Most Americans are overweight and those who are obese outnumber those that are simply overweight

A newly released study finds that the majority of adults in the USA are overweight and the number who are obese is greater than those who are only overweight:

June 22, 2015

WASHINGTON, June 22 (UPI) — Nearly three-quarters of men and two-thirds of women in the United States are either overweight or obese, an increase of more than 10 percent during the past two decades, according a new study. http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2015/06/22/Study-Most-American-men-women-are-overweight-or-obese/2691434997049/?spt=rec_feat&or=2&r=9301435000614

June 22, 2015

Americans have reached a weighty milestone: Adults who are obese now outnumber those who are merely overweight, according to a new report in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

A tally by researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis estimated that 67.6 million Americans over the age of 25 were obese as of 2012, and an additional 65.2 million were overweight. Their count was based on data collected between 2007 and 2012 as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, an ongoing study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The NHANES data included information on height and weight, which are used to calculate a person’s body mass index. A BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 is considered normal. Someone with a BMI in the 25-to-29.9 range is considered overweight, and a BMI over 30 qualifies a person as obese. (You can calculate your BMI here.)

Women were much more likely to be obese than overweight, with 37% of women in the former category and 30% in the latter. Altogether, two out every three women in the U.S. were above a normal weight. http://www.latimes.com/science/la-sci-sn-more-americans-obese-than-overweight-20150620-story.html

I would add that an earlier study reported that the obese, on average, get nearly 60% (18/11.3) more of their calories from ‘fast food’ than the non-obese.

Many factors affect obesity: hormones do play a role in obesity, and chemicals in foods and/or food packaging may be a factor. It has long been known that low thyroid hormones and excessive estrogen can be factors in weight gain. Some have speculated that processed foods, chlorinated water, and/or fluoridated water can contribute to low production of thyroid hormones.

As far as excessive estrogen goes, in the USA estrogen-like hormones have long been given to meat-animals in order to plump them up faster, and higher amounts of those type of hormones have been found in various meats (including poultry). Furthermore, it should be noted that animals that people eat are not 50:50 male to female animals. Almost all chickens are females (most males are killed shortly after birth as it takes more feed to add a pound to a male chicken than a female one). Additionally, with beef, people either eat the female cow or the castrated male (called a steer)–thus there is not the same natural hormonal balance in most meats that would tend to happen in nature, as opposed to modern farming techniques.

While many have felt that artificial sweeteners were the answer to obesity, they are not. Actually, the problem of obesity has increased as artificial sweeteners became more widely available. Furthermore, those sweeteners have their own risks. It has been my experience that artificial sweeteners are not healthy. The more people eat of them, generally speaking, the less they tend to eat real foods such as fruits and vegetables.

Oddly, years ago, the USA banned cyclamates (a type of artificial sweetener) because it was considered carcinogenic (could cause cancer), but allowed saccharin (another artificial sweetener). About the same time, Canada banned saccharin as a carcinogen, but allowed cyclamates. Neither sweetener is natural and people should avoid both of them in my opinion.

The Bible warns about obesity, getting fat, excessive eating, as well eating things that are not really food:

2 Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good (Isaiah 55:2).

As far as obesity goes, notice some of what Moses and Jeremiah wrote:

15 You grew fat, you grew thick,
You are obese!
Then he forsook God who made him,
And scornfully esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
16 They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods;
With abominations they provoked Him to anger. (Deuteronomy 32:15-16)

11 “Because you were glad, because you rejoiced,
You destroyers of My heritage,
Because you have grown fat like a heifer threshing grain,
And you bellow like bulls,
12 Your mother shall be deeply ashamed;
She who bore you shall be ashamed.
Behold, the least of the nations shall be a wilderness,
A dry land and a desert. (Jeremiah 50:11-12)

Many people do not often eat what is good. Many eat too many chemically-laced highly processed foods. Many eat a lot of white bread, which is really not real bread as it has had the wheat germ and other natural components removed. This makes an inferior product which then is sprayed with synthetic B vitamins and other “nutrients” to “fortify” it. If you notice “B vitamins” added to “fortify” refined grain products or in so-called “natural” vitamin supplements (like thiamin mononitrate, thiamin HCL, folic acid, pantothenic acid, pyridoxine hydrochloride, cyanocobalamin), realize that these are basically petroleum derivatives and are not the same form of vitamins that are actually found in real, natural, food.

But most in Westernized areas consume the synthetics, chemicals, and refined grains.

People should try to eat real, not artificial, foods. Soda consumption should be almost non-existent, essentially a very rare treat. People should not drink sodas every day.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Obesity, processed foods, and the Bible Does the Bible warn about the consequences of being obese? Is overeating dangerous? Is gluttony condemned?
Eating Right, Eating Too Much, and Prophecy This is a video. Are there disadvantages to being overweight? Is junk food really bad for you? Does the Bible discuss overeating and/or obesity? Is overeating having an effect on the US military? What are the ramifications of personal and national health for overeating? What should you eat?
American foods that gross out foreigners A study done in the Fall of 2014 found out which foods that non-USA Americans considered weird or gross that Americans eat. This video discusses those foods, ingredients in some of those foods, and warns against consuming ‘that which is not bread’ (Isaiah 55:2). In this video, Dr. Thiel also warns about synthetic vitamins and some of the issues associated with them. He also discusses something promoted by the late Seventh-day Adventist, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg.
GMOs and Bible Prophecy What are GMOs? Since they were not in the food supply until 1994, how could they possibly relate to Bible prophecy? Do GMOs put the USA and others at risk? Here is a related YouTube video GMO Risks and the Bible.
Ten Simple Rules that Lead to Health Herbert Armstrong gives his opinions on this.
Does God Heal Today? What does the Bible teach? Herbert Armstrong tries to explain this.
UK Study Supports Daniel Diet Daniel and his companions looked better eating more vegetables and avoiding strange meats. Has modern science confirmed this?
Anglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel Are the Americans, Canadians, English, Scottish, Welsh, Australians, Anglo-Saxon (non-Dutch) Southern Africans, and New Zealanders descendants of Joseph? Where are the lost ten-tribes of Israel? Who are the lost tribes of Israel? What will happen to Jerusalem and the Jews in Israel? Will God punish the U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, and other Anglo-Saxon nations? Why might God allow them to be punished first? Here is a link to the Spanish version of this article: Anglo-América & las Tribus Perdidas de Israel. Information is also in the YouTube sermons titled Where are the Ten Lost Tribes? Why does it matter? and British are the Covenant People. A short YouTube of prophetic interest may be Barack Obama and the State of the Apocalypse.