This just in.
A Gallup survey just came out demonstrating that the rate of obesity is increasing nearly among all age groups, compared to the obesity numbers from 2008. Gallup polled 500K+ individuals to gather this data.
The age group that showed the least amount of upward change was the 18-27-year old adults (look at the chart below). The age groups that saw the biggest upward tick were the 44-47, 72-79 and 84-87. No age group saw a reversal in the obesity rate!
Question-exclamation: Why is it that today we are more than ever aware of the obesity epidemic, yet we are even fatter than 4 years ago?!
Today we know more than ever about the ill-causing effects of your modern-man lifestyle. And, perhaps that is reflected in the smallest upward change among the group of 18-23 years of age. This is good news, or shall I say: This is the only piece of the story that is NOT bad news.
We know that, as it relates to diet, for the most part obesity is caused by non-homeostatic eating behavior. This means we eat not because we are starving and our existence is threatened, but because we are tempted to eat regardless of whether we are hungry or not (emotional eating). It seems to me that the numbers above indicate an increase mainly in this behavior pattern (I am hypothesizing).
What is really interesting is that the data above completely coincides with my observations of the eating behavior and rigidity of habit, displayed in a different manner from the different age groups, visiting my shop until recently…
The story is this (if you don’t know it already): From 2009-2012 I owned and operated a healthy bakery (the website for it is still up – viitals.com). I designed, made and sold functional foods – lower-NET carb, low-Omega-6, high-protein, low- and no-sugar, gluten-, grain-free, etc. baked goods. I got to learn a lot about the eating behavior of my customers, as I personally stood behind the counter a good part of the total time.
I consistently observed that young individuals (like in the group above that displayed no change or very little change) were far more flexible and willing to try novelty foods – especially if they knew that they wouldn’t damage their health. Whereas, mid-age and older folks (like the most affected groups above) were increasingly more rigid braking a habit or a personal conviction, related to trying new foods. To these folks “good-for-you food” meant “cardboard food”. And, some of them would tell you that! They wouldn’t even try the product. More startling is how awfully many times I witnessed grandmas and grandpas (even parents) bring their grandchild to buy them a cupcake, but advise against the 0-sugar gluten-free cookie with protein…
Any way, what I am trying to say is that the higher in the age groups my customers were the less they were willing to re-thing their current (often times dogmatic) thinking, as it relates to food and what foods do to them, when compared to my young customers.
Back to the survey.
Although the data above is by no means good news, I manage to find a small bit of comfort in it – the fact that young adults (age 18-27) are the least affected during these last 4 years. To me this means that a slow change is starting to happen and that young people are leading. And, it’s for them – yes, but it is even more so for their children and the education that they are going to provide to them. After all – I’ve said it many times before – kids are our future. We ought to invest in them. And, what a better investment in them than laying down a solid foundation upon which they will alone build a healthy future for themselves… and hopefully one day pass along what they’ve learned from their parents and on their own – to their children… And, the trend continues that way…
I strongly wish.