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
costs will spiral “through the roof”.
“The costs will be unaffordable for
the majority of the population and
will basically lead to the bankrupt-
cy of societies,” he says. “Moreover- and just as important – millions of
people will be burdened with what
are preventable chronic diseases.”
On June 3, 2015, Wim Tilburgs
started a ketogenic diet, eliminating
nearly all carbohydrates. Within two
days he was able to stop his insulin
shots and in the first month, he lost
ten kilograms. Since then, he has
more or less adhered to the ‘keto’
diet, and has lost 30 more kilograms.
Now an avid exerciser, he has com-
pletely transformed the way he lives - an example of what Dr Pijl says
much of the rest of the world has to
do in order to save itself.
“Before, my diet was like a child’s.
I never ate a salad until I was 55,”
Wim admits. “Now I help other
people improve their lives, too.”
‘We Apologise For Any Offence’
No newspaper or magazine likes having to correct a mistake.
But everyone likes reading about them:“The candidate likes to spend his free time reading Tolstoy,
and not watching Toy Story, as originally reported.”
in brazilian news magazineVEJA“In yesterday’s paper in Chris Searle’s jazz albums column,
we incorrectly referred to Don Rendall as a ‘terrorist’ when
it clearly should have been ‘tenorist’.”
in MORNING STAR,uk77
The Time Bomb Of Obesity