"It is a TEACHABLE moment"

The Weight of the Nation, Part 1: Consequences

(interesting that HBO chose to present Consequences first.  To be honest, it is an incredibly alarming and attention-grabbing segment, hopefully keeping you in tune for the following segments which - by their titles - intend to discuss causes and solutions.  See below for links to Parts 2, 3 & 4)

The title of this post captures one of the best quotes from HBO's The Weight of the Nation and one of the main reasons I've been tweeting up a storm!  This is a TEACHABLE moment in our nation's health.  There is a wealth of knowledge "out there" on how to employ better nutrition habits, nutrition science, the effects of pesticides, GMOs, processed foods, overuse of corn, causes of and preventions for heart disease - the leading cause of death in the United States for men and women.  If we become more mindful of what we put in our bodies, read food labels, ask questions, research, experiment with different diets, we can be a healthier nation!  So please, read then pass on!

More informative quotes from Part 1:

"There is no nature versus nurture.  It's nature and nurture." / "...they affect each other.  They are inextricably intertwined."  (we don't have to be victims of our genes!  we can prevent obesity even if it runs in our families)

"A child born in 2000 has a 1 in 3 lifetime chance of having diabetes.  If that child is African-American or Latino, it's 1 in 2."

"In the 1970's 5% of of children were overweight and obese.  Today that's over 30%."

Referring to obese children: "These are going to be patients that are on dialysis in their 30s if we don't do something now."

"The heart is a muscle just like any other muscle in your body with one important difference: it never gets to rest." (so take care of that ever-pumping powerful muscle with nutritious love!)

A delightful man (who once weighed 400 pounds and lost 100+ pounds) shown in what I think is a Zumba fitness class: "You can change, even if you weigh 400 pounds, you can change.  It boils down to the decision to say 'This is what will happen.'  It's not a matter of saying 'I want to' or 'I would like to.'  It is what will be.  And that kind of decision and that kind of fortitude changes things."

Referring to the evolutionary result of fat being stored in our bodies for backup energy supply (that we have "excess energy supplies"): "All of a sudden the system that was eloquently designed now is no longer necessarily advantageous for the species."

"Fat literally gets stuck between the cells of the liver, causes inflammation, causes stiffness and liver disease..." / "13% of all children who die in autopsy studies have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease...This is a disease we never saw before.  It didn't exist before, in adults or children and now 38% of [obese] kids have it."

"What obesity has done as it's moved in this wave through the population is to create right behind it a wave of chronic disease."

"Obesity negatively affects the function of the brain.  The higher the problem with obesity, the less the activity of areas of the brain that are extremely important for cognitive operations."

"Overweight and obese people are 80% more likely to develop dementia."

"We're living in some what of a damage-control mode where we're waiting for people to get sick, hospitalized...and then we're investing an enormous amount of money in trying to mitigate the chronic disease state.  That's a huge drag on our economy."

*Obese patients incur costs of nearly $150 billion per year, almost half of which comes from public funds (Medicare, etc.)

"What type of nation can live without a workforce that is healthy?"



Upcoming segments of "The Weight of the Nation" (I'll review once I watch...I'm looking forward to what the documentary presents as causes and especially what it proposes as solutions)


Part 2: Choices
Part 3: Children in Crisis
Part 4: Challenges