The Vicious Cycle: From Fat to Fatter ■^33■ (^) According to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, 1
out of 3 children born in 2000 is destined to become diabetic
unless there is a change in diet and lifestyle. That means that
by mid twenty-first century, one-third of the adult population
will be diabetic.
■ (^) Diabetes increases the risk of heart disease, kidney failure,
cancer and dementia, which means that children born today
will be at greater risk of these diseases as well.
■ (^) Obesity and overweight drain the U.S. health care system of
more than $90 billion a year. Within a few decades, we could
be spending double or even triple the amount on these dis-
eases.
Most experts blame Americans for their own predicament, con-
tending that we’re getting sick and fat because we’re eating too much
and exercising too little. They offer overly simplistic solutions such as
“just eat a little less” as the panacea to cure these vast health problems.
As someone who understands the root cause of obesity, I can tell you
that this is meaningless advice to give people who are leptin resistant,
and that’s the overwhelming majority of overweight and obese people.
The primary message getting through to them is the one from their
brain screaming, “Be hungry, eat, make more fat!” when that’s the last
thing they need to do. Unless you turn off this destructive message, you
cannot treat obesity.
As a physician who has treated obesity and diabetes for decades
with great success, I can tell you that the “just eat a little less” ap-
proach has done more harm than good. It is a classic example of how
medicine fixates on the symptom but ignores the root cause. Certainly
overeating combined with a sedentary lifestyle are contributing factors
to obesity—but why is this happening in the first place? Why are peo-
ple so out of control when it comes to their eating habits? Why do so
many people suddenly have “supersized” appetites? What’s happened
in the past few decades that has rapidly accelerated the obesity epi-
demic?
Americans did not get into this mess because they lacked
willpower, were natural gluttons, or were lazy. Moreover, solutions