Eat real food (Duh!)

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Good evening, 66.1ers. 

Have you heard?
The food pyramid got flipped on its head. 66.1 reader was asking this week what Marcus thought of the whole deal. Publicity stunt? Right thing to take us from 70% of the country being overweight to a number that’s more acceptable?

Or did you see?
Mike Tyson’s Super Bowl ad? 

My two cents, since a couple of you asked? “Eat real food” is always a good idea. Not sure what counts as “real”? Might start with the 150-year rule. Maybe a new pyramid is a step in the right direction? We’ll see. 

And then, what if the next step was what a friend suggested, helping people actually do the things required to get healthy? The government can build gyms, subsidize memberships, and we all get healthy? Would it work? Is access the issue?

Just thinking out loud here. Maybe this next one will be useful, too?

Spoke with a patient the other day. Early 70s, been through a lot. Cancer, heart disease, hospital-acquired infection that led to other complications. Now working to lose weight (up 40 pounds in the last 3 years). Knows that weight loss would help with knee pain. So eating 1,500 calories per day. Keep gaining weight. Going to the gym for 1 hour, 3 days/week. Won’t share exact demographic data, but 1,500 calories is probably 800 below their maintenance calorie level. Meanwhile, they keep eating less, training more, and weighing more. Math is there, but where along the way did we lose common sense? If it’s not working, who’s telling them to keep doing it for 3 years???

Talked about Zambia last week, how people are healthier there as compared to the United States, despite having fewer “resources”. Thinking it might be useful to do it again today. Because there’s another important difference between village life in Zambia and modern American life, and it’s all about the “S Word”. No, not Sorbitol. Suffering. Village life is spartan, in that there aren’t any extras. But it’s not riddled with suffering. People are supported by their friends and family, they mostly have what they need, and if they don’t, they find a way to be happy despite it. Or maybe because of it? Because happiness is an internal game? And when you’re not inundated with social media, maybe happiness comes more easily? Dare I say…naturally?

Quick aside: in Bemba, there’s no word that translates directly to the English verb “to want”. Either you need it, or you don’t. “Ukufwaya” is the word used for “to need. For now, though, “ukufwaya” is also used for “to want”, and Zambians don’t to use it that way. Might be a lesson in here?

Back to the patient from above. Said a lot of stuff like, “Maybe I’m not working hard enough at the gym”, “Maybe I need to train more” and “Maybe I need to eat even less” during our call. Asked if anyone had ever told them that maybe they’re not eating enough to lose the weight? Not a typo. Might want to reread? Patient looked at me like I had 4 heads! Somewhere along the line they learned (incorrectly, IMHO) that suffering is the key to health. That if they’d just whip themselves a little harder, a little harder, a little harder, then finally they’d lose the weight! But the question remains: Is it working?

Made me wonder if this suffering stuff is part of why 70% of Americans are overweight or obese? Are the only options a) join the 70% and be happy or b) try to join the 30% by starvation and death by elliptical? Hmm.

What if there was a third option for you, your patients, your loved ones?

Ever wonder what life would look like if health was fun and easy? Might be something to think about this weekend…

Have fun out there.

Marcus