The Growth of Obesity

James Hamblin, writing for The Atlantic, provides the following stunning graphic of the incredible growth of obesity in the united states:

This shows the percentages of the U.S. population medically defined as obese, which means a body mass index of 30 or greater. BMI isn’t an ideal metric to evaluate obesity, but it’s still what the U.S. standardly uses.

We’ve been hearing of an obesity epidemic for some time now but unfortunately we aren’t seeing much in the way of progress. Most of what I’ve seen addressing the issue is looking to modify the immediate causes of obesity - diet and exercise. I believe that we need to dig deeper into the issue and look at lifestyle. Most everyone knows that they should eat right and exercise regularly. However some lifestyles clearly lend themselves to achieving adequate levels of activity while others don’t. This is not just a diet or exercise problem - this is a lifestyle issue. Only a holistic solution will suffice.