It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that as a species, we are bigger now than we ever were before. We’re might be taller and broader, but we’re also really, really fat.
In fact, obesity all over the world has doubled since 1980. In 2014, more than 1.9 billion adults (aged over 18) were overweight, and of these 600 million were obese. In the kids category, around 42 million children were overweight or obese in 2013, with that number sure to have risen in the years since.
But, you might be thinking, surely isn’t not that bad in Australia. Well, think again.
In the 2011-2012 census, a shocking 63% of Australian adults were found to be overweight or obese, compared to just 10% in 1995. And 25% of all Australian children are in the same boat.
The craziest thing about this is that obesity is totally preventable. In most cases, an increase intake of energy-dense and high fat foods were what caused the disease, not illness or genetic conditions. Losing weight isn’t easy, but with obesity shown to be a major risk factor in cardiovascular, and musculoskeletal disorders, as well as diabetes and even some cancers, it seems like a smart idea.