In honor of my tenth month of Jenny Craig maintenance, of course we have to have a dieting post. I’m happy to say that in the last ten months, my weight has stayed within a five pound range, and I never got higher that one pound below my goal weight, holidays included. I like that.
In my morning newspaper, I came across an interesting approach for controlling weight that I wanted to share with you.
This Japanese executive is showing a “metabolic syndrome” menu available at his chemical corporation’s cafeteria.
One usually doesn’t think of Japan as having a problem with obesity, but probably due to concerns about weight gains in the West, the Japanese are being proactive. Corporations and local governments are required to measure the waistlines of men over the age of 40. Anyone over 33.5 inches is referred for dieting advice. If the person does not make progress in 6 months, the employer and/or local government will pay a fine. I’m assuming that the incentive is to avoid the public health costs associated with a heavy population–heart disease, cancer, diabetes, etc.
Nonetheless, one can only imagine the uproar should the US attempt such a plan. If we were to fine employers and local governments over obesity, what about smoking, drinking, drugs, reckless driving, and so on? And I can’t help wondering why only men are being measured. What about the ladies?
As an afficianado of B.F. Skinner, I think that positive reinforcement is the key to all happiness, or at least to changing behaviors that make people unhappy. American corporations, instead of fining people, are providing bonuses to employees to lose weight. Too bad Cal Poly doesn’t do this–I’d have enough money to buy gas to go to school. I guess the real answer, as always, is to find out what people are willing to work for, and then give it to them. For me, I like wearing a size 4, being able to cross my legs, and looking more like the “me” I’m used to seeing in the mirror. However, it makes a lot of sense to me for insurance companies to give “bonuses” for people with good health habits. Would that have prompted me to lose weight earlier? I think so.
It also makes sense to me for food manufacturers to borrow the Jenny Craig “eat this–lose weight” approach. Why doesn’t somebody have a color-coded system, where you check your height and weight, your ideal weight, and then they say “pick your foods from the blue labeled products, add dairy, fruits, and veggies” and off you go. We have forgotten how to eat sensibly, as Brian Wansink of Cornell frequently points out, and we need some extra help.
