No. However, the experience of my country, the United States, over the past few decades is that there has been a big push in the schools and the media for a “balanced diet” and the “active lifestyle.” At the same time, people have gotten heavier, not lighter. I do not see obesity being prevented. I do see a tremendous number of teenagers in the United States who are having psychiatric problems connected to body image, in part because they are being pushed into a diet and exercise regimen that almost always fails.
The phrase “prevents obesity” implies that we are dealing with children. First, I should point out that all three of our kids are in the average weight range, in case anyone thinks that what I will write next is just sour grapes.
Now, on to a little case study. Our ten year old boy is a very fussy eater who lives on french toast, french fries, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, and spaghetti. He’ll eat grapes, but not much else in the line of fruits and vegetables. You can say that we should starve him out of this high-carb diet, but that is easier said than done, and I question the psychological implications. I was just talking with my father in law about this, and he said that one of his brothers (still living, fairly healthy and thin) was also a terrible eater, only wanting jelly sandwiches. Although his parents were tough disciplinarians even by depression-era standards, this particular kid could just not be forced to eat what he did not want to eat. Ours is the same way. As for exercise, this is even harder to force than food. Those who think this stuff is easy cannot have such strong-willed kids. Gentle encouragement gets you nowhere, and harsh measures probably would do nothing except to convince the child to anticipate the worst.
Another story. My daughter, 16, went to visit relatives in London this summer accompanied by a heavy female friend. The friend was already self-conscious of her weigh, espcially because she is from a family where everyone else is thin, and she faces the usual pressure to slim down. My daughter reports than everywhere she went, her relatives were praising her because she had slimmed down a bit since the last time they had seen her. To make a long story short, my daughter’s friend was mortified, and had a terrible time during what should have been the great adventure of her young life. Such unhappiness, and not actual obesity prevention, is the real effect of America’s obsession with fat. Now the girl’s mother is putting her daughter on a diet, although, ironically, she is a nurse in the building (Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania) in which it was first shown (look up publications by Albert J. Stunkard) that, long-term, diets do not work. Yes, weight loss surgery may work. But I suppose the girl is young for that, plus the mother has told us of us patients she has seen who had serious complications from the surgery.
Especially since I am new here, I should own up to my general approach to internet posting. It is to find something everyone agrees on and try to shoot it down. Of course, sometimes the conventional wisdom is right. Not usually, but sometimes.
And thanks for the kind words concerning my last post.