The obesity rate in America is going up rapidly and is a thing that has a lot of physicians quite concerned. The medical community are guessing some states will have a rate of half of their residents being obese by the year 2011. This was never an issue 4 decades ago and a lot of our society lifestyle changes are to cause for this rapid obesity rate going up. Obesity causes many problems like heart attacks, diabetes, hip and Rockford knee pain, hypertension and high cholesterol. The lack of exercise and increase in being sedentary is also causing new health problems such as Rockford carpal tunnel syndrome from sitting at a computer all day, high BMI factor with more fat percentage than muscle on a person, and poor posture from being hunched over the computer or lounging around on the couch all day.

The rate of obesity in America back in the 1960′s was at 13% and by the year 2000, it was at a whopping 31% with predictions of it reaching to 50% of the population in certain areas in the next couple of years. Being overweight, obese or morbidly obese which is over 100 pounds over your healthy weight is causing a great deal of health issues in Americans. One of the biggest problems has to do with the heart and diabetes. Having so much extra weight can cause a great deal of strain on your heart and if you are consuming high fat foods everyday this will clog all of your arteries going to your heart putting you at a high risk for a heart attack or heart disease.

Diabetes is also increased a lot due to the rise in obesity in this country. In the past it was unusual to see a child with diabetes related to weight gain as it was typically a health problem that plagued overweight adults. Now, children are being diagnosed with this adult onset kind of diabetes because they are so overweight. Some of the symptoms of diabetes are the constant need to urinate, dry skin, blurry vision, numbness and tingling in the legs and arms and extreme fatigue. If left untreated, it could be fatal.

With so many people spending hours and hours at their computers for work or for pleasure, there are new problems that are rising from that and being sedentary. A large rise in carpal tunnel syndrome has occurred from typing at a keyboard all day long causing overuse pain on this part of the hands. This was not a problem back in the 60′s and 70′s and now is a very common issue. Also being fat and sedentary has caused a many people to have pain in their joints, especially their knees and hips. That extra weight is putting a lot of pressure on the joints and the lack of exercise leaves no muscle strength to help these joints to be strong.

The need to reverse] this obesity epidemic is urgent with more and more issues from being overweight and inactive.

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