Western Weight on the World

Today's Washington Post included an interactive graphic on the Body Mass Index across the world from 1980 to 2008. The data came from a study of cardiac risk factors and shows the growing prevelance of obesity, high cholesterol and high blood pressure across much of the world. Go to the article so you can truly understand the impact.

My commentary? We continue to export our Western ways of living (sedentary life consuming fast and processed foods), followed by our Western health issues (obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes) followed by our Western "solutions" (surgeries and pharmaceuticals). The only ones benefiting from the "Western-ways" epidemic are the shareholders of the companies that create the problem and then fix the problem.

Everyone else, and the environment, suffers. My advice can best be summed up with:

Shame on us.

The Label ReDefined

My latest pet project is designing a "front of package" label for all foods sold in the US. Thanks to a few really smart people and time on the agenda at HeatlhCampDC 2010 last week, I'm here to debut the REAL FOOD FACTS label. Keep in mind this is not meant to replace the current information in the "Nutrition Facts" box on our current food packaging. Changing that label would require a epic battle followed by a miracle so let's just leave that as it is and create something new.


The Real Food Facts label is designed with the following goals:

• Clear, front-of-package information
• Easily and universally understood symbols
• Raise awareness of food processing
• Educate consumers on distance from farm to fork

Now we'll go through the main sections:

• FAT, SUGAR, SALT: Most consumers intuitively understand a green smiley face is good and a red frowning face is bad. Over time, consumers would choose packages with more ☺ and fewer ☺. Dare I say this would revolutionize the way food is made!
• MILES: Fresh food that travels long distances has less nutrients. When fruits and vegetables are picked unripe and shipped hundreds, if not thousands, of miles the nutritional value suffers and the benefit to the consumer is reduced. This part of the label is designed to raise awareness about the origin of food and the environmental impact of food travel. 
• TREE to FACTORY: The amount of natural, real, whole food in much of the food American's eat is growing smaller and smaller. This bar shows the percentage of natural vs. man-made ingredients contained in the package. Those consumers who want to reduce the amount of processed food they eat would select products with a greater percentage of "tree" ingredients. 
• POINTS: The points system is designed to integrate with public health and consumer-based affinity programs. Consumers could collect points and donate the value to their favorite school or charity. Innovative companies could also offer rewards and prizes in exchange for points.
• QR CODE: The QR code would enable consumers to quickly and easily get additional nutrition information at the point of sale. Additional information available through the QR Code could include information on chemical additives and even recipe ideas for the food product. 

Next steps:

• Collect and gather feedback from consumers. Do some market testing. (Hello Steve Case @stevecase! Would you like to fund this?)
• Get the idea on television. (Hello Oprah @oprah and Ellen @theellenshow! I'd be happy to do an interview!)
• Have a major food manufacturer agree to adopt this model as the the front-of-package labels (Hello Trader Joe's!! You would be a great early-adopter!) 
• Enroll a panel of nutrition experts (not beholden to food, big farm or big Ag businesses) to develop the detailed thresholds for each label section (Hello, Mark Hyman @markhymanmd and Andrew Weil @drweil!! You'd be perfect to lead this panel!)
• Recruit an innovative company to create the points administration and rewards system (Hello anyone who is interested!)
• Design and develop the QR codes which could also be used to feed an individual's food diary (Hello smart developer people!)
• Help our elected officials understand how it can be easy to educate consumers on the food choices they make. (Hello First Lady Obama @whitehouse! Help us make this happen!)
• Combat and reverse the obesity trend in the US by helping people eat better (Hello Jamie Oliver @jamie_oliver! Want to help the cause?).

If you are any of the individuals in the "Next Steps" list, please write to me. 

To the real people that will make this happen (that is you!) the way these things happen is by sharing. Share on the web... Facebook, re-blog, Twitter, media (@huffposthealth), etc.  If you're interested in keeping up with updates, follow along on Twitter @Cybercise. 

A big, huge dose of thanks to my fellow attendees at HealthCampDC 2010: 

@ekivemark for organizing the conference

@MJChatter for keeping the day organized and running

@Carefirst_News for hosting us

@MatthewBrowning for his great ideas include "tree" and "factory"

And, the others in our little group for which I don't have a Twitter handle. 

I'm looking forward to the day I walk into my local grocery store and see rows and rows of these labels. For now, answer this question, "What can you do today to make a difference?"

The Good Label

The headline in the Wall Street Journal reads "Lab-Spawned Salmon: To Label or Not Label" and the article reports the events at the FDA's hearing yesterday. The FDA is considering if it should allow "AquAdvantage" salmon into the US food market. It held a public hearing yesterday as it is also considering if the label will be required to say the salmon has been genetically modified.

Why we even need a hearing for this is completely beyond reason. The only rational answer is a resounding YES! American consumers have a right to know what they are eating. And, by the way, we don't. If you are unaware, you are currently eating genetically modified fruits and vegetables. They were approved some time ago. And, milk manufacturers are not required to label milk that comes from cows that have been given growth hormone.

How far are we (that is we, you and me, consumers) going to let this go? There are reports of young girls going into puberty earlier and earlier and some suspect the culprit is growth hormone in milk. Manufacturers are allowed to use "natural spices" as code for MSG in foods. How did this happen?

It is time we require the labels of all foods and all consumer products to clearly and honestly say what is in the package. Better still, we should require the packages to outline the process required to get the food in the package. Perhaps if we required Truth in Labeling we would have a more educated consumer base that could make better choices with their precious dollar. Education and better choices only harms those hanging onto the status quo.

Follow-Up on Manwich

Up early, good exercise and some time this morning reading comments on yesterday's redux blog on Manwich led me to see if there were any updates on the ConAgra website since they didn't have nutritional information when last I checked. Goodness... are we going to have fun with this for a few days!

Yes, ConAgra has updated and launched a new site for Product Nutrition information. Excellent, I thought. I will go and search for Manwich and see what I can find. Should be easy, right? ConAgra would want their consumers to quickly find the information they are seeking, right? Ha!

I would consider myself a pretty savvy web user and... this is one of the most confusing, difficult-to-use search features I've ever encountered. For the record, the idea of the web is to make it easy for people to find what they are looking for. Can I just have a search box to type in Manwich and get the nutritional information? No! 

When I tried the search box and entered Manwich, I did get a nifty news release on the Investor Relations page that talks about the release of the "full serving of vegetables" campaign and says: 

• "new television advertising campaign promoting the full serving of vegetables found in each serving of Manwich"
• "mark Manwich’s first new creative campaign in three years"
• "new strategic message requires a deeper communication with the target consumer"
• "promoting the full serving of vegetables strategic messaging and encouraging moms to feel good about serving Manwich to their families more frequently"
• "lighthearted spots feature a young girl who is dressed as a Manwich for a school play while her classmates are dressed as vegetables. She touts the wholesomeness of Manwich to her classmates and family."

Excuse me? This a strategic message to encourage Moms to feel good about serving Manwich? How about a strategic message to help Moms understand what is healthy and good for their family? How about a commercial with only the vegetables on stage? 

There are so many things wrong with this, I don't even know where to begin. Discuss and share. Until we get together and point out the absurdity of such things the people who need good and honest advice the most will continue to be subjected to "strategic messages."

Tomorrow? An experiment in actually using ConAgra's Product Nutrition Search. Stay tuned!!!

Those Days of One

Was today one? How many times in our lives do we think to ourselves, "This is one of those days!"? You know those kind of days. The plan goes awry, traffic is bad, you have a headache, the car breaks down. It could be a day of little things or it could be a day of big things. Often, the most desired response to such days is going back to bed, placing the covers over the head and not emerging until is passes. Few of us have that luxury so we press on, muddle through and hope for relief.

Another idea is to be grateful for such days... Were it not for the dark, we wouldn't recognize the light. Yes, there are those days when the Universe seems to conspire against us. Yes, there are those days we wish over, want behind us and would like to not live again. But how often, during the really great days do we wish for them again? Do we even acknowledge the really great days while we're in them? Or, are we too busy enjoying them to give them the credit they are due?

Food for thought for your Monday. If you've had a great day, give it some thanks. If you're had one of those days, give it some thanks, too. Thanks for helping you realize how very good the good days are when they are around.

Doctors and Listening

I was talking to a practicing physician yesterday we wandered to the topic of his counseling patients on weight loss. He said even as a physician you have to be very careful what you say because some people are so sensitive about their weight and lack of exercise. A push too hard and the patient gets angry and won't come back. He takes the approach of gentle reminding and hints.

I continue to mull over the discussion today. I think we have to rely on our doctors to tell us the truth even if we don't to hear it. Who else tells us the unwanted truths? Are we simply happy to stick our heads in the dirt (or the bowl of cookie dough ice cream) and not face reality?

I believe that most people who need to take better care of themselves already know it. So why do people get upset when confronted with the truth?