Obesity is defined as a BMI greater than or equal to 30, and BMI is simply a ratio of weight to height. And being in public health or reading the news at all, people are likely aware of what is considered the obesity epidemic. So how is it that we've gotten to this part, especially because we think of this as being a pretty simple equation? Just eat a little bit healthier, get a little bit more physical activity, this is the message that we get from the industry. You just need to focus on your diet, you just need to exercise, you just need discipline or willpower. And if you use all these things, then you also can achieve the fit body of your dreams. Hope you guys are are detecting my sarcasm. >> [LAUGH] >> First of all the term, just, I don't even like to hear. If anything were just a matter of whatever like it's just graduate school. If it was just graduate school, then everybody would be doing it. I don't know, any time I hear the word just, I cringe, because it really indicates, to me anyway. That it really isn't so simple, but this is the message that is pretty pervasive. So if it's so simple, if we've been equipping people with all of these fixes. All of these brief seven to ten day gimmicks if you will, of how to achieve the ideal diet, where are we? These things have been boosting more and more, we all know there's an enormous diet industry. You walk through any bookstore, you're going to see a lot of books like this. So people are getting the information on how to achieve all this. So are we getting any better at achieving ideal weight outcomes? So these are some maps from on obesity trends, but I want to show you what's gone on since the 80s. >> The 80s [LAUGH] >> Let's go back to the 80s, [SOUND] I'm fond of the 80s, you guys, of course, we're not born then. >> [CROSSTALK] >> Neutral, neutral about the 80s, awesome, okay, here we see, some states with about almost 15%, 10- 14% of the population. And this was when I started hearing about the emerging obesity epidemic. So this is when diet industry really started to spike. Let's help people reduce, almost 15% of the population in some states is experiencing obesity. Let's help said the diet industry. '86, we're seeing little bit more, '87, '88, '89, okay, so the 80s didn't really see a whole lot of success in the diet industry, apparently. >> [LAUGH] >> Or the diet industry was getting it wrong, maybe? Now we're in the 90s, now we're getting into 15 to 19% showing. 95. >> My. >> Ah-hah, so in the 90s there's a pretty fast escalation in the 90s. Now the 2000s, now we're getting above 25. >> Yeah, and we're kind of seeing this pattern now, we've already, only in 2005. We've already gotten into another new color, 30 greater than 30. >> [LAUGH] >> Holding tight in the middle there, not anymore, yeah >> The state of Oklahoma is, thank God for Mississippi because we're like 49 force in everything health. So Mississippi, so they go for Mississippi, anyway, okay. [LAUGH] >> So what, you've just disclosed that you're from Oklahoma, is that it? There you go, I also hail from the South, so- >> Me, too, I'm from Georgia. >> Okay? >> [CROSSTALK] >> Trends, what are we seeing? So now that we have all disclosed that we're Southerners, we can bust on the South a little bit. >> [LAUGH] >> I guess that's allowed, I've gotten rid of the accent, I pride myself on that. It comes out though when I get mad, just so you know. That's when spouse enters in and like makes fun of me with a Southern accent, yeah, lovely. Anyway, what do we see? >> No blue in 2010. >> Yeah, no blue, we're not getting better. >> We're not getting better. Is this surprising to you, to see it in this visual now kind of aware of this. Okay, were you aware that it happened so quickly? >> I think that puts it a little bit more into perspective. >> Yeah. >> Mm-hm? >> Especially this with the way food's being made and all sorts of stuff. >> Mm-hm? >> Advertisement, everything, how it's all changed just growing up in the 90s. >> [LAUGH] >> Yeah, well, I think about this too, and a lot of the messages that people are getting. Well, there's this genetic contribution and so on, but there's also this kind of individual level of responsibility. I mean what's happened in the past, in 20 or 30 years, have people changed so much? Or have we evolved in in the past couple of decades to become individuals who not able to control our intake or whatever? That individual responsibility notion or has our environment changed pretty quickly? And that anyone in that kind of environment is fighting an uphill battle. So right now here's our kind of current landscape, is that we're talking the law of one thirds. And that most most people are classified either in the overweight or obese range. And again, to give away the punch line, I very much believe that it is attributable to these pretty quick environmental changes. That make it extremely difficult, our social landscape, makes it very difficult for people to to choose. And to acquire and to fight against the rich environment.
