Teresa has rediscovered the free-
dom that comes with being able to
walk and go to the gym and dance
classes. “I have friends whom I walk
with for 90 minutes three times a
week and we compete as to how
much weight we’ve lost,” she says.
“Recently, we started a competition
between neighbourhoods, too.”
Only a year in, participants have
already surpassed the goal of 100,000
kilograms by 2020 – and Dr Piñeiro
notes that they’re still losing an aver-
age of 2.5 kilograms a month. All this
is saving the community over €2 mil-
lion each year in healthcare and social
costs; if the challenge was extended to
health clinics across the country, he
says, “Those savings would contribute
to making the public health system
viable without the need for cuts.”
HOWEVER, UNLESS ACTION isn’t
taken right now to solve the obesity
crisis, Dr Pijl warns that healthcare
costswillspiral“throughtheroof”.
“Thecostswillbeunaffordablefor
themajorityofthepopulationand
willbasicallyleadtothebankrupt-
cy ofsocieties,”hesays.“Moreover- andjustasimportant– millionsof
peoplewillbeburdenedwithwhat
are preventablechronicdiseases.”
OnJune3,2015,WimTilburgs
starteda ketogenicdiet,eliminating
nearlyallcarbohydrates.Withintwo
dayshewasabletostophisinsulin
shotsandinthefirstmonth,helost
tenkilograms.Sincethen,hehas
moreorlessadheredtothe‘keto’
diet,andhaslost 30 morekilograms.
Nowanavidexerciser,hehascom-
pletelytransformedthewayhelives - anexampleofwhatDrPijlsays
muchoftherestoftheworldhasto
do inordertosaveitself.
“Before,mydietwaslikea child’s.
I neverateasaladuntilI was55,”
Wim admits.“NowI helpother
peopleimprovetheirlives,too.”
‘We Apologise For AnyOffence’
No newspaper or magazine likes havingtocorrecta mistake.
But everyone likes readingaboutthem:“The candidate likes to spend his freetimereadingTolstoy,
and not watching Toy Story, as originallyreported.”
in brazilian news magazineVEJA“In yesterday’s paper in Chris Searle’sjazzalbumscolumn,
we incorrectly referred to Don Rendallasa ‘terrorist’when
it clearly should have been‘tenorist’.”
in MORNING STAR,uk77
The Time Bomb Of Obesity