$147B in costs, with no end in sight

Last night it was reported on the national news that our country spends 147,000,000,000 every year in health care related costs due to obesity. This is sad, for many reasons. For each of the individuals that are obese and the impact on their lives, their health, happiness and longevity it is a condition that affects everything they choose to do, or are limited from doing.

It also has an enormous impact on our health care system. This is something that needs to be addressed in meaningful ways. Not in blaming or shaming; but in meaningful educational supportive ways that help the individuals learn ways to minimize and even prevent this condition.

I know that on one level I do NOT understand this condition any more than I understand what a woman experiences with her menses. But in the same way that a doctor would not have to have had a brain tumor to be able to operate on one I do have some knowledge about how to effectively treat this condition.

Some of my thoughts my surprise you.

Of course the primary focus has to be eating good quality food. The nutritional content of our food supply is LOWER THAN IT WAS 30+ YEARS AGO. There are many reasons for this but overuse of the land and continual fertilization with chemicals are, in my opinion, the primary factors.

The second issue would have to be quantity. Many, many of us eat too much at one time and we wait too long between meals before we eat again. Our metabolism responds better to smaller, more frequent meals.

The third issue is amount of exercise. It is truly a mathematical solution: burn more calories than you ingest and you will loose weight. Yes I know there are metabolic conditions that interfere with this, but for the vast majority of the population that is not the situation.

Those are all simple, straightforward and well known methods to deal with obesity. The next one is more likely to surprise you.

Each of our bodies requires Iodine to interact with our thyroid, as most all of us know. What is not understood is that when we started processing wheat there was a chemical added that is nearly atomically identical to the iodine. This chemical, bromide, was added to allow the wheat flour to flow through the machines without clogging them up. Or at least that is what I believe it was added to do.

Regardless of why, the important fact is that bromide out-competes the iodine for the receptors. This means that the thyroid is getting bromide (because it is nearly identical to iodine) but it is unable to process the bromide. This means that the thyroid is not operating at full efficiency and the thyroid affects the metabolism of EVERY CELL IN YOUR BODY. This means that your body will be prone to carrying excess weight even if you are following a good diet and getting some exercise.

What can be done about this?

Well one solution in the short term is to avoid all brominated flours. But a deeper solution would require a conversation about why it is included in the foods we eat. This conversation should include a realization that it is not in the producing companies best long-term interest to produce foods that are not healthy for their customers over a long term.

But that would require being aware that there are consequences for every action and or inaction. Even if these consequences are slow to come to the awareness they will show themselves.

So spend some time thinking about this and the implications to your health. Then research some more and make well informed decisions about what you are eating.

Remember food is the most powerful medicine, or POISON you put into your body.