While the United States may be the richest country in the world, it also tops the list as the most extreme when it comes to obesity per capita. Far too often ignorance is regarded as bliss when it comes to food and its effect on the body. Many people adhere to diets and eating patterns that have no positive effect on the body or fail within a few months. Staying on a diet has become one of the hardest tasks in today’s society, and sometimes it is even harder than maintaining a successful marriage. Many of us in search of the perfect body and perfect health all too often find that the results of our efforts and objectives fall short of our expectations. We try diet after diet only to realize, down the road, that we have spent an average of as much as 20% of our annual budget on the futile pursuit of reaching what we consider to be our ideal weight. Because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers obesity to be a disease, the government is spending roughly $16 million annually on programs that prevent obesity by promoting nutrition and physical activity. In comparison, it spends almost $100 million on programs that control tobacco addiction. Margo Wootan, D.Sc., a nutrition scientist at the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, D.C., claims “Poor diet and inactivity kill as many people as tobacco. The investment in nutrition and physical activity programs pales in comparison to their impact on health”. According to the CDC, 56.4% of U.S. adults are overweight. Depending on the year being surveyed, a “hefty” 19 - 28% of the population is officially obese. These numbers have jumped by 61% over the past decade, because 27% of us don’t engage in any physical activity and another 28.2% aren’t regularly active. Can this disease place itself in the ranking alongside the category of HIV-infected people? Obesity, which now is considered a national disease, claims its victims after decades of weakening their hearts, blowing holes in their arteries, suffocating their organs and grinding their joints. Aside from being publicly shunned, many doctors don’t know how to treat obesity. Obesity is not just a national case of bad eating habits; obesity is a real disease and a public health crisis. “Obesity levels have increased sixty percent across the nation since 1996 affecting more than seventy million Americans,” reports ABC News. Many blame overeating for this increase but food is only part of the problem. What many don't realize is that the never-ending supply of labor saving and prepared food has greatly attributed to the obesity problem by actually changing the environment (due to increased technology) that we work and live in. Probable solutions: •\tWe need to educate our children in schools around the country and limit or eliminate unhealthy snacks (in vending machines) from their schools. •\tWe must encourage restaurant owners to implement healthy menus for their customers and demand healthy menus from fast food restaurants all over the United States by eliminating processed meat and cheese from their establishments. •\tWe must demand that health insurance companies cover more of the medical expenses for diets and health foods prescribed by doctors. •\tWe must convince Congress to pass a bill that allows us to deduct fees for personal training in gyms around the country. These are mere examples on how we could make our country a healthier place to live. This book will show you: •\tThat you don’t get fat because you eat a lot, but because you make poor food choices. •\tHow to manage your food intake while making sure that you burn fat with the help of a well-balanced exercise regimen. You’ll realize there are no miracle cures to be had from the companies who promise you success if you only use their products. You will probably lose some weight temporarily, but it will come back. Sometimes you even gain more than what you lost during the diet. This book is not a diet, in and of itself, it is a new way of eating which will allow you to manage your weight and will not deprive you of the pleasures of life. You’ll regain the full energy levels that you had in your younger years just by slightly changing your eating habits. Our mission, if we wish to accept it, is to prevent and eradicate every form of diseases related to obesity in our country. We must implement the program in corporate America and help employers and employees in the work force learn how to eat with health in mind. We must educate our children in schools around the country and eliminate unhealthy snacks from their schools. We must encourage restaurant owners to implement healthy menus for their customers. We must demand healthy menus from fast food restaurants across the United States which will make it possible to order a meal that does not contain processed meats and cheeses. Let’s lobby Congress for a bill to invest more money in helping those who want to make a dietary change in their lives. We must force health insurance companies to cover most of the medical expenses for diets and health foods prescribed by doctors. We need to be able to get tax breaks so we can deduct expenses for personal training in gyms around the country. These are mere examples of how to make our country a healthy place to live.