Even with the increasing attention on obesity in North America I believe people are still quite naïve about the negative effects of a poor diet and minimal activity. I think it’s time for our part of the world wake up to the damage we are doing to our bodies. If we don’t do it for us we should at least be thinking about our kids. The news has been loving the new speculation that this generation of parents may be the first in human history to outlive their kids. That’s pretty upsetting. It’s time to turn this around.

Our main issues are that we eat diets high in trans/saturated fats, overeat in general, and rarely exercise. These actions contribute to fat storage, decreased muscle mass, poor bone density, damaged blood vessels, and decreased lung capacity. Ultimately obesity ensues and type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke become our reality. None of which are pleasant.
The great news is each of these can be prevented and type 2 diabetes can be controlled with nutrition (even reversed in some cases). So how do we stop this epidemic? The first thing that needs to happen is our society needs to step away from fast food. It is killer. It isn’t real food and our bodies weren’t meant to consume it. Once we can tame our fast food addictions we need go get back to nutrition basics. This means consuming fresh produce, organic meats, and locally grown foods. We need refocus on what our bodies inherently know and crave.

Finally let’s get moving if only 15-30 minutes a day to start with. Getting off the couch and outside will restart the natural healing process of your body. We have the potential to live long healthy lives. We only need to tap into a few basic needs defined here as clean eating and daily movement. Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in North America and type 2 diabetes is the fastest growing illness our generation had seen. Do your part to stop these trends.

David