- Image by Phil Gibbs via Flickr
On February 4, 2011, Reuters news service ran an article1 stating that more than half a billion people are obese (that’s 1 in 10 adults worldwide). That’s, double the number from 1980. Obesity is linked to heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, and other serious diseases. If obesity is not controlled, many countries may suffer bankrupt health-care systems.
The Reuters article continued by stating that body mass index (BMI) has risen broadly across the world. BMI is one way of determining if someone is obese or not. Obesity is sometimes blamed on bad genetics – “My parents were fat and so am I…so I have no other options”. This is poor logic. Obesity is at epidemic proportions and there is no such thing as a genetic epidemic.
The reason for the obesity epidemic is environmental. In other words, our individual behaviors have caused the problem, not our parents.
So what can we do to stem this tsunami tide of Obesity?
1. Eat a cleaner diet. Eat more vegetables, little to no red meat, some fruit. Avoid processed food, soda, diet soda, sport drinks.
2. Exercise daily-reasonable exercise for your ability and health, and talk to your doctor before you start.
3. Don’t smoke (if you do, quit)
4. See a chiropractor for health and wellness care (not just pain relief/crisis care).
5. Get more and regular rest.
6. Reduce stress.
Obesity is a choice, not an accident of bad genetics. We can all help ourselves and others avoid the debilitating health effects of obesity.
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1. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/04/us-heart-obesity-idUSTRE71300Y20110204