More than one-quarter of Iowans is overweight
2:15 PM, Feb. 18, 2012
Written by
Rebekah Hoeger
IowaWatch Staff Writer
Article from press-citizen.com
Jeff Finnell is a statistic, but not one he likes to talk about.
His life seems normal enough. Finnell, who lives in Cedar Rapids, drives to college in the morning to learn landscaping and returns home at night to study and socialize with roommates. And, like many Iowans, a normal day includes a trip to a fast food restaurant accompanied by a few hours in front of the TV.
That leads to another part Finnel’s life that is increasingly normal in Iowa: He is among the 28 percent of Iowans considered obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Finnell weighs 345 pounds.
“(It) is not only hard, but it is also hard to fit in,” he said. “There are some days that I just want to crawl up in a ball and cry because of the way people treat you when you are bigger.”
Obesity is no longer just a risk in Iowa. Iowa is the 18th most obese state in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control, and some experts say Iowa doesn’t do enough to curb the problem. At the current pace, the obesity rate will reach 34.4 percent of the population next year, according to statistics from a new statewide health initiative.
Iowa has been slow to act, but a new initiative sets ambitious goals.
Michelle Obama lauds Iowa goal
Called the Healtiest State Initiative, the program aims to make Iowa the healthiest state in the nation by 2016. That goal won the recognition of First Lady Michelle Obama on Feb. 9, when she made Des Moines her first stop on a national campaign, called “Let’s Move,” to reduce childhood obesity. One in every three children in Iowa is obese, according to statistics from the Healthiest State Initiative.
Obesity is linked to type-two diabetes, high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, stroke and some forms of cancer. Obese people also are more likely to have poor mental health and develop psychological conditions such as depression.
It is a problem all taxpayers have a stake in. On average, Americans spend an additional $1,400 per obese person for medical costs, said Dennis Haney, the Iowa Department of Public Health’s community health consultant. The CDC says obesity adds $147 billion to the nation’s annual health care bill, a debt that every taxpayer shares.
“We certainly don’t want that to be an issue of laying blame or isolating people, but more as (an acknowledgment) that this is a collective burden we’re all paying for … through our group insurance costs or publicly funded programs,” Haney said.
In Iowa, efforts to combat the problems focus on awareness campaigns, such as the Healthiest State Initiative, which is supported by Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Hy-Vee.
Awareness helps, but not only solution
Experts say such efforts only can go so far in solving the problem. They can be “precursors to change,” said Amy Fletcher, director of health and physical activity skills at UI, but they’re not enough.
“There is not a lot of evidence (that) awareness campaigns alone directly cause behavior change,” she said.
Some states, such as Minnesota, are doing more than building awareness.
“It’s interesting to me that you can go to a state like Minnesota right next door, and you’ll see significantly more people out biking and hiking and just walking,” said Kathleen Janz, professor and associate director of the University of Iowa Prevention Center for Rural Health. “You’ll see better food choices at restaurants. I think that’s partially about a sort of progressive outlook at the state level that I haven’t seen here in Iowa.”
Minnesota passed legislation in 2008 called the Statewide Health Improvement Program. It funds efforts to make neighborhoods more amenable to walking, exercising and engaging in other activities that research has shown help people lead healthy lives. Epidemiologists and health promotion professionals suggest that success comes from policies, regulations and environmental changes like those Minnesota is implementing, not awareness campaigns alone.
Loss-gain cycle tough to break
Finnell has experienced his own personal awareness campaign from friends and family. His uncle bought him personal training sessions. He started going to the gym, which was hard at first. During this time, he lost more than 40 pounds.
Despite his new awareness about obesity and its risks, how to eat healthy and the importance of regular exercise, Finnell regained the lost weight and struggles to get back on track.
“When I gained those 40 pounds back, I felt like I let myself down,” Finnell said. “But I also let my family down.”
Living on the unhealthy side of life is easy, Finnell says. Access to transportation allows him to skip any form of exercise. High calorie, low-nutrient food seems to be everywhere.
Finnell worked at several fast food restaurants and said his time working at McDonald’s during his sophomore year of high school accelerated his weight gain. He then began working at another restaurant only to experience the same issue. While attending Hawkeye Community College, Finnell found a healthier job at Wal-Mart, where he lost 40 pounds from the increased activity. Since transferring to Kirkwood Community College, Finnell started a job at Pizza Ranch, where he said he takes advantage of the salad bar.
Temptations are everywhere, like the candy aisle in Wal-Mart and the pizza buffet at the Pizza Ranch. Other than work at Wal-Mart, exercise was an inconvenience, he said. Being so busy with school and ski team, Finnell said he didn’t have time to be healthy. And just like that, he regained those 40 pounds.
Obesity causes many problems
Like Finnell, many Iowans have an unhealthy routine. Obesity increased 36 percent over the last 10 years, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health. In 2010, more than 28 percent of Iowa’s population was obese. Just 17 states have higher percentages of obese people.
Obesity is defined as having a body mass index higher than 30. A BMI between 25 and 30 indicates an individual is overweight. Those with a BMI higher than 30 are at a higher risk for heart disease, type-two diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, stroke, liver disease, sleep apnea and infertility.
Obesity is a physical and emotional barrier in society. Finnell says his self-confidence has taken a hit. It’s painful for him to see thinner people wearing name brand clothes, something that his size prevents him from doing.
In high school, making friends was difficult, and classmates often bullied him. In college, he struggles with meeting girls and lacks the self-confidence to try new things. Even now, his lack of confidence has spread to other areas of his life, such as education and career choices.
Finnell’s family also has struggled with weight. His mother and father are overweight, and his two siblings have battled with their weight as well.
“There was always junk food in the house, so it made it hard to watch what you eat,” Finnell said.
Obesity a symptom of success
Charles Brenner, co-founder of the UI Obesity Initiative, says obesity is a symptom of societal evolution.
In early history, hunters and gatherers struggled for basic sustenance. Today, domestication of animals, food management and mechanization reduce the amount work required, but produce more. He said nutrient-dense food, meaning calorie intensive food, is cheaper now than ever before.
“We are the victims of our own success,” he said.
As an agricultural state, Iowa may be struggling with this concept even more, Janz said. Midwestern culture embraces large, high-fat meals, and families have moved from a rural economy that required extensive physical labor, to a mechanized economy where labor almost has been eliminated. Iowans just haven’t adapted quickly enough to this culture change, Janz said.
Genetics, behavior, disease and a person’s environment can lead to weight gain. The CDC says one-fourth of kids watch three or more hours of TV a day, and only half meet the recommended amount of physical activity.
Finnell said TV and print ads sometimes trigger his taste buds and prompt a trek to the nearest fast food restaurant. Finding fatty food isn’t hard. There’s a gas station filled with sweets and soda across the street from Finnell’s apartment. A Burger King is just down the road and a McDonald’s is only a mile away, he said.
Expert says Iowa hesitant to act
Fletcher said she believes people with weight problems need help, and Iowa has been hesitant to act.
“There’s been a little bit of a lag between when we started to notice that this is happening and the funding that’s been available for states to start to make some changes,” she said.
Now, Iowa is making progress in educating people about healthy living and implementing policies to prevent obesity. The CDC’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity started funding efforts in Iowa and other states in 2004 to increase physical activity and consumption of fruits and vegetables while decreasing TV time and consumption of sugar and high caloric foods. It also supports community wellness programs.
Federal and state governments have offered grants for communities to increase wellness. By 2009, 52 Iowa communities were granted money to create wellness centers, hold lifestyle challenges, build community trails and implement healthy changes at the grocery store, among other efforts.
In 2010, Iowa passed the Healthy Kids Act, which requires every child to get at least 30 minutes of daily physical activity in school. The school has to provide documentation that it allots time for physical activity and meets nutrition standards for food provided on school grounds.
Among many solutions, Linda Snetselaar, director of the Nutrition Center at UI, suggests counseling.
“We often focus only on weight loss and forget that the real aim is eating in a more healthy way,” she said. “We will have accomplished nothing for our children if we only focus on number of pounds lost.”
Children may be the key to prevention because they form eating habits between ages 2 and 3, Snetselaar said.
“The idea is that if the problem never starts because you’ve essentially put everything in place for obesity not to happen, you’re probably going to be better off on down the line,” Snetselaar said.
Many experts say state government needs to consider new policies, such as taxing soft drinks, reducing advertisements for unhealthy food and implementing physical education requirements for children at school.
Fletcher said that improvements will not be made without policy change.
“It’s not just about educating individuals. Certainly individuals are ultimately going to be the ones that choose whether to do certain things, but there are things we can set up to make their choices easier,” she said.
Finnell says that having to pay extra might make it easier to skip the extra soda at the gas station or super-sized fries at McDonald’s. The biggest help to him, though, was simply becoming informed about healthy eating.
Initiative works to unite Iowans
Iowa’s Healthiest State Initiative strives to put more people like Finnell in the know. Iowa is ranked 19th by the Gallop Healthways Wellbeing Index, a drop from seventh place in 2009. It includes conditions, such as physical and mental health, relationships, connectedness, stress levels, feelings of security and happiness, among many factors of overall health. Obesity trends are not the primary focus of the research.
The Iowa initiative started Oct. 7, 2011, with a 1 kilometer walk. More than 291,000 Iowans across the state took the symbolic 12-minute trek.
“One kilometer’s not going to change anyone’s overall health, but it’s a symbol that we are starting this journey together,” said HyVee spokeswoman Ruth Comer. “We’re making this journey as a state.”
During the next five years, Iowa will implement several strategies, including community education and the Blue Zones Project. Wellmark committed $25 million to change the local environment and atmosphere of 10 Iowa communities.
For Finnell, awareness and education put him on the right track. Although he has regained the weight he lost, he is thinking about health and now knows the basics and benefits of eating right and exercising often.
For him, that was at least a start.
Rebekah Hoeger is a sophomore journalism major at the University of Iowa and was a reporter and photographer at the Dyersville Commercial in the summer of 2011.
Article from press-citizen.com
