Obesity in America: How to protect yourself: How to get healthy and stay this way: Part I

While the United States may be the richest country in the world, it also tops the list as the most extreme when it comes to obesity per capita. Far too often ignorance is regarded as bliss when it comes to food and its effect on the body. Many people adhere to diets and eating patterns that have no positive effect on the body or fail within a few months.
Staying on a diet has become one of the hardest tasks in today’s society, and sometimes it is even harder than maintaining a successful marriage. Many of us in search of the perfect body and perfect health all too often find that the results of our efforts and objectives fall short of our expectations. We try diet after diet only to realize, down the road, that we have spent an average of as much as 20% of our annual budget on the futile pursuit of reaching what we consider to be our ideal weight. Because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers obesity to be a disease, the government is spending roughly $16 million annually on programs that prevent obesity by promoting nutrition and physical activity. In comparison, it spends almost $100 million on programs that control tobacco addiction. Margo Wootan, D.Sc., a nutrition scientist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, D.C., claims “Poor diet and inactivity kill as many people as tobacco. The investment in nutrition and physical activity programs pales in comparison to their impact on health”.
According to the CDC, 56.4% of U.S. adults are overweight. Depending on the year being surveyed, a “hefty” 19 - 28% of the population is officially obese. These numbers have jumped by 61% over the past decade, because 27% of us don’t engage in any physical activity and another 28.2% aren’t regularly active.
Can this disease place itself in the ranking alongside the category of HIV-infected people? Obesity, which now is considered a national disease, claims its victims after decades of weakening their hearts, blowing holes in their arteries, suffocating their organs and grinding their joints. Aside from being publicly shunned, many doctors don’t know how to treat obesity. Obesity is not just a national case of bad eating habits; obesity is a real disease and a public health crisis.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) spends approximately 1% of its annual budget on obesity research. In 2001 it designated $226 million for the study of obesity. By comparison, it allotted $2 billion for research concerning cardiovascular disease and diabetes (diseases in which obesity is the major risk factor). So what is it that causes people to become grossly overweight? Is it heredity so that we are destined to be obese for the rest of our lives? Is it a lack of motivation to push ourselves to the gym every morning and eat healthier to reach our ideal weight? “Promoting healthy lifestyles should be a national priority,” declared Frank Vinicor, M.D., and Director of the CDC’s Diabetes Program. These days, public health officials have enough on their plates without having to worry about the junk food on ours.
Obesity, an enormous challenge for the country, is a deadly disease that must be eradicated. There are a myriad of diets on the market that attempt to inspire individuals and communities to enlist in the fight against fat. In terms of annual costs of this disease for the country, every year an estimated 300,000 Americans die from obesity-related causes. The direct cost of obesity and inactivity accounts for nearly 10% of all healthcare expenses. The “Fat” epidemic has reached such a high level among the U.S. population that obesity now has the potential “to bankrupt our country,” warns John Foreyt, Ph.D., Director of the Nutrition Research Clinic at Houston Baylor College of Medicine. “People are living longer, but we’re living fatter with chronic health problems and reduced quality of life.” If the current trends continue, “half of America will be obese by 2010,” says Todd Whitthorne, producer of the syndicated show Healthy Living with Dr. Cooper. That is eight more years before 150 million Americans are at enormous risk. This is a truly discouraging statistic.
“Obesity levels have increased sixty percent across the nation since 1996 affecting more than seventy million Americans,” reports ABC News. Many blame overeating for this increase but food is only part of the problem. What many don't realize is that the never-ending supply of labor saving and prepared food has greatly attributed to the obesity problem by actually changing the environment (due to increased technology) that we work and live in.
Obesity is such a major problem in the United States that the number of obese Americans is higher than the number who smokes, use illegal drugs, or suffer from physical ailments. It has been linked to multiple health issues that plague our nation such as diabetes and heart problems. Not only have machinery and labor saving devices changed the work environment, more Americans than ever work in offices or other sedentary settings where employees do not have time for physical activity throughout the day due to their work environment.
Along with the lack of physical activity at work, technology has also led to decreased levels of physical activity in our leisure time. Many Americans work so many hours each week that they prefer spending their limited time off relaxing.
One way of relaxing is taking the shortcuts that technology offers us. These shortcuts appear all through our lives and we may not even know it. If you pay attention, you will notice that many Americans choose to use an escalator or elevator instead of using the stairs. We would rather drive our cars than have to walk or ride a bicycle anywhere. Instead of going outside to play, many children sit at home watching television or playing video games that are available in abundance these days. This lack of enthusiasm for physical activity worries many experts. These experts wonder whether “the simple act of walking will be eliminated by devices that make maneuvering in urban environments easier.” (foot notes:2.Willis)
And of course, technology has changed our environment so much that it affects the food that we eat. Instead of eating the types of food that are part of a balanced diet, many Americans choose to eat unhealthy, cheap, and convenient food. Instead of making a meal at home, we would rather go out to a fast food restaurant where we don't even have to get out of our cars to eat. If we do choose to eat at home, we have the convenience of frozen dinners that we can prepare while watching TV. Or we can have food delivered to us. All around our new environment are vending machines that give us easy access to junk food and candy. It is this easiness of getting food that technology has given us that has greatly attributed to America's obesity problem.

Finally, technology has caused many to believe that actions do not have consequences. If someone is overweight, doctors will be able to fix it with such things as liposuction. There are constant advertisements on TV about new inventions that claim to slim you down in just five minutes a day. People believe that taking certain types of drugs will take off weight without having to exercise. However, this has proven very dangerous with such drugs as Fen-Phen, which causes permanent heart problems. We are programmed to always look for the quick fix in life, and solving a weight problem is not an exception.
Getting fat is deeply ingrained in American culture. Physicians and public advocates have had little to offer overweight Americans but the same “eat less, exercise more” message. The problem is not the message. It is indeed the solution to combating obesity and losing excess pounds. “The average person who is obese knows what they are supposed to eat,” says Charles Billington, M.D., a leading obesity specialist at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. “They can do it conceptually, but they can’t do it for real.”
Portion size contributes as well to the obesity problem in America. More deli’s and fast food restaurants are offering more, for less. The “Big Meal” concept is ingrained in the American culture. The original muffin was 2 oz, now it has increased up to 4 and 5 oz. It seems it (the muffin, of course) had been injected with anabolic steroids.
What is shocking is the fact that hospitals, which are supposed to promote a healthier environment for patients, have opened their doors to fast food joints. In San Diego, St. Louis, and Chicago, you can be admitted for a triple bypass surgery and then, before checking-out of the hospital, can stop by the fast food counter and order a Big Mac. Not a bad strategy for re-clogging your arteries.
The average child is exposed to 10,000 food advertisements a year and spends more time in front of the TV than on any other activity, except sleeping. “We have spent years and years trying to figure out why an individual is overweight and almost no time thinking about why the nation is overweight,” says Kelly D. Brownell, from the Yale Center of Weight and Eating Disorders. His answer: “It’s the environment.”

Article Source: http://www.rightbiz.com

Dan Amzallag www.fitnesstrainersnetwork.com Largest fitness and personal trainers network in USA and Canada. 3019477563 Submitted with Article Distributor.

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