| 03 July 2009
After a long reign, the United States has finally lost its crown as the world's most obese country.
According to a recently released report the title of the fattest country in the world belongs to a nation renowned for sunshine and the bronzed athletic life guards. That's right, my home country of Australia is now ranked number one as the world's most obese nation...
The report, entitled Australia's Fat Bomb showed that 26% of adult Australians are now classified as obese. The United States maintains second position with a 25% obesity rate.
When this report came out I heard many Australians blaming the influence of American culture on our youth. The study highlights a different culprit...middle aged Australians. A staggering 70% of Australian men between the age of 45 and 64 are obese. Australian middle aged women didn't fare much better showing a 60% obesity rate.
In my opinion one of the major factors responsible for this obesity epidemic is the Aussie optimism. Aussies typically shrug off many worries by adopting a positive outlook."She'll be right mate," they would say. But positive thinking without positive action will give you positively nothing. Hopefully this news will jolt some Aussies into action.
However the immediate signs aren't all that encouraging.
I recently bought the local newspaper, expecting this to be a major news story. Where did I find it?
I had to go to page 9 where they devoted only two 2-inch high columns to this topic. And what was directly opposite this article on page 8... An advert for hot dogs that was twice the size of the obesity article.
Many of you may be shaking your head at the sheer number of overweight people but how do you know that you are not part of the problem? Denial also played a huge part in Australia's rise to the top of the blobs.
To work out if you are part of the obesity problem (and therefore also part of the solution) measure your Basal Metabolic Index (BMI).
Measuring Your BMI
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Kilograms and meters (or centimeters) |
Formula: weight (kg) / [height (m)]2 With the metric system, the formula for BMI is weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. Since height is commonly measured in centimeters, divide height in centimeters by 100 to obtain height in meters. Example: Weight = 68kg, Height = 165cm (1.65 m) |
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Pounds and inches |
Formula: weight (lb) / [height (in)]2 x 703 Calculate BMI by dividing weight in pounds (lbs) by height in inches (in) squared and multiplying by a conversion factor of 703. Example: Weight = 150 lbs, Height = 5’5” (65") |
If your BMI is greater than 25 then you are overweight. If it is greater than 30 you are obese.
If you are in these two categories for your own sake you must change your current lifestyle.
Remember the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result.
