{"id":2517,"date":"2009-08-14T21:29:33","date_gmt":"2009-08-14T19:29:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.ultimatefatburner.com\/?p=2517"},"modified":"2014-06-26T14:28:09","modified_gmt":"2014-06-26T18:28:09","slug":"dont-diss-dunkin-donuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/dont-diss-dunkin-donuts\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Diss Dunkin’ Donuts!"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘Cause it could cost you your job.<\/a><\/p>\n

PANAMA CITY\u00a0\u2014 Bay County’s Health Department director, who courted controversy with a proposal to ban Gatorade from schools and equated Kentucky Fried Chicken and Dunkin Donuts to obesity and death, resigned Friday.<\/p>\n

…Bay County Commissioner Mike Thomas asked for Dr. Newsom’s resignation in a letter released Thursday saying the “vitriolic messages on the billboard outside the health department,” some of which have mentioned specific local businesses such as the soon-to-open Dunkin’ Donuts, could expose the county to a lawsuit.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s a sad story, since Dr. Newsom sounds like\u00a0a dedicated\u00a0public servant… he’s someone who clearly lives according to his values and sets a high bar for his own performance.\u00a0 Unfortunately, it’s a case of childish behavior all around: from the thin-skinned local business owners who complained<\/a>; to the panicky commissioners who demanded the resignation of a valuable asset… to Dr. Newsom himself, whose\u00a0intemperate choice of words\u00a0was\u00a0a) virtually guaranteed to step on some toes; and b) unlikely to yield\u00a0benefits commensurate with\u00a0the hassle.<\/p>\n

Sorry, but sometimes being right – in principle –\u00a0isn’t enough.\u00a0 Ultimately, the job of a leader is to be effective<\/strong> – and putting scare messages on an electronic billboard doesn’t quite cut it.\u00a0 If I were an average American (who watches\u00a0151 hours\u00a0of TV per month<\/a>),\u00a0it would take more than\u00a0a marquee blinking “television = obese child” for me to change my ways… especially if my kids looked average to me<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Likewise, I doubt seeing the legend “America Dies on Dunkin” would make anyone swear off doughnuts – Dunkin’ or otherwise.\u00a0\u00a0Demonizing individual foods isn’t a useful strategy – there are too many intellectual “loopholes” available.\u00a0 While a message like “French Fries = Thunder Thighs” may be catchy,\u00a0it’s going to be lost on a lot of folks… after all, not everyone who eats fast food is fat;\u00a0nor\u00a0is every fat person a\u00a0fast food addict.\u00a0 Similarly,\u00a0it’s a real\u00a0stretch to blame someone’s\u00a0CVD or diabetes on\u00a0his\/her once or twice-per-week office doughnut habit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I understand the man’s frustration with doughnuts, though.\u00a0 As he noted in one interview<\/a>, he picked on them because they’re ubiquitous… you can’t go to any a.m. social gathering (i.e., meetings, church) without\u00a0encountering boxes or trays of\u00a0them.\u00a0 Earlier this week, for example, my husband was laughing about being\u00a0regarded as a “health nut” by his co-workers.\u00a0 The reason?\u00a0 He (politely) turns down the doughnuts that\u00a0are regularly passed around the office.\u00a0 The irony is priceless: he often gets\u00a0high fives for\u00a0his weight loss, yet gets razzed for his eating habits – as if there was\u00a0no connection between the two.<\/p>\n

And therein lies the real problem: the\u00a0attitudes and\u00a0behaviors\u00a0that\u00a0turn\u00a0doughnuts – and similar “foods” –\u00a0into acceptable dietary staples, vs. occasional indulgences.\u00a0 Needless to state, electronic nagging isn’t a solution.<\/p>\n

At any rate, I’m glad Dr. Newsom has found a new job<\/a>.\u00a0 His heart’s in the right place, even if\u00a0tact isn’t his strong suit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘Cause it could cost you your job. PANAMA CITY\u00a0\u2014 Bay County’s Health Department director, who courted controversy with a proposal to ban Gatorade from schools and equated Kentucky […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6,14,24,28],"tags":[536,540,549,631,714,1863],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2517"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2517"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2517\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7721,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2517\/revisions\/7721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}