Do You Know What the Healthiest Countries Eat?

HEALTH

What makes a country healthy?

Low pollution and cancer rates? Higher-than-average life expectancy? Access to affordable healthcare to screen for diseases before they become serious concerns?

If you answered that all of these factors contribute to the health of a country’s citizens, you’re absolutely right. But the biggest issue plaguing our global health, by far, is obesity.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “Worldwide obesity has more than doubled since 1980.”

More than 600 million adults were classified as obese during 2014, and “41 million children under the age of 5 were [labeled] overweight or obese.”

“The rise in obesity among children is especially troubling,” says Marie Ng, Assistant Professor of Global Health and lead author of a study published in The Lancet about the global obesity epidemic. “We know that there are severe downstream health effects from childhood obesity, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and many cancers.”

Here’s the worst news: most of the obese population is also suffering from malnourishment.

How’s that possible when they seem to be eating plenty?

Because as processed foods become cheaper options, adults and children fill themselves with foods that lack nutrition and are instead packed with empty calories, sugar, and harmful ingredients, causing them to shovel more unhealthy food in their tummies.

This vicious cycle is entirely preventable.

While extra playtime and less sitting is key to weight loss (for both kids and adults!), diet is a crucial part of keeping our waistlines at healthy levels, too.

“A thicker waistline increases heart attack risk,” says Nieca Goldberg, MD.

Excess stomach fat has been correlated with higher blood pressure and blood sugar levels—both of which lead to the development of heart disease, the number one cause of death in the US.

But what about countries outside the US?

Roughly 33% of the US is obese, but check out how the obesity rates of a few slimmer countries compare:

France 17%

Spain 16%

Sweden 12%

Denmark 11%

Italy 10%

Norway 10%

China 3%

Japan 3%

India 0.7%

Vietnam 0.5%

Now, the majority of these countries reject processed, sugary foods and embrace home-cooked meals with as little packaging, pesticides, and hormones as possible. Quite different from the standard American fare.

Reference: http://www.nutritionsecrets.com/do-you-know-what-the-healthiest-countries-eat/