Two years ago I posted https://bodybykj.com/2011/04/who-is-to-blame-for-the-obesity-epidemic. As a country we continue to make unhealthy food and lifestyle choices, diabetes continues to rise and more and more people are riding around Walmart in motorized carts because their obesity is immobilizing them.

The cost to society and individual lives and families is crippling – no pun intended.

The scientific evidence is compelling; obesity leads to other chronic health conditions that negatively impact quality of life. So what are we choosing to do about it? Most like passing the buck and looking for the quick and easy “solution”.

Instead of making lifestyle changes and better food choices, these are some ridiculous solutions we choose:

  • Our knees and hips can’t take the years of excess weight and they scream out in pain. But, instead of choosing weight loss, we rather go under the knife and get knee and hip replacements.
  • Our blood sugars are sky high from years of overeating, lack of exercise and poor food choices so the Doctor diagnoses  Type 2 diabetes. Instead of weight loss, we choose to go on medication to take care of the problem.
  • Our hearts are crying out for some relief as well. For every pound overweight the heart has to pump the blood and extra 13 miles and the insidious silent killer, hypertension, that leads to strokes and hear attacks, takes hold. But rest assured there are pills for that, too!

I could go on and on with real-life examples, but why bother when we can just sit on the couch with a few bags of potato chips followed by a handful of medications and thank our lucky stars that the pharmaceutical industry and medical device industry can so handily solve our problems.

Weight management is a choice. Being physically active is a choice. Eating healthy and avoiding all the quick fix gimmicky diets is a choice. There are over 70,000 registered dietitians (RDs) in the US. We have better solutions. To find a registered dietitian in your area or on line, go to www.eatright.org the official site for the  Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (formerly known as the American Dietetics Association).