The Growing Concern: Obesity Rates in America
Obesity is a significant health issue in the United States, affecting millions of individuals. Let’s explore the current state of obesity in America, its causes, health consequences, and practical steps individuals can take to combat obesity.According to the ncbi.num.nih.com site, the widespread presence of weight problems in American adults age 20–74 rose from 15.0% in 1976–1980, to 23.3% in 1988–1994, and to 30.9% in 1999-2000. These rapid increasing statistics around obesity didn’t discriminate between age, sex, or any major ethnic groups. This rise in the widespread presence of obesity continued during the period 1999 to 2016.
-According to the CDC every 33 seconds a person in the US dies of cardiovascular disease. CDC
-Healthy food costs approximately $1.50 per day more than unhealthy food. Plutus Foundation
-Ultra processed food consumption grew from 53.5% to 57% from (2001-2002) to (2017-2018). NYU
-46.9% of adults 18 and older met the Physical Activity Guidelines for Aerobic Physical Activity.
-24.26% of adults 18 and older met the Physical Activity Guidelines for both Aerobic and Strength Physical Activity. CDC
It’s clear that several factors from cost of food, what type of food is being consumed, to physical activity levels play a role in obesity rates.
There are several options available for addressing obesity in your personal life whether that be maintaining your health and fitness choices to avoid the health complications of obesity or making changes in your current life to get obesity under control for yourself and/or your family.
-Follow and check in often on funposhlove.com and social sites for facts, nutrition, and fitness advice.
-Keep a food diary for 2 weeks and take it seriously for those 2 weeks don’t just wait until the end of the day to write down a whole day's worth of intake. Waiting only allows for error in portion amounts and leaving things out. Remember the purpose of the food diary is NOT to throw you into shame and guilt, it's to give yourself a starting point of facts about your current diet. You can’t possibly make sustainable changes if they aren’t being measured and documented.
-On the day you decide to start your food diary, first thing in the morning get your weight and write it down.
-Keep a Physical Activity Diary for 2 weeks. This doesn’t have to be the same 2 weeks you do your food diary but it would be ideal. Same thing here as the food diary, BE HONEST and document immediately.
These above activities are your starting point and basic information about yourself. There are more in depth options of activities you can do but for now in this post we are keeping it simple and basic. This doesn’t need to be overwhelming. Once you have the above information start making small sustainable changes to your diet and physical activity. After sustaining whatever changes you decide on, document your weight every two weeks. The key for this to work is to keep the expectation that the process of losing weight won't be fast and dramatic. Implementing too dramatic of a change or too much too quick has the tendency to not be sustainable. An unhealthy lifestyle or obesity didn’t happen overnight so correcting it won't happen overnight either.