Is This The Beginning Of The End Of Obesity in America?

Tony Lee - CEO & Founder of Fresh Nation

For some time now there has been a rumble of discontent about the state of the nation’s health, with particular emphasis on our collective eating habits and their impact on increasing rates of obesity and related disorders such as diabetes.

But in the wake of the recent premiere of HBO’s seminal documentary on the subject “The Weight of the Nation”, it seems like the tide may finally be turning in favor of healthier foods and better eating habits.  First, Mayor Bloomberg in New York City proposed a ban on the sale of sugary drinks greater than sixteen ounces per serving in restaurants and other eating establishments.  Then Disney announced that as part of a new program to combat childhood obesity, it was restricting ads for junk food on its cable and radio networks, instead mandating advertisers to meet new nutritional standards by 2015 which promote fruits and vegetables and limit the intake of fats, salt and sugars in children’s diets.  And all this against the backdrop of our First Lady, Michelle Obama, publishing her “American Grown” book promoting kitchen gardens and healthy eating.

There is no easy fix to a food system that has developed more to line the pockets of special interests than to create a healthy society.  Most people now recognize that it is going to take a mixture of regulation, litigation, political will and public pressure to dismantle whole sections of our food production, delivery and marketing infrastructure, and rebuild them in the public’s interest.  Mayor Bloomberg, Michelle Obama and Disney are helping to take some first early steps in the process.

Obesity is going to be with us for a long time to come, but we see these early steps as the beginning of the end to obesity in America.