DURHAM -- America will win the fight against obesity if individuals and communities work together to make vital lifestyle changes, retired four-star Gen. Barry McCaffrey said Friday at a Durham news conference.
"I'd like to hold up a mirror to American society and let it look at the real nature of the problem," McCaffrey said.
"This is still the most effective society in the history of mankind - great human wealth, fairness and opportunity," he said. "But ... you tell your eighth-grader, don't binge-drink beer, don't smoke pot, don't use Ecstasy, don't drink and drive, and the same thing I would argue applies to obesity."
Finding answers
The answer is science-based, outcome-oriented treatment, McCaffrey and others said during a celebration for Structure House, a 35-year-old residential weight-loss and nutrition program.
Easing the grief that contributes to overeating also will help, said Olson Huff, of the Olson Huff Center for Childhood Development and a co-chairman of the N.C. Health and Wellness Trust Fund. Children ostracized for their weight are more likely to become more obese, Huff said, citing an American Academy of Pediatrics study.
Joe Nadglowski, national president of the Obesity Action Coalition, agreed.
"Blame and shame, or weight bias, is part of the problem," Nadglowski said. "There's a lack of action because people would rather blame than actually take action to address that problem."
About 29 percent of Americans - roughly 90 million people - are obese. That number could grow to 120 million in five years, experts said.
In North Carolina alone, obesity has increased 80 percent over the last 15 years. The state now ranks 11th in the number of obese children and 14th in obese adults, said Laura Gerald, who became the state's health director Feb. 1.
The first step is to teach people how to fit more nutritious foods into their diet and be more active, Gerald said. Making the connection with parents is vital because obesity at all ages is linked to potentially fatal, chronic diseases, like Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, some cancers and breathing disorders.
A community-based approach, working with schools, health officials and local groups is the best way to address the problem, she said. The work should be done on as many fronts as possible, whether through agencies associated with Eat Smart Move More NC, a statewide anti-obesity effort, or by encouraging healthier convenience store food, establishing more farmers markets or letting residents use school fields for exercise.
"We need to make sure that once you go back to your communities that the healthy choice is an easy choice for you," she said. "I do not want to preside over the first generation of children that is not expected to live as long as their parents do."
What's ironic, said Andy Eckert, chief executive officer of Structure House parent company CRC Health Group, is that most insurers will pay to treat the diseases but not for obesity management services. Experts estimate more than $200 billion is spent every year - half by government-run programs like Medicare, Medicaid and disability - to deal with obesity's long-term results.
The 30,000 people treated at Structure House over the last 35 years are just the tip of the iceberg, Eckert said.
Now renamed Wellspring at Structure House, the treatment center has been promoted as a national model and featured on National Public Radio and the "Dr. Oz" TV show. Structure House treats overweight adults, while Wellspring focuses on young people.
Program alumni
Alumni shared their experiences Friday.
Mike Theokas, who dropped from 654 to 296 pounds, said he had been a top athlete and Rutgers University football player before opening a restaurant and being elected to public office in Hightstown, N.J. At the time, that seemed like success, he said. He has a different view now. "You want to know what success is to me ... get on a plane, sit down, buckle the seatbelt, and click," he said. It's "just being able to live."
Unfortunately, America's obesity problem is striking its military, too, McCaffrey and Structure House director Lee Kern said.
According to a 2010 study from MissionReadiness.org, the number of recruits rejected for being overweight jumped from 12 percent to 21 percent between 1995 and 2008.
Kern traveled to Missouri last year and is returning this year to work with the state's National Guard fitness and nutrition program, Warrior Spirit. Missouri's Guard is the only unit using the Structure House behavioral training program at this time.
Kern said the program's strength is in addressing the psychological issues that cause overeating, while improving nutrition and activity levels. People make mistakes, but the goal is to get up and try again, he said.
McCaffrey - a former White House Cabinet member and 32-year Army veteran who led the National Drug Control Policy office, the U.S. Southern Command in Latin and South America from 1994 to '96 and a division in the first Gulf War - said he is peddling the program to the military nationwide, including at Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune. "If you're overweight, we're not going to keep you," said McCaffrey, a board member with the CRC Health Group.
Other speakers at the event included Eric DeMaria, a bariatric surgeon and founder of Raleigh's New Hope Wellness Center; Structure House founder Gerard Musante; and state Rep. Verla Insko, D-Orange, co-chair of the N.C. Health and Wellness Trust Fund.
