Re: Michelle Obama takes on childhood obesity (and product labelling)

Alison wrote:

> (incidentally in the UK the
> Tory party has adopted Thaler's
> Nudge; the Labour party have
> adopted Robert Cialdini's
> Influence).

What a fascinating tidbit!

Over here, many conservatives are suspicious even of "nudges," 
especially when emanating from government sources.

If they thought congressional democrats were using Cialdini's 
"scientifically proven ways to be persuasive" on them -- funded by 
taxpayer dollars -- the new Tea Party probably could foment a 2nd 
American Revolution! ;-)


> Looking back at old film
> footage (1940s and 50s,
> rarely a bulge in sight
> during and after war-time
> rationing) I think supply
> may be the only answer,
> and limited access to
> motorised transport.

For some demographics (Information Designers, say? ;-), you may be right.

However, in the U.S., there are way too many communities where there 
is a lot more hunger than food. Yet, even in areas where poverty has 
already limited the food supply, obesity and diseases such as diabetes 
are still prevalent.

Similarly, there are communities in the U.S. with surprisingly little 
motorized transport, which brings on its own health issues, as pointed 
out by the activist Bus Riders Union (an arm of the 
progressive-to-left, multicultural Labor/Community Strategy Center in 
Los Angeles), which first organized in 1995 around the link it saw 
between environmental racism and racism in L.A.'s mass transportation 
policies (e.g., in 1997, their "Fight for the Night" street 
demonstration and other activism forced L.A.'s Metropolitan 
Transportation Authority to reinstate night time bus service cuts). 
And in 2005, BRU launched its "Clean Air Clean Lungs Clean Buses" 
campaign,

	"linking the fights against air toxins and climate change
	gases -- where L.A.'s auto system is a major source for both
	-- to the fight for a world class, bus-centered transit
	system."

(If anyone's interested, their report _The Bus Riders Union Transit 
Model: Why a Bus-Centered System Will Best Serve U.S. Cities_, 
authored by "new urbanist" transportation planner Ryan Snyder, is 
available online at

http://www.thestrategycenter.org/

).

So not everyone lives in idyllic neighborhoods where it's safe to 
saunter down to the corner store for groceries ... assuming there even 
is a corner store in the neighborhood that sells unprocessed foods.

Moreover, researchers are learning that obesity (yet another complex & 
"contested" modern medical condition/identity, as Obama and Lehrer 
circled around in the _PBS NewsHour_ interview) is probably more 
dynamic and on the move than most of us are, even when we do get 
enough exercise.

Here, I'm thinking not only of the very *active* role played by lipids 
in the human body, and the new thinking that, as with cholesterol, 
there is "good" and "bad" body fat (e.g., from a 14 Aug. 2005 article 
in the _San Diego Union-Tribune_:

	"For all the women who look down on their ample thighs with
	loathing: Fret no more. There is new reason to love that
	dimpled plumpness.

	"For many people, mainly women, fat on legs, hips and
	buttocks may help ward off heart disease and diabetes, recent
	research suggests. ... When women were also heavy above the
	waist, most advantages of the leg fat vanished, but thick
	thighs still improved their scores on triglycerides,
	potentially harmful fats in the blood."

), but also of new research on childhood obesity showing how it causes 
actual, lasting changes to human biochemistry:

	"Science is helping doctors better understand why many
	youngsters and adults can't seem to shed pounds through diet
	and exercise once they've packed on an excessive amount of
	weight.

	"'It turns out that once you're about 100 pounds over your
	ideal body weight, your body has reset its thermostat,' said
	Dr. Sunil Bhoyrul, a bariatric surgeon in San Diego.

	"The process works this way: Overeating produces an
	oversupply of insulin, which causes the body to use more of
	its energy to store fat. That tricks the body into thinking
	it's being starved when it isn't. The body responds by
	lowering physical activity, increasing hunger pangs and
	converting even more energy into fat.

	"'This is not about a habit that has gone bad. This is about
	a physiological illness,' Bhoyrul said."
	
	(from 21 Sept. 2008 article in the _San Diego Union-Tribune_)

+

	"If you look at children at the age of two or three, they
	compensate. If you give them more calories in one meal,
	they'll eat less later in the day. But if they get exposed to
	sugar, fat, and salt all day for a few years, they lose the
	ability to compensate. By age four or five, they're eating
	all the time."

	(David Kessler, from interview with the editors of _Nutrition
	Action_, July/August 2009 issue)


I guess what I'm trying to say here is that there's no 
one-size-fits-all solution to the growing problem of childhood obesity 
in the U.S. ... which is why I think *education* (of children and 
adults), followed by community-based solutions & initiatives, 
supported in turn by judicious state and federal policies & wise use 
of resources, remains our best strategy for going forward.

I still believe that it's the "nudges" we come up with for ourselves 
(rather than having others manipulate us from on high) which have the 
best chance of working. E.g., not every "nudge" recommended by Tufts 
University's Susan Roberts (author of _The Instinct Diet_) is going to 
work equally well for each of us.

I don't see myself pouring water over the leftover French Fries on my 
dinner plate when eating out at a restaurant, which is one of her 5 
tips for fighting "restaurant syndrome":

	"1. NIP NEGATIVE CYCLES IN THE BUD. After an indulgent night
	of eating out, start your day with a bowl of high-fiber
	cereal.

	"2. EAT OUT LESS FREQUENTLY, EVEN IF YOU GO OUT JUST AS
	OFTEN. Try eating at home before a social event, then just
	nibble lightly while being sociable.

	"3. NEVER ARRIVE STARVING. Snack on something satisfying
	before you eat out, such as an apple.

	"4. MICROMANAGE YOUR ORDER. Be specific about what you want,
	from salad dressing on the side to no cheese atop the French
	onion soup.

	"5. TAKE CONTROL OVER THE SIGNALS YOUR EYES AND NOSE SEND
	YOUR BRAIN. Drape a napkin over the bread basket. Spill
	some water on those leftover fries."

But I do see myself beginning every day after a night of indulgence 
with a bowl of high-fiber cereal.

Best of all, it's nice to know enough to be able to pick-and-choose 
from lots of options, and make my own trade-offs like this. Too often, 
we just don't have enough information to be able to exercise real choice.


Strictly speaking, I suppose the many tactical interventions suggested 
by David Kessler in _The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the 
Insatiable American Appetite_ aren't really "nudges" either, because 
they require mindfulness at the point of execution.

Kessler's guide to making it through "Food Rehab" and resisting the 
pull of unhealthy foods asks us to act preemptively on ourselves. E.g.,

	"1. REPLACE CHAOS WITH STRUCTURE. Determine ahead of time
	what you'll eat for meals and snacks. Block out everything
	else.

	"2. PRACTICE JUST-RIGHT EATING. Figure out how much food you
	need. (Odds are, it's less than you think.) Put it on your
	plate and don't go back for more.

	"3. PICK FOODS THAT WILL SATISFY, NOT STIMULATE, YOU. What
	satisfies you is personal, but try foods that occur in
	nature, like whole grains, beans, non-starchy vegetables, and
	fruit, combined with lean protein and a small amount of fat.

	"4. REHEARSE. Anticipate your moves like an elite athlete
	before a competition. For example, tell yourself, 'If I
	encounter chocolate-covered pretzels, I'll keep walking.'

	"5. SEIZE CONTROL. Stay alert to emotional stressors or other
	stimuli that trigger automatic behavior. Recognize emotions
	(like sadness, fatigue, or anxiety) that might lead you to
	overeat.

	"6. STOP THAT THOUGHT. Change the channel. Turn off the image
	of the trigger food before you start to debate whether to eat
	it.

	"7. THINK NEGATIVE. Pair the unhealthy food with a stream of
	(unappealing) images. 'That's the flip side of what
	advertising agencies do when they link an Olympic athlete to
	a pair of sneakers or an attractive woman to a new piece of
	technology,' says Kessler."

But re-designing food labels for better information transparency at 
the point of sale -- in line with Kessler's warning about misleading 
obfuscation in _The End of Overeating_ -- *would* probably qualify as 
a "nudge" I think:

	"'If a food contains more sugar than any other ingredient,
	federal regulations dictate that sugar be listed first on the
	label. But if a food contains several different kinds of
	sweeteners, they can be listed separately, which pushes each
	one farther down the list.' Breakfast cereals, for example,
	often include a combination of sugar, brown sugar, fructose,
	high-fructose corn syrup, honey and molasses -- in part so
	moms looking at the labels don't spot 'sugar' as the top
	ingredient."

	(from the Special Supplement to Tufts' _Health & Nutrition
	Letter_ for Aug. 2009)

Imagine if the "Ingredients" label on U.S. processed foods -- 
currently printed in small, sans serif, ALL CAPS right-justified type, 
with minimal leading, thus making the block paragraph as hard as 
possible to read in full, and requiring many mothers and grandmothers 
to get out their reading glasses in the supermarket aisle even to 
attempt it -- was redesigned as a folksonomy "tag" cloud ... or given 
an eye-catching graphic treatment like a simple bar chart....

These would be regulated "nudges" I think even the most wary of us 
could support.

Deborah
_____

Deborah Taylor-Pearce
[email protected]
___________________________________________________________________

Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: 
 [email protected]

To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
 http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe

For all Information Design matters:
 http://InformationDesign.org

Problems? Write to:
 [email protected]
___________________________________________________________________