This article is not really intended to be scary!
However I feel it is important for it to be known just how bad things have become on planet earth regarding weight and health in general.
The diet industry globally is worth more than $500 billion per year. Despite this, people are still gaining weight as well as experiencing an epidemic of disordered eating.
The obesity level is on the rise which can have a huge impact on health – both physically and mentally.
Physical consequences of obesity include many preventable chronic diseases: coronary heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis, respiratory problems, some cancers, disabilities and premature death.
Mental consequences include: depression, anxiety and issues such as negative body image.
The road to excess weight is fuelled by the food cartels which have only one goal – money!
To makes things worse, when we get sick from all the diseases caused by obesity, the big Pharma companies give us drugs, piles and piles of drugs. Again, an industry driven by one goal – money!
To follow are a few numbers to give you an idea of how bad the problem of obesity and ill health really is. These figures are based on statistics from the USA but proportionally apply to most countries in the developed world (including NZ).
- Nearly 70% of adults are classified as either overweight or obese.
- 98% of those who diet gain back their weight within a year and usually more than they lost.
- Approximately 75% of non communicable diseases could be prevented with nutrition.
- Within a decade approximately 67% of population will have some form of diabetes.
- Approximately 74% of people report they live with ongoing digestive discomfort.
- In any given week, at least 50% of people complain of low energy or fatigue.
- Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death globally – over 17 million deaths per year and expected to grow to over 23 million per year by 2030. It claims more lives than all forms of cancer combined. The cost of this just in the USA is over $316 billion – health expenditures and including lost productivity.
Then there are the devastating ways obesity and the fear of obesity affects people of all ages. For example:
Note – the following figures are for Americans but again the proportions do apply to most developed countries (again including NZ).
- An estimated 108 million Americans are on a diet.
- 9 out of 10 women are unhappy with their appearance.
- Approximately 97% of women say they have at least one moment per day of hating their body.
- Approximately 81% of 10 year old girls have a fear of being fat.
- Adolescent girls are more afraid of becoming fat than they are of getting cancer or losing their parents.
- 2 out of 5 women would be prepared to give up 3 to 5 years of their life in exchange for weight loss.
- Almost 50% of girls 3 to 6 years old are already worried about their weight.
So forgetting the global diet industry dollar worth for a moment, let’s look at some costs of healthcare related to non communicable diseases (NCD’s).
In the USA, the estimated cost to the country from NCD’s is between $147 billion to $210 billion per year. This does not include job absenteeism which accounts for a further (approximately) $4.3 billion per year.
With this in mind, it is alarming to know the annual spend on chronic disease prevention in only $1.17 billion and only $50 million is budgeted to promote nutrition, physical activity and obesity prevention.
These figures are again proportionally similar to most developed countries.
Bottom line – let people get sick and then fill them with drugs to try to “fix” them.
Our aim is to help spread the word that what we put into our mouths every day can either make us sick or can help to restore heath and vitality. Or even more importantly, to prevent sickness.
Plus, we work to educate people to understand optimum ways to nourish their bodies according to their own needs and circumstances.
“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in the diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease”
– Thomas A. Edison
