The Good News & The Bad News

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

14 Jun 2006 04:45 AM

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) there is good news from the frontlines of the war on obesity. Personally, I dislike the term war on obesity - and battle of the bulge is just so much not better. Let's just say that statistics indicate that the number of women considered obese has not risen since a 2000 survey. While women are still heavy or obese - there is stabilization of the number across the board.

The bad news on the other hand is that the number of obese children rose from 14% to 17% and the number of obese men rose from 27.5% to 31%. Both are records and neither is one to stand up and shout about. So it's important to recognize that numbers associated with obesity do not cover the groups who are overweight. With the jumping numbers it becomes more important

So What Does this Mean?

According to the director of the CDC's division of nutrition and physical activity Doctor William Dietz, the stable number of obese women may indicate that our numbers have to hit a plateau before they start decreasing. Women are typically the early adapters to any health related behaviors.

Healthier women, become more aware of their weight and healthy trends in behavior can blaze the trail for their families. After all, typically women are the caretakers of the children and if they are eating healthier and exercising more - the will encourage similar behavior in their children. The ripple effect will begin to include the men in their lives.

While it's hard to predict trends in weight loss, I'd say we can count these results as a win on one front of the battle. Continued education, health initatives and diet plans coupled with exercise to positively enhance the muscles and metabolism will continue to show positive results - one can hope.

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Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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