Victorious Wellness

You read a few days ago that overweight and obesity is one of the top ten public health concerns of our nation. It is fair to say that obesity is as big a health crisis as smoking was thirty years ago. Here are the facts:

• The percentage of population measured as overweight and obese has consistently grown during the last three decades.
• In the "heaviest states", approximately one-third of the citizens are overweight.
• Higher body weights are associated with higher death rates.
• Overweight and obesity substantially raise the risk of illness from high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke, gallbladder disease, arthritis, sleep disturbances and problems breathing, and certain types of cancers.
• Youth who are overweight or obese are more likely to become overweight and obese adults.
• Youth overweight and obesity has also steadily climbed during the past thirty years.
• Total medical and lost productivity costs attributable to obesity exceeds $90 billion.
• The rise of overweight and obesity is a major factor affecting the cost of health insurance.

The last fact is overweight and obesity is preventable for an overwhelmingly high percentage of the population.

A large part of the overweight and obesity problem is how we eat. And within the context of how we eat, there are two areas of improvement - quality and quantity. A change in either can be difficult, but results in a significantly positive ROA (return on your action).

Check out the short video below to learn more about changing the quantity of food you eat for the better.

Here are a few related Healthy People 2010 objectives:

• Increase the proportion of adults who are at a healthy weight.
• Reduce the proportion of children and adolescents who are overweight or obese.
• Reduce the proportion of adults who are overweight or obese.
• Increase the proportion of children and adolescents aged 6 to 19 years whose intake of meals and snacks at school contributes to good overall dietary quality.

• Increase the proportion of worksites that offer nutrition or weight management classes or counseling.

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