The next time you're at Cub or Super One or another grocery store, scan the magazines at the checkout. Take note of all the articles on diet crazes and weight-loss efforts. Then -- after taking your Twinkies back to Aisle 6 -- remember this: Only regular exercise and a healthy diet (not a fad diet) can result in a healthy body weight.
Despite that simple formula and decades of weight-loss obsession, the number of obese Americans, frustratingly, continues to climb. Last year,
25.6 percent of adults reported being obese, compared to
23.9 percent in 2005, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. In the Midwest,
25.3 percent of residents are classified as obese, and there seems little chance any state will meet the CDC's "Healthy People 2010" goal of reducing obesity to 15 percent or less of the population before the end of this decade.
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In Duluth, the downtown YMCA, 302 W. First St., is making it easy this week for any of us to do our part to turn the tide. For three more days, we can swim, jog, work out on the cardio machines, shoot hoops or otherwise exercise for free. The open gym, through Saturday, is part of America on the Move Week. So is the waiving, this week only, of the Y's usual joiner fee for new members, a savings of $60 to $80.
Other gyms in the Twin Ports offer similar deals from time to time. More of us need to take advantage. Or just take a brisk walk. Or do something -- anything -- active to head off chronic, obesity-related ailments such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
Extra pounds can be deadly -- and a drain on a society already struggling to cover health-care costs.
The next time you're at the grocery store, avoid Aisle 6.
