Every day there are more and more articles in the paper and in other media about the obesity epidemic and the concern about the growing obesity in children. Last weekend I heard an interview on National Radio with Professor Boyd Swinburn from the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at Auckland University. He said that while other countries around the world, including the United States, were starting to reverse the obesity levels in children, New Zealand was not which is very concerning. Younger and younger children are developing Type 2 diabetes and even needing hip replacements because of their uncontrolled weight issues.
According to an article in the DomPost on Monday 11 August, Dubai has launched a weight loss campaign and will pay children in gold to lose weight. Parents of children as young as two can be paid 2 grams of gold (about NZ$110) for every kilogram their children lose. They have until September and must lose at least 2 kg to qualify.
This does not seem to be a long term solution and part of the problem is that people have no idea how much to eat or even what is really “good” food. I find it very frustrating that people use the excuse of cost as to why they cannot eat good food. Many people think that eating in the Zone is going to cost more and then are amazed to find their food bills actually decrease because they are eating a controlled amount of fresh food and avoiding processed rubbish. Even the bars we sell, which are a lunch for most women, cost less than a cup of coffee and are much better for you! Mostly, of course, we encourage people to eat in the Zone using “real” food from the supermarket.
If you know somebody that is concerned about their family’s health and wants all the diet information out there to be simplified and demystified for them, please get them to contact me at ProZone.
