Speaker 1: Now, we are really packing on the pounds. Since the late ’80s and early ’90s, the average American has put on 15 or more additional pounds but you know we’re not getting? Taller, so what’s the deal? Dr. John Michels is on the KOGO news live line and what are we doing wrong?
Dr. John M.: Well it’s a combination of diet and lifestyle. So as a medical community we’ve been promoting this high carb, high sugar diet for the last 20, 30 years. And in the meantime we’ve also become sedentary with society staring at our iPhones or iPads sitting in front of computers in our cars. And so the combination between excess calories and lack of movement has led to this excess weight.
Speaker 1: Now, why are we, why did the medical community decide to push this high carb diet? Because I remember when they said, “Oh no, no, no, we can’t be eating fat anymore.” And suddenly we started getting fat.
Dr. John M.: Well, we incorrectly demonized fat as the reason for increased heart disease in America, and in reality as we’ve looked at studies now over the recent years we’ve seen that carbohydrates are actually the culprits. And so what we need to do is take that food pyramid that we’ve been promoting and turn it on its head.
Speaker 1: Well, I remember when Atkins came out as well and people just excoriated the guy but when you read the book it was really low carbohydrate that he was going for.
Dr. John M.: He was, he was saying we need to decrease the amount of sugars and if we look, sugars are one of the most inflammatory substances we can put in our bodies and we consume them at enormous rates in this country. And so Atkins was on the right track. The thing that we need to do is eat a full colorful array of vegetables and fruits and lean meats and minimize how much carbohydrate and sugar we’re putting in our diet on a day-to-day basis, and then we also need to move.
Speaker 1: Now, what did generations before, let’s just say before even the low fat craze started, what were they doing that we aren’t doing?
Dr. John M.: Well, they were eating far less processed foods than we are today. If you look on the back of labels of the foods that we’re eating you can’t pronounce half of it. And I hold to the principle that if you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it because if you don’t recognize what the ingredient is your body doesn’t either.
Dr. John M.: And those generations before also moved far more than we do, we have become so sedentary sitting in our cars and sitting behind desks then going home and sitting behind televisions, we’re not moving as much as we used to. And so that combination is having devastating consequences on our health.
Speaker 1: Well Dr. Michels, how can we start to get a little more exercise into our daily lives especially if we’re working all the time?
Dr. John M.: Well, we can do simple things like if you work in a building where there’s stairs, take the stairs instead of the elevator, walk to lunch instead of having it delivered. Make a point to be active by walking your dog in the morning or in the evening, go on hikes, do things that are fun, find activities that are active and fun at the same time.
Speaker 1: And what can parents do with their kids? Because kids are playing an awful lot of video games although Pokemon Go as I understand it is really up the activity level of a lot of younger kids.
Dr. John M.: It has, they’re at least starting to move and good for Pokemon Go for coming out and getting kids off their butts a little bit, but parents really do need to unplug their children. In my household, we did a six-week electronic fast, computers televisions, phones, we took them away, and I have all teenagers. And you know what the difference that we saw in the activity levels, the health levels, the mental health levels of my own children by doing this was extraordinary. So we need to take the reins and unplug our kids and make them go out and play.
Speaker 1: All right, Dr. Michels, thank you for joining us. The CDC numbers on weight in America are pretty awful. US estimates still coming as a shock because we’ve seen our kids putting on 15 or more pounds but the kids are not getting taller and we’ve also seen an uptick unfortunately in diabetes, type 2 diabetes diagnosis for young 11 year olds. KOGO news time 6:16.
