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.

Sensible Dieting

Some of us eat to exercise, others exercise so they can eat. Whatever your motivation, if you run, bike, or perform some kind of endurance activity, you probably feel that you deserve to eat more. After all, you expend 300 …#34; 1000 or more calories per day. Yet, to your surprise and frustration, you find that you consume no more calories than your sedentary friends. And when you try to lose weight, it may be harder for you.

This troublesome paradox can be explained by metabolic rates. Everyone has a basal metabolic rate, determined by age, weight, gender and genetics. This determines the bare minimum of calories necessary to keep you alive. Anything extra burns more calories and requires more energy. The paradox is that as the body becomes more accustomed to activity, it uses calories more efficiently.

As you train, you teach your body to get more from every calorie, lowering your metabolic rate and energy needs. Even worse, if you decrease your caloric intake, your body gets the message to use calories even more sparingly, making weight loss more difficult.

The solution is to avoid crash diets and maintain a consistent, regular diet.

Weight Loss Cure for Good

The weight loss cure, is a plan and book promoted by author Kevin Trudeau. Trudeau essentially claims that the majority of weight gain comes from people who are unable to control their food cravings. Those who cannot control their cravings are destined to have lower metabolism, which causes the calories to stay in the body, causing weight gain. Trudeau uses the work of a doctor practicing in the 1950s, to explain what he calls the weight loss cure.

The weight loss cure is one of the most argued diet plans in the world; some people follow the program religiously, do what the book tells them, and loses weight. Then there are others who buy the book, and never lose a thing. Those that complain, or experience no loss are beginning to far outnumber those who do. The problem that many of them have, is that Trudeau is not showcasing anything new in his book about the weight loss cure, rather he’s rehashing the same basic information that many already know.

The weight loss cure according to Trudeau, is nothing more than eating healthy and exercising. He suggests drinking a glass of water before every meal, which helps the stomach feel full. Next he tells the reader to eat a big breakfast, yet another suggestion experts recommend. Trudeau also tells the reader to spend an hour every day walking. The weight loss cure also suggests eating only 500 calories every day, and refraining from all forms of sugar including the artificial sugar found in diet soda.

The weight loss cure is highly popular because it touts itself as a cure that doesn’t require dieting, depraving the body of anything, and it doesn’t require exercise. However, all three things are found in the plan. The weight loss cure also tells its readers to receive shots every day of a drug known as HGC. The drug is rarely prescribed in the United States, and Trudeau speaks frequently to his readers about a clinic in Germany that will do these daily injections. Unfortunately many of the readers will never be able to follow the plan exactly, as they will be unable to fly there for these injections.

Some readers are shocked by the multitude of suggestions offered in the weight loss cure, in particularly those involving colonics. According to Trudeau, the average American can easily lose weight by undergoing a colonic every other day for 30 days, or 15 in a one month span. Others are put off by the amount of products he suggests using in the weight loss cure, including dietary supplements priced at over $10 each. He also includes a link to each one of the websites, and information on how to order the supplements through his site.

The weight loss cure seems to be little more than a way to sell books, and make more money by selling different products. There are far more people who are disappointed than there are who lost weight by using the plan. It seems the best weight loss cure is to eat healthy, and exercise.