Why Are Veterans So Fat? 

It's no joke. Obesity is a killer. Here's a list of all the things that obesity is inked to:

1. Coronary heart disease
2. Diabetes
3. Stroke
4. Dementia
5. Cancer

The list keeps going. Obesity is such a killer because it's a visible symptom of a broken metabolism. Did you know that 88% of Americans do not pass the basic metabolic health test. This test is simple:

Metabolic disease can be defined as exhibiting any of the following 4 factors:

1. Having a waistline greater than 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women;
2. Blood pressure higher than 130/85 mmHg
3. Fasting blood glucose greater than 100mg/dl
4. HDL greater than 40 mg/dl for men, 50 mg/dl for women and triglyceride level above 150mg/dl

If you answered YES to any of these 4 criteria, you're not metabolically healthy. I spoke to Dr. Philip Ovadia about this on my podcast and he's dead serious about getting these criteria sorted, and fast. You should have a listen here.

How Do We Fight The Battle of The Bulge?

There are numerous ways that this can be done but the most effective plan is to just start ANYTHING. There is strong evidence that any form of movement, especially walking, stimulates parts of your brain that promote feelings of well-being, focus and motivation. This seems to be because it implies to our ancient brain, that we're on the hunt and looking for food or shelter. 

My mantra is 

Action Begets Action

It's a positive feedback loop that encourages you to do more every time you do more. Once you get this positive cascade of hormones, your ability to lose weight is now turned on. One key point here is that you don't lose weight to get healthy, you need to get healthy to lose weight. 

Veterans Are At Greater Risk

Researchers have identified a host of compounding factors that lead to increased obesity in veterans. Overall, veterans of the OEF/OIF campaigns under the age of 45 have an obesity rate of 44% compared with the national American average of 39%.

This diagram shows the compounding nature some of our military experiences can have on our ability to stay lean and mean. We're going to help tackle the physical activity side of things and hope that you're able to sort out any of the others with the help available to you. 

Here's a simple workout you can do right now:

1. Put on your shoes
2. Walk for 20 mins

That's it.

Do this EVERY DAY from now on and you will have achieved your absolute bare minimum requirement to be a functioning human being. No need for any fancy gym or equipment. Just get up and go. Head to our last article about getting your baseline exercise in ya.