Have you seen the TV series, “The Biggest Loser?” Aired on NBC since October 19, 2004, the show features obese people competing to win a cash prize by losing the highest percentage of weight relative to their initial weight. It’s still going strong, and thousands of pounds have been shed as a result.
Even though medical experts doubt the healthiness of their diet regimens, they do lose a lot of weight, even if they don’t win. They also learn discipline in exercise. It really is a win-win situation.
Some other, highly obese, people take a riskier approach to losing weight: bariatric surgery. It’s expensive and not always a win-win procedure.
Bariatric surgery is a highly effective, long-term weight loss solution. Patients interested in bariatric surgery must be committed to making lifelong changes in their eating, nutrition, exercise and other lifestyle behaviors. Without that commitment, the weight can return.
Several different types of bypass surgery are available to patients willing to make the required changes in their life. The selection of each procedure is individualized according to the patient, and is mutually agreed upon with the surgeon.
In October of last year, Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report “F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future 2012” unveiled a few staggering facts:
35.7 percent of American adults and 16.9 percent of children ages 2 to 19 are obese (defined as a body mass index over 30)
If trends don’t change, by 2030, the obesity rate for adults could top 44 percent nationally. In addition, rates could exceed 50 percent in 39 states and 60 percent in 13 states.
More than 25 million Americans have type 2 diabetes, 27 million have chronic heart disease, 68 million have hypertension, and 795,000 suffer a stroke each year. Approximately one in three deaths from cancer each year (approximately 190,650) are related to obesity, poor nutrition or physical inactivity.
In the next 20 years, obesity could contribute to more than 6 million cases of type 2 diabetes, 5 million cases of coronary heart disease and stroke, and more than 400,000 cases of cancer.
By 2030, costs associated with treating preventable obesity-related diseases are estimated to increase to $66 billion a year. The loss in economic productivity could be between $390 and $580 billion annually.
It’s also projected that if the average body mass index was reduced by just 5 percent by 2030, thousands or millions of people could avoid obesity-related diseases, thereby saving billions of dollars in health care costs.
So, a thought: Do we continue on the current track and suffer future health problems and rising healthcare costs, or do we change our habits now in order to prevent more drastic action? The choice is ours.
If you’re serious about your health – you want to maintain a healthy weight and have a healthy heart – but are unsure where to start, several websites have helpful information. Try looking into one of these:
www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-diet/NU00200
www.nutrition.gov/
www.webmd.com/diet/default.htm