Regular readers yes, but I get a majority of traffic via Google search, and lots of emails from folks just starting to run who are looking for shoes.

As noted in the report the high and growing rate of obesity will bring continued adverse health consequences including diabetes, high blood pressure, and increased strokes, cancer, and heart attacks. As a society we need to increase awareness to the severity of the problem and of the importance of an active lifestyle with sound nutrition. 

The best way to lose fat is to reduce insulin levels. Poor people are fatter because the cheapest foods are high in carbs which increases insulin levels.

obesity numbers might not be alarming, but i think it’s pretty alarming to look at the skyrocketing rates of type II diabetes and other related diseases.

I run as a means for weight loss.  At my peak I was 165, which for my height 5’7″ is at the very peak of being overweight.  More importantly though it seemed that annually I was gaining at least 5 solid pounds a year and my waistline was growing.  Furthermore my cholesterol and blood pressure numbers were a mess.  To be quite honest, I made myself slim down because I didn’t want my doctor crowing at me to do it.  Now she pretty much has to say nothing, because she knows that I know how to lose weight.

That said, I do agree that this is preaching to the choir, but it is an important message regardless of who it is being told to.

I completely agree. I am Australian and have made a few longish trips to the US. In supermarkets, restaurants etc it is pretty hard to find “healthy” choices as you are surrounded by junk (which is very cheap). I found it cheaper to buy a box of donuts than a few pieces of fruit. The hotel I stayed at last time had  a “free” breakfast, however there was nothing I wanted to eat – it was donuts, a few types of cereal (all with sugar), sweetened yoghurt and toast with sweetened cream cheese or jam (which also was much sweeter than the jam we get here)   

America never had an obesity problem until the government started to recommend high grain low fat diets about 40 years ago to prevent heart disease. Unfortunately now we still have high rates of heart disease and we also have high rate of obesity. Those recommendations were based on very shoddy research, and had a lot of political overtones.

Calories are not all the same, and the body reacts very differently to a calorie of fat, protein and carbohydrate. If you have to fight with your body to create a calorie deficit, then you are eating the wrong foods, and you are not getting enough nutrition.

If you don’t want to get fat, eat natural foods, minimize the
consumption of grains and sugar, make sure you balance the types of fat
you are eating and get regular exercise.

I am also speaking from personal experience. I lost over thirty lbs and never counted a single calorie. I ate what my body needed, and I stopped eating what was making me fat. I’ve also witness same dramatic results in anyone I know who had made the same changes to their diets.