We continue our look into Trust for America's Health's F as in Fat report. Today we address the following statement:

Improving access to affordable nutritious foods by providing incentives for grocery stores and farmers' markets to locate in underserved communities

The first thing about this statement is its total lack of honesty. The statement speaks to urban areas as opposed to suburban or rural areas. There is a disparity in the amount of grocery stores in urban areas, so I can understand the possible limiting of healthy options for families.

We continue our look at Trust for America's Health list of ways to prevent obesity in the United States. 

Today we look at:

Increasing the amount and quality of physical education and activity in schools and childcare programs

Increasing access to safe, accessible places for physical activity in communities. Examples include creating and maintaining parks, sidewalks and bike lanes and providing incentives for smart growth designs that make communities more livable and walkable

They have a very good point concerning physical education in schools. As school districts have cut back on budgets, one of the first classes to go is physical education. 

The following were identified in the press in September 2008 as cures for obesity:

The study showed, as past research has, that people with certain variations of the FTO gene were more likely to be overweight. However, the researchers found that being genetically predisposed to obesity "had no effect on those with above average physical activity scores."

These are the stories in June 2008 detailing the cures for obesity.

Governor's conference solves obesity : A little tongue and cheek, but it's clever.

Rising fuel costs cures obesity: "The service's Jillian Adams says there is a direct link between the obesity epidemic and an increasing dependency on fossil fuels. "It's no coincidence that an increasing number of overweight and obese people comes at a time when society has an ever higher dependency on fossil fuels," she said."

I love reading stories like the one on the HeraldNet website. The story details a new high schooler dealing obesity and what he's done to combat and overcome it. The teenager's name is Taylor Covert and his secret inspired his mother:

We look at his picture before starting his freshman year of high school until now and it's like 'Wow, amazing'. Watching him has been an inspiration for me.

How did Taylor drop almost 50 pounds in two years? He literally started moving. Many teenagers in today's world are tethered to video games, computers or televisions. This inactivity in and of itself doesn't cause obesity, but throw in unhealthy snacks and you have obesity.

January 2008

High fat diets affect biological clocks

Research in mice has found that a high fat diet puts their biological clocks out of sync, so they ate at times when they should have been resting.

Mutated BDNF gene

Using genetically altered mice, scientists in the US have shown that lack of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), in certain parts of the brain, leads to overreating and may be a contributing factor to the rising obesity epidemic.

I am very excited about the beginning of the year. I've wanted to start tracking the reported obesity cures in the media for a while and the beginning of the year seemed like a good time. 

The new category is created and I am going to cheat. On this last day of 2007 I am going to add two inaugural obesity cures to the list. Trying to decide how to format the information was important. At first I thought a simple page that I updated with the latest news would work, but what happens during link rot? It's going to suck come the end of 2008 to look back at the cures if the original link is unavailable.