Dr. Mary Currier, Mississippi’s excellent State Health Officer was on my radio show yesterday afternoon to chew the fat. Or at least talk about it. You see, Mississippi is the fattest state in the nation. A title we’ve held for seven years in the row. As one friend said, “We have a dynasty.” (I asked if Dynasty had a buffet.) It’s a problem caused by many reasons: Cheap & easy fast food, less activity, less availability of healthy food, poverty and a changing culture. A once active state now sits behind a computer or TV screen most of the day now. Our ever expanding waistlines are causing problems from diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, lost-time on the job, cancer and as a by-product, slimmer wallets. We’re eating and sitting ourselves to death.
But before the rest of the nation picks on ol’ Mississippi for being fat and dumb — the rest of the nation is getting more obese, too. She opened the show with a sobering, not-so-little statistic:
Wow, I missed when she said that. Quite a frightening statistic.
It just seems people either aren’t willing to change their attitudes toward food, and some simply don’t have access to decent choices (although I think a lot of people simply think they don’t have a choice). It’s also really sad that it all gets lost in a policy debate (what should the government do or not do) when it’s really a cultural and social problem.
A lot of it boils down to personal responsibility. I know – I have gained a ton of weight since I was made part-time and started working three jobs. I need to change my own ways first.
When my wife was out of work, she made it a point to actually cook our dinner every night. I think she did it just to have something to do, but now that she’s employed, we kept up the habit. Both of us will be in charge of a few meals a week, and we’ve even started making weekly menus and hitting the Kroger with a list. When you shop for it all at once, you’re never left with “there’s nothing to eat at home so just pick something up.” Even then, we do get caught with nothing sometimes, be we make a point to pick up a rotisserie chicken and a can of green beans from the grocery store instead of fast food.
Making a weekly menu is a habit that will work wonders for the cook’s mental well-being, too. No more “What do I fix tonight?” The decision is usually a bigger chore than the actual food preparation.
Hey, ya’ll ever had the chili cheese toys at Sonic?