In my upcoming book, The Secrets of Happy Families, I review statistics from the US Government that tell me that 2/3 of all Americans are obese. That’s pretty bad. Now, I come across an analysis of statistical trends that makes the current data look like good news! [Article and link below]
When seven out of eight people are overweight that’s a problem that goes beyond needing to make seats on airplanes larger. Obesity is dangerous. We’ve all heard about heart attacks, stroke, yada yada yada. American’s keep hoping that there will be a doctor who will step in and solve the problem and clean up the mess they’ve made of their bodies. Therapists have contributed to the problem by telling people that they are eating because of emotional pain. Yeah, maybe, but if 86% of us are emotional eaters (and the other 15% are anorexics!—just kidding) then, as a society, we’re in pretty bad mental shape.
No, I have another hypothesis. There’s too much food around! I can’t drive from one store to another without finding a Subway, Dunkin Donuts, Coldstone Creamery or some other temptation to pull me in. Why are these foods so satisfying—because they’re loaded with calories. [OK, maybe Jared did lose weight with Subways, but the 12-inch meatball subs with cheese have 1120 calories. If you’re on a diet, that’s about 2/3 of all you should eat for a whole day!] The richer the food, the better we feel, temporarily. But feeling good by eating a big meal is akin to the rush you get from doing drugs. The good feeling only lasts a few moments, and then you crash and feel worse than ever. Moreover, you wake up the next day fatter than the day before. And talk about emotional distress. Maybe we’re all eating to heal the pain of being overweight!
Portion control, wise food choices, and staying away from casual fast-food to fill in between meals can help start the process of weight loss. Physical activity is a must for keeping your bodily and mental health. Don’t wait to get yourself healthy—maybe we can reverse this trend and get in shape by 2030. The we’ll make the statisticians eat their words!
www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/116358.php
86 Per Cent Of American Adults May Be Obese By 2030
28 Jul 2008
Roughly 86 percent of Americans age 18 and older may be overweight or obese by 2030 and related health care costs would double every decade and could reach $956.9 billion in 2030 - 1 of every 6 health care dollars spent -- according to a new study published online by the journal, Obesity on July 24. The study was authored in part by Lan Liang, Ph.D., with the federal government's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and was led by Youfa Wang, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of International Health and Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
The study is conducted based on several large national survey data sets collected over the past three decades, including those collected by AHRQ and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Overweight is defined as having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 25 to 29.9.
Obesity and overweight are especially worrisome because of their impact on quality of life, premature death, and health care, as well as associated costs. Being overweight or obese increases the risk of many health problems including diabetes, stroke, heart disease, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, breast cancer and certain other types of cancer. If the rise in current rates of overweight and obesity continue, as most experts believe they will, future adults may have shorter life-spans than the current generation.
According to the researchers, who also included coauthors Drs. May Beydoun and Benjamin Caballero from Johns Hopkins and Shiriki Kumanyika from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, half of U.S. adults, as a whole, will become obese, as will 97 percent of black women and 91 percent of Mexican-American men by 2030.
The authors also estimate that by 2022, about 80 percent of adults may be overweight or obese, and 100 percent could be by 2048. But the prevalence will reach 100 percent in black women by 2034.
Moreover, nearly one third of all U.S. children and adolescents could become obese (body mass index is greater than the 95th percentile) by 2034, and the prevalence could increase to half by 2070. Black girls and Mexican-American boys are especially vulnerable--four in 10 may become overweight or obese by 2030, and half by 2050.
For details, see "Will all Americans Become Overweight or Obese? Estimating the progression and cost of the US obesity epidemic."
http://www.ahrq.gov
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Back at blogging with news from 20/20
I remember the days when I used to pick up a pencil and paper, and have my thoughts down on paper in a matter of minutes. Now, it’s taken me a full month to figure out how to get back on to this Blog in order to write another essay!
In the meanwhile, I was featured on the ABC news show 20/20 based, in part, on the contribution that my readers have made related to the question of whether men would consider having affairs if their wives “let them.”
Here’s the link: http://www.abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=5380175&page=1
And the story:
Infidelity: Is Monogamy Just a Myth?
Scientists, Doctors and a 'Bad Boy' Tackle the Question of Why We Cheat
By JOY CIARCIA-LEVY
July 16, 2008 —
It's all over the news -- couples breaking up because someone cheated. What is going on?
"Sex is the most primal urge in every single one of us," said advice columnist Steve Santagati. He makes money telling people things like that. He proudly markets himself as a "bad boy."
"A bad boy is a guy who's unapologetically male, loves being naughty, and loves seducing women," Santagati said.
He's all over TV these days. On "Oprah" and the "Today" show helping women understand men. On CNN, he offered this advice on the sex scandal that brought down former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
"These guys are not sorry for what they did, they're sorry for only one thing, and that is getting caught," Santagati said.
'Bad Boys' Who Cheat
Santagati is 44 years old, single and said he never wants to get married or have kids. He believes men cheat for a number of reasons, but one may be that they settle down before they are ready. Santagati warns his clients that "you can't be in a monogamous relationship if you feel like you're settling or you're missing out."
His book, "The Manual: A True Bad Boy Explains How Men Think, Date, and Mate -- and What Women Can Do to Come Out on Top," is a best-seller.
Santagati is a former model who starred in a hit music video with Celine Dion. These days he runs a Web site, askstevesantagati.com where people can order his bad boy T-shirts, which are popular with celebrities like Lauren Hutton and Tommy Lee.
And on his Web site people, well women mostly, pay money to get his personal advice. He promises to be "brutal" with his advice -- to help women understand how a bad boy really thinks. This is helpful because women just don't get men, he said. But bad boys, he believes, do better with women because they can admit they have a wandering eye. And he said women like men who are bad boys.
"Everything inside of us, all of the blood running through our veins, is going 'look, look, look.' We cannot look at a woman's chest. We have to physically try not to," Santagati said.
He said many men get married too young and don't get to fulfill their "check list" of fantasies.
"We want the Swedish girl, the Hispanic girl, the black girl, the redhead girl, the brainiac," Santagati said.
He has a point. A study in the Journal of Couple & Relationships Therapy reported that half of married men and women cheat. A more recent national opinion survey from the University of Chicago said it's closer to 18 percent. But whatever the number, there's plenty of cheating and men cheat more. Even America's most desirable women are cheated on.
Why Powerful Men Cheat: 'Because They Can,'
There's always celebrity gossip about cheating spouses. Most recently, rumors were confirmed when Peter Cook admitted to cheating on Christie Brinkley.
"Jude Law fools around with his nanny," Santagati said. "And then I look at [Law's former fiancé] Sienna Miller and I look at the nanny, and I'm like, 'How did that happen?' I know how it happened. It was a ... fantasy. It was fooling around with the nanny. It was the, one of the naughtiest things he can do."
He said bad boys like being naughty; it inspires them to cheat. But why?
Because "we're programmed for sexual variety," Santagati said. In other words, we shouldn't pretend to be shocked when even our so-called leaders are caught, he said.
Men in power cheat more, he said, because they can. Men like Prince Charles and Bill Clinton.
"Bill Clinton fooled around with Monica Lewinsky," Santagati said. "Now, no offense to Monica, but she, she's no Jessica Alba. She is ... the intern. She's the last person in the world Bill Clinton should have any sexual contact with. And that makes it extremely provocative."
Is Monogamy Just a Myth?
But it's not just people who cheat. Dr. Judith Eve Lipton, a psychiatrist, said that a common myth is that many animals are monogamous. She and her husband, David Barash, a zoologist, who co-wrote the book "The Myth of Monogamy," say there are a lot of misconceptions about monogamy.
For instance, many people grow up believing black swans, wolves and elephants are happy, monogamous mates. But scientists now know that "virtually no animals practice sexual exclusivity. They keep house together year after year in many cases, but they're sexually promiscuous," Lipton said.
Barash notes that the film "March of the Penguins" was touted as a great peon to lifelong monogamy, but "the truth is, these animals ... remain monogamous, faithful to one partner, for one breeding season. The next breeding season they will choose a different partner."
Scientists used to believe many bird species were monogamous, but recently, they've found otherwise.
"The female birds go off in the bushes and have sex with somebody other than the guy who's sitting on the nest," Lipton explained.
Scientists around the world have tested the DNA of baby birds and found even those in the same nest had different fathers. All that is evidence, Barash believes, that monogamy does not come naturally.
"When it comes to human beings, there's absolutely no question about monogamy being natural. It's not," Barash said. Barash and Lipton believe it all goes back to evolution: The male's goal is to make sure his genes live on and therefore he sets out to fertilize as many females as possible.
"Sexual opportunity is the name of the game for males," Lipton said. Women, on the other hand, spend nine months pregnant, then have to care for their children. So it's in the interest of the woman to find one man who will stay with her, or at least help her take care of her offspring, and some might argue that man is preferably wealthy or powerful.
"Females, by nature, are more choosy and less opportunistic," Lipton said.
But of course women cheat, too, Santagati reminds us.
"Men cheat because we are ... programmed to cheat. But who are we cheating with? We're cheating with women. I've cheated before. I've been a cheater. I know that these women are in on it. Women have been cheating on their boyfriends to be with me at times," Santagati said.
Is Marriage a Mistake?
But according to Barash, we shouldn't lose all hope in monogamy. There are a few animal species that are sexually faithful. Like the Malagasy giant jumping rat, the fat-tailed lemur and the California mouse. "You have to dig pretty deep to find other species that are & truly and reliably monogamous," he said.
"We're less like a Malagasy giant jumping rat than we are like ... chimps and ... gorillas and our primate ancestors who are not monogamous," Lipton said.
With so much cheating going on, Santagati tells people that they should "not go and think that you need to get married, have two kids, and live happily ever after. That, my friend, is a load of crap for 90 percent of the population."
So are most men who get married making a mistake?
"I would venture to say they haven't thought it through," is Satagati's confident response. But why should anybody take his advice?
"I have spent every waking breath since I reached puberty to understand women," he said. "The more I learned about the opposite sex, the more I knew how to get girls."
But maybe women just like him because he's good-looking and charming? Santagati insists that's not the case.
"You will see beautiful women with unattractive guys all the time. Women want to be with real men," and according to Santagati, real men cheat.
The Merits of Matrimony
Brown University professor and psychiatrist Dr. Scott Haltzman said Santagati's message is nonsense. Haltzman is the author of the book "The Secrets of Happily Married Men".
"There's no arguing that having an affair is full of fireworks and excitement and incredible energy. But that fades. That always fades," Haltzman said. "The type of quality you get in a relationship with your wife is something over a period of time that cannot be replaced by any affair or any fling."
And many studies do show that married couples on average, are happier. This year, Brigham Young University professor Julianne Holt-Lunstad found married couples are healthier, too. They have lower blood pressure, less stress.
Some still argue that monogamy isn't natural and that men, especially, are biologically programmed to stray.
"Well, we're programmed to do a lot of things," Haltzman said. "It may be natural if I'm mad at my boss, to want to punch him right in the face. But just because that's a natural thing to do doesn't mean that I'm going to do it."
And although Barash and Lipton concluded that monogamy among animals and people is not natural, they have been married, and faithful to each other for 31 years.
"It has been largely wonderful," Barash said. "The myth would be to say it's always been wonderful. But it certainly hasn't. It's been largely wonderful."
It's been wonderful for Haltzman and his wife as well.
"The benefit of being with one person is that you know that when you're making love to that person, what you have with that one individual is something that you have with no other person," Haltzman said.
Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures
In the meanwhile, I was featured on the ABC news show 20/20 based, in part, on the contribution that my readers have made related to the question of whether men would consider having affairs if their wives “let them.”
Here’s the link: http://www.abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=5380175&page=1
And the story:
Infidelity: Is Monogamy Just a Myth?
Scientists, Doctors and a 'Bad Boy' Tackle the Question of Why We Cheat
By JOY CIARCIA-LEVY
July 16, 2008 —
It's all over the news -- couples breaking up because someone cheated. What is going on?
"Sex is the most primal urge in every single one of us," said advice columnist Steve Santagati. He makes money telling people things like that. He proudly markets himself as a "bad boy."
"A bad boy is a guy who's unapologetically male, loves being naughty, and loves seducing women," Santagati said.
He's all over TV these days. On "Oprah" and the "Today" show helping women understand men. On CNN, he offered this advice on the sex scandal that brought down former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
"These guys are not sorry for what they did, they're sorry for only one thing, and that is getting caught," Santagati said.
'Bad Boys' Who Cheat
Santagati is 44 years old, single and said he never wants to get married or have kids. He believes men cheat for a number of reasons, but one may be that they settle down before they are ready. Santagati warns his clients that "you can't be in a monogamous relationship if you feel like you're settling or you're missing out."
His book, "The Manual: A True Bad Boy Explains How Men Think, Date, and Mate -- and What Women Can Do to Come Out on Top," is a best-seller.
Santagati is a former model who starred in a hit music video with Celine Dion. These days he runs a Web site, askstevesantagati.com where people can order his bad boy T-shirts, which are popular with celebrities like Lauren Hutton and Tommy Lee.
And on his Web site people, well women mostly, pay money to get his personal advice. He promises to be "brutal" with his advice -- to help women understand how a bad boy really thinks. This is helpful because women just don't get men, he said. But bad boys, he believes, do better with women because they can admit they have a wandering eye. And he said women like men who are bad boys.
"Everything inside of us, all of the blood running through our veins, is going 'look, look, look.' We cannot look at a woman's chest. We have to physically try not to," Santagati said.
He said many men get married too young and don't get to fulfill their "check list" of fantasies.
"We want the Swedish girl, the Hispanic girl, the black girl, the redhead girl, the brainiac," Santagati said.
He has a point. A study in the Journal of Couple & Relationships Therapy reported that half of married men and women cheat. A more recent national opinion survey from the University of Chicago said it's closer to 18 percent. But whatever the number, there's plenty of cheating and men cheat more. Even America's most desirable women are cheated on.
Why Powerful Men Cheat: 'Because They Can,'
There's always celebrity gossip about cheating spouses. Most recently, rumors were confirmed when Peter Cook admitted to cheating on Christie Brinkley.
"Jude Law fools around with his nanny," Santagati said. "And then I look at [Law's former fiancé] Sienna Miller and I look at the nanny, and I'm like, 'How did that happen?' I know how it happened. It was a ... fantasy. It was fooling around with the nanny. It was the, one of the naughtiest things he can do."
He said bad boys like being naughty; it inspires them to cheat. But why?
Because "we're programmed for sexual variety," Santagati said. In other words, we shouldn't pretend to be shocked when even our so-called leaders are caught, he said.
Men in power cheat more, he said, because they can. Men like Prince Charles and Bill Clinton.
"Bill Clinton fooled around with Monica Lewinsky," Santagati said. "Now, no offense to Monica, but she, she's no Jessica Alba. She is ... the intern. She's the last person in the world Bill Clinton should have any sexual contact with. And that makes it extremely provocative."
Is Monogamy Just a Myth?
But it's not just people who cheat. Dr. Judith Eve Lipton, a psychiatrist, said that a common myth is that many animals are monogamous. She and her husband, David Barash, a zoologist, who co-wrote the book "The Myth of Monogamy," say there are a lot of misconceptions about monogamy.
For instance, many people grow up believing black swans, wolves and elephants are happy, monogamous mates. But scientists now know that "virtually no animals practice sexual exclusivity. They keep house together year after year in many cases, but they're sexually promiscuous," Lipton said.
Barash notes that the film "March of the Penguins" was touted as a great peon to lifelong monogamy, but "the truth is, these animals ... remain monogamous, faithful to one partner, for one breeding season. The next breeding season they will choose a different partner."
Scientists used to believe many bird species were monogamous, but recently, they've found otherwise.
"The female birds go off in the bushes and have sex with somebody other than the guy who's sitting on the nest," Lipton explained.
Scientists around the world have tested the DNA of baby birds and found even those in the same nest had different fathers. All that is evidence, Barash believes, that monogamy does not come naturally.
"When it comes to human beings, there's absolutely no question about monogamy being natural. It's not," Barash said. Barash and Lipton believe it all goes back to evolution: The male's goal is to make sure his genes live on and therefore he sets out to fertilize as many females as possible.
"Sexual opportunity is the name of the game for males," Lipton said. Women, on the other hand, spend nine months pregnant, then have to care for their children. So it's in the interest of the woman to find one man who will stay with her, or at least help her take care of her offspring, and some might argue that man is preferably wealthy or powerful.
"Females, by nature, are more choosy and less opportunistic," Lipton said.
But of course women cheat, too, Santagati reminds us.
"Men cheat because we are ... programmed to cheat. But who are we cheating with? We're cheating with women. I've cheated before. I've been a cheater. I know that these women are in on it. Women have been cheating on their boyfriends to be with me at times," Santagati said.
Is Marriage a Mistake?
But according to Barash, we shouldn't lose all hope in monogamy. There are a few animal species that are sexually faithful. Like the Malagasy giant jumping rat, the fat-tailed lemur and the California mouse. "You have to dig pretty deep to find other species that are & truly and reliably monogamous," he said.
"We're less like a Malagasy giant jumping rat than we are like ... chimps and ... gorillas and our primate ancestors who are not monogamous," Lipton said.
With so much cheating going on, Santagati tells people that they should "not go and think that you need to get married, have two kids, and live happily ever after. That, my friend, is a load of crap for 90 percent of the population."
So are most men who get married making a mistake?
"I would venture to say they haven't thought it through," is Satagati's confident response. But why should anybody take his advice?
"I have spent every waking breath since I reached puberty to understand women," he said. "The more I learned about the opposite sex, the more I knew how to get girls."
But maybe women just like him because he's good-looking and charming? Santagati insists that's not the case.
"You will see beautiful women with unattractive guys all the time. Women want to be with real men," and according to Santagati, real men cheat.
The Merits of Matrimony
Brown University professor and psychiatrist Dr. Scott Haltzman said Santagati's message is nonsense. Haltzman is the author of the book "The Secrets of Happily Married Men".
"There's no arguing that having an affair is full of fireworks and excitement and incredible energy. But that fades. That always fades," Haltzman said. "The type of quality you get in a relationship with your wife is something over a period of time that cannot be replaced by any affair or any fling."
And many studies do show that married couples on average, are happier. This year, Brigham Young University professor Julianne Holt-Lunstad found married couples are healthier, too. They have lower blood pressure, less stress.
Some still argue that monogamy isn't natural and that men, especially, are biologically programmed to stray.
"Well, we're programmed to do a lot of things," Haltzman said. "It may be natural if I'm mad at my boss, to want to punch him right in the face. But just because that's a natural thing to do doesn't mean that I'm going to do it."
And although Barash and Lipton concluded that monogamy among animals and people is not natural, they have been married, and faithful to each other for 31 years.
"It has been largely wonderful," Barash said. "The myth would be to say it's always been wonderful. But it certainly hasn't. It's been largely wonderful."
It's been wonderful for Haltzman and his wife as well.
"The benefit of being with one person is that you know that when you're making love to that person, what you have with that one individual is something that you have with no other person," Haltzman said.
Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures
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