Last month I laid out the facts: Over 60% of America is overweight and over 30% of America is obese as defined by the Centers for Disease control. Almost 20% of teens are overweight. Billions of dollars are spent every year on preventable medical expenses due to obesity. Diabetes in children is up 33% in the last 10 years.
Obesity has become an epidemic which needs to be addressed because of its health effects. It affects the quality of our lives and the economics of our country. Put aside the stigma and taboos which prevent us from talking about being “fat”. The look of obesity is the least important consequence of poor diet and lack of exercise and yet it has prevented us from talking freely. We need to open this discussion and talk about obesity as it relates to health. We must change the current trends. The poor health related to unhealthy lifestyles cannot become acceptable. What can we do as individuals to create a healthy America?
To begin, each of us, needs to examine ourselves and how we live. Are you as strong and healthy as you need to be? Could you feel better? Do you suffer from any of the possible health consequences of poor diet and lack of exercise such as fatigue, muscle soreness, joint pain, swelling, poor sleep, snoring, mood swings, indigestion, heartburn, diabetes (according to the National Institutes of Health 2.8, which is 1/3 of adults with diabetes don’t know they have it), or hypertension? If you do, you should do something about it before you ask someone else to. But what do you do?
According to a 2005 study 45 million Americans diet each year. 1-2 Billion dollars a year is spent on weight loss programs, yet America still gets larger! Obviously, people are trying to lose weight. Obviously, on a broad scale, it isn’t working. Rather than focusing on weight loss, deprivation and the short term gains we find in most “diets” we need to start focusing on “lifestyle” and the social aspect, emotional aspect, economics and science of eating and exercise.
Recently, an obese client of mine told me that being obese is a given in her family. All the women are large. She told me that she had lost four of the most important people in her life to aliments related to poor eating. These family members died young, in their sixties. These loses were a wakeup call and caused my client to focus on her health. She started to lose weight. Rather than support her, her loved ones complained. They told her she should stay the weight she was. Her lifelong boyfriend said she wasn’t as attractive to him as she became thinner. Consequently, as life stresses took their tole, she was unable to maintain her healthy life and reverted back to her larger self.
Without the love and support of your community, most lifestyle changes will fail!
Changing your health requires more than choosing the right diet. It requires understanding the life you live, the people you live it with, and how you handle stress and the challenges of life. It requires a community which is supportive of the change, a solid scientific understanding of what you need to change and why, and a strong belief that the rewards of changing will be ten-fold. By gaining that understanding personally and by transforming your own community to support your personal change you will start a snowball effect which will spread across the country. This will be the beginning of a world without obesity.
This is a monumental challenge and not a challenge you can take on by yourself. You need someone, or some group of people, who support you and your efforts. You need to learn about health because you will not make sustainable changes without understanding and believing in the importance of the changes you make. You can work with life coaches, nutritionists, doctors, personal trainers, family and friends who share your quest. The important thing is to start looking and questioning. You will find the support you need.
When you make a decision to begin your quest, feel free to contact me at CoreQuest Fitness to schedule a free personal session to talk about your health journey and what your next step is. CoreQuest offers an exclusive program for obese adults which addresses the fitness and dietary issues related to obesity. New programs begin every 5 weeks. Call 925-457-4587 to schedule you evaluation and discussion.
