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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – This is the time of year that everyone vows to lose weight and get in shape before the warm weather comes. Most never make good on their promise regardless of the new diet, exercise plan, or food plan they adopt. Why do so many fail? This is a very important public health dilemma because there is no place left in America where the majority of the population is slim. If we combine the overweight and obese groups they take in 74% of all men and 67% of all women in the US.
To get to the root of why so many people are overweight, we are looking at the social and psychological choices that drive what we eat and some of the findings are astonishing. We’ve made intense efforts to find biological reasons for obesity, but little has been done to examine the social spread of this disease. It may be much stronger than realized. Weighing too much may be contagious.
If you have a close friend who is obese, your risk for obesity increases by 57%. Sisters have a greater effect on other sisters (67%) than brothers (44%). Interestingly, males were more likely to be influenced to gain weight if their male friends are heavy. In marriage, husbands and wives had an equal influence on each other. If one gained weight there was an approximate 40% chance the other would too. A recent study from Ohio State University showed that married people lost fewer pounds after weight loss surgery than singles. Food is so central to family dynamics and celebrations that these events may actually sabotage maximum weight loss.
Researchers from Harvard and the University of California looked at the spread of obesity in the US over the last 3 decades. They found that social ties can be a major contributing factor. If a close friend or relative is overweight, it changes what we consider to be normal. You like and respect this person, so you begin to think bigger is not so bad. As a secondary result, whether it is conscious or unconscious, we look to others for clues on how to eat, how much to exercise, and what is an acceptable weight. If people in your close social network are eating too much, exercising too little, and weigh too much, you are likely to adopt these habits and mimic their behavior. The theory is that obesity spreads as a social epidemic.
Researchers at Texas Christian University connected growing up food insecure with eating in the absence of hunger as an adult. Even if the adult was now socioeconomically secure their experiences as a child continued to affect food choices. During weight control counseling, questioning a person about their childhood experiences with food could help to develop more successful strategies to achieve positive weight lose goals.
Your family and friends become part of your weight lose plan whether you want them to or not and they may react in contradictory ways. Some become cheerleaders, celebrating your success and urging you on. Others may try to test your resolve by tempting you with foods you are trying to limit. Some may be downright jealous and nudge you not to exercise or push you to splurge when you are with them, derailing your goals. Sometimes these social obstacles are harder to overcome than choosing what to eat.
Deciding to lose weight is easy. The follow-through is the real challenge. Before you are successful, you may need to examine your social network to sort out your allies and obstacles.
For more information on setting up a personalized eating plan that works for you, take a look at one of my latest eBooks, the Calorie Counter, available on ITunes and Amazon Kindle.
© NRH Nutrition Consultants, Inc.
Jo-Ann Heslin, MA, RD, CDN is a registered dietitian and the author of 30 books. Available as eBooks from iTunes and Amazon Kindle:
Diabetes Counter
Calorie Counter
Protein Counter
Healthy Wholefoods Counter
Complete Food Counter
Fat and Cholesterol Counter
Available in print from Gallery Books:
Most Complete Food Counter, 3rd Ed.
Your Complete Food Counter App: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/your-complete-food-counter/id444558777?mt=8
For more information on Jo-Ann and her books, go to: www.TheNutritionExperts.com.
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