Only 14% of US adults smoke now --compared to 42% just over 50 years ago. That's a 2/3 decline. Yet many of us think that we can't change Americans' unhealthy activity & nutrition habits. Why has smoking gone down so dramatically, while obesity & diabetes keep going up? Well, we actually seriously tried, as a society & a political system, to reduce smoking. We have not seriously tried to reverse obesity & diabetes. How did we reduce smoking so much? Here is my grading of how poorly we are doing, at using strategies that worked against smoking--to fight inactivity & unhealthy nutrition: - Broad & profound awareness of seriousness of problem (D) - Strong physical & health education programs in schools (D) - Hard-hitting, pervasive public information campaigns (F) - Very strong government health warnings (D) - Large insurance premium discounts for healthy behavior (D) - Cost-effective behavior cessation/adoption products/progra
Committed to developing whole-population healthy habits, starting K-12, and using advocacy & social entrepreneurship to do whatever is necessary for a healthy future for us all.