From Your Health Journal…..”Obesity rates worldwide nearly doubled from 1980 to 2008, to 12% – alarming statistics. Adults and children worldwide have become more ’round’ and change is needed so everyone can lead a normal healthy lifestyle. One great suggestion in this article which I have mentioned for years is the fact it is very hard for many people to lose weight – so for some, the focus should be on how not to gain weight. Many times, the responsibility of losing weight is on the government, schools, or place of occupation. The truth is, everyone (with the exception of very young children) needs to take accountability for their own actions and life. This means….make the effort to take care of yourself by eating right and getting some physical activity. Get adequate sleep each night, and hydrate the body properly. The idea is to not let yourself get overweight. Once you do, it becomes harder to lose that weight. Highly recommend my readers to check out the full article.”

From the article…..

Michelle Obama would probably be happy if every child were like Precious Moore of Clinton, Mississippi. Precious has just turned nine and her favourite food is the hamburger. But she likes fruit, too. She and her mother take a quick walk together every day. “We always exercise, since I was four years old,” she explains proudly. Her seven-year-old sister often asks to go to McDonald’s, but Precious disapproves. “I don’t really like their food at all,” she says, scrunching her nose.

Precious and her ilk may be one reason why obesity rates in Mississippi are dipping from their towering heights. In 2005 some 44% of schoolchildren aged 5-18 were overweight or obese; last year the figure was down to 41%. Across America, obesity rates in 2010 among both children and adults seemed to be levelling out. It is unclear why. Recent anti-obesity initiatives may have helped. Dr Leibel of Columbia University thinks that Americans may be reaching their biological limit for obesity in an environment where food is cheap and exercise discretionary: those predisposed to obesity may have become fat already.

Whatever the explanation for the minor improvement, the broader problem is hardly wasting away. In Mississippi white children are slimming down but black children are as round as ever. American boys and men are still getting bigger, as are black and Mexican-American women. And in most of the rest of the world people still seem to be getting fatter faster.

According to Dr Stevens of the WHO and Dr Ezzati of Imperial College, London, obesity rates worldwide nearly doubled from 1980 to 2008, to 12%. Half of the increase was concentrated in just eight years, from 2000 to 2008. The fastest rise for women was in Oceania and parts of Latin America and for men in North America and Australasia. Even if obesity rates were to remain at their current levels, which seems too much to hope for, the consequences would still remain grave not just for the individuals concerned but also for world food supplies, productivity and government finances. This demands action.

To read the full story…..Click here