Our nation has more people who are obese than those who are just overweight.  This is not  just a guess, this has been studied.  Is this something that should worry us?  The different terms are a result of how much a person weighs and what is the cause of any extra weight that a person is carrying.  Overweight is having extra body weight from muscle, bone, fat, and/or water.  Obesity is having a high amount of extra body fat.

Instead of judging a person by how much they weigh, a more accurate method is known as the BMI  This ratio gives a much clearer indication of whether a person is at a healthy weight or if they are at risk of being morbidly obese.  Our country is growing at an alarming rate and while the number of people who are not at the correct weight has remained the same, the number of those who are dangerously overweight has gone up more than one hundred percent.  Obesity is a major cause for many health complications that are suffered by people in our country.  The more that a person weighs, the more health risks that they face. 

Clearly, this problem must be addressed, but saying that and doing that are two different things.  It is not a simple matter of getting a large group of people together to do a bunch of six pack abs exercises, before they go to work in the morning, it is a much deeper problem that needs to be attacked on many levels with people of all ages.  Kids are growing up in an environment in which they are learning that it is normal to be obese.  One out of every three children are at risk of not being at the correct weight for their age and height.  The average life span of all Americans is going to be reduced because of this. 

Television and technology are a major culprit in the problem of obesity.  Kids are not as active as they used to be because they are entranced by the boob tube.  If they are not watching a television show they are sitting down playing video games for hours on end.  Our lives are full of the messages that are all around us enticing us to live a lifestyle that leads itself to obesity.  Our diets are full of all the junk foods that companies spend their millions to advertise.  There are also numerous advertisements for products that promise to show a person how to lose belly fat, thus giving us the false sense of security that we can get our weight under control any time that we want to without having to do any real work, all we have to do is take a pill and watch the fat melt away.  But those weight loss products cannot solve a weight problem alone.  They need to be used in conjunction with a healthy lifestyle.  It is the combination of eating right and exercising regularly that will lead a person to proper weight.

There is one source of entertainment that makes it appear cool to be very fat.  On the reality show The Biggest Loser the contestants have gotten bigger and bigger, and now there are posts on the AskDrLivingston.com that question whether the show is sending the right message by choosing people who are morbidly obese instead of choosing overweight people that more of the fans of the show can relate too.  The people who are on the show are not always as reflective of the people who are watching it because the people at home are not as overweight as those on the show.

There is no doubt that our nation is struggling with a major problem.  While the adults of the country need to get healthier, it is more important to teach the children of the country how to live a healthy lifestyle.  Adults need to help change the way our children eat and to make sure that they are getting outside and exercising.  The growing waistlines of our nation must get smaller instead of larger.  Without changing it, or kids will face a life that will be much harder than it should be.

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