So just why are we so fat? reasonings behind the obesity epidemic

Why Are We So Fat? That's the question asked in the cover story of a recent issue of National Geographic magazine. "Americans enjoy one of the several luxurious lives on Earth: Our food is plentiful. Our work is automated. Our leisure is effortless. And it's killing us," says Geographic senior writer Cathy Newman.

Some of the latest actualities and statistics about obesity revealed in the article are chilling:

* One out of 3 Americans is obese, twice as many as three decades ago

* The Center for Disease control and Prevention (CDC) has declared obesity an "epidemic"

* 15% of children and teens are overweight, a nearly three fold jump since 1980

* Other countries are catching up to the United States, essentially newly industrialized nations. KFC opened a urge in restaurant in Beijing in 2002 with more on the way. UK snack food consumption shot up 25% in the last 5 years. Sales of processed food rose 20% in Latin America between 1980 and 2000.

* Being overweight is now associated with through 400,000 deaths per year

* Obesity is associated with an increased risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis, stroke, and colon, breast and endometrial cancers

* Next year, Obesity is expected to surpass smoking as the leading cause of preventable death in the United States

* The Puget Sound Ferries increased their seat width for 18 to 20 inches to allow room for bigger bottoms

* An ambulance organization in Colorado retrofitted its vehicles with a winch and a plus size compartment to accommodate patients up to a side a ton in weight

* A casket maker in Indiana now offers double-sized models

* One in four Americans gets ZERO exercise, one-third of Americans do not get the minimum amount the municipal suggests we need just to avoid chronic disease

* The ordinary child will watch 10,000 commercials per year touting food or beverages, close to all of them for junk and fast food


So what's the answer to the question, "why are we so fat?" What performs this projection reveal? Are overweight households deficient in fat burning hormones? Was the obesity gene found and isolated, confirming that your genetics determine whether fat is fate? Does blood sugar and insulin go haywire in a little customers regardless of how properties eat or how they exercise? Has it in the end been demonstrated that carbohydrates make us fat? Is the appetite mechanism in the brains of obese people out of kilter?

Although there may be a sliver of truth and scientific fact in every of the statements above, none of them are the real reason we are so fat. The conclusions earned in the National Geographic article on the other hand, are refreshing, because they are the better ones, and the many obvious ones: The reason we are so fat is because we eat too much and exercise too little. Surprise, surprise!

"For all the Americans who've blamed bulging bellies on a ongoing metabolism, the jig is up," says Newman. "A report earlier this year by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) ultimately confirms what many of us did not want to admit: We're fat as we eat a lot - a whole lot more and more than we used to, and most of the substantiate comes based on refined carbohydrates (sugar)."

Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition at New York University is quoted in the news story as saying, "How about some common sense? It's a child's matter of eating fewer calories. But there isn't anybody that wants to talk about calories because doing so performs not market books."

Truer words hold never been heard spoken. Unfortunately, few people want to listen to that simple message, "Eat less, exercise more," because various people are too busy looking for the newly drafted breakthrough or the "next big truth in fat loss." Besides, fat loss couldn't be that simple, could it?

Well, maybe fat loss certainly isn't "easy", and certainly "eat less, exercise more" is an OVER-simplification, but the fundamental cause of obesity really IS who simple and the realities confirming it are now in:

According to the CDC report, we ate 1775 pounds of food per year per person in 2000, up of 1497 pounds in 1970.

In the 70's, we ate 136 pounds of flour and cereal products and now it's up to 200 pounds per past customer - and the increase in value is just about all of processed, grey flour, high sugar foods. Not to mention, anything and everything has carried on Super-sized. Example: 1955 McDonald's French fries - 2.4 ounces, 210 calories. 2004 Super size Fries - 7 ounces, 610 calories.

When you add this increased food intake (mostly refined food) on top of the lack of exercise encouraged by technology, cars, video games, television, washing machines, riding lawnmowers, elevators and supplementary current conveniences, you have the recipe for obesity on a foreign scale.

In all our searching and waiting for the latest scientific discovery, the newest pill, or the next breakthrough supplement that am able to free us based on what i read in the shackles of person fat, most purchasers have continued to overlook or ignore that easy and obvious advice: "Eat less, exercise more."

Is it really that simple? Isn't there a lot further to it? Well, yes, of course. There's how much a lower amount of do you eat, what do you eat, how much you exercise, what kind of exercise and so on. But those are just details. Often what we must do, in order to see the big picture clearly, is to reduce the problem to its most basic grade FIRST before worrying about any details.

A principle referred to as Occam's Razor was proposed by English philosopher and theologian William Occam in the 14th century. It said, "Entities should not be multiplied beyond what is necessary." Plainly stated, it says, "The simplest and most obvious solution to a problem is usually the most ideal one and the correct one."

Does accepting this clear answer to the obesity epidemic make the method of losing the weight any easier? Perhaps not, at least not physically. Permanent fat loss will continually make sweat, discipline and effort, and as with freedom and liberty, "eternal vigilance" will be the price that ought to be brought in to keep the fat off after it is lost. In addition, it can be naive not to admit that genetics do play a small role, so weight detriment will be a greater challenge for some than for others.

However, if we would stop allowing ourselves to be so caught up and immobilized by the myriad of different weight decrease supplies and theories today and easily acknowledge, accept and practice the simple advice given to us in Newman's article - that we've all heard a thousand times before - "Eat less, exercise more," (especially "exercise more" to impact the fat, rather than starve the fat with strict diets), we would not only be rewarded with results, we can also see the fog of confusion that appears to shroud the whole "weight loss thing" commence to lift. Certainty would take its place, and that might at least give us the confidence to continue to forge ahead towards our goals.