{"id":2283032,"date":"2024-06-25T08:04:02","date_gmt":"2024-06-25T12:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/is-americas-trillion-dollar-obesity-problem-here-to-stay\/"},"modified":"2024-06-25T08:11:41","modified_gmt":"2024-06-25T12:11:41","slug":"is-americas-trillion-dollar-obesity-problem-here-to-stay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/is-americas-trillion-dollar-obesity-problem-here-to-stay\/","title":{"rendered":"Is America&#8217;s Trillion-Dollar Obesity Problem Here To Stay?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fis-americas-trillion-dollar-obesity-problem-here-to-stay%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2283032&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>According to an exclusive report by\u200d the Washington Examiner, House GOP members have warned\u2063 that the\u200c costs related to obesity in the United States could escalate up to $9.1 trillion in medical expenses over the next \u2064decade. This represents\u200c a significant increase, doubling last year\u2019s estimates and indicating an annual rise in costs of over $7 billion. The alarming statistics indicate a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/disaster-bidens-border-crisis-causing-public-health-catastrophe\/\" title=\"Biden's border crisis leads to public health catastrophe\">growing public health crisis<\/a>, with one in five\u200c children and one in four adults grappling with\u200b obesity, measured \u200dby a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/more-than-73-of-americans-who-died-of-covid-19-were-obese-or-overweight-cdc-data\/\" title=\"More Than 73% Of Americans Who Died Of COVID-19 Were Obese Or Overweight: CDC Data\">body mass index<\/a> (BMI) over 30.<\/p>\n<p>Despite debates about the accuracy of BMI as a measure, the fact remains that \u200dobesity rates are \u200cexceedingly high. \u2063The \u200dfinancial implications of obesity are\u2063 not\u200b just limited to direct healthcare costs, such \u2063as treatments for related conditions like asthma, cardiovascular\u200b diseases, and cancer, but also include indirect costs, which may still be underestimated.<\/p>\n<p>The report underscores\u200b the need for a more holistic approach to health care that integrates physical, \u200cmental, and metabolic health. Innovative research, such as the discovery \u200dof &#8220;hope molecules&#8221; that improve mental health through exercise, and the development of \u200bmetabolic psychiatry, highlight the \u200binterconnectedness of physical and mental health.<\/p>\n<p>The societal costs of obesity also impact the U.S. economy through reduced labor productivity and supply, projecting an economic\u200d downturn of up to $14.7 trillion over the next decade. Furthermore, \u200cobesity compromises\u2062 national security, as a significant number of\u200b American youth fail to meet military entrance criteria due \u2062to\u2063 overweight issues.<\/p>\n<p>The report questions whether Americans possess the \u200cwillpower to tackle this crisis proactively, calling for a moral and strategic reevaluation \u2063of current health policies and lifestyle choices. Recommendations\u2062 include revising nutritional guidelines, supporting sustainable agriculture, and reforming educational curricula to\u2063 promote physical activity and nutritional knowledge. The growing obesity \u2062epidemic poses both a significant health threat and a substantial economic burden, necessitating comprehensive and sustained public \u2064health strategies and policy\u200d adjustments.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>According to an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/finance-and-economy\/3047511\/obesity-will-cost-us-up-to-9-1t-in-medical-costs-over-next-decade-house-gop-warns\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">exclusive Washington Examiner report<\/a> last week, the House GOP warned that obesity will cost Americans up to $9.1 trillion in medical costs over the next decade. This is over double last year\u2019s estimate and an increase of over $7 billion per year. <\/p>\n<p>A report from 2021 called obesity a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mayorkas-dhs-using-ai-to-catch-fentanyl-at-border-track-down-kidnapped-children\/\" title=\"Mayorkas: AI aids DHS in detecting fentanyl, locating abducted kids at border\">major public health crisis<\/a>, and it\u2019s only gotten worse since then. One in five children is reportedly obese, and one in four adults tips the scale with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or over. Granted, BMI is not a perfect measurement and its merits can be debated, but one doesn\u2019t really need exacting science to see that America is fat. Really fat.<\/p>\n<p>And while the report includes both direct and indirect costs such as treatments for asthma, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, they are likely missing other veiled costs.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Whole Person Health<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The report\u2019s numbers, while staggering, don\u2019t include the number of people seeking treatment for mental health conditions that many doctors won\u2019t link to obesity. Western medicine is famous for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/moderate-house-dems-threaten-to-derail-pelosis-3-5-trillion-budget-plan\/\" title=\"Moderate House Dems Threaten To Derail Pelosi\u2019s .5 Trillion Budget Plan\">addressing health care<\/a>, like government, in silos of \u201cexpertise\u201d without looking at the person as a holistic, symbiotic organism with a body, mind, and soul. Traditional medical training encourages students to choose areas of \u201cexpertise\u201d like the heart or the brain or the gut without a single consideration that all these things are connected.<\/p>\n<p>For example, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lanpsy\/article\/PIIS2215-0366(18)30227-X\/abstract\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">study<\/a> from 2018 was partly responsible for discovering what has become known as \u201chope molecules\u201d or mytokines that are secreted during exercise due to muscular contraction. These hope molecules cross the blood-brain barrier to positively affect mental health by reducing symptoms of depression or trauma and increasing resilience to stress.<\/p>\n<p>Stanford doctor Shebani Sethi founded the first academic Metabolic Psychiatry Clinical program in 2015 to address the connection between metabolic and mental health. Dr. Sethi\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.lww.com\/co-endocrinology\/abstract\/2020\/10000\/ketogenic_diet_as_a_metabolic_treatment_for_mental.5.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">research<\/a> demonstrated the success of a ketogenic diet as a metabolic treatment for mental illness including bipolar disorder, depression, and even schizophrenia.<\/p>\n<p>In short, healthy people are generally happier people.<\/p>\n<p>As the report also points out, the societal costs of obesity go well beyond medical payments. The obesity epidemic cuts into the overall size of the U.S. economy because of reductions in labor supply and labor productivity. The economy is expected to be between $13.5 trillion and $14.7 trillion smaller over the next decade because of obesity.<\/p>\n<p>The costs to national security may not yet have been quantified monetarily, but there has been no shortage of headlines about America being \u201ctoo fat to fight.\u201d\u00a0A 2020 Pentagon study demonstrated Americans aged 17-24 did not meet the military\u2019s sign-up requirements due to being overweight, using drugs, or having mental and physical health problems.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Do Americans Have the Will to Change?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\u201cFailure to address this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/doctors-weigh-in-on-the-right-way-to-stop-prescribed-opioids\/\" title=\"Doctors Weigh in on the Right Way to Stop Prescribed Opioids\">growing health crisis<\/a> is immoral,\u201d stated David Schweikert, R-Ariz., vice chairman of the Joint Economic Committee that published the report. \u201cSociety has the tools at our disposal to address this crisis,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n<p>Schweikert is right. It is immoral, and we do have the tools. We\u2019ve always had the tools (Hint: It\u2019s not Ozempic). It\u2019s called healthy nutrition and exercise habits. The question is do we have the willpower and the political will to embrace the solutions?<\/p>\n<p>Are the bureaucrats at the HHS, the FDA, and the USDA willing to embrace and promote the most cutting-edge nutritional science instead of bending the knee to the multibillion-dollar agriculture and pharmaceutical lobbyists?\u00a0Will they change the food pyramid? Will they stop subsidizing the production of corn, wheat, and soy, and help farmers return to a sustainable form of agriculture? Will they stop insisting on sacrificing human health for some unscientific green agenda?<\/p>\n<p>Are our politicians willing to put restrictions on what can be purchased with WIC and SNAP payments? Will the Department of Education instill rigorous physical education requirements for all children in public and private schools rather than insisting tampons be put in boys\u2019 bathrooms?<\/p>\n<p>Are educators and parents willing to move beyond radical gender ideology to reinstate home economic classes to teach children how to garden and cook for themselves? Are they willing to spend some more time cooking themselves?<\/p>\n<p>Do parents have the resilience to endure endless tantrums when they insist their children get off their screens and get outside? Will they go out and play with them?<\/p>\n<p>Clearly, there is a lot of good information out there. Dr. Sethi\u2019s study was published in 2020, and her clinic was opened in 2015. Dr. Casey Means just published a book last month called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Good-Energy-Surprising-Connection-Metabolism\/dp\/0593712641\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Good Energy<\/em><\/a>  addressing the need to reevaluate how we look at metabolic health. Other experts such as Dr. Mark Hyman, Dr. Andrew Weil, and Dr. Kelly Brogan, just to name a few, have been touting the benefits of using food, exercise, and lifestyle as medicine for decades, even if they may have slightly different takes on the best approach.<\/p>\n<p>Many of these doctors are known among the intellectual and economic elite, but their remedies are not mainstream because good health demands less dependence on a trillion-dollar sick care system and the businesses that profit from it. That includes everything from pharmaceutical companies to food corporations to the huge hospital conglomerates. <\/p>\n<p>Solving the obesity epidemic is simple. But it won\u2019t be easy and requires will, discipline, and courage \u2014 virtues that are, unfortunately, in short supply these days.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Jennifer Galardi spent decades as a health and wellness expert and writes about health, culture, and policy. She is a health reporter for The Epoch Times and founder and director of <a> Center for Healthy America. <\/a>   Her work has also been published in The New York Sun, The Blaze, and The American Spectator, along with countless health outlets. Follow her on X at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JennGalardi\">@JennGalardi<\/a>   or visit her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jennifergalardi.com\/\">website. <\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week, the Washington Examiner reported that the House GOP warned obesity could cost Americans $9.1 trillion in healthcare over the next decade. This figure is more than double last year&#8217;s estimate, increasing by over $7 billion annually. A 2021 report labeled obesity a significant public health issue<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3009,"featured_media":2283033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/i-yunmai-5jctAMjz21A-unsplash.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[5374,32576,32577,8702,15921],"class_list":["post-2283032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-america","tag-health-crisis","tag-lifestyle-changes","tag-obesity","tag-trillion-dollar"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/i-yunmai-5jctAMjz21A-unsplash.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3009"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2283032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2283033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2283032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2283032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2283032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}