According to the Centers for Disease Control, 70 percent of Americans over 20 are overweight or obese. (To calculate your own status, click here.) We have many euphemisms for the condition—heavy, stocky, large, big-boned – but the problem is fat, and while fat is associated with diseases such as diabetes, heart trouble, stroke and Alzheimer’s, fat itself can be a symptom of something wrong in the body’s ability to deal with blood glucose.
This mismanagement of glucose affects millions of people who go through life unaware that they have the condition. And while exercise can help reduce this mismanagement, more than 80 million Americans age six and older were completely inactive in 2019.
Personal choice is a factor in what we eat, and often that choice is influenced by where we live and the prevailing culture. For example, a survey of the “fattest states” reveals big differences by region. Mississippi, West Virginia and Arkansas, for example, have the largest percentage of obese adults. The smallest percentage of obese adults are found in Hawaii, New Jersey and Massachusetts.
Most Obese States – Hover for ranking
Cultural inducements to obesity, whether it be a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich, or Wisconsin fried cheese curds, can be overcome with a basic understanding of how the body works, and what happens to food when it is digested and enters the bloodstream as glucose. Fad diets do not address the basics of the body, often contain misinformation and confusions, are linked to product sales and do not give the understanding necessary to gain certainty and understanding sufficient to take control of one’s own health.
eSavvyHealth’s free ebooks and classes on blood sugar and carbohydrates cut through the noise and give a basic understanding of one’s own body, essential for health and longevity.
