America (and Europe) XXL

America XXL

In America, one out of two people are overweight. A person is considered overweight if his or her weight exceeds 45 kg of the Body Mass Index (BMI). The BMI is calculated as follows:

BMI = weight (in kg) : height x height (in m). Example: weight of woman 58 kg, height 1.65m

58 : 2.72 = 21.3

The following scale has been calculated:

Being overweight is one of the main risk factors for premature death. It is estimated that in America alone 300'000 people die prematurely yearly as a result of being overweight or from correlated diseases.
A study showed that 38 % of the population of New Orleans and 52 % of the black women were found to be overweight. The tendency is rising sharply. Not only are the adults subject to overweight but more and more young people. A lot of teenagers always bring more kilos on the scales. It is not at all uncommon to find six-year-old children who weigh 90 kg and 15-year-old students who weigh 150 kg and more.
The reasons for this phenomenon are to be found in the wrong diet, in wealth, a wide choice of food and lack of exercise. Especially fast food with its high doses of saturated animal fats is regarded as a main factor for putting on weight. In America 7 % of the population consume fast food daily. Children watch TV about 37 hours of TV weekly instead of exercising.
For those (heavily) overweight children and students summer camps are being organised where they are taught in 5 or 6 weeks what and how to eat and to do a variety of sports daily.
In Europe the situation is still a little better but tending towards the American standards. A 1978 German survey has shown that 5,5% of the men and 9 % of the women above the age of 18 were heavily overweight and 35 % of the men and 33 % of the women were moderately overweight.
Numerous social, economical and cultural consequences are correlated to this condition. People lose their jobs, their spouses, and have to be placed under constant medical care.
Doctors have recently started to operate food addicted high risk patients: part of the stomach is cut off and a ribbon is laid on the organ which stops the person from eating more than he or she should. The small intestine is also shortened in order to prevent nutritional elements to be absorbed into the blood stream. Such an operation costs about 60'000 Franks (40'000 $) in Switzerland.

Not only can a healthy plant based diet with a large percentage of raw food reduce the kilos but what more, it can also bring back health, well-being and joie de vivre.

Sigrid De Leo