Locke Confirmed & Curbing Weight Gain

Locke Confirmed & Curbing Weight Gain. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Northwest Report.

The Senate Commerce Committee has unanimously approved former Washington Gov. Gary Locke as the next Secretary of Commerce. Locke breezed through his confirmation hearing Wednesday. Senators called his background check thankfully boring. Locke would control an agency that oversees international trade, oceans policy and the 2010 census. He promises to promote trade, protect fisheries and to use the actual count rather than statistical estimates in the 2010 Census.

Like a lot of people I struggle with a few extra pounds. Okay I admit it, I like to eat. Research shows that those extra pounds can rob you of life. Dr. Michael Thun an emeritus epidemiology researcher at the American Cancer Society talks about the social ills that lead to obesity and ways to curb weight gain.

THUN: The first goal is to stop weight gain in adulthood. The second thing that is a problem is that there is a big stigma as if people who are overweight or obese, it’s all their fault. And the reality is that everything about our culture promotes taking in more calories than you are using up. So what we are really talking about now as far as individuals are concerned is how you live in a sick environment with respect to calorie input and then in a social sense, how do you make it easier for people to maintain a healthy body weight.

Now here’s today’s Washington Grange Report.

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That’s today’s Northwest Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.