Saturday, August 22, 2009

weight loss and regional differences

Last night I enjoyed dinner with Dr. Max Rogers, a highly respected OB/GYN physician in Mobile Alabama who is licesning our program and will start in September. Dr. Rogers and his great staff were explaining how many overweight people reside in Alabama. Apparently, this state has the second highest rate of obesity. Earlier this week, I had lunch with my nephew Ruchard who is pursuing his MBA in an international program in Barcelona Spain. Rich was telling me that he hardly sees overweight people there. They drink wine and eat good foods there he informed me, but the portions are way smaller than here.

To a large extent, obesity problems are regionally influenced. If we grow up on fried foods, fat laden meals and such, we will tend to be overweight and obviously, if we grow up with smaller portions, less "bad" foods, we will tend to not have the weight difficulties.

We are all a product of our genetics and environment. As we are raising our children and influencing others eating behaviors,, we need to reassess how we prepare our meals, what portions we decide on and what types of restaurants we frequent.

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