Obesity has become so prevalent in the United States compared to other countries, and it has a significant health toll.
Let’s look at the numbers for a moment so that we can really understand the current situation.
An analysis published in The Lancet examined seventeen hundred and fifty published articles on weight worldwide. The research showed that the United States holds the highest number of overweight and obese people globally, with almost 71 percent of men and nearly 62 percent of women being overweight or obese compared to the 38 percent of men and 37 percent of women from around the world.
This is almost double according to the most recent health data on adult obesity rates with a BMI over 30
Obesity exceeds 35 percent in four states, 30 percent in 25 states, and is above 20 percent in all other states. 30 percent of high school students are overweight in the United States.
So what is the reason for these numbers? It’s not that Americans like to eat more than other nations or that anyone is lazier.
No!
It’s also not that anyone is different from other people or that food is cheaper in the United States.
As a nutritionist and medical scientist with experience with global populations, I think it boils down to two factors:
1. High fructose corn syrup
2. Lack of education on nutrition in schools
But please wait before you criticize these factors, and let’s take a look at each one in more depth and how a person can change their health destiny simply by following a few simple health-promoting guidelines.
So let’s look at number one. The reason I chose high fructose corn syrup as my first factor is not for the same reasons that you tend to hear from others advocating against this sweetener. There is a lot of news about the ill effects of high fructose corn syrup, but most of these sources are not based on actual facts or research that really looks at the consumption of high fructose corn syrup or its effects on health.
In fact, high-fructose corn syrup has a very similar composition to plain sugar with regard to fructose and glucose levels.
Research in the past examined a hundred percent fructose and compared it with sugar. Fructose is metabolized differently than glucose and is rapidly taken up by the liver, and this has been shown to lead to certain metabolic disorders. Still, high fructose corn syrup is not made of a hundred percent fructose. It is named high fructose corn syrup because, in regular corn syrup, there is no fructose whatsoever. As a matter of fact, high fructose corn syrup has similar proportions of fructose and glucose to plain sugar. This pretty much takes away all of the research that points to the metabolic differences between high-fructose corn syrup and plain sugar because there is essentially no metabolic difference between the two.
However, there is still a reason that I think high fructose corn syrup is a major contributor to obesity rates in the United States, and the reason is where high fructose corn syrup comes from. You see, plain sugar comes from sugar cane or sugar beets, whereas high fructose corn syrup comes from corn. This is a significant difference from an economic perspective because sugar is mainly grown in equatorial regions of the world, which are also known for unstable political or climatic situations causing the price of sugar to fluctuate dramatically in response to these factors. On the other hand, corn is also grown in the United States and is a dependable renewable and abundant resource. Therefore, there are no price fluctuations, and there are no problems with availability.
This makes high fructose corn syrup overall a cheaper sweetener than is plain sugar.
High fructose corn syrup is also manufactured directly as a liquid making it easier to use than granulated sugar, which must be dissolved into the water before it can be used in most foods. For these reasons, high fructose corn syrup is so attractive and so popular with American food manufacturers. It is added to practically everything since it’s so cheap, and just like plain sugar, it adds a sweetness which we love from an evolutionary standpoint, and it adds a great mouthfeel to foods just as sugar does, which makes the food sell much better. It also adds a better structure and bulk and a much more tempting flavor and color, just like sugar.
So in the United States, adding high fructose corn syrup to processed foods in such an affordable and attractive manner made it so prevalent.
This leaves the American population to receive a lot more unnecessary calories from high fructose corn syrup without it providing any nutritional value.
When the foods we consume provide us with no nutritional value, we stay hungry and look for something more to eat to nourish our nutritionally starving body with what it needs, which are nutrients. This leads to overeating, and this is where the second factor comes in that causes so many Americans to follow the path to weight gain and obesity, which is lack of education.
The most amazing thing that I love about the United States is that you can find everything in abundance. But actually, the advertisements are serving the company advertising trying to sell us the foods, rather than our health. Being a capitalistic country, the driving force is success and monetary gain. I have no problem with that; however, at times, we seem to forget this fact and allow the media to help us decide what is best for our health and what is not.
When we get our knowledge from biased sources that do not really have our health as their top priority, we do ourselves an injustice.
We need to take personal responsibility for our own circumstances, including our health condition.
The company’s making monetary gain by selling us foods rich in taste and high fructose corn syrup are taking responsibility for their financial situation. Still, on the other hand, we are the ones who need to take responsibility for our personal health situation by making wiser food choices.
Reading and learning more about food is extremely important towards leading a healthier lifestyle. If you have listened to this video up until now, you’re in the right direction to improving your health.
To help you make wiser health choices, I want to introduce you to 15 Dietary Guidelines that, when followed, will lead you on the path to optimal health and longevity and natural weight loss. These guidelines are based on my research into the ideal diet for humans, which I called the guerrilla diet and lifestyle program. I used the word guerrilla because I felt that I had to combat all that I was taught and thought was healthy.
So here are 15 dietary guidelines for optimal health longevity and natural weight loss
- 1. Consume foods with low energy density
- 2. Consume foods that will not cause an inflammation
- 3. Consume seasonal foods
- 4. Consume local foods
- 5. Consume natural foods as much as possible, either cooked or raw
- 6. Consume foods that will not burden the body with toxins
- 7. Consume foods that are rich in vitamins and minerals
- 8. Consume foods rich in fiber that helps increase digestion rate and weight loss, and toxin removal
- 9. Consume foods low in animal protein
- 10. Consume foods rich in fatty acid precursors
- 11. Consume foods that are rich in calcium and magnesium
- 12. Consume foods that prevent calcium loss
- 13. Consume foods rich in methyl donors
- 14. Consume foods rich in prebiotics for a healthy gut microbiome
- 15. Get plenty of sunlight or consume foods rich in vitamin D, especially as you age
- These are some guidelines for health and longevity.
For more details on each of those guidelines and how to pursue the healthiest diet and lifestyle for humans that can potentially reverse disease and help you naturally and easily lose weight and live a long and healthy, check out the Guerrilla Diet Bootcamp. It is a 12-week health and weight loss program based on my research into the ideal diet for humans. It’s available at a very special price at www.theguerrilladiet.com/specialoffer so that more and more people can join the movement that is changing lives and changing the world.
Thank you very much for reading!
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Thank You, 🙂
Dr. Galit Goldfarb
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