Currently, 74% of Americans are considered overweight. Of those, 43% are considered clinically obese (a BMI over 30).
The percentage of American children and adolescents who are considered overweight or obese has tripled since 1970.
A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine used current trends and projected by 2030:
-One in two adults in the U.S. will be considered obese.
-One in four will be considered severely obese, with a BMI of 40 or higher.
-And obesity rates will climb to over 50% in over 29 states.
Now before we jump on this "big-is-beautiful" trend, let’s understand that obesity has been directly linked to:
Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, stroke, cancer, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, depression, anxiety, pregnancy complications, kidney disease, and fatty liver disease.
Being overweight and obese is a real problem - 250 million Americans fall into this category and 360,000 Americans die every year from diseases directly related to obesity and unhealthy lifestyle.
Now, let’s talk about you, If you are average...
• You have a 23 percent chance of dying from heart disease.
• You have a 25 percent chance of diabetes.
• You have a 10 percent chance of developing Alzheimer’s.
• You have a 40 percent chance of cancer and a 20 percent risk of dying from it.
Today, cardiovascular diseases, various cancers, diabetes, and other chronic diseases account for almost 70 percent of all deaths in the United States, and 75% of our healthcare spending. Couple the healthcare costs with the productivity loss costs and it's estimated to cost the U.S. economy 1 Trillion, with a T, annually.
Individually, our health is our greatest asset in our lives, but the overall health status of this country, has become it's biggest liability.
Guess what all of these diseases have in common? They are all chronic lifestyle-related, preventable illnesses.
When I say lifestyle related, I mean physical, chemical, emotional stress induced over-time. The cesspool of stress we live in isn't cleaning itself up anytime soon. We have to take our health into our own hands, and start fighting back with our own individual efforts.
Proactively building resilience to those stressors is your ticket back to a healthy, fit, body, and our collective ticket out of this health catastrophe we've found ourselves in in this country.