Books to Read: The Fattening of America by Eric A. Finkelstein

The Fattening of America by Eric A. Finkelstein

I have recently become intrerested in health and nutrition. I was horrified to realize that I am in fact overweight. I had a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 29, weighed 104kg (at 1m90) and a greater than 40-inch waist - and I was happy in my blissful ignorance (even though people told me I was fat and I could see that I was fat). I was quite happy that is until I saw a picture of me and my nephew. In the picture I had a huge double chin and looked like a bullfrog. I decided to do something about it! I decided to start excercising and to eat better (and less). Since I started my BMI has dropped to 26.5 (at 95.8kg) so although I am still overweight (as per the BMI index) I am on the correct downward curve. I started looking around for books on the obesity epidemic (and bought Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy for myself as a reference to learn more) and stumbled onto this book. It looks like a fascinating read. You can read the first Chapter on the official The Fattening of America homepage. Its well worth the read. I found the following excerpt particularly fascinating:

I coach my son's soccer team (largely because he wouldn't play if I did not). Although many teams drink Gatorade and eat Popsicles after practice and games, I limit our team's consumption to water and oranges. This, too, is a real challenge, as I have to constantly remind parents not to bring "rewards" for the team after practice and games. I once had to tell a mom to put the powdered donuts and Juicy Juice® back into her car. I told her what I tell the rest of the parents over and over -- water turns out to be a pretty good way to hydrate your kids. Looking at what transpires on some of the other fields, I would not be surprised if many kids actually gain weight as a result of being in the league. By the way, although we are not supposed to keep score, it did not go unnoticed (by me) that our team of six year olds went undefeated; the lack of Gatorade was not an obstacle to the team's on-field success. Of course, maybe it was my great coaching.

When I was a kid we only received oranges on match day and yes, during practice, only water. Amazingly, as well, now that I think about it, after training soccer, rugby, cricket, swimming or whatever for two hours, most of us would have to walk home (and I lived 1.5km from the school) no one picked us up, even after match day. It is unbelievable to think parents would offer the rewards they do now and describe in the excerpt above. Adults I believe do this too with compensation eating i.e. "I just worked out for one hour in the gym so I can treat myself to a starbucks and a muffin." All the work in the gym is gone in that one muffin. I think Mr. Finkelstein has his head screwed on right. I do hope to read this book sometime (should add it to my wishlist lol) as I think it would be a fascinating read.

As I wait to buy this book, I will continue on my weight loss program. I encourage you all to do the same. As per Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy we should all be doing at least 30 minutes of excercise a day at least. He recommends brisk walking, and that is surely easy enough. Couldn't agree more. You can buy The Fattenig of America from Amazon @ The Fattening of America: How The Economy Makes Us Fat, If It Matters, and What To Do About It