The high price tag for health care costs for morbidly obese adults are weighing heavily on U.S. health care expenditures. Nearly doubling the costs of health care over those considered to be of normal weight, morbid obesity is quickly taking a substantial economic burden on the American health care system.
A Study on the Medical Costs for the Morbidly Obese Reveal Substantial Results:
Researchers attribute the excess health care costs among morbidly obese adults to a number of factors including spending more money on doctor visits, outpatient care, inpatient care and prescription drugs. In addition there are many sicknesses and deaths from certain chronic health conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and cancer that are linked to morbid obesity.
A person is considered morbidly obese if they meet one of the two requirements: They weigh 100 pounds over their ideal body weight or they have a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or higher. The rate in which morbidly obese people are bypassing those defined as solely obese (BMI greater than 30) is reflected in the following statistics: Between 1990 and 2000, the prevalence of morbid obesity increased from 0.78 percent to 2.2 percent, representing a total of over 4.8 million morbidly obese U.S. adults in the year 2000.
Statistics also showed that in the year 2000 the number of adults considered morbidly obese jumped to nearly 5 million sending the US health care budget needed to treat those with excess body weight to over $11 billion that year.
Doctors are concerned that the escalating number of morbidly obese adults over the next decade will cause the total U.S. health-care expenditures to climb as well.
The authors of the study concluded that in order to develop specific intervention plans to reduce the growing number of morbidly obese adults and work to improve their health and economic situation that more research would need to be done.
Medical News Today February 15, 2005
Considering the devastating impact morbid obesity continues to have on the health of Americans, it's not at all surprising to me how this epidemic has hurt all of us in our pocketbooks.
Additionally, this study provides further proof that a sharply growing number of Americans are leading sedentary lives. Therefore, you can avoid becoming part of this epidemic by overcoming ED--exercise deficiency. In other words, shut off the television and get moving!
Unfortunately though, most people, especially physicians, don't tend to appreciate how powerful exercise really is. You must keep in mind that exercise is in many ways similar to a drug--if you don't use it in the right dosage, it will not work. Many thousands of people have told me they thought they were exercising enough, but they were actually under-dosed.
How to Exercise Efficiently
The key to exercising is to keep in mind three important variables: length of time, frequency and intensity. By doing so, you will ensure all your hard efforts are not wasted and are having a positive effect on your body.
I encourage my patients to gradually increase the amount of time they are exercising to 60 to 90 minutes a day. Initially the frequency is daily. This is a treatment dose until they normalize their weight or insulin levels. Once normalized, they will only need to exercise three to four times a week.
Also, you should exercise hard enough so that it is difficult to talk to someone next to you. When you are exercising that hard your cardiovascular system is under such a significant amount of stress that the mere act of talking makes you unable to provide your body with enough oxygen. However, if you cannot carry on a conversation at all, then you have gone too far and need to decrease the intensity.
I urge you to review my exercise guidelines that can help you get started on the right track. I've devoted many pages on my Web site to the wonderful benefits exercise will do for your health. If you need some direction to get started, I urge you to review my beginner's exercise page that includes links to other pages and a free table you can download to keep track of your progress.
Please Remember--Eating Right is Important Too!
Aside from keeping active, another important factor in helping you achieve good health and maintain a healthy weight is to have a diet based on eating the right foods for your specific genetic and biochemistry. One of the ways you can determine this is through nutritional typing.
Discovering your nutritional type is simple: You can take my free online test or you can read my book, Total Health Program for a more in-depth understanding.
Remember, the foods that may be healthy for others are not necessarily healthy for you, and vice-versa. Thus, eating according to your specific type is the proven way to ascertain which foods work best for you.
For most individuals the emotional element is a major factor contributing to impairments in the ability to lose weight and to maintain that loss. There are various approaches for dealing with these challenges, but the one I most highly recommend, and have found to be most highly successful, is the psychological energy tool Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). You can view the free EFT report and learn how to overcome your food cravings and get on the path to better health.
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