America is way too fat for its own good. From Michael Snyder at theeconomiccollapseblog.com
The United States officially has an obesity crisis. According to a brand new report that was just released by the Trust for America’s Health, at least one out of every five people meet the clinical definition for obesity in all 50 states. But of course in some states things are far worse than that. More than 35 percent of all adults are obese in four states, and the obesity rate is between 30 and 35 percent in 21 other states. And it is important to keep in mind that just needing to lose weight does not mean that you are obese. According to the CDC, you have got to have a body mass index of at least 30.0 to meet the clinical definition for obesity.
Each year, the American people spend 60 billion dollars on weight loss programs and products. That breaks down to about 188 dollars for every man, woman and child in the country. We are a nation that is absolutely obsessed with losing weight, and yet obesity levels are hovering near all-time record highs.
But some parts of the U.S. are definitely doing better than others. The following is an excerpt that comes directly from the new report…
In 2015, Louisiana has the highest adult obesity rate at 36.2 percent and Colorado has the lowest at 20.2 percent. While rates remained steady for most states, they are still high across the board. The 13th annual report found that rates of obesity now exceed 35 percent in four states, are at or above 30 percent in 25 states and are above 20 percent in all states. In 1991, no state had a rate above 20 percent.
Did you catch that last part?
I put it in bold for a reason. To me, it is absolutely incredible that no state in the entire country had an obesity rate of more than 20 percent just 25 years ago.
How is that possible?
How could obesity explode to such a dramatic level in just a couple of decades?
Well, a lot of it has to do with what we eat and drink, and I will have some comments about that below. But first, let’s take a look at some more statistics from this new report. It turns out that there seems to be a significant link between obesity and poverty…
• 9 of the 11 states with the highest obesity rates are in the South and 22 of the 25 states with the highest rates of obesity are in the South and Midwest.
• 10 of the 12 states with the highest rates of diabetes are in the South.
American Indian/Alaska Natives have an adult obesity rate of 42.3 percent.
• Adult obesity rates are at or above 40 percent for Blacks in 14 states.
•Adult obesity rates are at or above 30 percent in: 40 states and Washington, D.C. for Blacks; 29 states for Latinos; and 16 states for Whites.
The report also noted that it has been estimated that our obesity epidemic costs the United States somewhere between 147 billion dollars and 210 billion dollars every single year.
That is an enormous amount of money, and if we were all a bit healthier it would benefit our society tremendously.
To continue reading: America You Need To Lose Weight: At Least 1 Out Of Every 5 People Are Obese In All 50 States
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