In the 60s, a regular sized cup of soda cup was 10 ounces, and if you wanted more you paid for another cup. Now you can refill your cup until you wet your pants.
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Posted on 10/13/2017 8:36:08 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Almost forty percent adults in the United States are now obese, continuing an ever-expanding epidemic of obesity that's expected to lead to sicker Americans and higher health care costs.
Almost four out of 10 adults and 18.5 percent of kids aged 2 to 19 now meet the clinical definition of obesity, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's up from 30.5 percent of adults and 13.9 percent of children in 1999-2000, the CDC report noted.
Public health experts are concerned that the continuing rise in obesity will lead to greater numbers of people suffering from diabetes, heart disease and other chronic illnesses.
"We've made tremendous progress reducing deaths due to cardiovascular disease and stroke in our country. Part of that is due to treatment. Part of that is due to the tremendous reduction in tobacco use," said Dr.
Eduardo Sanchez, chief medical officer for the American Heart Association. "But we've worried if obesity trends stayed or worsened that some of those gains might be reduced."
Obesity is defined as a body mass index of 30 or more. A 6-foot-tall man weighing 221 pounds is considered obese, as is a 5-foot-9 woman weighing 203 pounds.
The increase in youth obesity is of particular concern because these children are at greater risk for lifelong health problems, said Dr. Seema Kumar, a childhood obesity specialist with the Mayo Clinic.
Kumar said she regularly sees children with diseases that used to be considered adult-only, including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and fatty liver disease.
"Because rates of obesity are so high, despite all the advances we're seeing, our children may live less healthy and shorter lives than their parents," Kumar said. "We're going to have a much higher number of adults with diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease down the line."
Some trends within the overall increase in obesity also have health experts worried.
For example, Sanchez noted, obesity appears to be more prevalent in ethnic groups that are growing rapidly in the United States.
About 47 percent of Hispanic and black adults are obese, compared with 38 percent of whites and 13 percent of Asians, the researchers found.
"The demographic profile of our country is shifting in such a way that the burden of obesity will continue to grow unless we address these disparities," Sanchez said. "We're still going to be heading in a challenging direction."
Diana Thomas, a fellow with The Obesity Society, pointed out that the rise in youth obesity also is likely to continue because obese adults tend to mate, reproduce more often, and produce children that also struggle with excess weight.
"That next generation that's coming in with a high prevalence of obesity will probably continue to affect us in the future," said Thomas, who is a professor of mathematical sciences at West Point.
Rates of obesity increase with age, the investigators found. Close to 43 percent of middle-aged adults are obese, compared with about 36 percent of younger adults, nearly 21 percent of teenagers and 14 percent of children aged 2 to 5.
Stemming the obesity epidemic will involve action at both the personal and the community level, Sanchez and Kumar said.
Family-based programs are available that teach young parents how to cook healthy meals, Kumar said. These programs teach healthy eating habits that kids will model once they see their parents setting an example. "If we can teach our families to eat healthy, that would probably be the most important thing we could do," Kumar said.
Communities also play a crucial role. They can help by adopting policies that encourage a healthy diet and more physical activity, Sanchez suggested. These might include: Healthier food and drinks in vending machines in schools and businesses.
Improving accessibility to healthy foods by promoting farmers' markets.
Designing neighborhoods to be more walkable and bike-friendly.
Promoting physical activity for kids both in and outside of school.
"It's not just about giving people information," Sanchez said. "It's about helping individuals and their families adopt different behaviors, and make it easier for them to do so."
The report, by Dr. Craig Hales and colleagues at the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), was published in the October issue of the CDC's NCHS Data Brief.
More information: Eduardo Sanchez, M.D., MPH, chief medical officer, American Heart Association; Seema Kumar, M.D., childhood obesity specialist, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.; Diana Thomas, Ph.D., fellow, Obesity Society and professor, mathematical sciences, West Point, N.Y.; Oct. 13, 2017, NCHS Data Brief For more on obesity, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
I remember when the big came out, there is no allowance for muscle vs fat. According to the official bmi Michael Jordan, GW Bush, and most fit muscular athletes rated as obese.
I cut out the breaded fried, starches, breads... added lean meat and green veggies as low fat salads. Just try to get hubby to eat healthy. Loves junk.
Amen!
BMI, not big. Typo.
I posted this last year:
The Secrets of Sugar [You Tube Video]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3441831/posts
For consideration.
Have your hubby read this book.
You can thank insurance companies for popularizing this over-simplified statistical tool. Any excuse to raise an individuals rates.
But as a statistical tool it is probably being applied correctly in this study. We are becoming a nation of fat bodies who can't do anything. I would guess that far more than half people collecting disabilities can have their difficulties directly traced to their weight.
Nearly everyone I have seen at supermarkets lately wheeling around in motorized carts are morbidly obese with only about 5% of the people missing a leg or something or in their 90s and beyond who are not fat. The same applies to those using 95% of the handicapped spots.
[I believe it. Maybe only 1 or 2 out of 10 people I see in Walmart are not overweight.]
I personally have never seen so many huge people in my entire life, including kids.
When I was young, the fat kid was the exception. Most of us were thin.
The other day, I saw an Hispanic woman who could just barely walk into the store entrance ahead of me. The fat was in huge globules weighing at least 15-20 lbs. hanging off her calves and almost dragging on the floor. The gut fat was hanging over her waist at least 8-10” into her lap.
She had a permanent airway installed into her neck with a cap on it for what I figure was a breathing assist when she laid down in bed to sleep.
This was truly a person in the process of committing suicide by food. Her shopping cart was stacked with garbage and junk food to overflowing when I later saw her on the checkout line.
Medicare and most insurance companies won’t pay for gastric bypass surgery. Stupid.
This was designed to define millions of healthy people as unhealthy solely based on height and weight and not providing any other context. It is the one of the worst things this country has done to mess up people.
I love bacon, but I think that a “balanced” or well rounded diet along with a good amount of physical activity is very important.
Which brings up a question... what is the best thing to do with left over bacon grease. I pour it into cans that I have cut the tops off of. You can stick a small piece of rolled up paper towel in them and they make a good smelling, slightly hard to light candle. I keep them in the fridge. But is there something better to do with left over bacon grease? Because if you fry up a few pounds you end up with more bacon candles than you need.
I wonder how much obesity is the result of genetics and the aging population as the Baby Boomers reach their senior years?
I think the metabolic mechanism is the key to the obesity epidemic. I believe the various races have unique survival mechanism built into their physical systems which are passed down to each generation. Because of this, certain races have built into their metabolic system an efficient method to turn off the metabolism at a time of food shortage. The Irish who survived the potato famine, carried a survival mechanism to pass down to future generations. This behavior of the metabolic system preserves the body as a survival mechanism. When there is an abundance of food, excess calories are stored as fat. Certain races have very efficient metabolic systems for storing fat for times of starvation. Such survival mechanism have been passed down through the generations from a time when life existed in a feast and famine environment.
As one ages, the metabolic system has a survival mechanism for when they reach their older years. Because age causes one to loose their youthful energy to hunt, the metabolism slows down to conserve energy. An older person is more vulnerable to injury and a slower pace is a safety mechanism. Access to food is a slower process and all the more reason for a slower metabolism.
These metabolic survival mechanisms work against a person trying to loose weight by lowering their caloric input. When caloric input is lowered, the metabolic rate slows down and less calories are consumed. The lower caloric input may even store more fat.
Maybe a pill can be safely taken by these obese individuals to kick up their metabolic systems when they are trying to lose weight by lowering their caloric input.
US Department of Agriculture Subsidies
Department of Transportation Subsidies
Department of Energy Subsidies
etc.
The charts say at 5-11 I should weigh 179 lbs., but I appear skeletal under 200 lbs.
In the 60s, a regular sized cup of soda cup was 10 ounces, and if you wanted more you paid for another cup. Now you can refill your cup until you wet your pants.
.
We save ours in a jar in the fridge and use it for frying food whenever we want to add a little flavor. It's great for stir fry.
They cut you off at that point, did they?
The bastards!
America is today Fatty Nation
I’m 6’5” and 224-235
36 waist
Not Scott Glenn sinewy thin....I wish
But not fat
Only female groups not mostly obese are rich white women and some orientals.....Chinese and Thai......other orientals and Indians are as far as whites
Mexicans and black women are 75-80% over 20 pounds overweight and half are morbidly obese
Men are fast too but it looks like maybe a third less so
It’s symptomatic of our decline
No discipline and no self control
Go to a Wal Mart or Cracker Barrel or Six Flags and you’ll see
Only exceptions are high altitude places and rich zip codes
Man.....obesity in my youth was rare
This is a new thing....since 90s....coincides with body ink and other mutilations.....self loathing?
I seem to be one of those people that gains weight from watching a burger commercial.
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