Why obesity is sweeping the nation

Obesity in my opinion is a pretty scary subject. I was looking at statistics earlier in the week and I was stunned by the results of my findings. Did you know that it is estimated that around 300,000 deaths occur every year that can be linked to obesity or even being moderately overweight. The statistics also show that about 97.1 million people are overweight in the America alone. The scariest part about this is that obesity is a growing trend among our children as well. The statistics show that in 1984 it was estimated that the percentage of overweight children was about 4%. Statistics from 1994 show that this number had quadrupled to 16% and was still on the rise. In my opinion these statistics are absolutely awful and we need to start doing something about it.

So the question is why is the obesity rate rising? Well I'll tell you. You're not going to like the answer but here it is, for the most part and there are some exceptions but for the most part we're just plain LAZY. That's right laziness is what is causing obesity, and I too am guilty of this. Now I will admit that we didn't become like this on our own, technology has certainly helped out as it has made things a lot easier, and less laborious. But in the end it is our choice to do something about it.

Obesity and being overweight is more of a problem then some may think. Aside from the physical appearance, and the fact that being overweight lowers our immune system, being overweight can also lead to ailments such as: cancers, osteoarthritis, diabetes, and high blood pressure. These are very serious ailments and can be greatly reduced if we just make a few small changes to our eating and exercises habits.

For those of us who say we have "no time to exercise", is this really the case or is it just a lazy cop out so that we can justify our weight gain and comfortable inactive lifestyle. What we need to do is to sit down and take a look at our week's schedule. How many hours are spend watching t.v, or on the computer. How many times do we drive to someplace we can walk. The fact is that all we need to do is set aside about 30-45 min of exercise a day. That's it.

Nutrition is another thing that a lot of us are lacking. I mean we all know how it goes, your work lunches are too short, your too tired to cook, you don't have time to cook, whatever the excuse may be and again it may be legitimate but here is my take on this....."Where there's a will, there is a way".

For tips on healthy food choices and weight loss exercises visit http://www.healthandfitnessfocus.com

For statistics on Obesity visit
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/overwt.htm