I think is America has a very high rate if obesity (over 70%) that is could cause our downfall. The health care system would be over ran with the sick, and we wouldn't have enough young men to fill the military. We are starting to see someo this now. Maybe science and medicine can combat some of this? Who knows...
From my experience, as humans, we struggle with 2 core problems:
1. Buying into fake news
2. The ability to continually execute tasks that require
consistent effort over time
I spam my tutorial on Macros as often as possible because of the lack of clarity available:
Current stats from the CDC:
1) 9.2% of America is severely obese (FYI morbid obesity is now called
Class III Obesity)
2) 41.9% of America is obese
3) 73.6% of America is overweight
My short story is that I was a string bean growing up, married a good cook & got a cubicle job, and blew up. I had NO IDEA how to get in shape, so I did the usual bro-science route of plain chicken & broccoli non-stop. It worked, but it wasn't sustainable. I went from a high of 260 pounds down to 180 pounds. Total of 80 pounds lost over time (max recommended weight loss speed is 2 pounds per week). Very easy way to still eat what you want, on your schedule, but just have the addition of weighting & counting to get you weight-loss & high-energy results! Which boils back to our 2 problems as human beings
1. We are willing to buy into fake news. Very few people I know IRL have been willing to try macros, despite struggling with their weight & having multiple failed dieting projects that historically haven't proven to be reliable. It's
very hard to convince people that the food itself doesn't technically matter for results (obviously, it's not a license to eat junk food 24/7, but there are no cheat meals, cheat days, or "bad" foods on IIFYM!) & it takes a pretty open mind to be willing to entertain the idea of how macros work!
2. Being consistent at things that require
effort, no matter how simple it may be, is
incredibly difficult for most people. It's not just a matter of trying macros, but sticking with it that makes the difference! Or doing any other type of dieting type of lifestyle that suits your individual preferences!
The combination of being overweight AND being sedentary is like the worst possible combination to have, health-wise. Not exercising is worse for you than smoking, diabetes, and heart disease:
They just updated their recommendations and say that a mere 11 MINUTES A DAY of exercise is enough to offset the risk of an early death:
New research estimates that 1 in 10 premature deaths recorded could have been prevented if all study participants had gotten 75 minutes of physical activity each week.
www.nbcnews.com
I see obesity & inaction as major problems in America, especially as I have been personally affected by both (growing up with chronic illness that complicated my ability to exercise pain-free & later becoming overweight, or technically, obese by the
current definition). The information is available, but change is hard, adopting reality is hard (because we all love our illusions!), and consistent effort is hard. I know what I'm doing with macros and I STILL have a hard time with it sometimes, lol!
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