How About a ‘Crusade’ Against the Conventional Wisdom on Childhood Obesity?
First Lady Michelle Obama teaches Dr. Oz how to do the Dougie Dance.
In yesterday’s Daily Briefing about the dreadful media coverage of the attacks in Benghazi, Erick Erickson coined the term “conventional wisdom machine” to describe the mainstream media. The conventional wisdom machine efficiently turns out flimsy facts, sometimes with a flourish.
Vying for a spot on the list of the top 10 most ill-timed political stories, on September 12, 2012, First Lady Michelle Obama appeared on The Dr. Oz Show, and when he posited, “The greatest threat to national security that we have is obesity,” she said, “Absolutely.” Yes, on the day after the eleventh anniversary of 9/11, when we awoke to learn of our Libyan ambassador’s murder and embassies burning, both reminding us that we continue to face dire national security threats, the first lady appeared on television declaring body fat our #1 concern.
What threat did the first lady imagine? Obese people aren’t accepted into the military. True, insufficient military personnel threatens national security, but the size of our military force means nothing if we do not send them to the right place. It was just such an egregious error that cost Ambassador Stevens his life the previous day.
In addition, the interview contained some inappropriate elements. While the administration twists itself into knots not to offend Islam, the interview is titled “First Lady Michelle Obama’s Health Crusade.” And for a final flourish of cluelessness, Mrs. Obama taught Dr. Oz how to “Dougie,” which, according to the lyrics of the song, is a dance meant to blow off mean “niggas” and attract hook-ups with “bitches.”
Any single one of those items would be cause enough for raised eyebrows. Taken together, they are dumbfounding. And they all come before the substance of the interview, an obesity epidemic. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, we don’t have one.
The U.S. has many obese people, but not an outbreak. The conventional wisdom machine has convinced many of us of a phantom epidemic by failing to cover contrary facts.
The Dr. Oz interview of Mrs. Obama revolved around obesity, specifically in children. Mrs. Obama mentioned the often-noted fact that the drastic rise in obese children has happened in a single generation. She’s right, but not due to changes in childhood size. The “epidemic” results from changes made to measurement and classification in the national statistics. They moved the goal posts. From “The Epidemic that Wasn’t“:
The latest statistics on childhood overweight from the National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. They show that since the childhood growth charts were redesigned nearly a decade ago, there have been no statistically significant change in the percentages of young people at or above the 95th percentile (labeled as “overweight” and some are now calling “obese”).
This is significant because prior to 1999, the definition of “overweight” and how it was measured changed, as did surveillance. Even the NHANES surveys were redesigned several times. That makes it especially challenging for the public to readily see what’s happened and exactly how much children have grown. [See Creating an Epidemic.] The last statistical change that helped to accentuate public perceptions of an epidemic was when new child growth charts were issued in 2000, using BMIs rather than heights and weights (instantly placing nearly two-thirds of children in higher percentiles, despite no increase in their actual weights). An epidemic of obesity was declared by Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson on March 9, 2004, launching an aggressive government campaign and massive funding to address a purported crisis. This was followed in 2005 by the Surgeon General Richard Carmona making the epidemic of childhood obesity a national priority and anti-obesity initiatives went into high gear. Claims of an epidemic of childhood obesity continued even while repeated reports were being issued by the National Center for Health Statistics continuing to show no actual increase in children’s sizes since 1999.
In addition to trying to fix a phantom problem, Mrs. Obama’s healthy eating “crusade” is a poor solution.
Again from Junk Food Science, an archived blog well worth your time to browse, we learn healthy eating programs not only fail but also have the dire unintended consequence of promoting childhood eating disorders. Granted, Mrs. Obama explained that she never talks to her daughters about body weight because she doesn’t want them to become obsessed with body image, but attention on food focuses children on body image whether we intend it or not.
I learned that when we moved back to Texas after five years in London. In their early years, I had successfully created healthy eaters. Later, the children attended a school where healthy eating was expected, not discussed. I’m a mom who is often caught saying crazy things like, “Put down that broccoli and go watch TV!” Two months into our school here in Texas, however, I had to fight my (very skinny) children to eat. They tore fat off bacon, refused meat, asked for organic produce, and complained about restaurant meals. They worried about getting fat. I quashed the problem as quickly as I could, but it was clear that it originated in health policy. (We had a similar experience with racial issues.)
Unfortunately, an “epidemic” of childhood obesity is not the only flimsy meme churned out by the conventional wisdom machine, and when aided by popular figures like Mrs. Obama, the conventional wisdom is that much harder to fight.
Last week, a friend, prompted by a NPR story about the “new” findings that organic food wasn’t healthier, asked me to discuss whether John Q. Public is too stubborn to alter his opinions when faced with new evidence. John Q. Public is not too stubborn about his opinions. He is too invested in them.
People seek meaning, purpose, a connection to something greater than themselves. Things like religion or belief in individual liberty or American exceptionalism provide that meaning, but the relativists convinced many of us that such beliefs are foolish. So people create meaning elsewhere. From Jonah Goldberg a long time ago,
Perhaps it was when Nietzsche pronounced God dead that so many decided to do His job themselves. Today, we are our own priests. Our truths are own “inner truths.” Our morality is bought retail.
Pick a topic: healthy eating, organic food, education reform, hurried children, global warming — interior decor! — they all claim moral components. Breaking the conventional wisdom is not as simple as merely reevaluating facts. To break the fierce grip of conventional wisdom, we, the opposition, must possess solid contrary evidence, make that evidence visible through the throng of “authorities” who tout the conventional wisdom because they want you to know what good people they are, and replace the lost moral significance of the conventional wisdom.
It is not easy to do.
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Related on health at PJ Lifestyle:
THANK YOU!
From a practitioner of Health at Every Size, it is SO nice to see a little fact-based reporting, and another echo that Fat is not the worst thing I could be.
The problem isn’t the obesity of some people but with America’s obsession with other people weight issues. It all reflects back to one’s own self obsession with body image. Have we surrendered to the Hollywood image of size -00 that is considered to be perfect? I think Mischelle, if she had to give up her personal trainer and dietician would be as fat as a hog! Stop judging us you pig!
Might make a comment or two regarding the 50-year old fraud of the food pyramid promulgated by the FDA. Want skinny kids (and adults)? Trash the pyramid and adopt Taubes’ lo carb diet recommendations. Hint: fat is your friend. Cheers -
If we’re talking strictly qualifications for military service, then yeah, having a vast number of young people unable to meet physical fitness standards is a huge problem.
Personally, however, as a military member, I’d say a bigger danger to our armed services is the entitlement complex that so many kids come out of high school and college with. Most people in my generation are being wired, at a fundamental level, as to be incompatible with the military lifestyle/environment. The “purple pen”, everyone’s-a-winner, moral relativity of our PC culture doesn’t work in the military. You’d be amazed how many young officers and enlisted I’ve worked with in the last few years who have no concept of what failure is, or how to respond to criticism, accept mistakes, or how to adapt and overcome in difficult situations. Everyone wants to be a special snowflake, which creates untold amounts of problems. Most of them learn, but it’s a steep curve, and most senior-ranking folks don’t have time to walk the younger ones through that process. Being psychologically, not physically, unfit for service is by far a bigger problem. Not that anybody outside the military talks about this issue, of course… just thought I’d mention it.
I agree on the rest, though. Encouraging your children to eat healthy is a good thing that will serve them well the rest of their lives, but it’s hardly the government’s, or the FLOTUS’, job to do that.
I’ll second that.
EXCELLENT point! But of course, the first lady of entitlement would never suggest true self discipline unless she’s calling for people to give something up in order to send more money to her husband’s campaign.
“The greatest threat to national security that we have is obesity,”
O,RLY so
1) A federal government that shits all over the constitution and the rule of law in order to absolute power and control via mass wealth confiscation and cramming Goebells socialist agitprop down it’s citizens throats AND
2) Total economic collapse due to spending 40% MORE than we earn with NO budget and printing the currency to infinity via endless QE
are NOT problems?
Maybe they are not. Obama did promise “fundamental transformation” after all.
Parents should be encouraged to tell their children never to eat when they’re not hungry. Parents should be told that eating what you neither need nor want is wasting it.
http://www.jochnowitz.net/Essays/EatMisc.html
Religious parents believe in punishment, and so they are more likely to force their children to eat. That’s why states with high percentages of religious citizens have high rates of obesity.
/www.jochnowitz.net/Essays/ObesityAndHell.html
BUNK! My father grew up during the Great Depression and told me my entire life that it was good for me to go to bed a little bit hungry.
Prof. Jochnowitz strikes again with another one of his ill-conceived correlations between religion and obesity. Seriously, every single time obesity is discussed you post the same damn thing.
For a man who goes about flaunting his intelligence you sure fail at logic. Your argument that, since a high percentage of religious peoples are overweight, religion must make people fat, is embarrassingly backward. That’s akin to saying that since penguins can’t fly, all flightless birds are penguins.
Give it up already.
Violent enemies are certainly a threat, and one that needs aggressive handling or it will grow, but it is actually a relatively minor cause of death or disability. At the height of the Second Intifadah, terrorism in Israel, as a cause of death in Israel, managed to rival car-accidents. Obesity is a major risk-factor for heart-disease, other circulatory disease, and diabetes, the number 1, 3, and 5 causes of death in the U.S. Heart-disease, for example, kills roughly 200 times as many Americans as did the 9/11 attacks per year. Obviously not all of these are linked to obesity and, given the age at which these deaths often occur, it may be a race between these causes and others, but as an immediate threat to American lives, obese Americans may well outweigh the country’s enemies.
As a threat to the state, how many young Americans are up to U.S. military recruitment-standards? From what I understand, would-be recruits’ failure to meet the physical and education-requirements has become a major problem for recruiters.
That said, oversized government and several other problems may be even bigger, and a line stemming from big government, a line stemming from entitlement-culture, and a line stemming from poor education can be drawn from to many current maladies of the country. Still, the waist-line should not be underestimated.
More poppycock coming from “conventional” wisdom with no basis in research. The link between obesity and heart health was sourced from some peripheral information recorded during the infamous Framingham study and was not specifically studied at that time, they just coincidentally had some data on people that were rated as obese and drew conclusions from that data. No control group, no hypothesis before hand, doesn’t even qualify as voodoo science. Recent studies that actually studied obese people specifically are starting to find that being overweight does not have a link with heart disease. As to circulatory disease, exactly the same problem since heart disease essentially is a circulatory disease. As to obesity leading to diabetes, the cause and effect arrow is pointing in the wrong direction. There appears to be a clear link that insulin regulatory problems, basically diabetes, makes it very difficult to control weight because insulin resistance and sensitivity makes the body unable to correctly balance itself. Much of what you think you know is just wrong…not really your fault but really, do some more reading, farther and wider than what you read now.
My kids get full fat foods. One of my children is terribly picky, so if I can get some whole milk, eggs, and full fat yogurt in her at the very least I can keep some meat on her bones. I don’t understand the ban on whole milk in schools. They serve lowfat with strawberry and chocolate flavor. I would rather my kids get fat calories than sugar calories. See those chairs at the ends of my dining table, they’re taken. My children, my choice, the end.
I think the FLOTUS forgot to add, “After my husband, of course.”
Look – back in the 80′s I remember some moron lib starting to make the case that skinned knees and bruised elbows shouldn’t be accepted as a part of childhood initiation into adaulthood.
My gut reaction was, “Well, yes it is!” And I knew where it was going – to where we are now. Playgrounds closed; schools closing down physical programs.
How did they think this turn out?
EXACTLY Lolly– Growing up in the 60′s I lived off a diet of crappy food, but me and all my classmates never put on weight, because we were constantly in motion. Now kids are discouraged from any physical activity, and they sit around all day playing video games. The Libs were behind that anti-sports movement, and now they complain about overweight kids. They purposely created this problem, so they can gain greater control over us.
By the way- anybody else ever notice how amazingly unheathly people look in health food stores.
It’s worse than that even. Mrs. Obama made comments about TV and fast food because moms are busy, but she wouldn’t want to talk about why these things are more common. Fewer parents are at home monitoring children, what they eat, what they watch (though I’ll give her that cartoons used to be aired an hour or so after school and on Saturday mornings). Plus with more dual career households, there are less eyes in the neighborhood during the day. So not only is someone not there to kick the kids outside, but there are fewer watchers if they venture off the lawn. So parents keep kids indoors. We try to make up for this by shuttling kids to and from activities, which involves a lot of sitting in a car and stress for the driver. How healthy is that? Can I tell you how much fun almost rush hour traffic is with 4 kids strapped in the back? Look for a post on hurried kids and hassled parents around here soon. This is the first year I’ve attempted organized activities in the States. It’s insane.
Another point- Before we had all this BAD processed food, the majority of the US population was thin– and then they died in their early sixties!!!
Using BMI I am in danger of being obese which is a shock to those who know me. Currently I weigh 198 at 6’2. To make matters worse I only have a 31 inch waist. Government cannot be trusted to keep statistics. Just look at inflation, debt to gdp, unemployment rate and lastly national debt.
Inflation rate does not include food or fuel, unemployment rate only includes those getting unemployment checks. National Debt does not include any unfunded liabilities. Obamacare will not add 1 penny to the deficit. Sooner rather than later this math will catch up with all the lies.
What threat did the first lady imagine?
I wouldn’t look too far for meaning when Michelle nods in agreement with Dr. Oz at this perfectly stupid statement.
We have an Attorney General who, among numerous other egregious examples, has claimed that lack of racial balance in hiring his dept. of (in)justice is a big threat to national security. Not reaching out to hire the handicapped is, too.
The woman supervising Obamacare, Kathleen Sebelius, has been traveling around the country with giant Obesity Maps, showing concentrations of Fat People in America.
(she’s skinny, but her brain is full of ADIPOSE tissue)
People like Michelle and Eric Holder desperately seek self-importance, and their own stupidity shows through in the “causes” they attach themselves to.
This administration is a bad clown shoe.
“clown shoe”
clown show
Oh, I like the phrase bad clown shoe.
No matter which “big clown sho_” phrase one prefers, it’s obvious this admin. has beclowned itself …
I really hate the term obesity “epidemic”
I am obese. I have touched many thin people and I have never given any of them obesity.
Would people please learn not to call every trend in society an epidemic?
That’s the important bit: it’s not a trend. We have obese people. We may have per capita more than other countries (though gene pools have more to do with that than people realize). But we don’t have a trend. If you carry the old standard forward or look for a trend now that we have over a decade’s worth of data since the measurements and classifications were changed, obesity rates are pretty stable.
Even if there were an identifiable trend, calling it an “epidemic” leads people to think that fat people are causing it somehow. It encourages hatred and fear aimed at people based on their appearance.
And we all know where that kind of thing ends up, don’t we?
(I admit that the hate and fear being ginned up against fat people will be useful when Kathleen Sebelius declares that “obesity” will not be considered a pre-existing condition for insurance purposes. Or a bit later when federal policy is promulgated proclaiming that, while “the obese” are required to pay for insurance, they are not permitted medical care except for “weight loss counseling” and emergency treatment. For their own good, of course, but we all know that they deserve it. Save a lot of money that way as well, requiring some percentage of the population to pay for medical treatment without actually getting it.)
And thank you for referring to him as Ambassador Stevens. Calling him by his first name, as in “Libyans carried Chris’ body to the hospital,” is dismissive of the man and makes him sound like an office boy who got in the way.
I will start by saying that I am NOT, REPEAT NOT an Obama supporter!!
RE: “Vying for a spot on the list of the top 10 most ill-timed political stories, on September 12, 2012”, the person to blame for the “timing” of this is the “programmer” for the Dr. OZ show. You DO REALIZE, that these shows are taped WELL IN ADVANCE of the air date, right?
RE: “The greatest threat to national security that we have is obesity,” I believe the commentors here who are serving/have served in the military covered this point very well & THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!!
RE: “First Lady Michelle Obama’s Health Crusade”, having working in Public Relations for many years I can tell you these are very likely NOT Michelle Obama’s words. I “put words in my bosses mouth” for the Press on COUNTLESS occasions. Having said that, the FLOTUS SHOULD have “proofed” this copy before it went public…o-o-o-p-s…when you live in a fishbowl, you are bound to have some mis-steps.
RE: The “Dougie”…this is inexcusable. I REALLY HOPE she has since listened to this song & realized the lyrics make this an extremely inappropriate song for the FLOTUS to be involved with.
RE: “The Obesity Epidemic”, I strongly disagree. The word “epidemic” is probably too strong, but we absolutely have a problem. However, our government has played a significant role in the fattening of America. The “Food Pyramid” is the most destructive “guideline” EVER to come from the Federal Government & THANKFULLY even they have abandoned this COMPLETELY WRONG advice. At 22, I had (what I guess were), relatively well-meaning Doctors nearly kill me with bad nutrition advice. I was hospitalized with a mysterious ailment & subjected to 7 days of non-stop tests, after which they had no diagnosis & sent me home on a low-fiber diet. After getting sicker & sicker over the next 2 weeks, I walked into a Health Food Store (in despartion) & told the clerk my detailed story. Fortunately, she was a Licensed Dietician & set me on the right path (a high-fiber diet…go figure). I cancelled my follow up appointment with the Doctor & never looked back. Now at age 60, I am uber cautious about which Doctors I let touch me, or give me advice. If they know nothing about nutrition or don’t pay it any heed…I move on to the next one until I find the right one. I have spent the last 38 years doing my own independent health research & I can tell you from experience Michelle Obama is right on most counts regarding health issues, such as childhood obesity, organic produce, etc. AGAIN, I AM NOT AN OBAMA supporter, but it’s important to know when the FLOTUS is right & she is right on this issue.
Yes, I do know the shows are taped in advance, but the mistake is same you mention for the title, that is, once the news broke, someone should have thought to at least delay the air date or edit out the section. Someone on one of their staffs should have realized that this was terrible timing. But much of the left is going about their business as if it is no big deal. The NYT today had something along the lines of this is the most significant foreign policy crisis in this election season. Well yeah, because it is the most significant foreign policy crisis since 9/11. The coffins are coming off the plane and the President’s twitter handlers tweet out “Winter is coming” to sell Obama sweatshirts. They think it is just a normal day, no reason to be cautious with words.
As for the lyrics, I’m actually surprised more people didn’t comment on that. Maybe it’s just a thing of mine, but I’ve been to too many kid parties with the likes of Pumped Up Kicks, I’m Sexy and I Know it, or TGIF are blaring in the background. I can’t believe that she danced to a song with those terms and a blow job reference.
Crusade. The C-word.
One of the biggest changes contributing to childhood obesity is that children no longer walk to school. When I was a kid, children living within a mile of the school were expected to walk. Walking one or two miles a day will do a lot to contribute to your health and keep your weight down. Kids don’t walk to school because parents are afraid something will happen to them. Parents are afraid because of a lot of media coverage. If you doubt what I say, take this scientific survey. Drive past a couple of schools (including high schools) within 15 minutes of the time school starts. You will see a line of cars of parents dropping kids off for school This is nonses. Kids should walk. Also, the food pyramid is garbage. The incidence of adult obesity and diabetes has gone way up since people started pushing that. Gary Taubes is right. Low carb diets are the appropriate diet for more sedentary people.
I’ll second the walking bit. As a recent transport from a walking city to a driving one, the amount of time I have to spend exercising to make up for the exercise I used to get as a matter of course…
BMI does not overestimate obesity, it underestimates it. If you go by body fat percentage, the obesity rate is even higher than if you go by BMI.
I think you are right about food and body being moral issues. We think thin people are morally superior. There might be a bit of truth to it, perhaps some, though not all, thin people have better self-control, and they tend to be better educated. However, we project more virtue into thinness (smart, creative, etc.)
You and agimarc and a few others should check out Junkfood Science’s Obesity Paradox series. She explains the studies that I’m sure have never seen the sections of the NYT, or at least not without significant spin.