Introduction
Today 64.5
percent of adult Americans (about 127 million) are
categorized as being overweight or obese. Each year,
obesity causes at least 300,000 excess deaths in the
U.S., and healthcare costs of American adults with
obesity amount to approximately $10 billion.
We all have and
need fat tissue in our bodies. When there is too much
body fat, the result is obesity . Obesity is not a sign
of a person being out of control. It is a serious
medical disease that affects over a quarter of adults in
the United States and about 14% of children and
adolescents. It is the second leading cause of
preventable death after smoking.
The ideal Body
Mass Index (BMI) is between 19 and 25. If you have a
Body Mass Index of between 25 and 30, you are considered
to be overweight. At a BMI of 30 or over, you are
considered obese. A BMI of 40 or more indicates severe
or
"morbid" obesity
Fill out the form
below to determine your BMI
Peoples' ignorance of the
disease and their negative attitudes regarding obesity
have been clearly documented. Our society has little
tolerance for people who are overweight, and obesity is
frequently treated as a character flaw – not the
insidious disease that it is.
Obesity is one of the last
bastions of discrimination that is alive and well in the
U.S. Discrimination against the obese is very apparent
in employment opportunities, earnings, education and
even in relationships.
Obesity carries substantial health risks and represents
the second leading cause of preventable death in the
United States.
Surgery for weight control is the only
accepted medical treatment proven to reverse the disease
of morbid obesity. Surgery should not be considered as
the last resort but as the only effective resort.
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