The Hidden Challenges of Dieting

Bad eating habits and poor diets are major health concerns in our society. Some of the most common diseases in our culture relate to how and what we eat -- coronary heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. As a result, many people try, often times unsuccessfully, to change their diet. There are a variety of diet guides to help people make the transition from an unhealthy diet to a healthy one. The themes are pretty consistent in these guides--the major goal to successfully dieting is willpower. A Google search on "how to diet successfully" will yield results for a popular web site that suggests boredom "is one of the main reasons that people give up their diets." Many people state self-control and willpower are the keys to a successful diet.

However, recent research has found that there are external factors that influence eating behavior which people are unaware of. The research, conducted by health psychologists, found that environmental factors can influence people's food intake. For instance, there is a strong relationship between the "presence and behavior" of other people and an individual's eating habits. A person is more likely to increase their food intake when there are more people eating with them, especially if those people are also eating large portions of their meal. Additionally, the portion of food people get influences how much they eat. If a person is served a smaller amount of food on a smaller plate, they are just as likely to feel full and satisfied as someone served with a larger plate with more food. This studied verified these claims, but went further by giving participants a survey to assess how much they were aware of the external influences of their eating habits. Nearly every participant said they ate how much they ate because they were hungry or that the food tasted good, even though the external factors had a significant influence on their eating habits. Overall, people were unaware of these external factors, even as it clearly led to certain eating habits.

Another study assessed the perception of eaters who ate from larger soup bowls. Participants were given large soup bowls that measured how much a person ate in comparison with participants with smaller soup bowls. The participants with larger soup bowls ate substantially more soup, 73% more, which was equivalent to 113 additional calories. However, those participants, on average, stated that they ate only around 4 calories more than the participants with smaller bowls. Obviously, the portions of food people get will influence how much they eat without them noticing exactly how much they are eating.

People will overeat without realizing they are doing it. Most importantly, they are unaware of the factors influencing higher food intake. "Willpower" cannot overcome factors that people are completely unaware of while they are eating. The researchers concluded "if external environmental factors influence people's food intake without their awareness or acknowledgement, then maintaing a healthy diet can be a challenge." There are hidden challenges to dieting that go beyond internal food desires.

Tom Daschle's Health Care Views

Former Senator Tom Daschle will be President-Elect Obama's Secretary of Health and Human Services. The Wall Street Journal looked through Daschle's book, Critical: What We Can Do About the Health Care Crisis, and reported on Daschle's health care views.



Tom Daschle's book can be found here.

Manasota World AIDS Day

Manatee and Sarasota counties participated in World AIDS Day 2008 today. The goal of this world-wide campaign is to bring attention to the AIDS epidemic. In keeping with the spirit of the event, I would like to bring up some important information regarding the global epidemic of HIV/AIDS.

In 2001, a United Nations and World Health Organization survey found that 40 million people are infected with HIV/AIDS. It is estimated that 60 million people have been infected with the virus since the start of the epidemic. The researchers wrote, "Twenty years after the first clinical evidence of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome was reported, AIDS has become the most devastating disease humankind has ever faced."

Advances in the treatment of HIV/AIDS have not been matched with "enough progress on the prevention front," according to the UN and WHO survey. The survey calls for prompt, focused prevention efforts, especially in developing countries where over 50 percent of young people (those between the ages of 15-24) "have never heard of AIDS or harbor serious misconceptions about how HIV is transmitted." These countries include the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Ukraine, and Vietnam.

In the year 2000, approximately 3 million people died from HIV/AIDS. An estimated twenty thousand lived in North America.


According to the CDC, in 2003, an estimated 1,185,000 people in the United States were living with HIV/AIDS. Most shockingly, 24-27% of those living with HIV were undiagnosed and unaware of their infection.

In 2006, the most amount of AIDS cases were found in adults between the ages of 40 and 44 in the United States, with an estimated 7,298 cases. Adults between the ages of 35 and 39 had the second most number of cases, followed by adults between the ages of 45 and 49.

New York had the highest number of AIDS cases in 2006, with 5,495 being reported. Florida had the second highest reported number of AIDS cases in 2006, with 4,932 cases being reported.

It is estimated that 448,871 people are living with AIDS in the United States.

A reported 59,139 people have died from AIDS in the state of Florida.

For more information, please visit worldaidscampaign.org or any of the links found above.

To get more involved with the AIDS campaign, visit this web site.