Why is obesity a growing health concern in America?

What can be done to offset this problem and make Americans healthy?

Make healthier food cheaper. Limit the amount of advertising on TV and radio is allowed for fast food and junk food. With the rush in society today, it is easier to grab something on the go and your usual options are the grease and fat from fast food.

Motivate people to get active-offer some type of tax incentives for those who sign-up.

I've thought a lot about this subject. I believe that it is partly accidental, but also Partly intensional.
Without getting into it to heavily I will just use Beef as an example.
The way beef is raised has changed over the years. All of mainstream Americas meat supply is fed lots of corn, some Bovine materials, and the like. They no longer graze, further the animal is given Hormones, Antibiotics and basically is on life support from cradle to slaughter.
well all of this has led to a lowered enzyme count...specifically CLA (Conjugated linoleic acid) CLA is used by the Human body's natural digestive system to help break down Fats and difficult strands of Muscle and Fiber so that it can pass through the bodies digestive tract. Problem is, Americans on the whole take in far to little fiber (Fruit Skins, Raw Veggies, Raw or cut Oats and Long Grains) thus the natural process of digestion is completely thrown off track.. further complicating the issue is the use of Radiation (Microwaves) to prepare, Meats (especially fast foods) This irradiation further defiles the Foods natural ability to be digested.
all of this simply means that instead of passing along the waste, Much more of it stays behind to fester and pollute the digestive tract.
So it is then little surprise that, Colon, Intestinal, Stomach Cancers proliferate at a much higher rate in American society.
YES.. more exercise makes a difference, YES, we are relatively sedentary.. but even with a radical shift in lifestyle habits.. people who eat Commercially raised Red Meat regularly are much more likely to develop these "American" cancers... and Obesity is another byproduct of this,
You can go through almost every food group and get roughly the same results,
Vegetation is sprayed, Genetically Modified,.. Dairy is radiated, and full of Hormones and Antibiotics, ..Fish is full of Toxins,etc,

Then to compound it further, we have a culture that is addicted to refined Sugars. Refined meaning that it is taken down to that sand like Sugar molecule, again removing all cooperative enzymes in the process...You simply can not digest refined sugar and or Corn Sweetener at the levels people take in.

I could seriously write a book about this... and I might...
It's tragic, but even more it is predatory.. because once again the "profit" motive is at the base of everything I just laid out.

You can buy an 18 pack of Mountain Dew for less than you can Buy an 18 pack of Poland Spring water..

how is that possible?... Why is that Possible?

Well there are two parts to the problem. One is increased sendentary lifestyle which people live now-a-days, mostly due to cheap transportation by car.

The second is a cheap sugar which finds it way in everything and makes up a problematic number of our calories, especially since our body doesn't register it as a food source and thus doesn't regulate it properly. This sugar is called corn syrup, which has taken over refined sugar as being the major ingredient in too many foods we eat, making us all fatter (well except me, but most of us fatter anyway).

Fortunately, with the increased price of oil and corn, the roots of our obesity problem will no longer be as entrenched, and as culture changes due to monetary pressures, the trend will reverse and people will start to get skinnier.

A horrible combination of overeating and under-activity.
-Americans don't get enough exercise. Jobs are increasingly sedentary (i.e., sitting in front of a computer screen for 8 hours), and we rely on cars instead of walking or biking. We're also spending more time in front of the t.v.
-Food portions have increased drastically in size. We're simply eating more. Fast food restaurants, which basically serve heart attacks in paper bags, are cheap, fast and easy, while purchasing and preparing a healthy, home-cooked meal is time-consuming and expensive. Manufacturers of junk food and fast food spend billions of dollars on advertisement every year (much aimed at young children).

How do you solve it? Education, the younger, the better. Teaching kids to eat healthy and get exercise. Providing people with healthy alternatives to burgers and fries - either by providing information about sources of affordable, healthy foods or by the fast food joints themselves carrying healthier menu items. Employers encouraging employees to exercise and providing weight loss information and support. Cities providing nice, safe walking trails, bike trails, parks and recreation centers for individuals and families to get more exercise.

It's malnutrition. Americans are basically corn-fed, they get a high-carb, high-fat diet, because America's agricultural infrastructure can't deliver a healthier one economically.

Nothing. The Americans who can't afford to eat healthy would simply starve if the cheap, unhealthy options weren't available.

Greed. Limit the food supply. Works for other countries. You don't find a lot of fat people in Zimbabwe or Bangladesh. Only problem is the American economy is consumer based. Stop spending money on food and it will hurt you. You don't make anything in America anymore well maybe donuts. America land of the fat and home of the retarded.

Simple, Americans consume more calories than they burn up every day. Solution: cut back on the calories, and/or increase the number of calories that you burn up. With the cost of oil hitting the roof, people are going to have to think about walking, jogging, or bicycling to work. That will burn up a lot of calories!

Physical inaction plays a big part in not burning up calories. Look at how many young people play computer games now, instead of sports games and other physical activities.

But possibly an even bigger reason has been the FOOD ADDITIVES in processed food.

Read this, then listen to the video following it by Dr. Blaylock, a noted brain surgeon:


http://www.whale.to/w/excitotoxins.html

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=...

Won't be much longer Obama is going to limit what you eat. Here is his quote.

"We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK," Obama said.

"That's not leadership. That's not going to happen," he added.

The govt. needs to ban high fructose corn syrup from processed foods like they did trans fats.

School lunches could be healthy and still cost the same, but they now consist of pre made crap.

We do need to take more responsibility for our eating habits.
Fast food is practically poison.

Too many people on their computers... per chance???

I love bananas!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana

I have one every day with my Special K cereal!!

We need a President like Barack to limit the amount of food people eat in order to slim them down. He should also tell us what is the proper temperature to have in our houses and should force people to keep it where he wants under penalty of prison.

Thinking differently about the way we consume food. Most people eat like its their last meal.

Obama just suggested today that we cut down on Big Macs (I'm paraphrasing of course), and people went ba-na-nas!

Maybe that's the solution - eat more bananas!

Growing poverty. Mexico has the highest rate in the world

It's called the "Bushflation diet"--guaranteed to make people lose weight in months!

Because fast food is ubiquitous and we are a fat people on the move-that's why.

We are indeed a Fast Food Nation