Obesity and overweight are surely influenced by our own individual lifestyle choices, but cultural factors also contribute. Naturally, these cultural factors are most apparent when you compare the obesity rates of different countries that have totally different diets and lifestyles, but the United States is a diverse place in itself, and each city has its own unique culture and lifestyle.

Just because you live in a city where it might be categorized "as a fat city" doesn’t mean you can’t do anything about it. There are plenty of steps you can take to change for the better.

One step is to adapt to your city’s climate. Quite simply, it’s easier to get out and be active if it’s nice outside. Certain areas are just too hot in the summers or too cold in the winters to go outside and exercise. I highly suggest taking advantage of the nice days and going for long walks. However, if the climate is less than ideal, consider joining a health club or purchasing a couple of pieces of home exercise equipment. I recommend a treadmill, which is great for walking on an incline or jogging, or an elliptical machine along with an appropriate size weight set to start.

Also, your means of transportation can affect your health. For those of you that live in rural areas, I suggest you park your car as far away from your destination as possible. You might not realize it, but the extra time you spend walking from your car to your destination and vice versa will add up.

What you must understand is that all cities are different, and some are more accepting of extra weight. These beliefs will certainly influence your own weight loss efforts. Because of this, it could make it harder for you to stick to your nutrition plan.

Another major step is to know your metabolic type. Knowing your own nutritional type will help you learn the right (and wrong) foods to eat to fit your own body’s metabolism and prevent diseases. What may be very healthy for others is not necessarily as healthy for you, and vice-versa, and eating according to your nutritional type is really the only way to ascertain what is really good for you.

To get full details on this essential principle and to assess your nutritional type, I highly encourage you to read my new book. Along with 150 brand-new delicious and very nutritious low-carb recipes geared toward your nutritional type, the book includes a test and the means to learn and understand your own metabolic type and gear your diet precisely toward the foods that are right for you (and that also satisfy you!).

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