A BIG problem!

America's Obesity still a "large" problem...

58 Million Overweight,40 Million Obese, and 3 Million morbidly Obese!

An unbelievable number of the American population suffer from Obesity. While many organizations try to instill the idea of a healthy life-style; many cannot kick the "habit" of eating "junk."Statistical facts state that, in the past twenty years, obesity rates doubled for adults and tripled for children. If these trends continue, by the time today’s children reach adulthood, obesity will be the norm and healthy weight the exception. Many of us dont understand the complete issue and we ask ourselves the question, "who is responsible for this?"

One large factor can be the food itself. Fast-food not only dominates the American landscape, it also spreads throughout the world, meaning that it is becoming the most visible American export around the globe. To disappoint many naive Americans, fast food contains almost no nutrients and is loaded with salt, fat, and preservatives. With such unhealthy ingredients, it becomes ironic how much money we spend on fast food, and every second we save at a drive-through, seriously puts our lives at deadly risks. Well known risks include, heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer.

So how can we spread the message of "healthy living?"
We must look where obesity is prevalent. By state, obesity prevalence ranged from 21.0% in Colorado to 34.0% in Mississippi . As a whole, South has the highest prevalence of obesity (29.4%) followed by the Midwest (28.7%), Northeast (24.9%) and the West (24.1%). Looking at these horrific numbers we can see that, no state had a prevalence of obesity less than 20%.

At this point of my blog, you are ready to scream..."Tell me what to do!"
Leading health experts agree that eating a wholesome plant-based diet is the single-best thing we can do to protect our health. Most importantly, it may provide protection against disease. The 2010 USDA Report on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans states, “On average, vegetarians consume fewer calories from fat than non-vegetarians, particularly saturated fat, and have a higher consumption of carbohydrates than non-vegetarians."

Hopefully with all these facts, you can safely look at yourself in the mirror and make the correct decision to stay healthy. Protect your health and the health of your family by choosing organically grown produce, and products made with organic ingredients, as often as possible. At the very least, seek out organic alternatives to the fruits and vegetables that are mostly heavily treated with pesticides. The next step is to choose prepared foods that are free of artificial sweeteners, flavors, additives, colorings, and have minimal preservatives. These days, it’s not unusual to see lists of ingredients that are longer than the ad copy. Even a simple loaf of bread is loaded with sugar, packed with preservatives, and masked with flavorings produced in a laboratory. These artificial ingredients and preservatives allow food manufacturers to lower their costs and provide food with traits they would not have naturally. The reality is that no one saves time or money by buying fast- or highly processed food that undermines their health. Instead, they increase the likelihood that they will have to pay later for expensive health care as the effects of these "food additives" and fast foods take their toll on the body. By adopting a healthy lifestyle based on organic and natural foods and a vegetarian diet, coupled with regular exercising, you make an investment that will pay healthy dividends for the rest of your life.




Resources: (Read more at...
Earth News September 2011
http://clinical.diabetesjournals.org/content/22/1/1.full