By Dr. Mercola
Grabbing a soda and a bag of chips and planting yourself on
the couch to take in a couple of your favorite shows is as
American as, well, apple pie. But it hasn’t always been that
way, as some of you reading this probably remember.
In the early 1900s, spending leisure time at home was
virtually unheard of. Americans spent their free time in public
places like theaters, parks and fairs. It wasn’t until later, in
the 1950s, that families began to retreat to their living rooms
for entertainment, a trend that coincided, not coincidentally,
with the television set.
The advent of the television era begot far more than a change
in leisure activities… it was instrumental in changing the way
Americans regarded food, snacking and the family dinner, and
may, incidentally, have triggered the obesity epidemic that’s
facing the US today.
From Popcorn to the TV Dinner, the TV Changed America’s Eating
In the book Three Squares by food historian Abigail
Carroll, you can follow the evolution of the American meal,
including the rise, and fall, of the traditional American
dinner.
As television watching became the national pastime, food
makers changed their products to be ‘TV friendly.’ Popcorn, once
only consumed in theaters or at fairs, became a household
staple, as did the concept of ‘snacking’ on cereal, chips and
even ‘dinner’ in front of the TV. Carroll wrote:1
“Once seen as a moral weakness, an affront to the
family dinner, and a lowbrow indulgence that went hand in
hand with boisterous crowds and sketchy immigrant vendors,
snacking had become a regular household leisure activity by
the 1950s.
… Commercialization was the key ingredient in
snacking’s makeover, and at the heart of commercialization
were packaging innovations and advertising campaigns that
transformed snack food into a proper, store-bought staple
with a sleek, winning, modern look.”
TV May Have Killed the Family Dinner
As snacking became more acceptable, it also become more
trendy and desirable, thanks to advertisements that involved
popular TV characters or were broadcast before and after popular
programs.
Foods that were once looked down on suddenly became modern
and coveted, and even furniture and appliance manufacturers
jumped on the bandwagon to create products that make eating in
front of the TV more convenient (i.e. the tray table).
What many Americans didn’t yet realize, however, was that
every step they took toward ‘modern’ snack food took them one
step away from nature and the nourishing food traditions that
had sustained Americans for generations.
“ ...The TV Dinner was decidedly distanced from
nature—as were most snacking products,” Carroll wrote,
continuing:
“Advertising dished out plenty of excuses for
crossing once sacred consumption boundaries, and the
proliferation of commercially packaged goods made crossing
them remarkably easy. But as Americans began to suffer from
more chronic health problems, especially in the second half
of the twentieth century, worries surfaced that they had
taken the widely embraced license to snack too far.
Yesterday’s special treat had become a culprit
contributing to today’s escalating ailments. The snack now
not only compromised Americans’ health but worse, it also
threatened to infringe on the family dinner.
With the exaltation of the snack, dinner, the meal by
which Americans had come to understand themselves as members
of a family and a nation, began to teeter on the threshold
of decline.”
In Every US State, at Least 20 Percent of Adults Are Obese
The US obesity epidemic has now infiltrated the nation, with
20 percent obesity rates the norm in every state. In 12 states,
the obesity rate is above 30 percent, and among certain groups,
such as Hispanics, the rate is hovering near 50 percent.
Obesity has doubled among US adults between 1990 and 2010, while
annual medical care costs related to the condition are estimated
to be $147 billion.2
Earlier this year, the American Medical Association (AMA)
even
declared obesity a disease, officially opening the door for
a range of medical interventions to “treat” this modern scourge.
But we don’t need to throw billions of dollars into drug-based
obesity treatment and prevention research.
Well-educated nutritional experts already KNOW what’s causing
obesity and how to fix the problem! The truth is that the
processed food industry needs to change, agricultural subsidies
need to be updated to promote healthier fare, and the public
needs to be told the truth about nutrition.
We also need to stop the dangerous marketing of junk food to
children using their favorite cartoon characters or celebrities.
Many children are pointing toward these unforgettable characters
in the grocery aisles before they can speak, and often the first
time they’re exposed to this highly effective marketing is right
in their own living rooms… on the television.
According to a recent report by the Institute of Medicine
(IOM), children age 2-11 now see an average of more than 10
television food ads per day. Nearly all (98 percent) of food
advertisements viewed by children are for products that are high
in unhealthy fat, sugar or sodium.3
TV Watching Linked to Increases in Waist Size and Weight
A number of studies have shown that the more time you spend
watching TV, the more likely you are to develop metabolic
syndrome, which is characterized by overweight, elevated insulin
levels and hypertension (high blood pressure), type 2 diabetes,
and obesity. This holds true both for children and adults, and
it's nothing new.
More than
20 years ago, a study by researchers at Johns Hopkins
University School of Medicine, along with experts at the US
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the
National Institutes of Health, concluded that a child's weight
increases with the number of hours he or she spends watching
television each day. Adults are similarly affected, with
research showing that watching more than 14 hours of TV per week
was associated with an increased risk of insulin resistance,
obesity and high cholesterol in both men and women.4 One
researcher, Dr. Aric Sigman, has identified a slew of negative
effects he believes can be blamed on watching television, which
include not only obesity but also:
Obesity |
Delayed healing |
Heart trouble |
Decreased metabolism |
Damaged eyesight |
Alzheimer's disease |
Decreased attention span |
Hormone disturbances |
Cancer |
Early puberty |
Autism |
Sleep difficulties |
Increased appetite |
Limited brain growth |
Diabetes |
Watching TV also has a
major impact on your brain chemistry. In fact, the longer
you watch, the easier your brain slips into a receptive, passive
mode, meaning that messages are streamed into your brain without
any participation from you. (This is an advertiser's dream, and
likely one of the reasons why TV junk-food
advertising—particularly ads directed at children and
teens—works so well.)
Carefully Assess Your TV Viewing Habits for Optimal Weight Loss
Not only does television encourage inactivity, but it also
exposes you to commercials promoting worthless foods. When
you’re bombarded by non-stop commercials for sugary foods,
beverages and snacks, it makes their consumption seem normal or
even trendy, when in reality these foods are contributing to
obesity and chronic disease. One simple solution is to record
any TV programs you regularly watch on a DVR and then you can
fast forward through all the commercials.
If you currently watch a lot of television, experiment with
eliminating it or cutting down on it and see how your weight is
affected. The bright side of all of this is that while the
invention of the television had a marked impact on Americans’
eating habits and, likely, their weights, the tide is beginning
to turn once again. Carroll wrote:
“ … our eating habits have never been stable—far from
it, in fact. The eating patterns and ideals we’ve inherited
are relatively recent inventions, the products of complex
social and economic forces, as well as the efforts of
ambitious inventors, scientists and health gurus.”
Today, millions of families have now ditched TV in favor of
services like Netflix primarily because you choose each piece of
media you or your child watches and it is always advertisement
free. So this is another option you can consider that will allow
you to break free from TV’s spell. Of course, it wouldn’t be
fair to blame the entire obesity epidemic on the
television and its role in snacking. The issue is far more
complex than that…
One More Weight Loss ‘Secret’ to Share with Your Friends
Conventional advice tells us that obesity is simply the
result of eating too many calories and not exercising enough.
However,
Dr. Richard Johnson’s research shows that a
high-fructose diet is one of the keys to trapping excess
fat and developing metabolic disorders, and that as soon as you
throw fructose into the mix, “calories in versus calories out”
is no longer a functional equation.
In short, limiting fructose in all its forms, along
with other sugars, is imperative in order to avoid “flipping the
fat switch” that can trigger your body to accumulate excess fat.
And replacing sugar and grain carbs with vegetables and
healthful fats is the key to normalizing your weight, metabolic
function and overall health. Applying
intermittent fasting is also another powerful tool that will
dramatically assist your efforts to achieve your ideal lean body
mass and eliminate the hunger cravings that drive you to consume
junk foods and sugar.
Admittedly, the TV still plays a role here, as many
of the processed foods advertised on television are the very
high-fructose foods and beverages you’re better off avoiding.
© Copyright 1997-2013 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.