Obesity Rates Fail To Drop Because Of Sedentary Lifestyles
Back in 2000, the U.S. government published Healthy People 2010, in which was laid out the plan to reduce obesity rates among Americans to 15%. However, the release of a study conducted by Dr. Earl. S. Ford and his fellow researchers at the CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion shows that the government has been unable to meet this target.
On the contrary, Dr. Ford and his colleagues have found that the obesity rate among U.S. adults, both men and women, is rising. Additionally, it does not seem that the rates are going to be dropping any time soon.
In the International Journal of Obesity, Ford and his colleagues write: “The prevalence of obesity and abdominal obesity remains disturbingly high among adults in the United States, and our trend analysis shows that both may still be increasing among men.”
The increasing rate of obesity “has all but ruled out” the chances that the U.S. will meet its Healthy People 2010 goals. In fact, public health officials are presently working on developing new goals for Healthy People 2020.
What is needed in order to achieve the goal of getting U.S. obesity rates down to 15 percent? According to Dr. Ford and his colleagues, the average American would need to either consume 500 fewer calories per day, walk for nearly two additional hours a day, or burn off the equivalent amount of calories doing some type of physical activity.
Ford and his research team conclude that the “path to achieving” the goals of less caloric intake as well as increasing physical exercise, is not likely to be easy.
We know that living a sedentary lifestyle leads to a plethora of preventable diseases. If we just get more activity into our daily schedule, we can attain a lot of health benefits. Following are some things that you can start doing immediately.
1) Stand up and move around. If you are stuck sitting at a desk looking at a computer all day, then get unstuck. Every 15 to 30 minutes, stand up and move around a little. Go to the water cooler and drink some water. You may think that this little bit of movement won’t bring much in terms of health benefits. However, a little movement every 15 to 30 minutes will exercise your heart a little and will also get your blood circulating at a little faster pace. This is certainly better than nothing and will help you to use up a few extra calories that would otherwise be stored as more fat.
2) Eat calorie negative foods while at work. One of the main causes of obesity is the combination of a sedentary lifestyle and poor food choices. However, there are many choices of foods that are “negative calorie,” meaning that the calories your body uses to digest the particular food actually exceed the amount of calories in the food itself. Some examples of nutritious, yet “negative calorie” foods are asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cucumber and garlic.
Many fruits also fall into this category, such as blueberries, cantaloupe, honeydew, apples, grapefruit and many more. A quick search on the Internet will result in a list of these kinds of foods. In fact, packing some and taking them to work with you and munching on them throughout the day is a great way to get your metabolism revved up and burning calories, even while you are just sitting at your desk.
3) Get some exercise each and every day. If you really dislike exercise, then get it out of the way first thing in the morning. By rising just 30 minutes earlier each day you can give yourself enough of a head start to allow some time for a brisk walk, jog, or run. Adding some resistance weight training to your exercise program 3 or 4 times per week is also a great way to firm up your muscles and burn more calories and fat. This is because muscle is metabolically active. The more lean muscle you have on your frame, the more calories that your body is going to be burning, even when you are at rest.
If you care about your health and fitness and living a much better quality of life, then you need to break the sedentary lifestyle trap. The time to do something is today!
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