Being Overweight In The USA

According to the CDC, 66,3% of Americans are overweight or obese. In a country of roughly 250 million people, we’re talking about 165 million human beings that exceed their normal weight. Americans extra weight costs the nation as much as $93 billion in annual medical bills, and the government pays about half of that amount, a federally funded study shows. That’s a shocking number, and contrary to the misconception of some, being overweight is not that you are well fed; oh no, it’s that what you’re feeding your body can’t be assimilated -or burned with exercise- and so it’s stored, turning it in to useless health-threatening FAT! I’m sure you’ve seen films like ‘Superzise Me’ where a man almost destroys his liver on a McD’s exclusive diet. Well, Americans are doing the same but in a longer period of time. It’s dangerous enough to be overweight, but to be obese is stepping on the accelerator to end your life. Why is this happening to the world’s strongest superpower? Well, many factors have played a roll in this. Among them, the economy and the economic system (i.e. savage capitalism). Why do I blame this you say? Think about it. America has a large middle class, with a decent income; people live with budgets and watch their spending. They save for their nice new car, or any new nifty product that “you just gotta have”, like the iPhone for instance. You got your mortgage, etc. you get the picture. All this is the backbone, the motor that makes America tick, because of Middle America spending, big corporations make their millions, and not only selling their products, that’s just the obvious part. How do they really get the big chunk of what you consume? By cutting expenses, and developing new ways to make their production cheaper and “better” or should I say, more appealing. That’s where good old Ronald McDonald steps in. Where do you think they get all the raw materials to stock every McD’s in America and keep the same taste regardless of where you eat it? It’s chemicals, food substitutes and processed food that goes to your stomach to “nurture” you and your kids. Ok, enough of being political, I don’t follow either party completely in their politics. So what can we do? In recent years all this talk of health has sprung up numerous companies that offer organic, natural food; you’ve probably already seen it in your supermarket, usually it’s where all these tree-hugging hippie types go to pick out their products. Well, it turns out that all along we’ve made fun of them, they’re right. You SHOULD eat organically grown food, natural foods, etc. But eating right is only half the answer. Yup, you guessed it, you’ve got to exercise. You’re probably thinking about joining a gym or buying equipment to help you. And what you really got to do â€"and please understand my candidness- is get off your ass. Take a half hour walk around the block every day. It’s the aerobic exercise that helps your heart, and circulation, joints etc. By combining both healthy eating and exercise you’ll feel happier, because you release endorphins that make you feel better, yup, a natural high! That’s a nice starting point, and from there on, depending on your tastes, you can do sports, martial arts, who knows, the bottom line is to move your body and feed it right. ____________________________________________________________________________ Alex Liotta has spent 10 years researching and learning about nutrition, supplementation and physical fitness, now he’s a freelance journalist and wants to share his thoughts and tips, you can learn more about OVERWEIGHT. Please visit martialarts3000.com for great information on the topics of Wellness and physical fitness. ___________________________________________________________________________