CBS News - Mika Brzezinski interviews Bill Clinton - 2005-11-18

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:04] We have been traveling the country

[0:05] looking at the issue of obesity on a

[0:07] regional basis and we're looking at the

[0:09] diet in each area, especially in the

[0:11] south.

[0:12] And yesterday in Memphis, we were at

[0:13] Rendezvous.

[0:15] They know you there. They do? They sent

[0:16] you a present.

[0:19] That's good.

[0:20] >> That's good.

[0:22] Still eating ribs? No. Okay.

[0:24] But I'll give them to the guys.

[0:25] >> All right. Okay. I can take care of them

[0:27] for you. Yeah, you can do that. You can

[0:28] do it.

[0:29] All right.

[0:29] >> You obviously have no problem. You eat

[0:31] them.

[0:32] Well, it's the thought that counts.

[0:33] They're my friends. They're good people.

[0:34] >> Yeah, they really are. Um obviously,

[0:37] you're involved on several fronts

[0:38] pertaining to the issue of obesity in

[0:40] America. You have so many different

[0:42] priorities in your schedule. Why this

[0:44] cause?

[0:46] Well, after my own heart problems,

[0:49] which I realized had to be the result

[0:52] partly of genetic factors predisposed to

[0:55] high cholesterol and blockage, but also

[0:57] partly of the

[0:58] diet I had had for most of my life, even

[1:01] though

[1:02] since I was a young man, I've been

[1:04] vigorously exercising in in all periods

[1:06] except when I was impaired um you know,

[1:08] injured or something.

[1:10] Uh I thought I ought to do something in

[1:12] this area and I didn't want to just

[1:15] kind of do something that was happy talk

[1:17] and it was obvious to me that by far the

[1:19] biggest problem we face

[1:21] and perhaps the biggest health problem

[1:22] facing America today was childhood

[1:23] obesity. It basically tripled in the

[1:25] last generation and uh it's not hard to

[1:28] figure out why the

[1:30] young people are uh

[1:32] digesting foods with higher amounts of

[1:35] trans fats and refined sugar and bigger

[1:37] bulk and exercising less.

[1:39] Working families have basically had

[1:41] stagnant wages for the last 30 years

[1:43] except for 4 years in the late '90s.

[1:47] Uh

[1:48] the cost of education and housing and

[1:50] health care, everything's up. Food's the

[1:52] best bargain still out there and a lot

[1:53] of these people who are

[1:55] uh working now, we almost half the food

[1:57] dollars spent eating out, almost half of

[1:59] that is spent in fast food

[2:00] establishments.

[2:02] Uh, it tastes good, it comes in bulk,

[2:04] and it's affordable. Uh, and then in the

[2:07] schools, more and more schools

[2:08] financially pressed have contracted out

[2:10] their cafeterias. They put in vending

[2:12] machines from which either the schools

[2:14] or the PTA get the portion of the

[2:16] profits. And when you add it all up, the

[2:18] kids are taking in

[2:20] more trans fats, more refined sugar,

[2:22] more bulk, and doing less exercise. Mhm.

[2:25] You know, it seems like when back when

[2:27] we were kids, maybe there was one chubby

[2:29] kid in the class, and now there are

[2:31] many. Yeah. I mean, several. There are,

[2:35] and um

[2:36] it's funny, you know, because they're

[2:38] doing it in a culture that glorifies

[2:40] people who are super thin, super fit,

[2:42] but it's more and more alien to the

[2:45] actual day-to-day life of so many

[2:46] people. And we've got to make, you know,

[2:49] fitness a universal presumption. We've

[2:51] got to make eating right uh

[2:53] the same, and we can't be content with

[2:56] just a few health

[2:57] uh

[2:58] healthy items on every diet. We we got

[3:00] to change the way we prepare food, we

[3:02] got to change the way we present it,

[3:03] we've got to change the way we educate

[3:04] our children beginning in the first

[3:06] grade or kindergarten. When I was

[3:09] uh announcing this program with the

[3:10] Heart Association,

[3:12] and we were talking to Nickelodeon about

[3:14] being our partner. We did the

[3:15] announcement in a school in Washington

[3:18] Heights above Harlem, where the

[3:20] six-year-olds were writing me essays

[3:22] about why it was important to eat right.

[3:24] This is very important. To get it into

[3:26] their psyche at a very young age.

[3:28] You were a chubby kid, if I may say.

[3:30] >> That's charitable, yes. I was

[3:32] I was I was uh

[3:35] really, I was heavy and until I was

[3:38] probably I weighed 210 lb when I was 15.

[3:41] >> Wow. I was 5'10" weighed 210. When I was

[3:43] 13, I was 5'8" and weighed 185.

[3:46] Then I got my weight and then when I

[3:48] graduated from high school, I was 6'2"

[3:50] and weighed 192, not much more than I

[3:51] weigh now, not much less than I weigh

[3:53] now.

[3:54] And for the rest of my life with only

[3:57] two exceptions, I maintained pretty good

[3:58] weight. But by then, I had adopted

[4:02] eating habits which, you know,

[4:03] essentially eventually clogged my

[4:05] arteries. Well, um

[4:08] given the fact that you have a

[4:09] background and you know what it feels

[4:10] like to be a chubby kid, what do you

[4:12] think when you It's not hard to find

[4:14] an obese child these days. What do you

[4:16] think when you see one?

[4:19] Well, first of all, I know how they

[4:20] feel, you know. More of them you think

[4:23] look in the glass every time they walk

[4:24] down the street and if they pass the

[4:26] store windows, they look in the glass

[4:27] and they see how fat they were and they

[4:28] wish they weren't.

[4:30] And then they think they can't do

[4:31] anything about it and they go home and

[4:33] watch TV or play on the computer and get

[4:35] comfort from food.

[4:36] I mean, it's sort of a self-reinforcing

[4:39] condition.

[4:40] A lot of them think they can't do

[4:42] anything about it. They think it's

[4:43] genetic.

[4:44] A lot of them are not really encouraged

[4:47] to do anything about it by their

[4:48] parents. Sometimes we give them negative

[4:51] signals which make it even harder for

[4:52] them to get over their fear.

[4:54] We need to We need They need to think

[4:56] about this like they think about

[4:58] anything else, like a a math problem or

[5:00] anything of This is This is an issue

[5:02] that uh

[5:03] you know, it's like it should be like

[5:04] brushing your teeth and taking a shower

[5:06] in the morning. People should try to

[5:07] maintain maximum health. We all have

[5:10] different body shapes and sizes. Some of

[5:11] us can take in more calories and we have

[5:13] higher metabolism.

[5:14] But essentially, we're all better off if

[5:16] we lower the fat content

[5:18] uh and the refined sugar content of our

[5:20] diet, eat modestly, and exercise more

[5:23] than we do.

[5:24] And we need to We need It needs to

[5:26] become like natural and and and we need

[5:28] to to help them overcome the intense

[5:31] feelings of uncertainty and insecurity

[5:32] that many have.

[5:33] Now, you say the food you were eating

[5:35] you were eating was clogging your

[5:37] arteries. Did it take your heart attack

[5:39] to really make you change your diet?

[5:42] Yeah, I had uh

[5:44] I had worked hard on trying to get my

[5:47] weight down.

[5:48] >> But I basically was still eating things

[5:51] that were not good for a person with a

[5:53] high cholesterol problem.

[5:55] And also I you know I'm on the

[5:57] medication now which helps a lot. But

[5:58] I'm I'm really careful. I

[6:00] And if maybe once uh every other month

[6:03] I'll eat three french fries. That's it?

[6:05] >> Yeah. I'm very careful. I red meat maybe

[6:09] uh

[6:11] maybe once a month.

[6:12] >> We used to see you eating those fries on

[6:13] the campaign trail.

[6:14] >> Yeah. Well, I love them.

[6:16] When I went on my last diet, you know, I

[6:18] ate the

[6:20] you know,

[6:21] hamburgers without the buns and

[6:22] everything was low uh

[6:24] low carbs except I would sneak the

[6:26] french fries.

[6:27] >> Just once in a while.

[6:28] >> Yeah. But you know, even if you want

[6:30] french fries, you can you can bake them.

[6:31] You can cook them in olive oil. You can

[6:33] do lots of things you can do.

[6:35] The uh McDonald's has made a real effort

[6:38] to try to figure out whether there is a

[6:40] a cost-effective way that they can

[6:42] reduce the trans fat in the fries cuz

[6:44] they taste really good.

[6:45] And they haven't I don't think figured

[6:47] out how to do it yet because of the

[6:48] volume and the speed are important to

[6:50] the economics of their business.

[6:52] But if if the fast food establishments

[6:54] could figure out a way

[6:56] to reduce the uh

[6:58] the uh

[7:00] way the changes to change the way they

[7:03] make the french fries, it would make a

[7:04] big difference. 49% of all the

[7:06] vegetables consumed by people 19 and

[7:08] under are potatoes. Well, And most of

[7:10] them are french fries.

[7:11] >> And if they could find a way to lower

[7:13] those fats, that would be a medical

[7:14] breakthrough

[7:16] Yeah. Scientific breakthrough. But

[7:18] potatoes actually have a lot of things

[7:19] in them that are good for you. Right.

[7:21] And they have some protein content. And

[7:22] basically,

[7:23] you know, we there are poor populations

[7:25] that have lived on potatoes. That's what

[7:27] caused the Irish potato famine in

[7:29] in the the 19th century was those the

[7:31] people were poor and they had nothing

[7:32] else to eat, but they were surviving

[7:34] until the potatoes went away.

[7:36] It's just it's that if you fry them, you

[7:38] get these trans fats and they add they

[7:41] don't metabolize in your body well. they

[7:42] add fat to you and they clog your

[7:44] arteries. And people become accustomed

[7:46] to these foods, to these tastes. They I

[7:48] don't want to say are addicted, but they

[7:50] desire them again and again and their

[7:51] metabolism becomes accustomed That's

[7:53] right.

[7:54] >> in that food. Um which leads to a

[7:57] question about your diet because clearly

[7:59] um you were a highly educated,

[8:01] well-traveled, cultured uh public office

[8:05] holder. You must have known your diet

[8:08] was not healthy for you. What didn't

[8:10] click though for you? I think I thought

[8:13] as long as I was exercising and had my

[8:14] weight under control, I'd be all right.

[8:17] And that's what a lot of people need to

[8:18] understand that um

[8:21] you can be superficially fit

[8:24] and still have these problems. You know,

[8:26] the uh

[8:27] I passed all my previous stress tests.

[8:29] 10% of the people who have heart attacks

[8:32] in America pass their last stress test.

[8:35] Uh so if you're fit enough, you can do

[8:37] that. And when I had complications from

[8:38] my surgery and half my left lung was

[8:40] closed with fluid build-up, I still

[8:42] passed my stress test. The guy said,

[8:43] "You're in the top 5% of fitness for a

[8:46] man your age."

[8:47] And I thought, "That's not very good."

[8:49] And I told him my ribs hurt every now

[8:51] and then he found the The point I'm

[8:52] trying to make is it's not fitness is

[8:55] very important.

[8:56] But eating right is also important. And

[8:58] starting at as early as possible is also

[9:01] important so that you can minimize this

[9:03] build-up inside your your arteries which

[9:06] causes heart problems.

[9:08] Takes place over years. Now, the truth

[9:11] is that the build-up inside your body

[9:14] from the wrong kind of sugar, from too

[9:16] much fructose

[9:18] to too much refined sugar of any kind,

[9:19] too much

[9:20] uh trans fats can manifest itself much

[9:23] more quickly, which is why you've got

[9:25] all this childhood diabetes.

[9:27] But even the people who aren't childhood

[9:28] diabetics, if they're not

[9:31] and and aren't even superficially way

[9:33] overweight, if they're not careful what

[9:34] they eat the time they're 50

[9:38] and then in their later years it'll

[9:39] begin to manifest itself. And in an era

[9:41] when the fastest growing age group in

[9:44] America are people over 80

[9:46] and we can live and be alert and be fit

[9:48] and have good lives till we're 90 years

[9:50] old

[9:51] and when our birth rate is going down

[9:52] and more and more of us are working into

[9:54] our later years

[9:55] it's a shame to see a generation just

[9:57] give up those years

[9:59] because of

[10:01] poor diet. So, what do you think should

[10:03] be done about this on a policy level?

[10:06] On a policy level I think we should

[10:08] follow the lead of Arkansas and five or

[10:10] six other states. I think there probably

[10:12] should be no vending machines in

[10:13] elementary schools. If they're going to

[10:15] be in junior and

[10:16] junior high schools and senior high

[10:18] schools

[10:19] they should they should strictly limit

[10:21] the kinds of foods that are in vending

[10:22] machines. They should buy have more

[10:24] apples and

[10:25] and

[10:26] good foods in there and reduce the sugar

[10:30] and trans fat content. Uh we should

[10:33] limit the number of uh

[10:35] heavily sugared soda pops sold in

[10:39] vending machines in schools. We should

[10:41] teach nutrition beginning in first and

[10:43] second grade.

[10:45] It should be taught.

[10:46] We should offer either through the

[10:48] schools or through the health

[10:49] departments

[10:50] uh education to parents. Here in

[10:53] Arkansas they measure the body mass

[10:54] index of all school children and send it

[10:56] home to the parents and tell them what

[10:57] they should do about it.

[10:59] Uh we we should The American people are

[11:01] capable of solving this problem on their

[11:03] own.

[11:04] And then we should bring together all

[11:06] the major uh food providers.

[11:09] Uh particularly the you know, the fast

[11:10] food places but the restaurant chains

[11:12] and see what it would take for them as I

[11:15] said not just have a few heart healthy

[11:17] items which person like me who's got a

[11:19] big

[11:20] scar in his chest would of course order.

[11:23] But actually what it would take to have

[11:25] have them

[11:27] uh

[11:27] able to reduce the trans fats and and

[11:30] bad sugar in their food

[11:32] And maybe have more modest portions.

[11:34] They'll all have to do it together and

[11:36] they'll have to do it as an educational

[11:37] tool and they may even need some tax

[11:39] incentives to do it which I would gladly

[11:40] provide because we're going to spend a

[11:42] lot more money dealing with the health

[11:44] consequences of childhood obesity than

[11:46] we would giving the the restaurant

[11:49] chains

[11:50] the opportunity to move America in a

[11:52] different direction. One more question

[11:54] on obesity and one on Iraq. Is that

[11:56] okay? Sure. Okay. So, um your diet has

[11:59] changed, correct? Correct. Uh so is is

[12:02] it hard to eat on the road? That's a

[12:05] challenge, is it not? A little harder.

[12:07] And mostly not so much because of sugar

[12:09] but because of our trans fats but

[12:11] because I

[12:13] I

[12:13] it's too many carbs. Yeah. Which also

[12:15] make you too heavy. So, let's say

[12:18] hypothetically you're on the road on the

[12:19] campaign trail say with your wife. Is

[12:23] that going to be tough?

[12:25] Then it No, you just watch it. You know,

[12:27] I I I just I watch it. I eat more fish

[12:30] and chicken and turkey.

[12:32] Uh interestingly enough

[12:34] b- uh buffalo meat bison is making a

[12:36] comeback cuz it has lower fat than even

[12:38] chicken or turkey. So, is that an answer

[12:40] about your wife being on the campaign

[12:41] Once in a blue moon I eat red meat.

[12:43] Yeah, she's on the campaign trail right

[12:45] now. She's running for re-election. I

[12:46] I and uh I just went to the New York

[12:49] State Fair with her which is uh

[12:52] someone I love, you know, she New York's

[12:53] a big farming state and my one

[12:55] obligatory Senate spouse appearance

[12:57] every year is up there cuz I know so

[12:58] much about agriculture and a lot of

[13:00] people from New York don't so I have a

[13:01] lot of fun doing it.