The Obesity Epidemic--Causes, Affects and Solutions
Obesity is becoming pandemic in the US. A report published in July by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health predicts that by the year 2030 fully 86% of Americans will be overweight or obese if current trends continue. Presently over 64% of Americans are overweight and over one third are medically obese. I can say that I am shocked. Looking around in public I would have thought the numbers were higher! I see teenage girls walking around with short tops and low cut jeans with flabby bellies hanging over their jeans. I see young teenage boys so overweight they can’t run a few yards without getting winded. I see overweight adults with their overweight and allergic children standing at the checkout with a basketful of junk food and processed foods. I want to ask these people if they know what kind of health problems they are setting their children up for.
Children have poor role models because their parents don’t exercise. Parents set poor examples for their children by allowing too much JUNK FOOD! Some “experts” are now trying to say that obesity is a disease. WRONG! Obesity CAUSES disease! The affects of obesity are now some the highest medical expenses in the US. Obesity causes: The list goes on….. Type 2 diabetes is a growing epidemic. Every medical problem on the above list is growing exponentially as the obesity epidemic grows. Recent studies show sleep apnea has been indicated in early dementia due to lack of oxygen to the brain. Overweight people requiring surgery are in danger of serious complications due to their obesity. According to the American Heart Association website “ overweight adolescents have a 70% chance of becoming overweight adults. This increases to 80% if one or both parents are overweight or obese”. I don’t mean to sound disrespectful but virtually every overweight person I have ever known has tried to blame their obesity on anything except their own behavior. “It’s a glandular problem”. (No doubt salivary glands!) In truth the foods consumed and lack of exercise are the causes of the majority of obesity. “Glandular” problems are caused by immune deficiencies. Immune deficiencies are caused by poor diet, lack of exercise and stress. Obesity causes stress to the human frame and immune system! If you are fat, it is because you choose to be. If you eat fatty, sugar laden foods and sit idle all day, you will be fat and sick!
A moderate 30 minutes a day of exercise are needed to burn extra calories and condition the body. Set an example for your kids. Take a
walk
with them. Play some roundball with them. Give them healthy choices for meals and snacks.
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