Talk of the Town: What are you willing to do to lose?

Fitness magazine recently asked 1,000 women what they’d be willing to do to lose weight. The responses were mind-boggling.

A whopping 85 percent would take on an extra toe, while 23 percent would spend a week in jail if it meant freedom from the gym. Another 23 percent would shave their heads if the pounds would magically melt away.

Talk about tremendous sacrifices!

Marlene B. Schwartz, director of research at Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, conducted a study a couple of years ago that looked into the whole idea of giving up something in order to be thin. She shared her findings with the medical experts at WebMD.

As part of her online study of anti-obesity bias, Schwartz asked lean, normal weight, and heavy people what they’d be willing to give up to stay thin or get thin.

“A surprising number of people would make significant sacrifices,” Schwartz told WebMD. “That is an indication of how aversive being obese is.”

Among the 4,283 people who participated in Schwartz’s online survey, in order not to be obese:

46 percent said they’d give up a year of life.

15 percent said they’d give up 10 years of life.

25 percent said they’d rather be unable to have children.

15 percent said they’d rather be clinically depressed.

14 percent said they’d rather be alcoholic.

5 percent said they’d give up a limb.

4 percent said they’d rather be blind.

“It is easy to hypothetically say you would give something up, so I would take this with a grain of salt,” Schwartz said. “But the fact they would even say it shows how desperate people are to avoid being obese.”

Schwartz found that underweight people were far more willing to endorse these sacrifices.

In a test of unconscious weight bias, Schwartz found that obese people are just as likely as lean people to pair the words “lazy” and “fat.” And they are just as likely to prefer thin people to fat people.

“Internalizing these negative things about yourself damages your ability to make healthy changes,” Schwartz said. “The advice I give my obese patients is to really focus on the places in their lives where they are motivated and successful. They must keep reminding themselves of how much ability they have to make change.”

The experts agree that we have to reconcile our expectations with the reality of weight control, and get people to think more about long-term health issues.

Weight control is a lifelong effort, and people need to test different tools to find the ones that help them. The end product is to reduce things like Type 2 diabetes, and heart disease, and stroke — things that steal a lot of years from the lives of people who are overweight and obese.

Acclaimed wildlife photographer Tom Vezo will exhibit some of his work at the Casa de Esperanza Community Center on the La Posada campus, 780 S. Park Centre Avenue throughout January.

The photographs are large scale gicl/e prints on canvas of native birds and Arizona landscapes. Vezo’s power point presentation and book signing Jan. 11 at 3 p.m. kicks off the six-month educational series at the Casa Community Center called “Know Your Backyard, Green Valley.”

Vezo’s photos are being displayed throughout January complimenting the January topic, “Our Natural World - Land/Wildlife,” and additional scheduled presentations.

His work appears in books, calendars, magazines and advertisements. Among his extensive credits are: Arizona Highways, Audubon, Birder’s World, Ducks Unlimited, National Geographic, National Wildlife Federation, Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, Travel and Leisure, and Wildlife Conservation.

Green Valley residents Milt and Kate Foster are very proud of their granddaughter, Fiona Foster, 17, and they certainly are justified.

According to Marilyn Seibold of the Bisbee Woman’s Club in Bisbee, who submitted the story to The Bisbee Observer, Fiona was recently chosen by the Social Studies Department of Bisbee High School to be December 2007’s “Young Woman of the Month” for the Bisbee Women’s Club. Her social studies subjects included American government, European history, U.S. history, and world history.

Fiona is the daughter of Michael and Joanne Foster. She attended the Dec. 13 meeting with her mother.

Listed among Fiona’s extracurricular activities and hobbies are filmmaking, radio disc jockey (KBRP Community Radio), yearbook editor (three years), National Honor Society, and the student council.

Fiona has been on the principal’s list honor roll for grades 9-12 and is a recipient of a Wellesley College Book Award and a Thunder Mountain Maverick Filmmaker Award.

She is also senior class president and has been active in starting a recycling program at the school.

She plans to attend a four-year university and intends to major in either filmmaking or journalism, although she is also interested in photography and publishing.

rford@gvnews.com | 547-9740