OBESITY ! THREAT OR NOT?
Four years ago, Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee weighed around 300 pounds.
"The only reason I don't have an exact figure is because my scale stopped at 280 pounds," he said. "I had to kind of guess at that point."
The weight, on his 5-foot-11-inch frame, posed dangerous health risks and made daily life difficult and sometimes embarrassing. He recalled a humiliating meeting that made him realize his weight was a problem."[The staff] all stood like they typically do and I went to my chair at the head of the table, and as I sat down the chair collapsed," he said. "I dusted myself off and got up and tried to make light of it and said that they just don't make chairs like they used to. But it wasn't the chair that needed rebuilding, it was me."
The epiphany, however, arrived when he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2003. Huckabee's doctor told him that without a lifestyle change he had about 10 years to live.
"It was a real wake-up call," Huckabee said.
Over the past two years he's lost about 120 pounds, embarked on a crusade against fat and has become something of a national example of the growing threat of obesity -- and a success story for battling it.
An estimated two of every three American adults, and more than one in six children and adolescents are considered overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The rates have been on the rise since the late 1980s after being relatively constant in the '60s and '70s, said Dr. Cynthia Ogden, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The percentage of adults who are obese -- defined as having a Body Mass Index of 30 or more -- has doubled to 31 percent, or some 60 million people, over the past two decades, Ogden said. (What's your BMI?)
Being overweight increases the risk for diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart diseases, stroke, sleep apnea, respiratory problems and some cancers. Being obese poses the greatest health risks.
A study released in 2005 by the National Institutes of Health suggests average life expectancy could decline by nearly five years if the rising rates of obesity cannot be curbed.
Some critics are skeptical of the NIH study's methodology and argue that medical progress could increase longevity, but many generally agree that obesity does pose a legitimate threat to American society.
Huckabee said he was especially troubled by the rising rates in kids and adolescents.
"The only reason I don't have an exact figure is because my scale stopped at 280 pounds," he said. "I had to kind of guess at that point."
The weight, on his 5-foot-11-inch frame, posed dangerous health risks and made daily life difficult and sometimes embarrassing. He recalled a humiliating meeting that made him realize his weight was a problem."[The staff] all stood like they typically do and I went to my chair at the head of the table, and as I sat down the chair collapsed," he said. "I dusted myself off and got up and tried to make light of it and said that they just don't make chairs like they used to. But it wasn't the chair that needed rebuilding, it was me."
The epiphany, however, arrived when he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2003. Huckabee's doctor told him that without a lifestyle change he had about 10 years to live.
"It was a real wake-up call," Huckabee said.
Over the past two years he's lost about 120 pounds, embarked on a crusade against fat and has become something of a national example of the growing threat of obesity -- and a success story for battling it.
An estimated two of every three American adults, and more than one in six children and adolescents are considered overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The rates have been on the rise since the late 1980s after being relatively constant in the '60s and '70s, said Dr. Cynthia Ogden, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The percentage of adults who are obese -- defined as having a Body Mass Index of 30 or more -- has doubled to 31 percent, or some 60 million people, over the past two decades, Ogden said. (What's your BMI?)
Being overweight increases the risk for diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart diseases, stroke, sleep apnea, respiratory problems and some cancers. Being obese poses the greatest health risks.
A study released in 2005 by the National Institutes of Health suggests average life expectancy could decline by nearly five years if the rising rates of obesity cannot be curbed.
Some critics are skeptical of the NIH study's methodology and argue that medical progress could increase longevity, but many generally agree that obesity does pose a legitimate threat to American society.
Huckabee said he was especially troubled by the rising rates in kids and adolescents.
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