Ten take-aways from all the hype surrounding the world’s newest, most widespread and dangerous pandemic.
Since my research article on the overfat pandemic was published earlier this year, it’s been a focus of articles here on my website, podcasts, in my speaking engagements, and also the subject of articles in major media organizations, including The Atlantic.
Overfat is simply defined as excess fat that impairs health. Given the percentages of people affected, this is the biggest global health crisis facing all of humanity. It’s bigger than flu, Zika, AIDS or other health scares that garner bigger headlines. And it’s quietly killing more people daily.
The first step of course is for society to realize there is a problem — that’s what the research paper and subsequent exposure was all about.
The second step is for each of us to assess whether we need to make improvements to our own health — a real health revolution begins with individual action. If you have questions about whether you are overfat, or about how to remedy this, the answers are available elsewhere on this site.
Meanwhile, here are 10 points to remember about the overfat pandemic:
- Up to 76 percent of the world is overfat, defined as an excess amount of body fat sufficient to impair health. As little as 14 percent of the world’s population has normal body-fat percentage, and those numbers may be shrinking.
- More than 80 percent of people in the U.S., U.K., Australia, New Zealand and other developed countries are overfat. In the U.S., New Zealand, Greece and Iceland, prevalence of overfat in adult males is over 90 percent, and up to 50 percent in children.
- People who are not overweight or obese could still be overfat.
- The overfat pandemic has not spared those who exercise, including competitive athletes.
- The food industry — referred to as “Big Sugar,” as it has harmed the world as much as Big Tobacco — has deceived the public and governments, by disguising their junk food as healthy when in fact these foods are a primary cause of the overfat pandemic.
- Babies and children are the fastest growing overfat segment of the population, and feed the pandemic.
- The overfat condition is preventable and treatable, as are the conditions it causes: hypertension, high cholesterol and triglycerides, fatigue, and others, along with most chronic diseases (from Alzheimer’s and cancer, to diabetes and heart disease).
- The “calories-in, calories-out” notion of weight loss is scientifically wrong. Burning calories of body fat is a priority through healthy diet and slower, easier exercise.
- The remedy — the reversal of the overfat pandemic — can be accomplished through a simple lifestyle change: replace junk food with real food.
- This remedy could quickly reduce healthcare costs while triggering a Wall Street healthcare bubble/crash.
When the media issues warnings about the dangers of an infectious disease, most people take reasonable actions to prevent being infected. It’s much more difficult to get people to take action about their waistlines even though the actual risks may be greater. The first step to better health begins with you.
Thanks to coauthors Professor Paul Laursen and Ivan Rivera for contributing to this report.
