Gastric band weight loss surgery now being performed on underage teenagers

With the increase in obesity among children, some parents are turning to a relatively unexplored solution with their offspring: stomach stapling.
Stomach surgeries have been around for years, and its popularity has surged among adults in recent years – going from 12,775 to 70,256 surgeries in the U.S. from 1998 to 2002, according to the monthly Archives of Surgery journal. More recently, that number has increased to more than 120,000 a year.
But what about children? In 2004, only 350 kids in America had such an operation, according to federal statistics. Doctors have been hesitant to do the surgeries for more than one reason: for one, most stomach surgeries cut the stomach to make it operate as smaller "pouch," which has unknown health risks to a developing child -- the death rate among kids who do the surgery is around 1 in 50, which is twice the death rate among adults who have bariatric surgery.
As well, childhood obesity was not nearly as prevalent in American society compared to today. However, while bellies have grown, so has interest in the surgeries.
Mike Adams, a consumer health advocate who has written numerous health books, says the increase in bariatric surgery is a disappointing barometer regarding the future of America's health.
"It's disgusting that surgeons are now targeting young teens for bariatric surgeries, given that the real solution to childhood obesity can never be addressed by maiming a child's digestive system," Adams said.
"The way to deal with obesity is to teach nutrition, ban junk food advertising, remove vending machines from schools and end the manipulation of our children's health by food and soda companies."
In July, the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality hat said four in 10 weight-loss surgery patients develop problematic complications within six months after the surgery.
Incidentally, with the increase in surgeries comes an increase in cost to private health insurance companies – according to the University of Michigan Health System, in the year 2002 hospitals charged roughly $2 billion for the cost for more than 70,000 surgeries. Health insurers picked up the tab for 80 percent of that cost.
These costs are then often spread to other policyholders covered by the insurer.
Going to a hospital for stomach surgery costs an average of $29,000, a study by the UMHS showed.

Synthetic chemicals in food, personal care products found to influence obesity

According to University of Missouri-Columbia scientist Frederick vom Saal, endocrine-disrupting chemicals found in everyday plastics and pesticides may influence obesity. A study conducted there has found that these environmental substances can change the functioning of a fetus's genes, altering the metabolic system and predisposing him or her to obesity.

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What you need to know - Conventional View
• According to vom Saal, there are approximately 55,000 man-made chemicals in the world, 1,000 of which might fall into the category of endocrine disruption.

• When fetuses are exposed to these chemicals the way their genes function may be altered, making them more prone to obesity and disease, according to Vom Saal

• Environmental chemistry is the scientific study of the chemical and biochemical phenomena that occur in natural places.

• "You inherit genes, but how those genes develop during your very early life also plays an important role in your propensity for obesity and disease. People who have abnormal metabolic systems have to live extremely different lifestyles in order to not be obese because their systems are malfunctioning," vom Saal said.

• Using lab mice, vom Saal has studied the effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, including bisphenol-A, which recently made news in San Francisco during controversy over an ordinance that seeks to ban its use in children's products, according to Medical Research News.

• In a clinical setting, obesity is typically evaluated by measuring BMI (body mass index), waist circumference, and the presence of risk factors and comorbidities.

• Especially in recent decades, obesity has come to be seen as more of a medical condition or serious public health problem in modern Western culture.

• Excessive body weight has been linked to various diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, cancer, diabetes mellitus type 2, sleep apnea, and osteoarthritis, according to Wikipedia
What you need to know - Alternative View
Statements and opinions by Mike Adams, author of Grocery Warning: How to identify and avoid dangerous food ingredients

• The explosion in obesity over the last three decades is directly related to consumers' massive exposure to chemicals in foods, cosmetics, personal care products and home cleaning products.

• Living a green, "natural" lifestyle and consuming organic produce minimizes exposure to chemicals.

Junk food giants form "task force" that claims to combat child obesity

An alliance of major food corporations, entertainment companies, advertisers and the FCC has created a task force to combat childhood obesity. The task force, which calls itself "Media and Childhood Obesity: Today and Tomorrow," held its inaugural meeting March 21, 2007.

The task force was first announced last September and is being spearheaded by Senator Sam Brownback, Senator Tom Harkin, FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin and Commissioners Deborah Taylor Tate and Michael Copps. Participants include The Grocery Manufacturers/Food Products Association (GMA/FPA), Kraft Foods, Coca-Cola Company, General Mills, Kellogg Company, McDonald's, PepsiCo, Viacom, Discovery Channel, Walt Disney Company, Sesame Workshop, Association of National Advertisers and the American Association of Advertising Agencies.

At the task force’s first meeting, GMA/FPA’s chief government affairs officer, Mary Sophos, stated, "For more than three decades, the self-regulatory guidelines of the Children's Advertising Review Unit have helped to ensure that advertising to children by food companies is age and nutritionally appropriate, and reflects a balanced approach to health and nutrition."

Despite this claim, there is an epidemic of obesity among American children. Advertisers spend more than $10 billion annually on advertising children’s food products. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, children under the age of six cannot distinguish between program content and advertising.

"You must be kidding me. Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Kraft and Kellogg's are going to target childhood obesity? These are the companies whose products actually promote obesity," said consumer health advocate Mike Adams, author of The 7 Laws of Nutrition. "Although I welcome any positive change by these corporations that have, in my opinion, contributed significantly to the obesity problem in this nation today, I remain skeptical that they will take any meaningful action. This task force looks like a public relations stunt, not a serious effort to improve the health of children," Adams said.

The National Institutes of Health report that children who are obese have increased rates of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, liver disease and asthma. Overweight adolescents have a 70 percent chance of becoming overweight or obese in adulthood.

Obesity found to turn off appetite suppressant hormone

Obesity may cause the body to have trouble deciding when to stop eating, according to a study conducted at the Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC) and published in "Cell Metabolism." Researchers found that obese mice became desensitized to a hormone that controls appetite.

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What you need to know - Conventional View
• Scientists divided mice into two groups, and fed them either a high-fat or low-fat diet. The high-fat mice became obese and developed symptoms of diabetes.

• The obese mice's bodies became resistant to the hormone leptin, which is secreted by fat cells. Leptin is known to be critical in the regulation of energy intake (including appetite) and energy expenditure.

• The results suggest that obese mammals may actually have trouble knowing when stop eating.

• When the obese mice were placed on a low-fat diet and regained a healthy body weight, their body's sensitivity to leptin and healthy appetite regulation were restored.

• The United States has the highest rates of obesity in the First World, with an estimated 60 percent of adults overweight and 30 percent of adults obese. Obesity has been strongly linked to serious health problems such as cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes, as well as other cardiovascular, endocrine, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, integumentary, musculoskeletal, neurological, respiratory and psychological disorders.

• Quote: "This research demonstrates how a portion of the hypothalamus of the brain ... is negatively impacted by an overabundance of leptin. ... Eventually the cells behaved as if there was no leptin present, even though levels were 40 times higher than in normal animals." - Michael Cowley, associate scientist at ONPRC's Division of Neuroscience
What you need to know - Alternative View
Statements and opinions by Mike Adams, author of Natural Appetite Suppressants for Safe, Effective Weight Loss

• I am strongly opposed to using animals for medical research, including research on obesity. Most of this research is geared towards creating a blockbuster pharmaceutical, not helping people live healthier lives. In most animal research, conscious mammals are being tortured and destroyed in an effort to make more money by inventing yet more drugs to sell to consumers.

• The answer to obesity is already well known. Avoid all processed foods and dairy products. Exercise regularly and eat a low-glycemic diet high in fresh produce, unrefined plant-based oils and phytonutrients. The causes of obesity are not a mystery. The real mystery is why people keep buying and eating junk foods and sugary sodas when they know the detrimental health effects of doing so.

"Miracle" weight loss drug Alli delivers more than you bargained for (diapers optional)

When people ask, "What can I do to lose weight?" what they're really asking is, "What can I do to lose weight that doesn't require exercise or giving up all the junk foods I eat?" When it comes to weight loss, consumers are looking for a magic bullet -- a miracle pill that eliminates the responsibility of having to actually make adult decisions about their own health. GlaxoSmithKline has delivered the pot-of-weight-loss-gold at the end of the rainbow in the form of an over-the-counter drug called, "Alli."

Alli is bound to be a huge market success. Consumers are rushing to buy the latest fad drug in a desperate attempt to lose weight without having to give up their Krispy Kreme donuts or -- God forbid -- engage in physical exercise that might actually cause them to sweat (there is a great fear of exertion in America today). But while Alli will no doubt be a huge commercial success, it will prove to be an utter weight loss failure. Even in clinical trials, the drug only produced a few pounds of weight loss per year. You could lose more by walking five minutes a day, or drinking half a can of soda less than what you do now. As a serious weight loss aid, Alli falls short. Very short.

Speaking of shorts, Alli has some very entertaining side effects. The drug can cause explosive oily stools to involuntarily eject from your bowels. While that may sound like fun if you're at a frat party, it's certainly not an enjoyable experience when commuting, driving, or hanging out at the office. Dirtying your britches is bound to make the gossip rounds in mere minutes, earning you new nicknames and a repulsive, date-spoiling reputation that will be difficult to overcome. The manufacturer of Alli actually recommends that consumers "carry an extra pair of pants" with them at all times, just in case the side effects kick in. Why not just wear diapers?

Alli takers who brown their britches are the lucky ones, by the way. Imagine what happens when these side effects kick in while you're in the hot tub! Better yet, see the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7JMzDjIkVc (it's called "Hot Tub Mishap").

One mishap like that and you'll literally have to move to a new city and try to make new friends who hopefully haven't seen your video on YouTube. Yep: All it takes is one Alli accident + some creep at the office with a web cam mobile phone, and your ass is all over the internet in a very humiliating way. If you don't believe me, check out "Karate Guy Craps In His Pants" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZLq90YeNNg

Just think, this could be YOU!

I find it interesting that this weight loss drug makes adults need to wear diapers. It's quite appropriate, actually, since people who take these weight loss drugs are acting like babies about their own health. Americans just need to grow up and start acting like adults for a change. Put down the ice cream, turn off the TV and go bicycling for goodness sake. No, your mommie isn't around to MAKE you do it, you have to do it all by yourself. (And take those training wheels off the bike while you're at it.) Tie your shoes! Clean up your room! Don't eat the entire box of ice cream! Jeez...
Nutritional deficiencies
The dirty-your-britches side effect isn't the only thing about Alli that makes me wonder what kind of desperate weight loss newbies are going to pop these pills: I'm also concerned about the fact that the drug interferes with the absorption of essential fatty acids. Given that most overweight people are already extremely deficient in omega-3 fatty acids, DHA and other healthy oils, this Alli drug is likely to put them in an even worse state of deficiency.

The drug works by interfering with the digestion of dietary fats, you see. That may sound great if you're eating a diet of fried foods, hydrogenated oils and processed meat products, but even if you block the absorption of those obesity-promoting fats, you're still left in a state of deficiency concerning the healthy oils like omega-3 fatty acids. And if you eat more flaxseed or take fish oil capsules, guess what? Alli will interfere with those, too, causing you to miss out on at least some of their benefits.

What an incredibly genius idea for a drug! Transform adults into diaper-wearing little children, then leave them in a state of nutritional deficiency. Only a drug company could have thought of this one! (And only a desperate, gullible public could actually believe the hype on a drug like this...)

If you're considering taking Alli, you can save yourself the money by following these three simple steps: 1) Sit on the toilet. 2) Do NOT pull your pants down. Leave them on. 3) Go to the bathroom anyway.

Like magic, you will experience the same side effects of Alli, which will gross you out so much that you won't even feel like eating for several hours, which means fewer calories! Repeat this each day and in a year, you'll lose weight! Be sure to stock up on extra undies before attempting this miracle weight loss recipe, because you'll need lots of spare laundry.

Alli is the only weight loss drug I know of that causes you to lose more self respect than body fat. Maybe it should be marketed as a "self image loss" drug instead of a weight loss drug.
Here's what really works for weight loss
Now, let's get serious for a moment and talk about legitimate weight loss strategies. First, you've got to control your appetite through a program of nutritional supplementation with superfoods and trace minerals. Your body is hungry because it's malnourished! And all the processed food you keep eating is devoid of real nutrition, which explains why you're still hungry even after eating an entire bag of cookies, chips, donuts or whatever.

Read my book Natural Appetite Suppressants for Safe, Effective Weight Loss to learn more about natural strategies that really work for reducing appetite and eliminating cravings, or you can start by consuming trace minerals and microalgae like spirulina, chlorella or blue-green algae.

Secondly, you've got to engage in regular exercise. Gee, you've heard that a million times already, right? That's because it's a necessary component of weight loss. Mark my words: There is no way to lose weight without exercise unless you're dying from some disease. Exercise is essential -- it boosts muscle mass, increases metabolism and tells your body to shed fat. Sunlight also helps, too. Get more sunlight and your body will drop even more fat.

Finally, you've simply got to stop eating refined sugars, processed carbs and hydrogenated fats. That means no soft drinks, cookies, cake, sweets, white flour, white bread, sugary cereal and other such foods. EVER. Yes, ever.

Let me be blunt: You can either have your cake and be obese, or you can give up the cake and maintain a healthy weight. You can't have your cake and eat it and expect to be thin, even if you take Alli or some other worthless weight loss drug. Alli does not "UNDO" all the fat-inducing foods you've put into your body. You're still going to face the ramifications of everything you swallow, and that means a lifetime of being overweight if you keep eating processed, factory-made foods.

Period. End of story.

Pepsi admits Aquafina comes from tap water

It's a great marketing gimmick: A bottle of water with a clean, blue label showing images of snow-capped mountains and the claim, "Pure water, perfect taste." That's the image created by Pepsico's Aquafina brand of water, and many consumers leap to the incorrect conclusion that Aquafina is sourced from mountain spring water.

In reality, Aquafina comes from tap water. Yes, the same water you get when you turn on your kitchen faucet. Of course, Aquafina is filtered, purified and perhaps even enhanced with trace amounts of added minerals, but it's certainly not mountain spring water. It's just processed tap water -- the same stuff that fills your toilet bowl when you flush.

Both the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) and the FDA believe there's really no need to require bottled water manufacturers to admit their products come from tap water. No surprise there -- both these organizations routinely act to protect the interests of powerful corporations, and when it comes to bottled water, the biggest companies are often those sourcing the lowest quality water (such as tap water).

This idea that consumers should not be informed their high-priced bottled water is really just filtered tap water is consistent with the aims of food, drug and beverage corporations, who almost universally agree that consumers should be given less information, not more, about the products they're swallowing. Over the last several decades, corporations have vigorously opposed truth in labeling laws and regulations, including those requiring the labeling of trans fatty acids, sodium content and even ingredients lists! (If the food corporations had their way, all ingredients would be considered "proprietary formulas" and not listed on the label at all.)

This bottled water issue brings to light the apparent deceptive practices of some of the largest suppliers of bottled water products. By avoiding the honest labeling of the source of their water while relying on snow-capped mountain imagery, these companies quietly mislead consumers into thinking their water products are from a pristine, natural source such as a mountain spring.
CAI pressures PepsiCo to tell the truth
PepsiCo only agreed to tell the truth on their bottled water labels after being pressured by Corporate Accountability International (CAI), a non-profit organization that helps protect consumers from corporate abuse. See their website at http://www.stopcorporateabusenow.org

CAI rallied consumers from around the world to complain to PepsiCo about the current labeling of Aquafina, and thousands of consumers slammed PepsiCo's phone lines so hard that the company was forced to shut down call center operations. CAI told NewsTarget that within 30 minutes after the call-to-action announcement went live, PepsiCo's consumer phone lines were no longer being answered and would not allow callers to leave voice mails. Pepsi executives reportedly held an emergency meeting and made a decision to add the phrase, "Public water source" to Aquafina labels.
Reluctantly admitting a small part of the truth
Even then, the phrase "public water source" isn't very descriptive. To some people, the phrase simply implies that Aquafina is itself a public water source. It's not the same as admitting, "Aquafina comes from tap water," which would be a far more honest way to label the product. But PepsiCo seems to have no interest in advertising the source of their Aquafina product, and my guess is that the "public water source" text on the label will be really small and difficult to read. It's much like the labeling of side effects of prescription drugs: They bury the bad news somewhere that most consumers won't ever look.

Aquafina is currently the top-selling bottled water brand in the United States. According to CAI, 4 out of 5 consumers now drink bottled water, and 1 out of 5 drink it as their sole water source! (Gee, that's a lot of plastic going to landfill, too...)

The bottles used to package bottled water are almost always made from plastics containing bisphenol-A (BPA), a carcinogenic chemical that often leaches into the water and gets swallowed by consumers. Click here to read our articles on BPA, a chemical widely believed to contribute to certain cancers. This contamination factor, however, is true for all products stored in plastic bottles, not merely water. Sports drinks, sodas, fruit drinks and even "healthy" smoothie drinks packaged in plastic all share a common risk of BPA contamination.
Bottled water vs. public water infrastructure
The widespread shift towards bottled water products is increasingly causing consumers to lose faith in public water infrastructure, which ultimately leads to public reluctance to support investment in public water supplies. This concerns many cities who are worried that a lack of public support will cause funding for water infrastructure to erode.

These people tend to describe treated municipal water as remarkably pristine and safe for human consumption. In my opinion, however, tap water should never be swallowed without filtering it, since tap water contains scary levels of toxic chemicals such as chlorine and fluoride, a dangerous water additive chemical often contaminated with arsenic. (Click here to learn the truth about water fluoridation.)

So I wouldn't drink from the public water supply in the first place, but neither do I rely on bottled water. I use a water filtration system to clean tap water before I drink it. (Coincidentally, this is similar to what PepsiCo does when creating Aquafina water, except PepsiCo uses plastic bottles, where I only drink out of glass or stainless steel.)

You can get clean public water in places like Hawaii, Oregon and anywhere that's close to the mountains, but most folks in first world nations are getting tap water that's far from pristine. The public water infrastructure in the U.S. may be among the best in the world, but that's not saying much. I won't even shower in U.S. public water without using a chlorine filter on my shower head. (Recommended brand: Aquasana at http://www.aquasana.com )
My view on PepsiCo
Since this story has much to do with PepsiCo, I thought I would offer my personal opinion on this corporation. In my opinion, PepsiCo is a highly destructive corporation that is partially responsible for obesity, diabetes, depression and bone disorders among hundreds of millions of people around the world. Through its aggressive (and deceptive, in my opinion) marketing campaigns, lack of corporate ethics and ready willingness to exploit human beings for profit, PepsiCo has risen to be one of the most financially profitable yet ethically bankrupt organizations on the planet.

If PepsiCo were to disappear from the face of the earth tomorrow, humanity would be healthier the very next day. PepsiCo's brands include: (followed by my opinion statement about that particular brand)

Frito-Lay: Dangerous junk food that contributes to obesity, heart disease, cancer, depression and other serious diseases.

Pepsi-Cola: Toxic beverages that destroy bone mineral density and poison consumers with chemical sweeteners in diet drinks.

Gatorade: Crap sports drinks that contain artificial colors made from petrochemical derivatives.

Tropicana: A low-end fruit juice brand engaged in deceptive labeling for many of its products.

Quaker: This is perhaps the only tolerable brand in the PepsiCo portfolio. Oatmeal is essentially good for you, although instant oats and all the sugars found in many oatmeal products make it a rather high-glycemic food that's not recommended for most people (especially diabetics or obese people).

Put it all together and you have a collection of some of the least healthy foods and beverages on the market today. When future historians examine today's epidemics of obesity and diabetes, they will no doubt scrutinize the role of companies like PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, both of which are partly to blame for modern disease epidemics. Both companies, by the way, continue to engage in routine marketing of junk foods and sodas to children.

Pepsico is a corporation that won't even list the acrylamide content in their fried foods. Nor will it publicly admit that high-fructose corn syrup has any link whatsoever to obesity. PepsiCo, in my opinion, is a corporation living in a deviant reality, unwilling to take responsibility for its role in poisoning the population through its toxic food and beverage products.

That's my personal opinion of PepsiCo, its brands and its products. Personally, I wouldn't buy anything made by PepsiCo. I have no desire to financially reward this company by purchasing its products. If anything, we should all be boycotting PepsiCo products (and Coca-Cola, for that matter) and getting our water from somewhere else.

When traveling through airports, of course, I am sometimes forced to buy Aquafina or Dasani, as nothing else is available. This is the only time you'll ever see me drinking out of a PepsiCo bottle.

If I were in charge around here, I would immediately ban all advertising of junk foods, sodas, snack foods, cigarettes, pharmaceuticals and other harmful substances. It's the only sane thing to do if we care about the future of our children. Of course, such advertising bans will never actually take place because corporations run the government. See my CounterThink Cartoon, Government of the People for a humorous depiction of this current state of affairs.

And as far as Pepsi's water brand goes, I think it should be renamed to AquaFib.

Health news from a parallel universe (satire)

Today I'm bringing you something extra special: Health news from an alternate universe! In this alternate universe, logic is reversed, good is bad, and trees grow with their branches stuck in the dirt and their roots stretched high into the air. In this alternate universe -- which we'll call "Allopathia" -- there's lots of health news printed every day just like in our own universe. The difference is that their health news makes no sense.

Want to see a taste of it? Here are some of the health headlines that appeared earlier this week in the twisted universe of Allopathia:
Antioxidants will kill you
All this week, the news outlets in Allopathia were reporting that antioxidants greatly increased the rate of skin cancer. Nutrition, it seems, actually causes cancer in Allopathia, and the only way for people living in that alternate universe to protect themselves from skin cancer is to coat themselves with synthetic chemicals that, in our universe, actually cause cancer! But in Allopathia, those chemicals are apparently inert.
FDA to regulate sunscreen
The universe of Allopathia, being a parallel universe to our own, has it's own version of the Food and Drug Administration. And just yesterday, their FDA announced they would regulate sunscreen -- a product that is neither a food nor a drug. And get this: They're going to give higher (better) ratings to sunscreen products that cause the greatest vitamin D deficiency to their citizens! Apparently, in the univers of Allopathia, the products that cause the most harm to the people receive the highest ratings from government regulatory agencies. Thank goodness our own FDA would never resort to such silliness.
Gastric bypass surgery is good for you!
The Allopathia press is also reporting this week that gastric bypass surgery is really good for you! The more people who undergo the barbaric procedure, we're told, the healthier the population will be. Removing huge sections of a person's digestive organs is, we're told, a great way to reduce their risk of heart disease. Apparently, it's even better than teaching people how to be healthy in their food and dietary choices. In Allopathia, surgery triumphs yet again!
Raw foods are not raw, they're pasteurized!
The Allopathia version of the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) has announced that foods labeled as "raw" may now be pasteurized (i.e. "cooked" long enough to kill anything living). This is one of the many ways in which the Allopathia universe is twisted and upside-down: Raw is cooked, cooked is raw, genetically modified is safe, and wild foods and herbs are dangerous. Of course, in our own universe, we're not so stupid as to think that cooked = raw, but apparently, in Allopathia, this idea doesn't seem strange at all. (I wonder if they also subscribe to the ridiculous idea that war = peace…?)
More antipsychotics for children, coming right up
Although we would never do such a silly thing in our own universe, FDA officials in Allopathia recently approved yet more psychotropic drugs for children. Yes, it's true: Children in Allopathia all suffer from underdiagnosed pharmaceutical deficiencies, requiring them to be treated with yet more chemical in order to "balance" their brain chemistry. The latest chemical, known as Risperdal, belongs to a class of mind-altering drugs that may also cause rapid weight gain. With its use now being approved in children as young as 10 years old (and with off-label use on infants as young as six months old), the increase in numbers of chemically-treated, obese angry young males is soon to follow. (Please wear Kevlar body armor in the public schools if you visit Allopathia any time soon…)
Obesity is caused by a virus!
In Allopathia, obesity isn't caused by eating too much, avoiding exercise and consuming lots of processed sugars; it's actually caused by a virus! You read that right: It's a tiny packet of DNA that invades the bodies of Allopathia citizens and magically causes them to gain weight, completely beyond their control. The presence of this virus is a fascinating difference between our two universes, but it helps explain why the rate of obesity among the adult population in Allopathia now exceeds 35%. Let's all hope they can find a vaccine so they can inject everyone and eradicate obesity in one massive, heroic vaccination campaign!
Now for the news in our own universe
As strange as all this news seems, I regret to inform you that I have made a mistake. I just returned from visiting Allopathia, and while I was there, I was actually reading the news from the mainstream press in America, right here in our own universe!

Every news item mentioned here is factual news that has been reported in the mainstream media this past week, right here on planet Earth. Not a single story here is fictional.

This is even more astonishing than the idea that there is an alternate universe named Allopathia! Because, you see, the shocker here is not that things are upside-down and insane in some other fictional place, but rather that things are insane right here, right now!

The mainstream media has lost its marbles. The FDA is irreversibly corrupt, and the USDA remains hopelessly ignorant about the one thing it's supposed to regulate: Food! Ideas that would have been considered downright idiotic a decade ago (like labeling pasteurized foods as "raw") are now openly pushed onto the public. A generation ago, parents would have thought you were nuts if you said their children suffered from "chemical deficiencies" and needed to be treated with patented pharmaceuticals; yet today parents are lining up to have their kids drugged almost as quickly as they're popping "happy pills" themselves.

Even just five years ago, most people essentially understood that nutrition is good for you. Antioxidants and other plant-based nutrients protect your health and prevent disease, right? Not anymore: Twisted science combined with a pro-Pharma agenda and limitless influence on the mainstream media has turned the popular press into a nutrient attack dog, and ominous stories about the extreme dangers of taking vitamins or supplements are now published at regular intervals (just to remind the citizens to keep taking drugs, of course).

The insanity of Allopathia is actually our own. WE live in an alternate universe where logic is reversed, bad is good, nature is dangerous, sunlight will kill you, nutrition is deadly and health is only protected or enhanced by taking more synthetic chemicals.

Wow. If there really is an alternate universe somewhere, and intelligent beings from that place are watching us right now, they probably have an itchy finger on the big red button, and they're asking each other, "Do we let this experiment run a little longer, or have we seen enough?"

If it were not for all the psychologically impactful television ads, authority-driven pronouncements from the FDA and distorted science from smart-sounding (but bought off) researchers, very little of what's going on in medicine today would be considered reasonable at all. And yet somehow, the drug companies, government regulators and mainstream media have accomplished the impossible: They've managed to get most of the population to believe they need chemicals to be healthy and that nutrition will kill them.

Bravo. It's one of the most elaborate (and successful) mind-warps in history.

Work stress found to promote obesity

Stress experienced at work significantly increases a person's risk of obesity in general and central obesity in particular, according to a study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

According to lead researcher Dr. Eric J. Brunner of the Royal Free and University College London Medical School, the study provides "firm evidence that high psychological workload, together with lack of social support at work, acts as a causal factor for obesity."

Prior studies have linked chronic stress to heart disease as well as metabolic syndrome, a combination of medical disorders tied to an increase in a person's risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Central obesity, or excess belly fat, is one of the symptoms of metabolic syndrome.

The researchers monitored 3,413 women and 6,895 men for 19 years, questioning them several times about their levels of job strain, which was defined as having heavy demands, little decision-making power and little social support at work. All participants were between the ages of 35 and 55 at the beginning of the study.

Regardless of sex, people who reported job strain on one occasion were 17 percent more likely to develop obesity or central obesity than those who reported none. Those who reported stress on two occasions were 24 percent more likely to become obese and 41 percent more likely to develop central obesity. Those who reported job strain on three or more occasions had a 73 percent higher chance of developing obesity and a 61 percent higher chance of developing central obesity.

Because a correlation is not necessarily proof of causation, the researchers adjusted for factors that could be related to both job stress and obesity, including smoking and socioeconomic status. This adjustment reduced the strength of the correlation between stress and obesity only slightly, leading to Brunner's claim that job stress is, in fact, one of the causes of obesity.

Junk Food Ads, Fast Food Increasing Teen Obesity

Many of the television commercials seen by teenagers are for junk food products. According to research released this week by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, this may be a major reason obesity rates continue to rise among 12-17 year-olds. The studies examined by researchers at the University of Illinois-Chicago and University of Michigan concluded that 26% of TV ads seen by teens were for food products. The vast majority of these products contain high amounts of fat, sugar and sodium.

The groups most impacted by junk food ads are low-income and minority teens. With higher percentages of fast food restaurants in urban communities and race specific junk food marketing campaigns, it is obvious why teens in these groups are experiencing skyrocketing obesity rates.

To make matters worse, poorer and nonwhite neighborhoods also have fewer fruit and vegetable markets, bakeries, specialty stores, and natural food stores. In the Detroit metropolitan area the poorest African American neighborhoods are an average of 1.1 miles further from the nearest supermarket than are impoverished white neighborhoods, according to a 2005 study by the Institute of Medicine.

Teens also have few healthy choices at school. According to the research, many middle schools and high schools offer more unhealthy foods than nutritious foods. Many people believe schools carry a substantial burden of responsibility -- just behind parents and individuals -- when it comes to addressing childhood obesity.

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) serves twenty-nine million school children every day and costs American taxpayers more than $7 billion a year to provide "nutritionally balanced" meals. Many students, however, fill up on items such as soft drinks, chips, and cookies, which are high in added sugars, fats, calories, and sodium, but low in nutrition. Such "junk foods" sold in vending machines, cafeteria a la carte lines, and school stores are known as "competitive foods" because they compete with federally funded meals.

In the article “Soft Drink Pouring Rights,” New York University Professor and renowned author Marion Nestle stated the following:

Healthy People 2010 objectives call for meals and snacks served in schools to contribute to overall diets that meet federal dietary guidelines. Sales in schools of foods and drinks high in calories and low in nutrients undermine this health objective, as well as participation in the more nutritious, federally sponsored, school lunch programs. Competitive foods also undermine nutrition information taught in the classroom. Lucrative contracts between school districts and soft drink companies for exclusive rights to sell one brand are the latest development in the increasing commercialization of school food. These contracts, intended to elicit brand loyalty among young children who have a lifetime of purchases ahead of them, are especially questionable because they place schools in the position of “pushing” soft drink consumption. “Pouring rights” contracts deserve attention from public health professionals concerned about the nutritional quality of children's diets.

As of March 2007, federal efforts to establish consistent nationwide nutrition standards for all competitive foods and beverages sold in schools was embodied in the Child Nutrition Promotion and School Lunch Protection Act of 2007. First introduced in both houses in May 2006, the bill was reintroduced in the 110th Congress and has continued to enjoy bipartisan support from numerous co-sponsors.

In May 2006, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Health and Human Services released a report recommending concrete steps that industry can take to change their marketing and other practices to make progress against childhood obesity.
Among the agencies recommendations are that food companies:

• Intensify their efforts to create new products and reformulate existing products to make them lower in calories, more nutritious, more appealing to children, and more convenient to prepare and eat;
• Review and revise their marketing practices with the goal of improving the overall nutritional profile of the foods marketed to children, for example, by adopting minimum nutritional standards for the foods they market to children, or by otherwise shifting emphasis to lower-calorie, more nutritious products;
• Review and revise their policies to improve the overall nutritional profile of the products they market and sell in schools.

In focusing on racial and ethnic populations in which childhood obesity is more prevalent, the agencies recommended that:

• Food companies make a concerted effort to include, as part of their marketing of more nutritious, lower-calorie foods, promotions that are tailored to these communities; and
• Food companies, the media, and entertainment companies tailor their outreach efforts to promote better nutrition and fitness to these populations.

In 1983, food marketers spent $100 million on television advertising to kids. Today, they pour roughly 150 times that amount into a variety of mediums that seek to infiltrate every corner of children’s worlds. The average American child today is exposed to an estimated 40,000 television commercials a year — over 100 per day. Since 1980, childhood obesity rates have tripled among adolescents.

Going Raw for Weight Loss

How many overweight wild antelope have you ever seen? What about morbidly obese zebras waddling around the savannah? Wild animals don’t deal with overweight or obesity issues. Wild animals don’t usually eat cooked or processed foods. They eat raw foods, in their natural state and maintain ideal body weight. The human body is designed to run on the clean fuel of raw foods too, just like all the other animals. Through our experiments with cooking and processing foods however, we have moved ever further away from simplicity, towards the so-called ‘Franken-foods’ and we pay for it with our health. Our addictions to processed starches, refined sugars and greasy foods lead to widespread obesity, which we then try to ‘fix’ with yet more processed, chemical pills, powders and packet ‘diet’ foods.

The majority of people in the UK and USA are dealing with overweight or obesity issues. The consequences are enormous – from increased illness and medical costs, to ‘lost’ work days, family tensions and more. The obesity epidemic infiltrates all aspects of life. Not surprisingly then, the weight loss market is one of the largest industries in the world and growing constantly. Bombarded with slimming plans, pills, powders, and pre-packaged, processed diet foods, slimmers fret about calories, fat grams, low-carb, no-carb and all number of issues. There are literally thousands of different diets available and a HUGE amount of conflicting information. It can be very confusing to decide how to lose weight.

In contrast, a raw food lifestyle is all about keeping it simple. No more calorie counting or portion controlling – it’s about returning to natural, nutrient-rich foods. Choosing to simply include more raw foods daily, as part of a permanent lifestyle change, can help you lose weight, detox and enjoy much more energy.

Stop counting calories – ENJOY your weight loss…
The effects of going raw are well-documented – we look younger, hair and nails strengthen, skin gets clearer, pores tighten, eyes brighten, depression lifts, diseases heal and we feel energised. People undergo ‘raw-markable’ transformations. In addition to all those benefits, swift, sustainable weight loss is one of the primary effects of beginning a diet rich in raw foods. In my first year raw, for example, I lost around 7.5 stone (105lbs). If this lifestyle’s sustained, the weight loss is also easily maintained. I released around 11.5 stone (160lbs) in total and have kept it off for over three years.
This is a completely different approach to ‘dieting’. It’s not about how many calories something contains, the fat grams or the endorsements on the packaging. It’s about how it feels in your body - do you enjoy it, are you energised by it, are you feeling better?

The raw lifestyle is extremely cleansing. The body goes through an incredible transformation: toxins, including fats that have accumulated over years are released through massive detox. The body always works towards health, so when it suddenly receives potent enzyme and nutrient rich food with which to clean and cure itself, it seizes the opportunity to become much healthier, very quickly. In my opinion, eating more raw is easily the most natural, simple and rapid path to sustained weight loss available.

Most people however seem to look towards those unsustainable ‘quick-fix’ solutions for weight loss like dieting, ‘miracle’ powders/pills or even bariatric surgery. These solutions rarely provide satisfactory results in the long-run.

Diets Don’t Work…
The truth is that diets don’t work. Often, people just lose excess water when dieting. They’re thrilled to see a lower number on the scales and soon revert back to previous habits. They then re-gain weight (and often extra), ending up in a ‘yo-yo’ dieting situation. So, how is going raw different? I don’t see this as a temporary patch-up solution, or a diet we go ‘on’, waiting to come ‘off’ again at some point; for me, it’s a genuinely effective and loving lifestyle choice. We adjust to a permanent new abundance of fresh, raw food, which cleanses the body, nourishes and sustains us.

This path doesn’t chain you to endless diet club sessions and expenditures, nor is it funded by any multi-national pharmaceutical company. There is no big business behind raw fruits and vegetables - it is just simple, natural and effective. The great news too is that you don’t have to eat 100%, completely raw to feel the benefits – just eating more raw than cooked food will begin your healing. If you can simultaneously remove the primary ‘nasties’ in your diet – i.e. processed starches, refined sugars, pasteurised dairy - your cleansing and weight loss will progress dramatically.

One definition of madness is to keep doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. Yet people come ‘off’ a diet, revert back to previous eating habits and are surprised to find they re-gain weight and feel the same as before. A KEY aspect to understand is that making committed changes to your lifestyle will bring about complete changes in your body and well-being.

You are what you eat. Did you ever wonder what that really means? The foods you eat literally make up your cells. Consider food as messages to your body cells for a moment. The optimal foods for your body are natural things it can easily recognise. Your body can ‘understand the message’ when you eat fresh watermelon for example much more easily than denatured, pre-packaged low-fat ready-meals. The body has to work much harder to ‘unpack’ the information in the ready meal. It likely contains any number of preservatives, stabilisers, processed starches, trans-fats and so on – things that simply don’t occur in nature. There may be all kinds of claims on the box about how it will help you slim down and gain energy, but those aren’t the messages your body receives. With cooked/processed foods, the body isn’t getting the nutrients it needs, so it keeps asking for more, which ironically often leads to eating huge amounts of ‘empty’ foods, like pasta, sweets and snack foods. When we eat mainly raw foods, the body gets what it needs - enzymes, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients - in a form that’s easily understandable and useable.

The same principle goes for trying to lose weight permanently and successfully using medicines/pills. The body doesn’t recognise such chemicals – they only complicate matters in the long run. In the short term they may raise your metabolism and help you burn some fat, but in the long-term it is hard to even know what damage these chemicals may cause. Making long-term, permanent changes to your FOOD intake is the optimal way to natural weight loss, not ingesting chemical pills alongside a life-less diet. As Hippocrates put it ‘Let food be thy medicine’.

How do I eat raw for weight loss?
For most people, ‘going raw’ seems like a huge change. I want to re-emphasise that to see real and effective weight loss, there is no demand that you MUST be 100% raw, now or ever, or indeed do anything that doesn’t feel comfortable to you. Try starting with baby steps. Ultimately, the most important message here is to EAT MORE RAW – it doesn’t matter if you begin at 50, 60 or 70% raw, as long as you’re eating more raw than you used to, and more raw foods than dead, cooked foods (or at least equal amounts of each), you will start to see results.

In the beginning especially, if you’re coming from a junk food background, like I was, anything is an improvement as you’re moving away from processed foods towards more natural produce. People usually fear that to eat more raw means it’s all carrot sticks and apples from here on. That need not be the case at all. It’s possible to produce incredibly lavish raw meals, as gourmet as you like. The advantage with raw foods is that even if you eat raw cake all day long in the beginning (not recommended), you would still likely lose weight, because you’re NOT eating those other toxic foods anymore and you ARE receiving masses more nutrients. When dieting, people often feel deprived, as they’re calorie counting and weighing foods and these restrictions can feel very un-nurturing. As a result, when the diet ends, they often swing into binge eating. Eating raw can alleviate so much of that pattern.

Just go for it – try it out for a day, a week or even a month and see the difference in your appearance, energy and health. The more raw foods you ingest compared to cooked, the more opportunity you have to release toxins/excess weight and regain health. The choice is yours, but the minimum level I suggest starting at is 50% raw (by weight, not volume of the food) and work up from there. That might mean eating only fruits before lunch, salads with all cooked meals, choosing all raw snacks and so on.

Taking it at YOUR pace…
Remember: this is about long-term, realistic changes, not about ‘magic-bullet’ solutions or being perfect at being raw, so take things at a pace that’s comfortable for you. Be aware that making a huge change from a very unhealthy diet to very high raw can be extremely demanding in terms of detox and you may experience a ‘healing crisis’ if you push too far, too fast. Your body stores many toxins in fatty tissue, so the faster the fat breaks down, the faster the toxins are released and too many toxins released too quickly can cause discomfort. Be sure to incorporate colon cleansing to aid the elimination process. Going 100% raw has many health benefits, including a clearer system, increased assimilation and greater energy and I certainly recommend it in the long-run, but in the beginning, it’s usually beneficial to take your transition gently.

You might find at first that you feel like eating nuts constantly, along with three avocadoes a day. It’s ok. Avocadoes won’t make you fat. Fats are an area where people tend to feel confusion and fear. Raw fats are completely different to cooked fats. Whereas cooked fats clog up the body with all kinds of toxins, raw fats such as those from avocadoes, olives, coconuts, nuts, seeds and oils nourish the body, soften the skin and actually promote weight loss. This is mainly because raw fats still have enzymes intact, especially lipase, which helps to break fat down, whereas with cooked/processed fats, the enzymes are mostly destroyed.

It is very likely you will eat more food at the start of going raw than you will further along this path, as your nutrient assimilation slowly improves. As you progress therefore, you will likely want to reduce your fat intake, but in the beginning, nuts and avocadoes are very useful and not to be feared/avoided – you can easily eat plenty of them and still lose weight ;)

Taking it to the next level – beyond the physical…
Something that really excites me about people going raw for weight loss is that it tends to foster exploration of many other aspects of themselves – not just the physical. Rather than it all just being a ‘weight issue’, people start to examine the emotional suppression and so on, underlying those excess pounds. They begin to unfold more and connect with hidden parts of themselves, reaching out to others for support. Far from being a ‘shallow’ process of losing some fat/water, then reverting to old habits, this is about positive, real life changes. Working through these shifts may feel tough in the short-term, but overall will leave you clearer and less likely to return to self-destructive patterns.

I see going raw as an incredible path for natural weight loss and healing on all levels. If you want to experience genuine, lasting shifts in your health and vitality, I say go for it – EAT MORE RAW - there’s nothing to lose but all that weight.

Top Three Tips for Successful Raw Weight Loss:

1. GET YOUR GREENS
Green vegetables alkalise and re-mineralise, which is vital for good health. At least one green drink daily is ideal – try fresh vegetable juice, a green smoothie or simply green powder like spirulina/green superfood mixture with water. Eat greens too, but know that having them as liquids means you can ingest larger quantities, with more assimilable nutrients.

2. AVOID EATING LATE AT NIGHT
Key for losing weight and keeping it off. Try not to eat after around 7-8pm, as digestive power is weaker at night. Avoid going to sleep on a full stomach. Foods eaten late at night ‘stick’ to the body much more.

3. ENJOY YOURSELF
I believe we’re here to enjoy ourselves. Avoid feelings of restriction and ‘deprivation’ by being creative and playful with foods. This is a big lifestyle change for many and if you’re not having fun, it’s not likely you’ll sustain it, so ENJOY!

Capsaicin from chili peppers may help prevent obesity, weight gain

Chili peppers, already seen as having anticancer properties, may also help you fight flab, according to new research involving mice from the National Chung Hsing University in Taiwan. Chili peppers are a prime source of capsaicin, and capsaicin is now being shown to prevent fat cells, or adipocytes, from growing into mature cells.

• The researchers said that early studies suggest eating chilis lower the amount of fat in the blood.

• The effective levels of capsaicin are found in people who regularly eat Thai or Indian diets, according to the researchers. The exact amount found to be effective is between 8 to 25 micromoles of capsaicin per day.

• Habaneras are the highest rated pepper for capsaicin content.

• Capsaicin is linked to fighting cancer because it promotes the natural cycle of programmed cell death, called apoptosis. Cancerous cells attempt to resist apoptosis and, if successful, eventually overtake the body with cancer.

• High intakes of hot chili peppers have been linked with increased risks of stomach cancer.

• Capsaicin has been linked to killing cancer without side effects.

Is World War lll The Solution To Obesity Problems?

Recent announcements in the press have confirmed the declining state of health and increasing obesity statistics in the UK. It is now clear that we were fitter, slimmer and healthier 50 plus years ago. Indeed no such thing as 'obesity statistics' even existed because 'fat' just wasn't an issue -- feminist or otherwise!

Researchers seem to agree that, with the average woman's waistline (for example) having burgeoned by almost 25% between the end of World War II and 2004 to some 34 inches, we were better off under rationing.

During the war years people walked more, ate less, and consumed a generally healthier and better balanced diet. Meat was in short supply and people ate a greater proportion of vegetables, many of which were home-grown! Butter was measured in mere fractions of a half-pound block per person per week. Yellow fats, as we know them, didn't really exist - and what was called 'margarine' was still unpleasant enough that there was little incentive to consume a great deal of it!

During the war, and post-war years for some time, people were rationed to just 2 ounces of butter per week; as little as 2 ounces of cheese per week; no more than 4 ounces of bacon per week; and one egg per week - when available! The nett result of this period of austerity was that the general health and well being of the public was far greater than it is in today's Western world of plenty!

Back in the world war years people 'pulled together'. These difficult times were renowned for the pervasive spirit of community and mutual support that flourished during a period of adversity. A far cry from today's world of disaffected youth, stressed out parents, abuse of recreational drugs, binge drinking, and increasing rates of violent crime and domestic dis-harmony!

George Orwell's classic novel "1984" indicated, on its post war publication, that it was already appreciated that a nation's working class 'proles', if kept in continuously austere conditions, were easier to manipulate and control. "Slavery is Freedom" and "War is Peace", the banners in that nightmare future scenario proclaimed!

Indeed it could be observed that today, in the West, we are often 'virtually' enslaved by our jobs in order to maintain our precious freedoms. It also seems that the concept of 'War is Peace' is a fairly apposite description for how the supposed 'war on terror' is frequently used by politicians to distract us from other 'prickly' issues.

Human nature seems to be such that when we have almost all we could ever need, we simply want more! We appear to have fallen prey to the belief that you "can't have too much of a good thing". It is becoming clear that, whilst we may arguably be misled about the definition of what should be classified as "a good thing" when it comes to food, our waistlines testify that you certainly can have too much of it!

So, it comes to this that in October 2007, the British Government have deigned to announce that parents will now be told if their children are getting 'too fat' after their statutory medical weigh-ins at the ages of 5 and 10, whether they have asked to be told, or not! What is wrong with this you ask? Well surely parents really ought to be able to see that their children are getting too fat for themselves, and actively be doing something about it. If they are not, then simply telling them that their kids are obese can hardly be expected to ring many changes in the household feeding habits.

This news follows hot-on-the-heels of research that has shown that that the disastrously booming obesity statistics in the UK are merely a result of the 'facts of modern life'. The 'fatties' of Britain have been asked why they are obese, and their response is that they blame 'society'. Apparently it is not their fault that they have become fat and unhealthy. It is all to do with the 'stresses of work' combined with the effects of 'labour saving devices' and 'convenience foods'. Such is the pathetic excuse of folks who feel they can't personally be held responsible for blatantly pandering to their own weak wills!

It is certainly evident that whilst the media seems to regale us weekly with ever more admonishments about the parlous state of our body-shape and our declining health, it won't be until we are forced to it that we will actually do something about it! Cue World War III, perhaps?

To Combat Obesity, Find Thinner Friends

Obesity is again vying with 'climate change' as the most prominent 'long-term human survival issue' discussed in the British media. Recent news items have been precipitated by emerging statistics showing that in the last 5 years the number of obese people in the United Kingdom has risen inexorably.

In the final quarter of 2007 it has been predicted that within 3 years approximately 33% of males and almost three tenths of the female population in the UK will become clinically defined as obese. This implies that the total number of obese Britons will have doubled in less than twenty years.

If this trend continues the indications are that well over half the population will become obese by about 2030, with a staggering four fifths of the population being considered overweight.

The last five years has seen unprecedented injections of cash into the UK's National Health Service (NHS) but much has been diverted to treat what some suggest are 'avoidable diseases'. Health problems related to obesity are already costing the NHS over GB£1 billion (US$2 billion) per year. Unless the issue is tackled rapidly and effectively it will become an intolerable burden on the public purse, estimated to amount to more than GB £45 billion (US$90 billion)annually, within the next 25 years.

Almost three fifths of the cases of type 2 diabetes and over one fifth of heart disease problems, in the UK, are already attributed to the sufferers being obese. These figures are set to rise in tandem with greater numbers of men and women carrying increasing amounts of excess fat.

Such forecasts have led expert's to proclaim that the UK cannot hope to provide sustainable world-class health care, or achieve a healthier nation if such trends continue.

The UK's Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, is now said to be backing the need for funding a long-term 'obesity action plan'. Current efforts to increase children's exercise levels, improve the nutritional quality of school food and impose stricter labelling requirements have so far had no discernible impact on the trend towards increasing levels of obesity.

As has so often been the case in the last 50 years, the UK appears to be following closely on the heavy heels of the United States with respect to obesity becoming a critical social concern. However, it is possible that recent US research implying that obesity might be 'contagious', could provide an insight to why numbers of seriously overweight citizens on both sides of the Atlantic are rising so rapidly.

Harvard Medical Researchers reported the findings of a 'heart study' that indicated that if you are surrounded by overweight family and/or friends you are more likely also to become overweight yourself.

Interestingly the effect seemed to be more significant between fat friends than fat family – dispelling any simple suggestion that genetics played a key role in these observations.

It has been subsequently speculated that when we are surrounded by obese or overweight people our perception of body related norms may shift and lead us to become overweight ourselves.

There has been a suggestion, on a positive note, that 'fat friends' may provide moral support for each other during a time when they are all trying to lose weight. However, the question must arise, if we are seriously trying to shed the pounds, should we simply 'dump' our fat friends and seek a new 'leaner' social network?

Seventy-Five Percent of U.S. Adults to be Overweight by 2015

Seventy-five percent of adults and 24 percent of children and adolescents in the United States will be overweight or obese within the next eight years, according to a study conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Human Nutrition and published in Epidemiologic Reviews.

"Obesity is a public health crisis," lead researcher Dr. Youga Wang concluded.

The researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 20 prior studies and four national surveys. They found that the proportion of the population that is overweight or obese has increased by an average of 0.3 to 0.8 percentage points per year since the 1960s. While the obesity percentage was then only 13 percent, it had increased to 32 percent by 2004. The researchers project that it will reach 41 percent by 2015. Among children and adolescents, 16 percent are currently overweight, while 34 percent are at risk.

While 66 percent of all U.S. adults were overweight or obese in 2003-2004, there were marked differences between different demographic groups. Fifty percent of black women over the age of 39 are currently obese, while another 30 percent are overweight. This percentage is unaffected by education, although in all other demographics people with more education have lower rates of obesity.

The prevalence of obesity was lowest among those of Asian descent, but Asians born in the United States are still four times more likely to be obese than those born in other countries.

Obesity rates are increasing fastest among women between the ages of 20 and 34, regardless of ethnicity.

Regionally, residents of states in the Southeast were significantly more likely to be overweight or obese than those residing in the Midwest, Northeast or along the West Coast.

Obesity is significantly correlated with a number of health problems and increased mortality, particularly cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Fast Food And Obesity:The Hidden Connection

Is there a connection between Fast food and obesity?
The answer to the above question is a big yes! Research scientists say that:
"fast foods increase the risk of obesity in regular consumers by encouraging intentional overeating."
Fast food and obesity are closely linked. Studies have shown that fast foods are very high in energy density (the amount of calories different foods contain weight for weight) and these high density foods can cause people to accidentally eat more calories than they need.
A typical fast food meal has an energy density 150% more than an average traditional meal. A fast food meal contains many more calories than a similar-sized portion of a healthy meal.
Many supermarket ready-meals and convenience foods are also very energy dense. To stem the tide of obesity, it’s important that we don’t just swap one unhealthy meal for another.
Fast foods also contain high amount of sodium(salt), oil, refined sugar and refined flour which are no good to the body. This combination of the foods is the most health harming and causes obesity.

Obesity and Weight Loss - Muscle and the Importance of Low Body Fat!

Today you have a good chance of getting diabetes or becoming obese or both. And if you do, then chances are you will be in for a long life filled with pain, discomfort and little quality in your life. However, it does not have to come to that.
Hi, my name is Greg Ryan. I am a high profile fitness expert. With thousands of weight loss success stories under my belt, I am here to encourage you to start exercising to lower your body fat levels.
If you are reading this, you already know you have a problem. You just need to know how to fix it and where to go for help. How do you fix obesity?
First, obesity means, your total body weight is at least thirty percent fat. When this happens, everything starts shutting down. Two things must occur in order for this not to get worse; lose fat and gain muscle.
Lose Fat: Through exercise and eating better.
Gain Muscle: Through weight training and weight bearing cardiovascular exercising.
One muscle cell burns off seven times the amount of one fat cell. So do your math. The more muscle tissue you have the more calories you will burn, even by just sitting. There is no easy way around this, you are going to have to get off your butt, or there is a good chance of something bad happening to you and your health. Incorporating, diet, exercise and movement in your life is really your only healthy choice. Do you need some help? If so, that’s ok. There are those here like myself that really care about you and are not out to make a quick buck with some pie in the sky pill.

Child Obesity and Diet

This article is looking at child obesity as the result of poor diet. Medical conditions resulting in child obesity, or the physical appearance of obesity, are issues to be discussed with your physician and beyond the scope of this article.
If you are concerned about your child possibly being overweight then you need to decide whether the excess weight is part of a growth pattern, that may change over time, or whether there is a weight problem. Your doctor will advise you on this. Child obesity can result in an increase in health problems. Don't be embarrassed about seeking help, your doctor would rather treat child obesity or teen obesity now, than diabetes or heart disease later.
Statistics show that the level of child obesity in America is amongst the highest in the world, and a major cause is a diet of fast food, or food that is high in fat or sugar. Most children, with a change in diet and an increase in exercise, should see an improvement.
Look at the diet of your child. Is it mainly takeaways and processed food? These often contain high levels of fat, sugar and salt and should be cut back. Snacking is a bad habit, think of the calories in a candy bar! Fizzy drinks can also pile on the weight, when pure water is what the body really needs.

Child Obesity - Who is to Blame?

As we look around at the current generation of children, one can notice more and more that child obesity is becoming a serious problem. A combination of technology, alternative forms of entertainment and poor food choices have greatly changed the path at which our children are taking toward the future. We are starting to see the consequences of lower energy expenditures coupled with poor nutritional habits. Unfortunately this problem is going virtually un-noticed by the majority of parents and the other people that influence our children.
Today’s technology provides children with a number of different exciting ways to spend their time. The children of today would much rather surf the internet, watch a DVD or play a video game instead of going outside to ride their bike or play in the park. These indoor activities burn very little extra energy and quite often lead to an increase in snacking. In days past parents would have a hard time getting their kids to come back inside where as now in many cases the opposite is true. They simply have a hard time getting their kids to go outside and play when these other options are available.
In addition to burning fewer calories children are being exposed to an increase of junk foods and processed foods. These types of foods have very little or no nutritional value and are loaded with trans-fats, sugar, artificial flavors and salt. An increase in technology in the food industry has made it easier to produce good tasting foods at very low cost using artificial and other low cost addictive additives. Tricky marketing that stretches the truth and convenient packaging has also made it more difficult for the consumer to seek out the product that best suits them from a quality nutrition standpoint

Obesity is Big Business

Obesity and overweight, weight reduction and weight management therapies, miracle weight loss pills are everywhere. Open the newspaper, switch on the T.V., pick up a magazine and you are sure to find ads and articles on the subject of weight loss and obesity.
Weight loss and obesity are big business. Here are some factors that can make you rich if you happen to start a business related to weight management.
Two thirds of America is overweight. Out of that, 50 % are obese.
300.000 premature deaths are caused by obesity. Obesity is the fastest growing epidemic in the world.
The world is hurling towards obesity at galactic speeds. Only 50 years back obesity was hardly hear of. Nearly 45 % of the world population is obese or overweight in 2004.
Weight loss related business that you can start and become rich.
Opening a weight loss counseling Centre
Become a nutritionist
Sell some good weight loss MLM products from herbal pills to weighing machines
Start researching and writing about weight management.
Start a campaign to fight obesity and become well known in your community or even in your city or country as a lose weight advocate. This will help you in any business you are planning. Start a weight loss Super store with every conceivable weight management related products and books.
Not to leave the healthier people you can start an obesity prevention centre

Obesity: The Gateway to Diseases

Do you know the name of that one disease which has spread in the U.S.A. like an epidemic? Are you aware of the fact that the maximum number of people suffering from this disease in the world are in no other country but U.S.A.? It might sound very surprising but it is true that obesity has tightened its grip on none other than the Americans. YES! The disease is Obesity, the very mild and harmless looking disease, which has often escaped the attention of the people. Because what people thought to be a simple case of overweight gradually took a bad shape in the form of obesity. The bulging paunch, the expanding waistline, the heavy fleshy face with eyes nearly closed or appearing like just two beads on a big sphere, these are the images of an obese which make others break into laughter suddenly. But obesity is much more than what just meets the eye.

Prejudice and Obesity - Have You Been a Victim?

It's a sad comment on human nature that prejudice and obesity go hand in hand. Ask any person who has battled with obesity and they'll be able to reel off a list of examples.
It begins at school, where some children have a knack of singling out anyone who's different from the rest for bullying and taunting. Children who are more overweight than their classmates are easy targets.
If they also happen to be of a different ethnic background from the majority of their classmates, their lives can become especially unpleasant.
Sadly, this attitude does not end when the child leaves school. Research has shown that prejudice and obesity is very much a fact of life in the workplace.
--The Sad Story of Mr X--
In a society obsessed with unrealistic ideals of how we should look, overweight job applicants have an especially tough time breaking into the job market. A typical story of prejudice and obesity in the workplace goes like this...
Mr X applies in writing for a job. The company replies positively to his letter by asking for a more detailed resume.
Then, Mr X receives an enthusiastic phone call asking him to come in for an interview. It's clear from the tone of the call and various other hints dropped by the caller that the interview is really just a formality, that Mr X is clearly the best qualified candidate.
But all this changes come the day of the interview. The members of the interview panel refuse to meet Mr X's eye. The questions they ask are cursory. They shuffle and fidget when he speaks. It's obvious they're simply going through the motions.

Obesity and Fat Control Myths

- Are your ideas of obesity and fat control based on a myth? -
For years we heard that a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet would keep us healthy and help us lose weight. And many of us jumped on the bandwagon. Our idea of obesity and fat control was to eliminate fat and high-cholesterol foods from our diets.
Unfortunately, we were doing it all wrong.
-- The Truth about Obesity and Fat Control --
Instead of eliminating fat completely, we should have been eliminating the “bad fats,” the fats associated with obesity and heart disease and eating the “good fats,” the fats that actually help improve blood cholesterol levels.
-- Bad Fats --
There are two bad fats that you should limit your intake of — saturated and trans fats.
Saturated Fats
Saturated fats are mostly animal fats. You find them in meat, whole-milk products, poultry skin, and egg yolks. Coconut oil also has a high amount of saturated fat. Saturated fats raise the levels of both the good and bad blood cholesterol.
Trans Fats
Trans fats are produced through hydrogenation—heating oils in the presence of oxygen. Many products contain trans fats because the fats help them maintain a longer shelf life.
Margarine also contains a high amount of trans fats. Trans fats are especially dangerous because they lower the good cholesterol, HDL and raise the bad cholesterol, LDL.

6 Steps to Beating Childhood Obesity

These days kids would rather spend time on the computer than go outside and kick a ball around or ride their bikes. And with all the junk food advertisements aimed at children by the media, us parents definitely have our jobs cut out for us.
The bottom line is our lifestyles have changed. We don’t walk as much as we used to. We eat pre-packaged or fast foods instead of home cooked meals. And what exercise can compete with video games?
Times have definitely changed but that doesn’t mean we have to completely give up. It’s just a matter of putting some simple measures into place.
Here are some easy tips to ensure your kids develop a life-long healthy lifestyle.
1. Limit your kids television, computer and video games time. This may not be easy at first, but be persistent. Suggest an activity they can do, or better yet go outside with them and join in. Children learn through example, so if you’re all set to go for a bike ride they may just want to join you.
2. Get your kids involved in the family food shopping. Make a list of healthy foods everyone agrees on and point out the health benefits to your kids. You’ll be surprised at how open to eating healthy your kids can be. You don’t have to drastically cut out the cakes and cookies altogether, but instead let each child choose one item they can enjoy as a special treat. This teaches kids to learn about moderation and that , yes, they can have cookies or chocolates as treats not as regular food staples.

Causes of Childhood Obesity

Obesity is defined as an excessive accumulation of body fat. Obesity is present when total body weight is more than 25 percent fat in boys and more than 32 percent fat in girls. There are various medicines like Phentermine, Adipex etc. which aid in the weight loss for adults but these medicines are definitely not meant for children.
Obesity in children leads to many risk factors. It is the leading cause of pediatric hypertension. It increases the risk of childhood cardiac disease, type2 Diabetes Mellitus, the risk of painful joints. But the most important what some researchers feel is the amount of psychological pressure and the social pressure that he has to undergo among his peers which make him susceptible to depression at times. Thus the social pressure is one of the main consequences of childhood obesity. Not all obese infants turn to obese children and similarly not all obese children turn to obese adults. Childhood obesity results from a combination of factors like genetic or hereditary, psychological, or nutritional.
Family: A child whose both parents are obese has a higher chance of developing obesity as compared to other children. This can happen for a variety of reasons like genetic factors or may be the sedentary lifestyle of the parents or the lack of exercise in their daily routine. This can make the child born with obesity.
Inactive Life: Children these days spend more of their time on playing video games and watching T.V. This has prevented the children of today to engage in some healthy ground activities like sports. Hence children are gradually becoming couch potatoes. Leading an inactive life has made them grow into an obese from just being overweight.

Malnutrition Causes Obesity

Axiom Number One - Nourish your body.
Probably the most important and least understood axiom of successful weight loss is that you have to nourish your body. The main reason why most people are overweight is that they are malnourished. In our modern grocery stores are all kinds of processed and packaged foods. The nutritional value of any food substance is inversely proportional to the amount of processing. The more a food is processed, the less nutrition is present.
Trace minerals and elements
Food grown by today's commercial methods are not grown in healthy soil. The soil is essentially dead and there is no life (nitrogen)sources in that soil. The nitrogen is added to the soil as liquid fertilizer along with a lot of not so good for your health -pesticides. This approach to farming may produce some great harvests, by weight, but not by nutrition standards. A lot of what the human body needs is lost in this type of food production.
Incomplete foods
When you eat a lot of heavily processed food grown in dead soil you do not get all the nutrients that the human body needs. You end up hungry all the time so you eat more of the same foods. In addition to being incomplete foods, they more often than not have added sweeteners and sometimes even added chemicals like aspartame (Nutrasweet). The body has to do something with all the added incomplete calories so it turns them into fat.

Obesity And Pregnancy

If you are overweight when you become pregnant, your physician will likely recommend that you gain less weight than a woman who is average or normal weight. You should not diet during pregnancy because it is vital that you supply your body and unborn baby with an adequate number of nutrients. What you can do however to minimize your weight gain is to ensure that you eat a healthy selection of foods during your pregnancy.
One of the best things you can do to avoid too much weight gain is ensure that you have a healthy selection of snacks handy when at times when hunger strikes. Think about things like yogurt, raisins, nuts, fruit and other healthy selections that are not only convenient but also taste good.
There are health conditions that being overweight or obese increases the risk for during pregnancy. Among these include:
- Preeclampsia
- Premature Birth
- Gestational Diabetes
- Cesarean Sections
Giving Birth to Children with Obesity Problems
Unfortunately women who are already overweight prior to pregnancy are more likely to gain excessive amounts of weight during pregnancy. Several studies have suggested that more than 80 percent of overweight and obese women will gain too much weight, defined as weight exceeding 40 pounds or more, during their pregnancy.

Obesity And Fast Foods - The Lethal Link

Obesity and fast foods - there's little doubt about the link. Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United states. And it's an epidemic that has grown side by side, step by step with the the fast food industry.
Eric Schlosser in his brilliant and shocking book, Fast Food Nation, describes the US as "an empire of fat," and he lays the blame for this clearly and convincingly at the door of the fast food industry.
Obesity Fast Food Data
Twice as many American adults are obese today as in the 1960s. More than half of all adults and a quarter of all children are now obese. Over this same period, fast food has become cheaper and easier to buy. Further evidence for the link between obesity and fast food can be found outside the US. Since the early 1980s, American-style fast food culture has spread like wildfire around the world... And obesity has followed, accompanied by its many unwelcome side effects: heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and other ills.
As people in countries like Japan and China have abandoned traditional healthy diets in favour of fast food, the rates of obesity and associated diseases have soared.
In countries which have resisted the spread of fast food culture, like France, Italy and Spain, obesity is far less of a problem. The good news is that there is now more awareness about the ill effects of fast food than ever before, thanks in part to books like Fast Food Nation and documentary movies like Morgan Spurlock's popular and punchy Super Size Me.

Weight Loss & Obesity Affects Life Expectancy

We hear it all the time…lose weight for your health. Few people however, realize the extent to which this is critical to their physical well-being and ultimately their life expectancy.
In January 2003, the Journal of the American Medical Association featured a study finding that obesity appears to lessen life expectancy, especially among young adults. The study showed an obese 20-year-old white male, (5'10")178cm and weighing (288 pounds) 130kg was estimated to lose 13 years of his life as a result of obesity.
It is now well research that a Western diet that leads to obesity may actually act to stimulate the growth of cancer cells. It is never too late to improve your health through healthful eating and adopting a more health-giving lifestyle. Here are simple steps to follow which can make an immediate improvement to your health and vitality.
1. Check to see if you are overweight or obese.
To find out your BMI you need to divide your weight (measured in kilos) by your height (measured in metres) squared. If the result is greater than 25, your health may be improved by losing weight.
2. Match your diet to your body’s requirements.
If you eat and drink more calories than your body requires you will put on weight. Learn to control calories and portion sizes, make recipes leaner, and eat infrequently from fast food restaurants. Also learn how to snack with healthful choices.
3. Colour your diet with a large variety of colorful, cancer-fighting fruit and vegetables.
There are seven different color ranges of both fruit and vegetables and by choosing between 5 to 9 daily serves from a wide range of fruit and vegetables, we are extending our consumption of cancer (and other disease) fighting nutrients.

Solution to Obesity

First of all we need to find out a reason for this growing mountain of fat that is killing us.
We know now that the traditional explanation - that of overeating - is wrong. People eat when they’re hungry, and they stop when they’re full. The problem lies in hormonal imbalance inside our bodies, an imbalance that deprives us of the energy to live life to the full, and instead stores the energy as fat.
What influences human hormonal balance? The three biggest factors are: genetics, diet, and stress.
There are no prizes for guessing which one of those three is the easiest to control.
The number one nutrient that negatively affects human hormonal balance is well known - it's sugar. The health and beauty of nations is directly related to its consumption. The per capita consumption of sugar has increased fifteenfold over the last 100 years.
Ever wondered why the French remain slim despite eating far more calories than we do, with their rich, fatty cuisine? That's right, it's because they drink wine instead of soft drinks!
It's very sad that this information - backed by genuine science - cannot realistically compete with advertising budgets of big sugar and soft drink producers

Say No To Obesity

Obesity still remains one of the commonest avoidable causes of several disease conditions. Most often than not, it is a result of the wrong habits or lifestyles.
Obesity is a case that cut across race, colour and gender. Obesity has several facets, it is closely associated with several ailments, the most alarming being hypertension, diabetes and most fatal is the psychological effects it could have on its victims. Teenagers commit suicide today because of obesity.
DIABETES AND HYPERTENSION
A close relationship exists between hypertension and obesity. In fact it is believed that most hypertensives are more than 10% overweight. Fat accumulation in the trunk or abdomen is not only related to hypertension but also to diabetes and hyperlipideamia (excess fat in the body). Obesity can contribute to hypertension in several ways. For one thing, obesity leads to a greater output of blood, because the heart has to pump more blood to supply the excess tissues. The increased cardiac output then can raise the blood pressure. For another thing, obese hypertensive individuals have a greater stiffness (resistance) in the peripheral arteries throughout the body. Finally, obesity may be associated with a tendency for the kidneys to retain salt in the body. Weight loss may help reverse problems related to obesity while also lowering blood pressure. It has been estimated that the blood pressure can be decreased 0.32mmHg for every 1kg (2.2pounds) of weight loss.