The Obesity Effect

Odds are good that if you step on the scale this morning, you are not going to like what you see. It’s gotten so bad that the Center for Disease Control now estimates that 1/3 of American adults are overweight; another 1/3 are obese.


Why is obesity such a concern? The health data is so alarming. It’s an epidemic that is causing concern at the highest levels of government. It has an impact on so many areas, cost, quality of life and productive workforce. We are really putting ourselves at such a huge disadvantage in a global economy by having a nation that is vastly overweight.

Dr. David Thatcher, previous Surgeon General of The United States says, “We have addicted ourselves and our children to sedentary lifestyles and diets that are high in fats, salt and sugar.”

Obesity dramatically increases the risk of diabetes. It increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, hypertension and many forms of cancer. Think about the costs of healthcare and the role chronic diseases play. Obesity is a major factor in all the diseases just listed.

Healthcare costs are staggering. About 147 billion dollars a year are spent directly related to obesity and the underlying related health conditions

Adult obesity rates have doubled in the past 30 years. We’ve been grabbing food on the go, sometimes supersized instead of sitting down to that home cooked family meal. On average, we consume 300 more calories every day than 25 years ago, and we are not burning them off. Today, we spend less time walking and more time driving, sitting in front of the computer or TV.

Food retailers do have a role. When consumers choose more and more fresh, unprocessed whole foods, the retailers will fall in line to provide what you buy. Even if fresh foods cost more, it’s worth it. It’s going to cost you one way or another, either your health or money. Either way you pay. It’s best to pay on the front end, buying nutritious foods. And those backend healthcare costs may only get bigger. In children, obesity rates are about 4 times higher than they were 40 years ago.

Part of the problem is that we don’t see the full impact of obesity in children until many decades later. So the children who are now growing up obese are 20 to 30 years down the road going to have horrendous problems that we’ve really not seen before.

So, what can we do? Maybe taxing sugary drinks like soda would help, as Washington State has done. But the beverage industry has successfully fought such a tax in several other states. Meanwhile, at the White House, the first family is leading by example. The First Lady has made fighting childhood obesity her signature effort with her “lets move” campaign, which encourages kids to get more physical activity. 1/3 of today’s children and adolescents are overweight or obese.

With ballooning healthcare costs and threat of crippling disease, we need to act soon. We have a generation of children alive today who may live shorter lifespans than their parents, for the first time in 200 years, and the major cause for that is obesity.