Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 33, Number 2, 1 February 2016 — The Annual Focus [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Annual Focus

You ean tell when its January or February ... just eheek the magazines on supermarket racks and ads on television. Many feature stories about weight-loss successes. Television ads usually show celebrity weight-loss success. And, magazine stories and pictures usually highlight people who have achieved significant weight-loss. From this recurring phenomenon, we ean conclude that the focus on weight-loss in January happens as the result of holiday over-indulgences of food and drink. By January, the holiday-party cocktails, rich snacks and sugary desserts show up on our hips, ōpū (belly, stomach ) and thighs. Sadly, after a month or so, the focus on weight-loss diminishes and nearly disappears. Only a brief article or two on weight-control may appear during the rest of the year . . . until next January. The energy, money and resolutions generated by New Year articles offer few solutions to being overweight. Sadly so, as solutions are needed. We all know that long-term overweight is implicated in many life-threatening heahh challenges. Individuals of all ages in Hawai'i face health problems that are eomplicated by being overweight. And it takes a tedious and serious analysis of daily habits and preferences to pinpoint causes and solutions for an individual's weight concerns. Beside holiday parties, numerous daily choices, practices and habits add to, and cause, weight gain including one's choices of daily activity, food, timing of meals, snacking and even employment. We are far less physically active than our kūpuna, even those who

were adults just 50 to 60 years ago. Electricity drives our clothes washers and dryers, stoves, typewriters/ computers, hammers, screwdrivers, elevators, etc. We ride cars instead of walking, and have television and radio remotes and numerous other push-button, labor-saving (i.e., calorie-saving) devices. Thus, muhiple travel-, household- and employment-related innovations conserve (reduce) energy use. Add to this the significant increase in availability and consumption of sweetened and fatty snacks, beverages, as well as coffee drinks. Also, there have been noted increases in the frequency and volume of aleoholie beverage consumption. It is difficult to find solutions today. Many families have children in schools close to work (and far from home), and rely on afterschool care and athletic programs for them. They rush from work to afterschool activities, retrieve the children then dash home for dinner, homework and sleep. The entire time they are experiencing stresses of the eommute while expending very few calories. Finding reasonable ways to increase calorie-burning exercise, control family food choices and carefully halanee the budget and stress-levels for the entire family is hard. Meeting the challenges of raising a family, managing a budget, handling the stresses of the job and losing weight all at the same time is tough! This requires a team approach: a game plan, a team eaptain and quarterback (Forgive me, it's still football season). You know the drill. Plan, plan, plan. Plan and agree on weekly meals, shopping lists and food choices, family job assignments and work and exercise periods. Set goals and rules to limit fat, sugar and greasy food consumption for everyone. And set exercise, meal and bed times for all. Most importantly, designate a family referee, line-judge and cheerleader. Create a family eampaign for success and heahh. Make it a weight-losing year! ■

OLAKINO w Y0UR HEALĪH /

By Claire Ku'uleilani Hughes, Dr. PH„ R.D.