Obesity in Today’s World

From 1988-1994 the number of Americans who were over weight or obese was 56%. That number rose from 1999-2000 to 64% according to NAASO.org. Oregon is one of the highest with 23% of its population being obese. There are many reasons why people become obese or over weight. Many times it is genetic but that is something you can not change. What you can change is the way you eat, what you eat and how much you eat. If our society as a whole does not change the way we eat, we will be at high risk of diabetes, hypertension and heart attacks. In 2004 obesity related deaths ranked number two, smoking came in first. By 2005 obesity related deaths was expected to pass smoking as the number one cause of death, according to Medscape.com.

Americans lead busy lives and the cost of living is not cheep. In a typical family home, both parents work a forty hour week and arrive home late. Most of those families would rather relax than think about making a well balanced meal for everyone. Usually they will grab what it closest or easiest such as a microwave dinner, take out or the phone to order a pizza.

Often eating out is cheaper than making a home cooked meal. You can go to McDonalds and feed a family of four for fewer than twenty dollars. It is fast, easy and cheap. To feed a family of four a balanced meal, for example chicken with rice and a vegetable, costs more in both time and money. Foster Farms offers three chicken breasts in a package for around $9.00 at a local Fred Meyer here in Oregon. You would have to buy two in order to feed a family of four. One package of Uncle Ben’s instant wild rice only has two to three servings per container for $2.50 which means again you would have to buy two packages. For a bushel of broccoli can range in price from $1.00 per pound. Once you go to the grocery store, come home and make all this food, you evening is gone and so is over twenty dollars.

Lack of health choice at restaurants makes eating right difficult. According to Foodfacts.info, in 2005 fast food chain, Wendy’s, pulled their fruit salad option after only ten months on the menu, sighting low sales. Many fast food chains have started to offer healthier choices such as Subway which offers raisins and yogurt, and Wendy’s offers mandarin orange fruit cups in place of fries. Some sit down restaurants have followed suit such as Red Robin which will allow you to order either a petite hamburger patty or a Boca Burger substitute for any of their burgers. Unfortunately other places do not offer alternatives or the alternatives are not well advertised by the prospective restaurant. Red Robin might offer a Boca patty substitution but it is in fine print which is barley visible at the very bottom of their menu.

When eating out, often you do not have control over the serving sizes. For instance at McDonalds, e medium fry package now has nutritional facts listed on the side. It shows how many calories are in that amount of fries along with the sodium content. What they are not taking into account is the amount of salt added to the fries after cooking, and the person filling the container usually over fills. Therefore the nutritional facts and serving size information provided is inaccurate.

Gastric bypass surgery is the second only to breast augmentation, as the most common surgery among young adults. The time is now for us to start setting a good example for all people and start making smarter choices of food, make the effort to cook healthy meals, and rethink what a serving size is. Sure it might require more effort and more time and sacrifice but when you look at the health risks and concerns associated with obesity, it just makes sense to spend a few extra dollars, a little more time and make a few better choices in order to make a better future for you and your family.

Fat-Fighting Foods for Weight Loss

Avoid nasty refined foods that increase your blood sugar level for short term energy fixes and replace them with these great tasting super-foods!

Oatmeal
Releases energy of time - keeping you feeling full for longer. Oatmeal is a complex carbohydrate and is thought to help reduce cholesterol.

Greens
Broccoli, Spinach, Salad leaves, in fact any leafy vegetable is vital to keeping your system healthy. Packed full of Iron and other minerals, eating plenty of greens provides roughage and antioxidants that are believed to have long term health effects - including protecting your from memory lose.

Olive Oil
The health benefits of Olive Oil have been known for Millennia and countries with diets based on Olive Oil (such as Greece and Italy) tend to have longer life expectancy. Full of healthy fats, a good quality olive can be used for everything from salad dressing to deep fat frying.

Turmeric
Turmeric contains the highest known source of beta carotene, the antioxidant that helps protect the liver from free radical damage. It also helps your liver heal while helping your body metabolize fats by decreasing the fat storage rate in liver cells.

Cayenne
This hot spice lessens the risk of excess insulin in the body by speeding metabolism and lowering blood sugar levels before the excess insulin can result in fat storage.

Chillies
Chillies increase your metabolic rate as well as acting as an antiseptic. There a thousands of varieties of chilli and not all of them will bring ears to your eyes - although if your into that they’re easy to find!

Tomatoes
Packed with vitamin C, tomatoes stimulate the production of the amino acid known as carnitine. Research has shown that carnitine helps speed the body’s fat-burning capacity by one-third.

Nuts
Raw, unsalted nuts provide essential roughage, protein and fats and make for a very healthy snack. Macadamia nuts in particular are very good at keep the cravings at bay.

Garlic and Onions
The base of any great dish, these root vegetables are known to reduce cholesterol and fight infections. Garlic in particular is known for helping lower blood pressure.