According to the USA Today, currently one in three Americans is obese.  In the same issue it was also reported that one in six Americans went hungry or did not have enough food at some point last year.  These statistics seem to indicate that half of Americans are either eating too much or too little.

Can it be true that only half of Americans are eating the right amount of food required to maintain a healthy lifestyle?  It is no wonder that health care costs in the US are going through the roof. 

According to the report, at the current rate, obesity will cost the US $344 billion in health care costs by 2018, or the equivalent of 21% of health care spending.  Based on the projections, by that time 43% of American adults will be obese. 

The definition of obese is someone who is roughly 30 pounds over a healthy weight.  According to Kenneth Thorpe, chairman of the department of health policy and management at Emory University in Atlanta, “obesity is going to be a leading driver in rising health-care costs.”

Thorpe used Census statistics, weight data and medical expenditure information to make some astounding conclusions:

• An obese person will have an average medical bill of $8,315 by 2018
• More than half of the population in several states could be obese by 2018, including Oklahoma, Mississippi, Maryland, Kentucky, Ohio and South Dakota
• If the obesity rate continues to rise at the current rate until 2018, only Colorado will have less than 30% of the population who are obese

Maintaining a healthy diet that provides your body with right nutrients that it needs to perform at an optimum level is critical to your success.  Eating too much or not enough could have a significant negative impact in your ability to live to your full potential.   

As shown by these statistics the trends in the US are discouraging.  If we are to maintain our edge in an ever more fiercely competitive world, this is an area that needs to be addressed with upmost importance by the leaders of this nation.