Health & Wellness in America

How do North Americans Measure Up?

So why write a book about health & wellness in America, what we eat, and how we take care of ourselves?  There is no single source guideline that depicts the North American experience from field to table and what to do along the way.  Diets are everywhere and most do not work in the long term.  Exercise is not always an achievable and sustaining lifestyle alternative.

Why is health and wellness an important asset?  Why do companies want to set up shop, diversify their businesses and get everyone exercising and dieting to look and feel great?  What is so enticing about being a "Healthy American or Lean Canuck"?  Why is the family unit embracing the ideal aura of healthy living while realizing declining health and nutrition standards when compared to other cultures like Norway? 

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 1.5 billion adults aged 20 and older are overweight worldwide.  As if that weren’t anxiety-inducing enough, more than 200 million men and nearly 300 million women among them also qualify as obese. 

Obesity is defined as having a body mass index (a ratio of weight in relation to height) of 30 or above. That's equal to a five-foot, six-inch (168-cm) person weighing 186 pounds (84.4 kg) or a six-foot (183-cm) person at 221 pounds (100 kg).

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said the guidelines echo its 2003 recommendations on screening for obesity, but take into account more recent evidence that adults can lose weight and keep it off with the right help.

"The good news is that even what you might consider to be modest rather than radical weight loss has tremendous health benefits," including lowering diabetes risk and blood pressure, said Susan Curry, a member of the task force and dean of the University of Iowa College of Public Health in Iowa City.

"Losing 5 percent of your body weight has tremendous health benefits, and intensive behavioral counseling programs help you do that and sustain it," Curry told Reuters Health. "Your primary care provider can, we hope, help you to find evidence-based programs."

The need to address weight gain nationally has grown as America tallies the health and economic costs of its obesity epidemic. More than two-thirds of the country's adults can be classified as overweight or obese.

Effective weight-loss programs, Curry said, include both nutrition and exercise support. They should help people address any barriers they have to making - and maintaining - changes in their lifestyle.

Coming soon...a new book entitled -

"Food for thought. Health & Wellness in America - Tips for Success"