, producer and actor in movies like Clerks, Clerks 2, Jersey Girl, and the soon-to-be-released Cop out, ranted on Twitter (warning: curse words used) that was required to leave a Southwest flight to Burbank, California after not purchasing 2 seats because he was a "Customer of Size". Smith was flying stand-by and there wasn't an extra seat available.

Southwest has had a long-standing policy that customers whose size make them unable to put the side rests down encroach on other customers' space and are required to purchase an extra seat.

To read the full article on People.com, please visit Kevin Smith 'Too Fat' to Fly Southwest.

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Michelle Obama introduces initiative to fight childhood obesity

Michelle Obama has introduced Let’s Move, her plan to combat childhood obesity. The initiative includes establishing a high-powered task force, improving school lunch programs, and allocating $400 million per year to eliminate “food desserts” — areas without grocery stores or access to fresh produce.

Let's Move has an ambitious but important goal: to solve the epidemic of childhood obesity within a generation.

"This isn't like a disease where we're still waiting for the cure to be discovered - we know the cure for this," Obama said of childhood obesity. "We have everything we need, right now, to help our kids lead healthy lives. Rarely in the history of this country have we encountered a problem of such magnitude and consequence that is so eminently solvable."

To read the full article, please visit Michelle Obama on obesity: Time for a wake-up call.

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Resources

To learn more about childhood obesity, check out these titles on Amazon.com:

Fed Up!: Winning the War Against Childhood Obesity, by Susan Okie

Conquering Childhood Obesity For Dummies, by Kimberly A. Tessmer, Michelle Hagen, and Meghan Beecher

Should teens undergo weight loss surgery?

With new bariatric programs for teens opening around the country, the question of teens and weight-loss surgery has been attracting a great deal of media attention. Bariatric experts are greatly divided on the issue of WLS for adolescents. Bariatrician Dr. Wendy Scinta, director of Medical Weight Loss of New York, believes that most adolescent patients have not exhausted other options available to them. Through her practice, Dr. Scinta has had patients lose in excess of 100 pounds and has seen reversals of diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure in teens.

Dr. Scinta believes vitamin deficiencies caused by weight-loss surgery can have lifelong consequences for teens, and that families should focus on lifestyle changes before surgery is considered.

To view a CNN report on teens and bariatric surgery featuring Dr. Scinta and other bariatric professionals, please visit Dr. Scinta interview on CNN.

image source: syracuse.com.

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Resources

To learn more about teens and obesity, check out these titles on Amazon.com:

Fat Is a Family Affair, Second Edition: How Food Obsessions Affect Relationships, by Judi Hollis

Underage and Overweight: America's Childhood Obesity Epidemic — What Every Parent Needs to Know, by Frances M. Berg

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