Amid the fear of anthrax, smallpox, West Nile Virus, influenza and secondhand smoke, we are ignoring what may be the worst epidemic to hit the United States in the past decade. Obesity is fast becoming the number on threat to public health.
Why are we getting so much bigger? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 1991 only four states had obesity rates above 15%. In 2000, 49 states did. The increase was true of the entire population regardless of race, gender or economic standing.
Obesity and being overweight contributes to a host of medical problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, type 2 diabetes, asthma, arthritis and many types of cancer. Twenty years ago, type 2 diabetes (insulin dependant) was rarely found in children and today physicians are seeing unprecedented growth in the number of children afflicted with this disease.
Over the past decade we have begun to eat more and exercise less. (Ironically, the decade in which we grew the most was the decade that emphasized the low-fat, low-calorie foods and drinks. The explosion in the health and fitness industry also took place during the past fifteen years.) According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, portion sizes today at home and in restaurants have significantly increased over the past twenty years. Fat laden, sugary and supersized fast food is relatively inexpensive compared to fresh fruits and vegetables. We spend more time in front of the television than exercising and children especially are victims of this. The CDC studied 4, 063 children in 1994 and the more TV the kids watched, the more likely they were to be overweight.
To find out if you are overweight, you need to know your Body Mass Index. Doctors now use the BMI, which described body weight relative to your height. It correlates with total body fat content in most people over the age of 8 years. The BMI is used for both men and women.
o calculate your BMI, multiply your weight in pounds by 700. Divide this result by your height in inches squared. For example, if you weigh 150 pounds and are 5 feet 4 inches tall, multiply 150 by 700 to get 105,000. Then divide that by 4096 (64 x 64). Your BMI is 25.6. A BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 indicates you are within a healthy weight range. A BMI of 25 to 29.9 is considered to be overweight and over 30 determines obesity.
