And old golfing buddy of mine sent me a picture which was taken in 1969. It was a simple snapshot of a few older golf members at Hempstead Golf and Country Club which is where I played golf growing up.
The photo was unremarkable except for one point. All the adults in the photo were fit and trim.
No pot bellies, no thick bodies, no obesity. Just normal, well dressed, slender adults looking out onto the practice green.
If you took that photo today at Hempstead or any other club and I guarantee that you would not see slender bodies. Instead you would see thick, heavy, rotund adults doing battle with the bulge.
So what’s happened to us in the last 45 years? Good question.
And I knew where to go find an answer.
Whenever I get a photo taken I go to Rampage Studio and I’ve noticed a Diet Center right next to his studio.
So off I went this Saturday morning past St. Aidan’s heading north into the wilderness of Albertson and right across the street from the Albertson Post Office was the Diet Center at 863 Willis Avenue.
In I walk with pen and camera in hand and introduce myself to its proud owner Ms. Desiree Gerardi.
Ms.Gerardi has owned this place for 15 years and owns two more in Hicksville and Lynbrook.
The Diet Center is actually a franchise owned by Chuck Sekeres of Ohio who now has about 70 places around the country.
My objective was to get answers to two questions.
Firstly, what is the cause of our nation’s obesity problem? They say that as of today two out of three or 69 percent of adults over 20 are overweight.
You can count me as one of the pudgy ones. I am not quite rotund but I am getting there. How about you?
We all know that being overweight looks bad and also increases chances of diabetes, sleep apnea, heart disease and joint pain.
Ms. Gerardi explained that there are multiple causes to the obesity epidemic.
We are less active than before. We drive more rather then walk. We sit and watch too much television.
And we hire others to do our physical chores like house cleaning and yard work.
Secondly food is everywhere around us. There are so many good restaurants and tasty fast food places which beckon every night.
You know as well as I that it costs just about as much to make a meal as it does to buy one. And the portions they serve are more than generous.
So I ask what to do about this and here is what she told me.
The key is to find help if you can’t seem to do it alone. When you work with an expert you get proper guidance, encouragement and are forced to be accountable.
It takes a village to raise a child or to lose your potbelly.
Secondly she told me that it helps to downsize portions, keep a food journal and eat slowly.
Thirdly she recommends becoming more active in all ways. Walk rather than take your car places.
Do exercise on a regular basis. She said that walking three times per week for a total of 150 minutes works wonders.
Walking back and forth to the kitchen from the TV is not going to be enough.
She offers four types of programs depending upon your life style and you can lose from about one to five pounds per week depending upon the program and your devotion to it.
Her work is all one to one and you can speak to her and get weighed in three times a week. She also has chewable supplements which help to curb appetite, stabilize blood sugar and help metabolize protein, carbs and fats.
Like all good programs hers is multifaceted. We in America now have a lifestyle which encourages sitting and driving.
The result is that we have become a chunky nation. So the way I figure it you have three choices if you want to lose weight. You can memorize this article and live by it religiously on a daily basis.
Secondly you can move to some place in Europe like Paris or Rome where they do a lot of walking and drinking coffee.
That would work for sure.
But if you feel that move might be too drastic your third option would be to go visit Ms. Gerardi at her diet Center in Albertson.
It’s not too far away. Certainly not as far as Paris.
Comprendez vous?
