The growing rate of obesity and chronic health issues and the sluggish improvements in Americans' diets and exercise habits can be traced back to three important barriers, according to Robert Drapkin, MD, a board-certified physician in internal medicine, medical oncology and palliative care.
This physician, bodybuilder, author and fitness guru outlined why we continue to eat bad food in a recent blog post on his website.
According to Dr. Drapkin, three factors that lead people to make bad food choices are:
1. Food costs. The price on carbohydrates that contain high levels of glucose is kept low by U.S. government subsidies while the retail price of fruits and vegetables has grown. According to Dr. Drapkin, "the food industry has a financial incentive to make food with high glycemic carbohydrates."
2. Marketing. The food industry spends more than $1.6 billion marketing food to children with the aim of having the children nag their parents to buy whatever product is being advertised. This includes companies that produce processed foods high in calories and sugar and may contribute to obesity.
3. Misleading labels. "Marketing companies have created labels with the choice of words that make us believe we are eating healthy food when in fact we are not," wrote Dr. Drapkin. Some of those labels may include phrases such as whole grain, heart healthy or all natural.
To read the complete blog post, click here.
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