Any Baby Boomers out there? If so, I would bet that you think back to our parents’ generation and how different their behaviors were than ours. Of course, our children and their children’s behaviors are different than ours as well. Cultural “norms” are far different generationally too.
I was playing on the internet this morning looking at old Frank Sinatra videos and one that appeared made me think lots about the reasons why obesity is so much more prevalent now than in Old Blue Eyes generation. The video I posted at the end of the entry shows Frank sitting alone at a bar smoking a cigarette, downing shots and singing a soulful song called “One For My Baby And One For The Road”. The “baby” refers to an adult lady in his life and that term would be considered horrifically offensive these days. Smoking? MANY less smokers now than years past.
The obesity rate in our country when Frank was crooning his song at the bar was 1/3 of what it is now. Our smoking rates have dropped dramatically, our alcohol consumption has not increased and we are (slowly) learning that certain terms we have used in the past can be quite offensive to others. So, to an extent, we (meaning generationally) are learning from the mistakes of the previous generations but this has not translated into healthier eating habits.
There are many reasons why: the heightened use of processed foods, dual working family households, the availability of fast food restaurants, more screen time as opposed to exercise and many, many other reasons.
Perhaps a good exercise for all of us is to sit alone in a quiet room for awhile and think through the contributing reasons as to why we are struggling with our weight control. Identifying these reasons is the first step in enacting the behavioral changes necessary for long-term weight control success. And no smoking or doing shots when thinking through these issues! Enjoy Frank.
