In North America, if you are “normal weight” (BMI of 18.5 – 24.9) you are now a visible minority. Overweight people in Canada and the USA have now exceeded 60% of our collective populations and obesity has now reached epidemic proportions and is affecting not only adults but their children. Over the past 20 years, obesity has become the most prevalent nutritional problem in the world, eclipsing under-nutrition and infectious disease as the most significant contributor to ill health and mortality. It is the key risk factor for non-communicable and long term degenerative diseases and the major contributor to our run-away healthcare budgets.
United Sates is the fattest country in the world and getting fatter every year, according to a report from Trust for America’s Health, and Canada is not that far behind. Large Americans are a major problem and the figures below of the top 10 fattest states are alarming to say the least, but most concerning are the figures associated with kids that are obese and don’t exercise. This is a crisis in waiting.
#9 Texas: Adult obesity: 29%, Kids who don't exercise: 71%, Adolescent obesity: 20%
#8 Georgia: Adult obesity: 28%, Kids who don't exercise: 71%, Adolescent obesity: 21%
#7 Alabama: Adult obesity: 32%, Kids who don't exercise: 63%, Adolescent obesity: 18%
#6 Arkansas: Adult obesity: 30%, Kids who don't exercise: 69%, Adolescent obesity: 20%
#5 West Virginia: Adult obesity: 31%, Kids who don't exercise: 67%, Adolescent obesity: 19%
#4 Kentucky: Adult obesity: 31%,Kids who don't exercise: 74%, Adolescent obesity: 21%
#3 Louisiana: Adult obesity: 31%, Kids who don't exercise: 66%, Adolescent obesity: 21%
#2 Tennessee: Adult obesity: 32%, Kids who don't exercise: 70%, Adolescent obesity: 21%
#1 Mississippi: Adult obesity: 34%, Kids who don't exercise: 71%, Adolescent obesity: 22%
What about Canadians?
In Canada, the prevalence of overweight and obesity has increased over recent decades among both children and adults in all areas of the country. According to the most recent estimates below from the Canadian Community Health Survey, 59% of the adult population is now overweight (i.e., body mass index [BMI] ≥ 25 kg/m2) and 1 in 4 (25%) is obese (i.e., BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2).
The sheer numbers of people who are overweight and obese highlight a pressing public health problem in Canada that shows no signs of improving in the near future and will overburden our already unsustainable healthcare system. What is more alarming is the problem of obesity among children and adolescents in Canada, which is advancing at an even more rapid pace than obesity among adults. 1 in 4 (26%) Canadian children and adolescents aged 2–17 years are overweight. The obesity rate has increased dramatically in the last 15 years: from 2% to 10%. This increase is cause for concern, since there is a tendency for obese children to remain obese as adults. Moreover, obesity-related health problems are now occurring at a much earlier age and continue to progress into adulthood. Given the recent obesity trends among children and youth, the prevalence of obesity among adults will likely continue to increase as the current generation of children enters adulthood.
Obesity should no longer be viewed as a cosmetic or body-image issue. There is compelling evidence that overweight people are at increased risk of a variety of health problems, including type-2 diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, coronary artery disease, stroke, osteoarthritis, many forms of cancers and a whole host of degenerative diseases and negativly impact employee productivity and healthcare sustainability.
The information is out there
When it comes to health and wellness, education and access to information isn’t the problem. There is a plethora of information out there; including blog sites like this one that present the benefits associated with healthy diet, dietary supplements to counter our degraded food supply, antioxidants to offset free radical damage, exercise, etc.
For over 40 years people have known that cigarettes will cause a long painful death, while decreasing their quality of life. Even so, over 20% of the Canadian population still smokes. Go figure?
If we agree that information is available, why are parents determined to kill themselves and their children by living health degrading lifestyles? Contrary to what many experts say, the answer is quite obvious. Degenerative diseases brought on by free radical damage, oxidative stress, lack of exercise, bad diet, degraded food supply, poor lifestyle choices etc., etc. take decades to manifest into a medical crisis. For example, it takes approximately 30 to 40 years for women to experience the affects of Osteoporosis brought on by eating an acidic diet and totally preventable. Most cancers and heart diseases take decades of poor lifestyle choices to develop into full blown life and death medical crisis'.
So let’s learn from the BP and the Space Shuttle Challenger crisis’ and apply it you our personal health
The engineers at NASA knew for years that the combination of cold weather and the fuel cell “O-Rings” used on the Space Shuttles had a high probability of causing a catastrophic event. It took the Challenger Space Shuttle, 73 seconds into its flight on January 28, 1986 to blow up, killing all 7 astronauts, in front of millions of viewers, before NASA took corrective action. It took a crisis.
For years, engineers and environmentalists warned Oil and Gas companies that current deep sea drilling practices were high risk with serious consequenses, but it took the BP crisis in the Gulf of Mexico that we’ve been watching for weeks for the company and industry to take action. Again, it took a crisis.
The same is true for personal health. At the "mico" level, most people take little interest in the health and the health of their children, until they experience a personal crisis. Parents will feed their children Pizza, McDonalds, pop instead of water and only when they get sick or seriously ill will they take action. And the action they take is flawed, because all they do is take drugs prescribed by doctors to mask the symptoms. Until people, or their loved one experience a personal health crisis of their own, they generally refuse to make their personal health a priority as seen by the alarming statistics presented in these reports.
A more significant crisis is looming just around the corner. A "macro" level crisis that will affect everyone and it's only a matter of time, given the trends that our healthcare systems won't be able to keep up with the demand of people with preventable diseases caused by poor lifestyle chioces and selection of who lives and who dies will be left in the hands of someone other than you.
So, you can either make time for your health today, or you will have lots of time managing a health crisis of your own in the future. Don’t let a crisis happen before you take action.
Enjoy the ride….Rob
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