There’s been some exciting news regarding obesity this past week. We read in the Wellness section on Wednesday that Kauai County is home to the most active men in the country, according to research at the University of Washington. That’s
There’s been some exciting news regarding obesity this past week.
We read in the Wellness section on Wednesday that Kauai County is home to the most active men in the country, according to research at the University of Washington.
That’s good news.
Unfortunately, even though more people are becoming more physically active in counties across the United States, obesity continues to rise across the nation, too.
The research shows even though physical activity increased between 2001 and 2009, so did the percentage of the population considered obese.
The other bit of news? The United States is no longer the fattest country in the world. Mexico has taken the title of the most obese country in the world from us.
While theories are abound as to why Mexico overtook the United States as the chubbiest country in the world, it seems to boil down to a few factors: poverty, urbanization and a diet heavy on sugar and refined flour.
But Mexico and the United States are hardly alone with these issues.
According to The State of Food and Agriculture press release last month, 1.4 billion (that’s billion with a “b”) people are overweight.
As communities across the nation (and world) continue to see this epidemic grow, there are a few common sense solutions we can take — build a foundation for our children to base their lives around. Ban soda and sugary drinks in our school and make daily, physical activity a requirement.
Our leaders also need to take a stand against food lobbying (yes, there is such an industry).
Fast food corporations and other food companies have spent millions of dollars combating laws that would require menu labeling, sodium reduction, funding for SNAP and WIC, front of packaging labeling, and the list goes on and on.
Perhaps Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization, said it best at the Global Conference on Health Promotion in Helsinki:
“Not one single country has managed to turn around its obesity epidemic in all age groups. This is not a failure of individual will-power. This is a failure of political will to take on big business.”
