Weighing in on the latest “State of Obesity”

We just can’t seem to free ourselves from the death grip of the Standard American Diet (SAD), can we?

And it’s not for lack of very loud objection on my part. The alarms desperately need to be sounded, even if no one in charge actually wants to listen. And clearly, they don’t.

The powers-that-be are fully committed to going down with this ship, and no amount of good sense seems sufficient enough to change their minds. But it won’t stop me from trying…

Because after three decades of their lousy nutrition advice, our country’s obesity epidemic is still swerving out of control.

Obesity by the numbers

According to the State of Obesity 2018: Better Policies for a Healthier America report, seven states in this country reported obesity rates at or above 35 percent between 2017 and 2018. That means more than one in three people in these states are OBESE. Those figures don’t include those who are simply overweight.

This is a new record — up from five states with these startling obesity rates in 2016. And the upward trend will most likely steadily continue.

Especially taking into account a recent uptick between 2016 and 2017, where six states (Iowa, Massachusetts, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and South Carolina) saw dramatic increases in just one year alone. Not only that, but a whopping 48 states are now reporting adult obesity rates over 25 percent.

Only five years ago, zero states had rates this high.

Among the report’s other major findings:

• Adult obesity rates hover between 30 and 35 percent in 22 states. And they sit between 25 and 30 percent in 19 more.
• Between 2012 and 2017, more than 30 states saw their obesity rates rocket — with no decreases in these numbers reported anywhere.
• Obesity rates were highest — near 50 percent, in fact — in predominantly black or Latino, low-income, or rural communities. With numbers sharply higher than rates in richer, whiter communities with more access to healthy food.

If that’s not a clear indication that we’re backing the wrong policies — and deepening lines of racial and economic injustice in their name — I simply can’t imagine what is…

Starting young simply isn’t enough

I doubt I need to remind anyone of this, but I will: The obesity crisis is costing this country countless lives and billions of healthcare dollars every single year. In fact, estimates suggest it’s behind nearly $150 billion in annual health care spending — and more than $50 billion in lost economic productivity.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Big Pharma, Big Food, and Big Agriculture — a veritable axis of evil — are the only ones who profit off of this ongoing disaster. The rest of us suffer immeasurably.

And now the American Heart Association (AHA) is finally hopping on my bandwagon an effort to stem this tide by stalling childhood obesity. But their attempts don’t really have me jumping for joy…

They start out by calling for limits on sugar-sweetened beverages for kids. Certainly, we can help ensure a future generation of healthy adults by keeping sugary drinks out of our kids’ hands starting today. I authored my first book, Feed Your Kids Well, entirely around this premise… two decades ago.

And while it’s a good start, I can only give the AHA a “C” for effort. Because while this might somewhat slow the rates at which obesity continues to rise, it’s going to take a lot more than that to throw this monstrous juggernaut into reverse.

And until the powers-that-be put some real weight behind truly healthy policies that serve all of our communities, populations, and ages — and stop scratching the backs of industries that get rich off of making us sick — we’re all but doomed to fail. Unless we stop depending on the government and actively seek out other solutions…

That’s why I worked so hard to develop my Metabolic Repair Protocol, a drug-free, easy-to-follow strategy for reversing the damaging effects of America’s obesity crisis: metabolic syndrome, prediabetes, and diabetes.

You can overcome this modern epidemic with proper nutrition, exercise, lifestyle choices, and medical screening. And I’ll show you exactly how. Simply click here to learn more about this one-of-a-kind online learning tool, or to get started today.

Source:

medscape.com/viewarticle/901868