WEBucation Wednesday: The Skinny on Obesity (Episode 1)

An Epidemic for Every Body

How did we get so fat, so fast? The debut episode of this 9-part series debunks the theory that obesity only affects the “gluttons and sloths” among us and is, in fact, a public health problem that impacts everyone.

The obesity epidemic is a serious public health issue around the globe; the majority of the population is overweight. The emergence of the industrial global diet and labor saving devices have done more damage to society than good. This is not going to change. In fact, the more that we continue to innovate, the more "conveniences" will be created. As a population, we need to learn how to adapt in our changing society while still maintaining healthy lives. In the late 1970s, the food industry was pressured into lowering the fat content of foods because it was assumed that this was the cause of people being overweight. To compensate for the reduction in fat, companies began to utilize more added sugars (i.e. high fructose corn syrup) in order to maintain flavor. Since then, the obesity rates grew exponentially. Added sugars are toxic to our metabolism, yet these sugars are present in all packaged foods. 60% of Americans die of metabolic diseases and 75% of all medical expenses world wide are the result of non-communicable metabolic diseases. We are literally poisoning our metabolisms and giving ourselves diseases. The first step to ending this pandemic is education. Be educated about the foods that you eat and their effects on your body. Most importantly: spread the word! Change starts with each individual and the more we know, the more power we have to catalyze the change.