Obesity isn't what it used to be......get the facts here. Michelle Obama “Let’s Move” Campaign and Childhood Obesity Rates "For the first time in history, the life expectancy of our children could be less than our own life expectancies."
Health and Wellness by Linda Evans
During the past 30 years, obesity rates in adults doubled and childhood rates have more than tripled. WHAT’S BEHIND THIS EPIDEMIC? Food Choices and Changes (First 2) Higher caloric intake -- Adults consumed approximately300 more calories daily in 2002 than they did in 1985. Higher caloric density of foods.(More calories per gram of food.) The American Diabetes Association describes type 2 diabetes as a “new epidemic” among American children. Child and Adolescent Rates and Trends The percentage of obese and overweight children (ages 10 to 17) is at or above 30 percent in 30 states. from F as in Fat:HOW OBESITY POLICIES ARE FAILING IN AMERICA I encourage anyone who wants to see just how epidemic this is in the U.S.(similar in Canada) to read the whole document, but you get the idea. And Forbes ranking of the world's fattest countries. The U.S. weighs in at No. 9, with 74.1% of those over 15 years old considered overweight. I'll cover what BMI is and why there are better, less confusing ways to know if you need to lose FAT on the BMI page (coming soon). A mirror is the best and most practical way to see if you need to lose fat. To make this easy I will post some photos of different body fat percentages soon. But let's be honest here, we all know whether we should lose some fat or not. The real issue is BODY COMPOSITION or BODY FAT PERCENTAGE If you can see a six pack, obviously you're not obese, if you can see some abdominal definition when you flex your abs, you're probably fine. If your abs look the same flexed or unflexed, you would probably be healthier if you lost some fat. In the U.S. 38% of adults are overweight, and 26% are obese for a total of 64% of the adult population, so most people in the U.S. probably need to lose some fat. U.S. Rates according to Wikipedia. Canada is similar at with 61.1% at an unhealthy weight in 2007. Overweight Canadians according to Wikipedia. Epidemic: The occurrence of more cases of a disease than would be expected in a community or region during a given time period. A sudden severe outbreak of a disease such as SARS. Sad to say, but obesity has reached an epidemic in North America and other parts of the world, but I'll pick on North America because we "Lead the Way". This was the easiest page by far to research because it was so damn easy to find horrifying, preventable, and luckily reversible statistics. The solutions are the same as they have always been, eat fewer calories(not necessarily less food), and exercise regularly. Check out my weight loss diet page for some excellent strategies, food choices and ideas about how to think, drink and eat your way to a healthy body composition. Calorie intake is and always will be the main way to maintain a healthy weight. Sudden and drastic weight loss is usually, if not always dangerous and self defeating in the long run. The two best ways to use exercise to maximize safe weight loss are, high intensity resistance training , and high intensity cardio exercise (I will cover this in the upcoming training and weight loss sections of this site). Resistance training builds muscle, which raises your metabolism 24 hours a day:-) Cardio raises your metabolism even further for about 7 hours after you do it (if you do it right), and keeps your heart, lungs and even your thoughts healthier;-)
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