Obesity Kills. Fort Collins’ CanDo Offers Everyday Solutions [VIDEO, INTERVIEW]

There are actually very few confirmed facts in this universe. What most people take as fact is often, in actuality, opinion. One thing that is being proven again and again is that obesity causes major health problems. Especially at advanced ages, one of the worst conditions to have is obesity because it causes so many other problems.

Ask any doctor, chiropractor, pharamacist, health care provider, or anyone that has a handle on what it takes to be healthy, "Will obesity cause health

problems?" I guarantee an answer in the affirmative. While you're at it, ask another question. "Is exercise essential to my long term health?" It is no longer 'better for you' to exercise. It is absolutely imperative. Not exercising is truly not an option. This is the 'use it, or lose it' proposition of our time and it concerns the thing that is the most important Earthly possession you have...your body.

Rarely will you see me on my soapbox, but concerning this subject, I am happy to be preachy. The wonderful aspect of weight loss and recapturing health is that you can do it. You can lose the weight. The success starts in your mind. Henry Ford said it best. "If you think you can, or think you cannot, either way, you are correct." So know you can!!

Look at these examples from NBC's the Biggest Loser.

After you have decided that you are going to do what you need to do for your own good, reach out for help. It may cost you some money. Look at it this way. You can pay now or later. Pay now; for a trainer, gym membership, books, education. Pay later; for health care costs. If you go into old age as an obese person, you will pay for it. It is guaranteed.

Once you get into fitness and exercise and the lifestyle becomes a part of you, you will find that you cannot do without it. There will be correlations between feeling bad and not exercising. My back begins to ache if I don't workout. It's possible that the structural muscles that maintain my posture are weaker and therefore aching from lack of use, or my body may be communicating with my lazy butt to remind me to honor the gift that I was given. Either way, I find that regular exercise makes me feel better in body and mind.

Virginia Clark of CanDo, the Coalition for Activity and Nutrition to Defeat Obesity spoke with me and explained how obesity is the guilty culprit in causing...

...diabetes and heart disease to cancer, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, reproductive problems, and there's a lot of mental health conditions such as depression and low self esteem that go along with being obese.

While Colorado only 21% of Colorado adults are obese (Source: Centers For Disease Control and Prevention), a number that puts us at #1 in the nation as of 2010, our ranking in childhood obesity is 29. Virginia further explains that...

It's really important that we work on making sure that our kids have access to healthy foods, physical activity, physical education wherever they go.

CanDo, the Coalition for Activity and Nutrtion to Defeat Obesity exists to help! Listen to this interview as Virginia Clark explains how they can help you!