See the Map: from Fittest to Fattest.

Just 20 years ago, the fittest state in the country today would have been the fattest state in the country. Something radical has happened.

It’s not about thin, or fat, of course—it’s about healthy. It’s not about shaming, it’s about rejecting Big Fast Food pushing crap into our daily habits.

This phenomenon is just 20 years old:

“Powerful anti-obesity PSA, might be upsetting for some folks.” Via.

This isn’t about judging. We all should practice making friends with ourselves, amen. This is about seeing that a health crisis is here, and it’s huge corporation-fed–they’re pushing ridiculous “food” on us.

“As someone who is overweight (working on it, have lost considerable weight) and an MD, obesity is a very, very personal and important topic for me.

I have seen time and time again obese patients crash in the hospital. Obesity is perhaps one of the worst comorbidities to have for a hospital patient. It complicates everything. Every. Single. Thing. From inserting lines, to getting scanned, to being active to avoid clot formation, to being able to breathe properly while lying down. Obesity hinders both yourself and others from providing an optimal environment for recovery. I have seen obese patients in their 20s die suddenly from embolisms, or stay in the hospital for much, much longer than they should’ve stayed because the weight prolongs the healing process. And the longer the stay in the hospital, the more prone they are to developing pneumonia, clots, etc.

And while I do understand that these patients are responsible for their conditions, I cannot help but feel empathetic when I look back at my own history. Much like the child in the video, I was fed terrible food from a young age, was not encouraged to be active, had no concept of what it meant to be a normal healthy person. I’ve been fat since about the age of 10. It’s all you know. Then you grow, you get into high school, you see others more active, skinnier, more attractive, more social, and you often learn to cope by hiding under layers of humor or bullying. You’d like to be like these other kids, but you don’t know how, and you don’t have the support system to get you there. You go to college, you realize just how important it is to be a healthy individual, you may develop depression, and the cycle continues. So I feel for many of these people. Their weight issues are psychological as much as they are physical.

I think here in the US we do not emphasize the importance of obesity prevention. I often wonder why we don’t have community weight loss centers where people can seek nutrition and exercise advice. Or why we don’t give our children proper nutrition education that doesn’t just consist of the food pyramid. Measures that can help counteract the toxic environments many children are raised in at home.

That’s not to say that each and every one of us is not responsible for our health. Of course we are. But our attitudes, our habits and behaviors, are due to influences that are multifactorial, both internal and external, and there should be efforts to address all of them.” ~ lastandtheleast

 

Rewind the Future — Stop the Cycle

This video touches on the point that obesity doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a lifetime’s worth of bad habits, bad choices, and bad nutrition. There’s still time to change all that by making better choices! Let us show you how!

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Update: “The Thinnest state in America this year is fatter than the fattest state was in 1995. (gallup.com)”

Obesity is now one of Americans’ top health concerns — surpassing smoking and alcohol…the economic impact to the U.S. carries a heavy cost — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that obesity alone costs about $147 billion annually.

As part of the Affordable Care Act, the government implemented a $15 billion Prevention and Public Health Fund in 2010 to invest in prevention programs — ranging from obesity to smoking cessation — to prevent disease and illness among Americans. Measures like this and other actions leaders and individuals can take in the years ahead may ultimately serve to curb the nation’s obesity problem.

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“The destiny of nations depends on the manner in which they are fed.” ~ Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

US Obesity, State by State.

The fittest state in the nation, Colorado, would have at its current rates of obesity be the fattest state in the US only 20 years ago. This is (d)evolution—before our eyes.

Bonus: