Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Guru touts healthy food choices

By RAY WEISS
NEWS-JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

DAYTONA BEACH — Scanning the cafeteria at Bethune-Cookman College, Eric Bost discussed a big problem that´s getting bigger – the nation´s overweight and obese.

As the federal government´s guru for good nutrition, Bost stopped by the college cafeteria Monday to meet briefly with children in a subsidized summer-lunch program before heading across campus for a forum on obesity, the eighth of 12 nationwide.

Bost sees the country´s health deteriorating in his role as undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture´s Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services.

The alarming statistics roll off of his tongue. Nearly two-thirds of Americans are overweight and obese based on federal guidelines.

Three times more children are obese than 30 years ago. And 400,000 Americans died last year of obesity-related illnesses.

“It´s all because we eat too much and don´t get enough activity,” he said. “And it is not getting better. It´s getting worse. It´s killing us.”

Bost said overweight people can expect to live three years less than fit people, 13 years less if they also smoke.

“It all comes down to people making individual decisions and taking responsibility for how much they eat and what they eat,” said Bost, who oversees the federal government´s 15 nutritional feeding programs.

“We can provide all the educational materials. But the key is making informed decisions on what to eat and drink.”

The youngsters in the college cafeteria ate pizza, mixed vegetables, flavored gelatin dessert and low-fat milk. But Ángel Green, 10, told her guest from Washington, D.C., “I love Tater Tots.”

Bost said dietary patterns of a lifetime are hard to break for adults and can carry over to their children. He said parents often fail to supervise their youngsters´ nutrition.

“Parents cave,” he said when children demand chips and soda instead of vegetables and 100 percent fruit juice. “But if you hold out, they´ll eat it.”

Some schools across the nation are pulling soda and snack machines or replacing them with healthier options.

“We have to do something differently,” Bost said. “Failure on our part to immediately address this issue will have severe consequences. ...Our children are sick (rising rates of diabetes and heart disease). And it´s all because we eat too much.”

Nutrition experts, school officials, community advocates and governmental representatives from throughout Florida were encouraged to voice their opinions and ideas on how the agency might help resolve “the obesity epidemic.”

Philip Reeves, who oversees child nutrition programs for the Florida Department of Health, said programs are too bogged down with paperwork and need to center more on providing youngsters good, healthy food.

“We´re so preoccupied with the process, we forget about the children,” he said.

Other speakers said schools need to lead the way by eliminating candy drives and soda machines and placing a bigger emphasis on physical education, while restaurants need to list calories, fat and fiber content for entrees on menus.

Jennie Hefelfinger, who heads the state Health Department´s bureau of chronic disease prevention, said that in 2003, half of all high-school students and 39 percent of middle-school children got no physical education.

Meanwhile, she said, 45 percent of middle-school children spend three hours or more watching television each day, while 18 percent spend as much time playing on a computer.

“We need more healthy eating and exercise at school,” said Hefelfinger, who took part in Gov. Jeb Bush´s obesity task force.

Carla Finney, a parent and registered dietician from Ocala, said it was time to “fight fire with fire” when it comes to marketing children´s food and drink. She said the federal government should start a national advertising campaign that promotes healthy eating.

“As a parent, I am dismayed at the volume of junk food out there, and the marketing of it,” she said. “It´s hard to fight Madison Avenue. But we have to help our kids survive.”

Did You Know?

Food guides date back to the late 1800s and have evolved in accordance with discoveries in nutritional science.

1894: W.O. Atwater was credited with developing tables – a precursor to food guides – containing data on protein, fat, carbohydrates etc. in commonly available foods.

1916: The first food guide – categorizing food into five groups: milk and meat; cereals; vegetables and fruits; fats and fat groups; and sugars and sugary foods – appears in a USDA publication.

1943: The “Basic Seven” food guide was issued during World War II. Alternative food groups were listed in the event certain foods were not available due to rationing.

LATE 1950s: The “Basic Four” guide was developed.

1992: The official Food Pyramid was developed by the USDA. The pyramid revealed new views about nutrition, with breads and cereals representing the base of a healthy diet and the tip, or smallest segment of one´s diet, consisting of fats, oils and sweets.

Compiled by News Researcher Karen Duffy

The Job Center » On Course for College » Food For Thought » Meet Me At The Mall »